Marhaba,

Above you see pretty much the limit of my Turkish vocab, lol. Anyways I was born in Turkey, but grew up in the US...my father is Turkish and my mother is Swedish (but speaks some Turkish) Anyways I want to learn how to speak it and have people around me who CAN speak it, but never taught me. So I am wondering that in comparison to Spanish how hard is it to learn Turkish and how long would it take me to be able to converse semi decently with other Turks. I've gotten sick of not being able to communicate with the older generation of half my family and it is just and inconvince. If this is in the wrong forum or something than sorry...I just wasn't sure where to ask. Thanks!

hi man learn,read,listen learn,read,listen learn,read,listen then when you are in the slightest bit comfortable with your turkish start to learn againyou have made the right choice by coming here there are lots of decent people that will help yo learn good luck with your studies

Turkish is a very difficult language to learn, much more difficult than Spanish for an English speaker. It's well worth the effort though.

I'm an American, a native English speaker, and while I'm working very hard at it, my Turkish proficiency is improving quite slowly. I've been at it for four months now, am surrounded by Turkish speakers, and still can't hold down a simple conversation with a waiter or shopkeeper who speaks no English.

By comparison, I visited Spain and within two weeks was able to go to a strange restaurant, understand the menu even if it had dishes I'd never seen before, order my meal and make small talk with the staff.

Except for modern words like televizyon or futbol, Turkish and English share no words or roots and the language structures are completely different.

I'm hoping to be able to hold up my end of a simple conversation within a year and things may improve more quickly after that, as I'll have a reasonable understanding of noun and verb endings, which to me is the hardest part.

I too want to encourage you to work at acquiring Turkish. I'm sure your family members and Turkish-speaking friends will help you as much as they can. Get a Turkish-English dictionary and start reading anything you can get your hands on. This site is an excellent place to begin learning but there are other sites, not to mention course books. Use them all. The Lonely Planet phrase book has been a great help to me also.

Good luck!

wow, well here in tc is a nice enough start...but really, if you have turkish family members why not ask to start with some baby talk, simple conversation and also pick up a grammar book and all. If your family members see that youre really interested maybe they would be dedicated to teaching you. good luck.

to feel and to live,both best learning methods and seems you have this both chance already

When you get the opportunity to talk, grasp it with both hands!
I've been busy studying Turkish for a while now. I'm familiar with several grammar topics, but I'm a big zero when it comes to talking

Since you said that half of your family is Turkish, you'll most probably find opportunities to talk

Not just turkish, but learning a language really takes time. You can be familiar with the grammer by studying one or two hours a week, but to have a good grasp of the language, you have to do much more. If you cannot go to the country itself, you have to bring that country to you by exposing yourself to maximum of the language. While you learn the grammar, you have to listen to this language a lot, do what you can to listen to it because you cannot talk it without having listened to it. Maybe, for the first time, turkish TV and radio can be very difficult for you, so I don't know if learning videos exist on the net, but try to find this kind of things, get a language kit where you can listen to. Since you live in US, it would be difficult to practice the language by talking. I'd say talk with your turkish family or any native speaker, but I know from myself that it's not that easy because they don't have the same patience as a language teacher, and you can give up very easily. So, you have to either go to a language school in US or in Turkey where you can speak it with other learners.

Dear freinds i dont think so that Turkish is difficult language. or may be i m interested in it thats y its not difficult for me.. look dear it doesnt means u r native english speaker or french interest is the best thing. u should take interest in turkish .. i m agreed with teresa jana.. u should start baby Türkçe.. i assure you u will successfully speak gently turkish..

I know exactly what you mean, I felt like i was not getting anywhere and have been trying to learn for months now. Last year I felt unconfortable/embarrased speaking turkish and eventually I realised that it was my own feelings of being uncomfortable that were putting me off. Not the people that i was surrounded by.

However on my most recent visit to Turkey I found that I understood a lot more and once I overcame my shyness I just kept trying. I told myself that I must try no matter how bad it was. It all started when i landed in Dalaman and at passport control they enquired why i was coming from the uk, with an irish passport. So I explained in my best turkish (the first thing i had learned from my linguaphone cd's) that I was Irish and living in the uk, although it may seem like something very simple, i was so delighted that had been able to converse with a Turkish person. From then on everywhere I went even in the shops, I haggled (probably in very poor turkish) for everything, even changed money, Everywhere I went I brought my phrase book. I would prepare phrases in advance and found that I could get by, and once people see you are trying they will help.

I was frustrated at first and wanted to have a proper format for learning, this site is fantastic there is so much to learn and you need to be patient. Learn as many words as you can, the rest will come eventually. I wish you good luck.. and just remember that if you are determined enough you will suceed...

I think Turkish is difficult if you are a native English speaker. I found French and Spanish much easier and by knowing those languages, makes basic Italian possible to understand with out learning. I find the suffixes and remembering which ones and how many you need to add to a word to form another word complicated.

I would say exposure to the language is by far the best way to learn, as some of the others have said, which is something I find very very difficult in the UK and I guess similar in the USA.

I would try and enlist the support of Turkish speaking family members to help you.

hello,

you may down load "WINAMP", and it will allow you to watch Turkish tv and listen to Turkish radio .
Watch and listen and you will begin to anticipate the next word to be spoken, kanal7 is a good program, covering all aspects of Turkish life. there is news, comedy ,drama, soap operas ,religion and politics.
Best of luck with your learning.

John

At this page you can listen to turkish radio and watch tv online.

http://www.yayinonline.com/