Out of the 250 words I have to memorize before tomorrow I picked some of my favorites to share with you... but then I realized you wouldn't be able to understand the pronunciation of any of them so that means you also get a lesson on the Turkish alphabet! It's your lucky day.
Günaydın - Good Morning
Ağaç - Tree
Hoşça Kal - Good Bye
Görüşürüz - See you later
Eczane - Pharmacy
Muz - Banana
Genç - Young
Aslan - Lion
Mümkün - Possible
Kütüphane - Library
Şemsıye - Umbrella
Üçüncü - Third
Kaç Yaşındasın? - How old are you?
Büyük - Large
Ders - Lesson
Yorgunum - I'm Tired
Buzdolabı - Refridgerator
Affedersiniz - Excuse Me
Saat - Time
Ayakkabı - Shoe
Gürültülü - Noisy
Öksürük - Cough
TURKISH ALPHABET
Aa - (Ah)
Bb - (B)
Cc - (J)
Çç - (CH)
Dd - (D)
Ee - (A)
Ff - (F)
Gg - (Gey)
Ğğ - "Yumuşak G" = "Silent G"
...this one is tricky... It is similar to the "gh" at the end of "weigh" in that it is barely pronounced if at all. It basically serves as a marker to extend the sound of the vowel that it follows.
Hh - (H)
Iı - (Uh/Ih)
...this vowel is the hardest for me to pronounce properly... I like to think it sounds like the noise I make when I can't think of what I'm trying to say. Its very "throaty" and is pronounced with a wide mouth and teeth clenched.
İi - (E)
Jj - (Jzz)
... this letter is rarely used in the Turkish language and sounds like the end of "massage"
Kk - (K)
Ll - (L)
Mm - (M)
Nn - (N)
Oo - (Oh)
Öö - (O/Uh/Er)
... I don't even know where to start with this tongue twister. I can't ever pronounce it properly. It is supposed to sound like O but more "throaty" and with the lips pursed farther forward. It sounds like someone just poked you really hard in the stomach and this is the sound that came out.
Pp - (P)
Rr - (R)
... Depending upon where this letter appears within a word, within a sentence, and the person's personal preference this letter changes from sounding like the R we know and love to more of an L to a short of SH to being rolled to not being pronounced at all. There are hardly any pronunciation alterations in Turkish except for when it comes to R.
Ss - (S)
Şş - (SH)
Tt - (T)
Uu - (Oo)
... As in "moo" or "poo" or "glue".
Üü - (Ew)
... As in "boot" or "you" or "pew"
Vv - (V)
Yy - (Y)
... Treated exclusively as a consonant.
Zz - (Z)
The language is extremely phonetic so every letter is pronounced on it's own without much influence from its adjacent letters which makes it easy to learn spellings even though learning the actual word is super tough seeing as English and Turkish are from completely different language trees and none of the words share any remote similarities at all. Actually, Television and Chocolate are kind of similar but I think it's that way with those words in every language on earth.
No comments:
Post a Comment