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

I’ve been hearing good things about a site which does all kinds of translation, including translating Turkish phrases into English:

http://www.babylon.com

It’s a combination of download and Internet resource which enables you to click on words and phrases and get instant definitions.

Apparently you can use it for free.  I would have tried it but my computer operating system doesn’t quite match the requirements for the download.  If you’ve tried it, feel free to comment on how you like it here.

Technorati Tags: Learning Tools, online dictionaries

I don’t claim to have checked out all the online dictionaries, but for what it’s worth, here’s the one I like best so far:Seslisozluk.com.

For one, it’s fast.  For two, it drops down a whole list of suggestions as you type, which is great for Turkish, as sometimes one might not know what the root of the word is.

It looks like there is a mobile option as well.

This dictionary is just easy to use overall and very helpful.

Found a better one?  Comments are welcome.

Technorati Tags: Learning Tools, online dictionaries, turkish language, turkish phrases