Turkish Phrases Blog

When my parents visited us in Turkey last April I couldn’t believe my ears.  My dear 67 year old mother was speaking Turkish phrases amazingly well.  She was speaking some even more accurately than me!  I couldn’t believe it.

There is a simple reason for her language learning success: before their visit I recommended the resource posted on the right side of this page.  My Mom ordered a copy of the Pimsleur Conversational Turkish program and listened to the CD in her car.

The really cool thing about Pimsleur is that it will teach you basic Turkish phrases without telling you what they mean in English.  I know that whole concept makes some people want to pull out their hair and run screaming away.  They would much rather write sentence diagrams, memorize verb conjugation charts and all the time know exactly what the translation is in their native language.  My lovely wife is one of those people so I’m not saying the left-brain approach is all bad.  I am telling you the approach Pimsleur takes is just the most effective way to actually learn how to understand and speak basic Turkish.  It is the way children learn.  It is the natural way to learn.

OK, this is starting to sound like an ad, so I’ll stop now.  Let me just say, you will learn basic Turkish phrases if you buy Pimsleur.  And if you buy it through this site you will help me keep writing!

Technorati Tags: Audio, Learning Tools, learning turkish

Looking for more audio resources for learning Turkish Phrases?  There are four podcasts available for free download on iTunes from Sinan Akdeniz. (You can download iTunes software for free.)  Just do a search for “Turkish Language with Sinan.”

The podcasts include:

1. Restaurants
2. Direction, Time and Dates
3. Airports and Hotels
4. First Words

These podcasts are geared for the beginner.  The last podcast was posted a couple years ago, so we will see if more appear!

Technorati Tags: Audio, learning turkish, turkish phrases, useful turkish phrases

I’m finding more nice bits of audio to share with you from the Türkçe Öğreniyorum podcast.  Here is the audio and my transcription/translation of another Turkish greeting interaction:

Learning Turkish part 2

Ahmet: Merhaba.  Benim adım Ahmet.
(Hello.  My name is Ahmet.)

Ayşe: Merhaba.  Ben de Ayşe.  Memnun oldum.
(Hello.  And I’m Ayşe.  Pleased to meet you.)

Ahmet: Ben de memnun oldum.
(I’m pleased to meet you too.)

Technorati Tags: Audio, turkish greetings, Turkish hello, turkish phrases

I’ve written a lot about Turkish phrases, but now you can listen for yourself.  Below is an audio clip of spoken Turkish greetings.  The clip is from a podcast put out by Turkey Radio Television (TRT)  called Türkçe Öğreniyorum (I’m Learning Turkish).

Have a listen to the recording and follow along below.

Learning Turkish: Greetings

Ayşen: Merhaba Mili.  Nasılsın?
(Hello Mili.  How are you?)

Milli: Merhaba Ayşen.  Teşekkür ederim.  İyiyim.  Sen nasılsın?
(Hello Ayşen.  Thank you.  I’m fine.  How are you?)

Ayşen: Ben de iyiyim. Çok teşekkür ederim.
(I’m also fine.  Thank you very much.)

Technorati Tags: Audio, turkish greetings, Turkish hello, turkish phrases