Reading any word aloud: one letter, one sound

The idea

In Turkish each letter has one sound, and each sound is written with one letter. Read from left to right, say every letter, cut the word into syllables and give each vowel the consonants around it: ce-viz, şem-si-ye, kah-ve. Nothing is silent: the h of kahve is said, and the ç of çiçek is said twice. The letters c ç ş j always give the same consonant and ı ö ü always give the same vowel; ğ never gives a g, and in yağmur it only stretches the a.

Examples

• Sınıf kelimeyi yavaş okuyor.The class reads the word slowly.
• Yarın yeni bir kelime öğreniyoruz.We are learning a new word tomorrow.
• Biz harfleri sesli okuyoruz.We read the letters aloud.
• kahvecoffeeThe h is written, so it is said: kah-ve, not kave.
• jiletrazor bladej is the soft sound of the s in measure. The sound of jam is written c in Turkish.
• yağmurrainğ gives no g sound here; it only stretches the a of yağ-mur.
• şemsiyeumbrella
• çiçekflower
• Bu kelimeyi nasıl okuyorsun?How do you read this word?

Watch out

Do not bring the reading habits of your own language. Two slips are very common: reading c as in cat or city instead of as the j of jam (ceviz starts with the sound of jam), and dropping a written h (kahve, not kave). Turkish listeners hear both as wrong words.

Try it yourself

1. Fill in the missing letter: ya_mur (rain). It is not a g; it stretches the a.

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   ğ

   ğ: it is the soft g, so yağmur has no g sound; it stretches the a of yağ-mur.

2. Fill in the missing letter: _ay (tea). It starts with the ch of chair.

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   ç

   ç: çay begins with the ch of chair, while c would give the j of jam.

3. Fill in the missing letter: ka_ve (coffee). A soft breathy consonant sits in the middle.

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   h

   h: the written h is breathed between kah and ve, so the word is kahve and never kave.

4. Fill in the missing letter: _ilet (razor blade). It starts with the s of measure.

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   j

   j: jilet begins with the s of measure; the j of jam is written c, so cilet would be a different sound.

Use it today

Pick five words from this page, split each into syllables with hyphens, then read them aloud slowly, one letter at a time. Speed up only when every letter is sounded.