Turkish seems like a difficult language, but this is not so bad in practice. The Turkish alphabet resembles the Dutch alphabet and the pronunciation is always the same. This makes it easy to learn the language.
Alphabet and Pronunciation
The Turkish alphabet has many similarities with the Dutch alphabet. Most sounds are known in Dutch, but sometimes as a combination of letters. The advantage of Turkish is that the pronunciation is consistent. Each letter is always pronounced the same way. This makes it easier to read or write a text.
The alphabet has 8 vowels and 21 consonants.
The verdict is as follows:
Turkish capital letter | Turkish letter | Pronunciation as in |
---|---|---|
a | a | arm |
B. | b | bed |
C. | c | jungle |
Ç | ç | chechie |
D. | d | dag |
E | e | ereally |
F. | f | fewe |
G. | g | gfear |
Ğ | ğ | gehand (never at the beginning of a word) |
H. | h | hard |
İ | i | lied |
I. | ı | de |
J | j | journal |
K. | k | kort |
L. | l | laat |
M. | m | moeder |
N. | n | nspike |
O | O | Op |
O | O | fOhn |
P. | p | pak |
R. | r | rbarge |
S. | s | sOK |
Ş | ş | sjeel |
T. | t | tuin |
YOU | you | book |
YOU | you | uur |
V. | v | wok |
Y | y | jurk |
Z | z | zeight |
Letters that do not appear in the Turkish alphabet are: q, w, x.
Letters that do not appear in the Dutch alphabet are: ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü.
Foreign words
As in any language, Turkish also has words that originally come from another language. In most cases, the spelling is adjusted so that the Turkish spelling matches the original pronunciation.
Some examples:
- Kuaför comes from the French coiffeur
- Garson comes from the French waiter
- Taksi comes from taxi (because Turkish has no x)
Funny facts
In the 1980s a new drink came onto the market in Turkey. It was black, full of bubbles and pronounced (phonetic) djodja djola. Because that was what was on the bottle: Coca Cola.
Nowadays people obviously know better and it is pronounced in the international way. However, the Turkish word for cola is written as cola. The spelling is therefore again adapted to the pronunciation.