I searched for the thread I read sometime over the past few days regarding books for learning Turkish, but couldn't find it so I am posting a new thread.

The book/and accompanying CD:Teach Yourself Turkish was book of discussion.

In my desperate attempt to learn Turkish, I bought anything with high reviews from Amazon.com for a reasonable price.

I have "Teach yourself Turkish with Cd and Teach yourself Beginner's Turkish with Cd."

Forget the latter. Definitely not worth it. Everything in there is included in the larger more comprehensive "Teach Yourself Turkish set".

It is an "ok " book to learn Turkish. It starts each chapter with dialogues in Turkish, and then has a small vocabulary box of Turkish words. Each chapter provides instruction on "how to " do something in Turkish. i.e.- turn a statement into a question - insert "mi" or "mu" between the verb and suffix.

The HUGE limitation of this book is that it doesn't explain WHY- only HOW.

I understand people have different learning styles, but I am the kind of person that needs to understand the theory behind the practice. WHY ? The Teach Yourself Turkish series does not provide that explanation.

My tiny "Rough Guide to the Turkish Language" has a very small section on "how the language works" that explains the reasons for changes. i.e.- noun cases (nom, gen, acc, dat,...)

Once I learn the theory, I am so close to mastering the language!

By the way- if you can get a tutor, teacher, or class, Please do! I learned so much in my first 2 hour session! More than what I tried to do on my own for weeks!

Right now I am in search of a really good grammar book!

Good Luck!