Is Turkish Hard To Learn? An Honest Guide For Beginners

Is Turkish hard to learn? If you're contemplating learning Turkish, you've probably asked yourself this question. Especially as you might be getting some negative feedback from friends, family, and even online articles. 

It comes from a different language family than English. The vocabulary is too different. There is an endless number of suffixes. It’s not like other European languages which you can learn much faster.

The list of challenges grumblers and naysayers might point to is rooted in some amount of truth about why Turkish is hard to learn.

But there are several things going for you that make Turkish very manageable to learn as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort. Three of the most helpful things we will look at in more detail include:

• the fact that Turkish uses the Latin alphabet

• Turkish is almost completely phonetic

• Turkish is very systematic and has very few exceptions

If you prefer watching videos, hit play on the video at the top of this page to watch the video version of this post. Otherwise, keep scrolling to find out: is Turkish hard to learn?

The Turkish Alphabet

Is Turkish hard to learn? Not when it comes to the alphabet!

You can thank Mustafa Kemal Ataturk for the modern Turkish alphabet. At the conclusion of World War I, when the Ottoman Empire was in shambles, Ataturk unified what is modern Turkey and established the Turkish Republic in 1923.

As part of his sweeping changes, Ataturk wanted his new country to be more modern and more European.

One thing he ordered to help that happen was the changing of the alphabet from an Arabic-like script to a Latin alphabet.

This, perhaps more than anything else, makes learning Turkish very doable. Especially if you like to see words as you hear them.

There are, of course, a few differences between the English alphabet and the Turkish one. For example, in English we have 26 letters whereas in Turkish there are 29. But in reality, there are millions of exceptions in English. Turkish isn’t like that at all.

A Closer Look At The Turkish Alphabet

Here is a quick glance at the Turkish alphabet.

A   B   C   Ç  D  E  F  G  Ğ  H  I  İ  J  K  L  M  N  O  Ö  P  R  S  Ş  T  U  Ü  V  Y  Z

As you can see the alphabet is very similar to English with only a few differences. For one, Turkish has the “Ç” to take place of the “ch” in English. And the “Ş” to replace “sh.” It also has the “Ğ” which actually doesn’t make a sound but merely elongates the words it's in.

Finally, you'll notice that some of the vowels are different like the “Ö” and the “Ü.” Those letters merely represent a slightly different pronunciation of an “o” and a “u”. You pronounce them from the front of the mouth with the lips pursed tightly.

Other than that there are only a few letters from English that are missing like the “q,” “w,” and “x.”

Regardless of those differences, having an alphabet that is very similar to English that you can see and understand from day one makes learning Turkish so much easier than it otherwise would be.

Turkish Is Almost Entirely Phonetic

The other amazing part of the alphabet is that each letter makes only one sound. And it makes that sound just about always even if there might be a few exceptions.

But as a language learner, you don’t have to worry about those and can basically think of each letter making one and only one sound.

When you stop to consider how easy that is compared to English with its nearly endless list of rules and exceptions it's really quite remarkable. It makes spelling and pronouncing Turkish words so easy that after a few hours of study it's automatic. 

Now some of the letters make different sounds than they do in English. So you'll still have to make sure you match the correct sound to the correct letter in your mind. For example, the letter “c” in Turkish makes the “j” sound every time. That might take some getting used to.

Another example is that the letter “i” in Turkish always says the long “e” sound. However, once you get that sorted out in your mind it really takes care of itself. And every time you are in Turkish mode you will say the right sound for each letter every time you see it.

Turkish Is A Very Systematic Language

The final factor that makes learning Turkish easier than you might think is that it's an extremely organised, systematic language.

The language has its rules like any other language and very rarely do you deviate from them. This is the case with the letters making only one sound and it's the case with sentence structure.

Generally speaking, the correct way to make a sentence in Turkish is by saying the subject first, then the object, and finally the verb.

While this order can be tricky because the verb is at the end and in English we often put the action words earlier on in our sentences, over time it becomes quite natural. 

Like other languages, Turkish has its core of common words that are used on a daily basis. That means by memorising and learning 500-1000 targeted Turkish vocab words you can communicate a lot. What allows you to do so are the language’s many suffixes. 

The suffixes in Turkish are what scare people the most. And it's something that takes time to adapt to.

It's true that when speaking Turkish you can add suffix upon suffix upon suffix to change the meaning of the word. While that takes getting used to, it means learning the root word is incredibly important and helpful. 

Turkish Suffixes: An Example

Let’s take a look at an example. 

A sentence we might say in English is “I am at your service.”

In Turkish, because of the ability to add suffix on top of suffix, this sentence actually becomes a single word. First, you need to know that hizmet means service. This is the root word and it goes first.

In order to say “you” in Turkish, you can add iniz. So now we have hizmetiniz (note that I am using the plural you because that is more formal – check out my article on Turkish pronouns for more on this).

Then we need the “at” or “on” conjunction. In Turkish, it is da/de ta/te. So now our word is hizmetininzde. You could stop there and it would mean “at your service.” 

When we add the me suffix, which at its most basic is an “m” but can also include an “um” or “im” depending on the situation, we get hizmetinizdeyim (the ‘y' is added as a buffer between the two vowels).

• Hizmetinizdeyim (I am at your service)

As you can see we added three different suffixes to change the meaning of the word “service” to mean “I am at your service.” You add suffixes to conjugate Turkish verbs or indicate possession. And for just about everything else too.

While this takes time to get used to, once you've practised it for a while, you're able to automatically read words you don’t even know and understand them because you know what each block of the word means. This means that you can easily apply the fun and effective StoryLearning® method to learning Turkish!

FAQs About Is Turkish Hard To Learn?

Is Turkish Hard To Learn?

So, is Turkish hard to learn? Just because Turkish might take more time for English speakers to learn than French or other European languages doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the time and effort. It definitely is.

And with its easy-to-read alphabet, consistent Turkish pronunciation, and organised structure, it isn’t as hard to learn as many other languages. 

As you begin your Turkish learning journey, here are three tips to maximise the time and effort you put in.

1. Vocab, vocab, vocab. English and Turkish don’t share as many words as some languages. So there's a lot that will be new to you. This makes picking up key words one of the best ways to start. Whether you use flashcards, a vocabulary notebook, or an app of some kind, you should commit to spending time every day learning new Turkish words. You can also use my favourite method – learning Turkish through stories which is a great way to see key words in context over and over again.
2. Read, watch, listen. Because Turkish has a Latin alphabet you can start reading from day one. You can also start watching Turkish movies and TV shows (Turkey is famous for its dizis which are soap-opera-like dramas). And listening to Turkish podcasts. If you can find something where you can read along as you listen to Turkish being spoken, such as a YouTube video that has Turkish subtitles to go along with Turkish audio, that can really help.
3. Persevere. Learning languages isn’t supposed to be easy. If you're looking for easy just play video games. But if you're looking to better yourself and learn a new language that will allow you to talk to literally millions of interesting people, keep working on Turkish even when it feels hard. And use a method like StoryLearning® which will keep your learning fun and engaging even on the hard days.

Is Turkish hard to learn? Yes, Turkish takes time and effort. But it is well worth that time and effort. And if you focus on vocab, listen to plenty of Turkish, and persevere, you will be speaking like a Turk in no time.

Kolay gelsin.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.