14 Resources for Learning Turkish

Merhaba and hoş geldiniz!

If you’re here, I assume you have are looking to learn Turkish. When it comes to learning any language, it helps to have some good resources to help you in your journey.

While there’s a seemingly unlimited number of books, apps, and websites for learning a language, for the purposes of this article, I’ve decided to stick with resources that are (1) specific to Turkish, and (2) one’s that I’ve used personally.

If you’re interested, in a more general guide that covers resources for any language, I plan on writing one soon. Consider subscribing to be updated when it comes out.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in!

14 Resources for Learning Turkish

1. Duolingo

Let’s begin with Duolingo — everyone’s favorite (or not so favorite) app. Despite the complicated relationship some people have with Duolingo, I found it to be a great starting point for learning the basics of Turkish. As an English speaker, there are some quirky elements of Turkish (like consonant changes and vowel harmony) that were helpful to have lots of practice and repetition with.

Unfortunately, last time I checked, Duolingo no longer provides explanations about the grammar. Without these, understanding why things are right or wrong can be quite confusing. With that in mind, you’ll also want to pick up a grammar book (more on that below).

2. Memrise

Memrise is another app that I used for some time. As opposed to Duolingo, it focuses more on learning vocabulary and phrases, rather than translating complete sentences. While limited to mainly vocabulary, I did appreciate the number of words available in their Turkish course — around four to five thousand — which was great for building a wider vocabulary.

Other things I appreciated were the option to skip words and units based on my preferences, and the pronunciation audio being much better than Duolingo’s.

When I used it, Memrise had both official courses and community made courses. I mainly used the official course, but you might find the community made courses helpful.

3. Turkish Tea Time

Turkish Tea Time is a Turkish language podcast that also comes with a companion website. The podcast, while no longer making new episodes, does a great job explaining various grammar points while also providing dialogs recorded by native speakers.

In addition to the high quality dialog recordings, I appreciated that they would include and discuss local idioms, expressions, and irregularities in the language. These are things that you won’t find in an app or grammar book, but can really spice up your speaking ability.

While the podcast is free, full access to the website comes with a monthly subscription. When I used the website, I treated each episode like a lesson. I would write down new vocabulary, check the grammar explanations, and use the dialog audio for speaking and listening practice. You can of course do this just from the podcast, but I found having everything already written down on the site was a huge time saver.

4. Teach Yourself Turkish

When learning Turkish, I’ve found it helpful to learn the grammar. Grammar books don’t have to be boring though. The book Teach Yourself Turkish was helpful for me when starting out.

I liked that each chapter included a mix of explanation, dialog, and activities. Rather than being a straight grammar reference, the variety of material made the book seem a bit more fun. It also doesn’t try to get too granular, which is great for starting out. And it also comes with audio for the dialogs, which is always helpful.

5. Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

In addition to a intro book like Teach Yourself Turkish, I’ve found it helpful to have Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar as a detailed grammar book for reference. Admittedly, this book is not the prettiest in terms of formatting, but it can get quite granular.

There are probably better grammar books out there — this is just the one I came across. I’ve found it to be helpful when trying to parse out the differences between similar words or structures. You can always ask a local about these sorts of nuances, but having quick access to a guide can be helpful.

6. Turkish in 3 Months

I also want to include Hugo’s Turkish in 3 Months as a third option. When it comes to grammar books, I see this is a kind of middle ground between the previous two. The title is, of course, misleading, but I’ve found this to be a pretty solid reference.

It’s more to the point and a little more expansive than Teach Yourself Turkish, yet not as dense as Turkish Grammar. For this reason I find myself using it as a quick reference for more general grammar rules.

7. Turkey - Culture Smart! The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

One aspect of language learning that can be overlooked is the cultural customs that come along with it. If learning a language is about communicating, then culture and customs should be a part of the conversation.

With that in mind, I found Culture Smart’s Essential Guide to Customs and Culture in Turkey to be a handy overview of some aspects of Turkish culture. While not necessarily a language learning resource, I felt it worthwhile to include it on this list.

8. Sesli Sozluk

When it comes to learning a language, having a good dictionary is incredibly helpful.

I like Sesli Sözlük not so much for the audio (“sesli” means “with sound” in Turkish) but because they provide a lot of example sentences. This is extremely helpful when looking up words in Turkish that have similar meanings or words in English that carry multiple meanings (e.g. is “pound” a unit of measure, the verb to hit, a place for dogs, etc).

In Turkish, different verbs require different endings be added to the object of the sentence, and sometimes it’s not clear which ending a verb requires. It’s in those cases where having an example sentence can be helpful to clarify that.

9. Tureng

Another helpful dictionary is Tureng. I’ve found this one to be incredibly helpful for looking up slang words, idioms, and expressions. While most dictionaries will stick to what’s proper, Tureng is filled with all kinds of things you might come across. When I come across a strange looking word or word pairing (i.e. two or more words together communicating a new meaning), I typically go to Tureng first. You’d be surprised by how much is in there.

10. iTalki

iTalki is a website for finding paid online language tutors as well as free online language exchange partners. While iTalki isn’t Turkish specific, I feel the need to include it because of the value I’ve gotten out of it.

You can choose to do either paid lessons with a tutor, or free exchanges with a language partner. While doing free language exchanges are great, if you can afford a paid tutor (or paid conversation partner), it’s much better for your own learning. Compared to a language exchange, time with a paid tutor is 100% focused on you. Tutors are also typically more experienced when it comes to explaining and helping you learn.

Probably the biggest benefit of a tutor is they are willing to sit with you as you struggle through speaking like a beginner. Whereas most native speakers will find talking with you difficult (or boring), a tutor will happily work with you as you plod along… because they’re being paid to do so!

Lastly, tutors and language parters are also a great source for idioms, expressions, and slang that you won’t find in books or apps. I’ve learned some of the funniest expressions and sayings from my tutors.

If you’re like me, the thought of connecting with a tutor might seem intimidating. I admittedly prefer to do self study as opposed to leveraging tutors. If that’s you, let me offer a word of encouragement. The benefits of connecting with a real, live human, even early on, are well worth the initial awkwardness that comes with it. Jump in and give it a try!

11. Dilmer Language School

While not an opportunity available for everyone, if you find yourself staying in Istanbul for more than a month, consider checking out Dilmer Language School. While living in Istanbul, I attended a few of their classes and I would recommend it to anyone who’s able to try it.

Classes run once a month, are available for a range of skill levels, and typically run Monday through Friday for 3 to 4 hours each day.

Compared to lessons on iTalki, I found that while I didn’t get as much speaking practice (due to it being a classroom setting), I did benefit from a more comprehensive and well organized curriculum.

The thought of a classroom setting may bring up flashbacks from high school, but I found it to be a fun setting to learn and meet new people in the process. If you ever find yourself in Istanbul for more than a month, I’d highly recommend anyone check it out.

12. Turkish E-Books

Reading is an effective way to passively build your vocabulary and get more exposure to the language. Finding an interesting book at the right skill level can be a challenge though.

If you’re looking for e-books in Turkish, you might have a hard time finding them on Kindle. Instead, I’ve been able to find a lot on Kobo (a Kindle competitor). I’m not sure why Turkish e-books are available on Kobo as opposed to Kindle, but fortunately the Kobo app is free to download. You might also be surprised to find out that Turkish e-books tend to be more affordable than their English counterparts.

13. Short Stories in Turkish for Beginners

While on the topic of reading, one book in particular that I’d recommend is Ollie Richard’s Short Stories in Turkish for Beginners. It’s a book of short stories that I found to be pretty enjoyable to read. I’m not an avid reader, so I appreciated the short nature of the stories. This book isn’t for absolute beginners, but if you’ve already acquired 1000-2000 words you might consider checking it out.

14. Google News in Turkish

Lastly, I’ll mention Google News as a handy resource for reading material in Turkish. Google News will let you configure you’re language and location preferences to include news from international sources. From time to time I’ll browse through articles, find one I’m interested in, and highlight new words and phrases as I go through.

Reading the news is a great way to build content specific vocabulary and be exposed to more advanced sentence structures.

Get Started

Hopefully this list provided some helpful resources. Like I mentioned at the start, there are any number of resources out there that you can choose from. What’s important is trying them out and finding what works for you.

Learning a language is a long journey. Pace yourself and enjoy the process!