Hi My name is Janette. I am new to this site and forum. Over the past 10 years i have been travelling to Turkey and made quite a few friends along the way. So thought it was time to learn the language. However i find the reading ok, but would help a great deal if there was some kind of break down on how to pronounce the words and phrases.

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you

Janette xxx

We have the same problem, My written turkish is not too bad but my pronunciation ...! I suppose I must sound very funny but luckily, The people I talk to - When I can!- are very polite and do not make fun of me so my advice to you is :

SPEAK to native people as much as you can , no matter how silly you feel (Believe me, I feel like speaking mandarin chinese!) They will correct your pronunciation as a good friend did with me , I had no idea that turkish "L " WAS NOT like spanish " L " ! simply amazing!...
If you have problems while pronunciating " ö " and " ü " you are not alone hehe..oh and when I found out the way they pronounced " Hâlâ " I wanted to die I still cant say that!!!
Iyi sanslar dilerim,
Dilara.

ooh how do you pronounce it then?

Good question oceanmavi!
I pronounce ö like spanish o
I pronounce ü like spanish u (both are very soft)
and I pronounce " Hâlâ " (Still ) Like "Hala" ( AUNT!!)
The " still" sounds like " Haaalaaa" to me

But I cant understand something, once I was saying the numbers from 1 to 20 in turkish and when I say "Four " (dört ) the person laughted! and told me it sounded like another thing !! I told him ...sounded like what? but he didnt want to tell me ...Who can tell me ?
I deserve to know...maybe it is nothing and he was teasing , by the way It was clear I couldnt say " dört" correctly I dont like number 4 anymore!
Dilara.

You can type in a English/Turkish word or click on any Turkish word here and it will bring you to a Turkish dictionary. It is in the middle of the left hand side of the screen.

When you are in the dictionary you can click on the top and hear what the Turkish word sounds like.

On the top of the screen, right under where it says Turkish-> English is a little arrow to click on that will allow you to hear the word. It's fabulous!

Wow ... you learn something new every day!

Yes, I discovered that months ago but I didnt like the sound, for example , For me the sound of "Hâlâ " is the same as "Hala" there which is not correct??

I am sorry, Dilara but you're supposed to be able to say hâlâ (still), and not hala (aunt). Because, as far as I see, Latin American people cannot say strong "L" (Arabs and many Africans cannot say either!)

Hala's (aunt) "L" is pure Turkish strong "L", but hâlâ's (still) "L" sounds like your "L"