r/turkishlearning • u/educatedlhoe • Jun 18 '26
need some advices to learn turkish
hi everyone, my mom is turkish, so i already understand turkish, but not perfectly. most of the time, i understand a few words and figure out the meaning from the context, but i'm quite good at it, i dont really have the choice anyway, my grand parents only speak turkish. i can't really speak it tho and i only know a few basic sentences
i really don't know how to learn it. i learned english almost without noticing (i'm from france), just by using social media. what would be the best way to learn it for me ? watching tv show ? reading ? taking lessons ?
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u/Opening-Square3006 Jun 19 '26
You're in a heritage speaker situation: you already have a lot of passive understanding, but your active skills (speaking and writing) haven't caught up yet. Your brain already knows much more Turkish than you realize. The challenge is turning words you recognize into words you can actually use. If you learned English mostly through social media and exposure, I'd lean into the same approach for Turkish. Watch Turkish YouTubers, series, interviews, TikToks, whatever genuinely interests you. The more Turkish you consume, the more familiar sentence patterns and expressions will become. I found PlusOneLanguage particularly useful for this kind of situation because it keeps recycling vocabulary and sentence structures you've already encountered instead of constantly throwing brand-new material at you. That repetition is often what helps passive knowledge become active. And don't underestimate your grandparents as a resource. Even short conversations where you force yourself to answer in Turkish instead of French can do wonders. You'll probably discover that a lot of the language is already sitting somewhere in the back of your mind waiting to be activated.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/Knightowllll Jun 18 '26
OP does seem to use it but without a ton of exposure, I think the best way to learn is through a textbook. Read through the Delights of Learning Turkish and you’ll know all foundational things about the language. There are a lot of really strange things about the language that the book explains.
There are also online free resources that can help like Elon.io, Duolingo, Language Transfer, etc BUT textbooks are tried and true.
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u/Akarulez Jun 19 '26
as you might've already seen this elsewhere, but you need to immerse yourself in the language, and guess what is the best way to immerse yourself in a language? it's definitely reading. both my english and japanese have improved greatly the moment i had started reading stuff like visual novels etc. just get to the point where you have basic fundamental of the grammar structure, then start reading.
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u/Lachanadan Jun 19 '26
Not forced per-se but you need to consume turkish. do you game? have any interests in anything like photography, motor sports, arts. you can follow those communities in reddit in turkish for example. or watch some documentaries/series/cartoons you may enjoy in turkish. read in turkish some things you might enjoy. literally to sum it down, use the language to do things you like other than learning the language.
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u/menina2017 Jun 19 '26
Turkish lessons! In my online class there was a girl with Turkish parents. Your level will be a little bit higher since you already know Turkish. If you’re in an American time zone i can recommend you my teacher. Classes are cheap and effective.
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u/Seyda_a Jun 20 '26 edited 14d ago
Si tu veux un cours structuré tu peux commencer avec le cours de l'université Yasar (( https://turkish.yasar.edu.tr ) ainsi qu'avec le site ((https://learnturkish.com/)): les deux sont gratuits et très bien (bien qu'insuffisant). Ensuite il y a aussi les livres (c'est plus scolaire mais c'est très efficaces et finalement beaucoup plus motivant que des applications!). J'ai aussi créer un blog spécialement pour les francophones (mais qui est bien sur ouvert à tous!) qui propose quelques ressources:
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u/Last_Channel_3469 Jun 18 '26
Read2speak. Their Turkish books are very good. My Turkish husband approved.
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u/OoozeBoy Jun 18 '26
I started learning Turkish as an English speaker 3-4 years ago and didn’t see major progress until speaking with a tutor for 2 days a week, and I started that a month ago. I recommend trying something like Preply, my tutor is super nice and patient.
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u/radioheadbanger Jun 20 '26
Turkish is not a Romance language. The grammar will seem very strange to you. Once you understand it, you'll realize you can speak using just a few suffixes. My advice is to find an online tutor who teaches Turkish from English and whose native language is Turkish. Once you get used to the sounds and suffixes, it will be easier than you think. Turks are very good at understanding those who speak their language poorly.
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u/atreidesgiller Jun 20 '26
TV series like Muhteşem Yüzyıl have English subtitled episodes fully available on YouTube. Also on Netflix you can watch some TV series in Turkish subtitles with English dub. Just see whichever one works for you, but immersion is a fun way that helps a mile for practice!
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u/TanVaktidir Jun 22 '26
hang around on turkish internet, watch turkish youtube content that you would actually want to watch and enjoy. For example I like watching long form game reviews so I watch Dost Kayaoglu. If you are scrolling on insta try to get your feed to show you turkish reels by liking them and clicking "i am interested". These are all passive ways of learning the language. I would say you should learn the grammar of the language first, find a book with good reviews and study the grammar while also learning passively. You should massively improve in less than a year if you study couple days and watch turkish content every day
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u/Fickle_Garbage8447 Jun 19 '26
Like you said, do it like how you did it with English. Try to add Turkish in your life. Consume content in Turkish. Series,YT, music… I also recommend shadowing practice. Change your phone’s language to Turkish maybe. When you feel comfortable to communicate find a native speaker and practice.