How to speak Turkish

Over 63 million people worldwide speak Turkish as their native language, with significant populations in Turkey, Eurasia, the Balkans, Germany, and the United States. With that in mind, learning Turkish may not be as daunting as you think. With Babbel, Turkish learning is flexible, intuitive, and personalized: progress at your own pace, select preferred lessons, and practice vocabulary anywhere. Turkish, the most prevalent Turkic language, does differ greatly from Indo-European languages like English, German, French, and Italian. While its distinct accent and pronunciation may pose initial challenges, Babbel's online courses and mobile app incorporate speech recognition for improved speaking skills. Explore the guide below and take a free Turkish lesson to test your abilities.

Learning

Starting with agglutination

Turkish grammar will seem strange at first if you're only familiar with English and other Indo-European languages. It's an agglutinative language, which means that the meaning of a word changes depending on the suffix. The vowels in words have to agree, which means that either the stem or suffix undergo even more changes in order to match. If that sounds complicated, then you'll be relieved to know that Turkish is gender neutral, at least, so no memorizing which article goes with which noun. Once you have a handle how to build sentences, you'll possess a skill that will make dozens of other languages easier to learn.

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Ways to Learn Turkish

There are several options available when learning how to speak Turkish: hiring a private tutor, enrolling in a language course (in school or online), studying alone, joining an exchange program, or practicing conversational Turkish with a native speaker (a so-called tandem partner). All of these strategies can be effective, although some can be expensive, while classes and exchange programs are a huge time commitment. The fastest way to pick up Turkish — and the biggest commitment by far — is still immersion. Moving to Turkey requires you to pick up the language in order to live day-to-day. This survival pressure can produce fluency within a few months. If you do plan to immerse yourself in Turkish, it’s not a bad idea to prepare beforehand with one of the methods mentioned above. And if you don’t have much spare time, an online program like Babbel may be your best bet.

Learn Turkish the Babbel way

Babbel’s Turkish course is affordable, accessible, and proven to strengthen your reading, listening, speaking and comprehension skills. As a Babbel user, you have access to a diverse program of exercises covering grammar, conjugation, pronunciation, listening comprehension and writing. You can practice on your computer, iPhone, iPad or Android device. Whether you're too busy for a language class, a complete beginner, needing to brush up before a vacation or business trip, or wanting to re-learn everything you've forgotten since high school, Babbel can be customized to your needs.

Try your first Turkish lesson for free and discover Babbel’s easy and intuitive course system, which determines your level and accommodates your learning styles. You can learn at your own pace, set your own lesson plans, and receive helpful hints whenever you need them. You'll also be joining an entire community of learners. Babbel users can easily share questions, experiences and advice via message boards, and the Babbel support team is always only a message away.

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