Let’s start with the Turkish alphabet. There are totally 29 letters in Turkish alphabet. 8 of them are vowels and 21 of them are consonants.
Here is the alphabet, with the vowels are bold and the consonants are normal;
a b c ç d e f g ğ h ı i j k l m n o ö p r s ş t u ü v y z
Pronunciation
Almost all of the letters in Turkish alphabet are already used in Enlgish. So, it is not that difficult to pronounce them. The letters are generally read as they are written.
- ç – ‘ch’ (as in chocolate)
- c – ‘j’ (as in joy)
- ğ – silent but lengthens the vowel before
- ı – ‘uh’ (as in but)
- ö – ‘er’ (as in turn)
- ş – ‘sh’ (as it shy)
- ü – ‘ooh’ (as in few)
Examples
- çelik (steel) is pronounced che-lick’
- söz (promise) is pronounced ‘surz’
- şafak (dawn) is pronounced ‘sha-fak’
- kadın (woman) is pronounced ‘ka-duhn’
- utangaç (shy) is pronounced ‘utan-gach’
- ceviz (walnut) is pronounced ‘jay-viz’
- boğuk (raucous) is pronounced ‘bo-ook’
Image Credit: Alphabet