How to Pronounce Words in the Turkish Language

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk teaching the Roman script alphabet

Turkish is the most widely-spoken language in the Altaic family of languages. Formerly written in the Arabic script during the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish alphabet was changed to the Roman script in 1929 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic. Learners of Turkish will be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to pronounce Turkish words. Unlike English, Turkish is very regular and phonetic, so most words are pronounced just as they are spelled. There are several letters that don't exist in English, however, and these may take some practice to pronounce correctly.

Instructions

Turkish Vowels

1. Learn the letters in the Turkish alphabet. Notice which letters are the same as English, and which are different.

   Aa Bb Cc Çç Dd Ee Ff Gg Ğğ Hh Iı İi Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo --ö Pp Rr Ss Şş Tt Uu Üü Vv Yy Zz

2. Turkish vowels, unlike English vowels, are always pronounced the same because Turkish spelling is phonetic. In Turkish, "a" sounds like /ah/ as in "hot," "e" sounds like /eh/ as in "head," "i" sounds like /ee/ as in "feel," "o" sounds like /oh/ as in "hope," and the Turkish "u" sounds like /oo/ as in "soon."

3. Pay close attention to the letter "i" in Turkish. There are in fact two types: the "i" with a dot, and the "ı" without a dot. The no-dot "ı" is pronounced very similarly to the English "u" in "but." So, the Turkish word "fil" (elephant) is pronounced like "feel," and the word "kır" (countryside) rhymes with "burr" in English.

4. Notice the other two Turkish vowels that don't exist in English: "ö" and "ü." The Turkish "ö" is quite similar the /oo/ sound in "foot," and the "ü" sounds like /ew/ in "yew."

Turkish Consonants

1. Pronounce Turkish consonants the same as English consonants, with some exceptions.

2. Pronounce the Turkish "c" like the English "j" as in "jump," and the Turkish "j" like the soft "g" sound in the English word "rouge." The Turkish word "cam'" (window) sounds like "jahm," and the word "rejim" sounds the same as "regime" in English, with a similar meaning of "form of government" or "strictly regulated schedule."

3. Look at the Turkish letters "ç" and "ş." "Ç" is the same as the /ch/ sound in English, and "ş" is like the /sh/ sound. "Çoban" (shepherd) sounds like "cho-bahn" and "şaka" (joke) sounds like "shah-kah."

4. Don't pronounce the Turkish letter "ğ." This letter is called "yumuşak g" in Turkish, meaning "soft g," and it's actually a silent letter. "Ğ" always appears between vowels or at the ends of words, so the Turkish man's name "Kağan" sounds like "Kahn," and the word "bağ" (orchard) sounds like "bah." "Ğ" also lengthens vowel sounds, so the "a" in "Kağan" sounds slightly longer than the "a" in "kan" (blood).

5. Pronounce the Turkish "h" no matter where it is in a word. Unlike English, the Turkish "h" is never silent, so the Turkish word "kahve" (coffee) sounds like "kah-hveh."

6. Practice saying the Turkish "r," which is softer than the English "r." No matter where it appears in a word, the Turkish "r" is softly rolled, and similar in sound to the Spanish or Italian "r." At the ends of words, the Turkish "r" has a very slight /sh/ sound at the end, so the man's name "Ender" sounds like "ehn-dehrsh."

7. Pay attention to where "v" appears in a word. At the beginning of a word it sounds like the English "v," but between two vowels it sounds more like the English "w." So in Turkish, "var" (there is) sounds like "vahr," but "hava" (air or weather) sounds more like "hah-wah."

8. Pronounce "y" in Turkish the same as in English when it appears at the beginning of a word. When it follows a vowel, it makes a diphthong, or two vowel sounds together. The Turkish word "çay" (tea) rhymes with "eye" in English.

9. Try pronouncing these numbers in Turkish:
   bir (beer)= 1
   iki (eekee)= 2
   üç (ewch)= 3
   dört (doort)= 4
   beş (beysh)= 5
   altı (ahl-tuh)= 6
   yedi (yeh-dee)= 7
   sekiz (seh-keez)= 8
   dokuz (doh-kooz)= 9
   on (ohn)= 10

Tips & Warnings

• Listen to spoken Turkish to learn how words are pronounced. Stress in Turkish is quite different to English stress because it changes depending on its place in a sentence and its intended meaning.

References

• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 2nd Edition; David Crystal; 1997
• Turkish Pronunciation Guide

Resources

• Useful Turkish Vocabulary