Hey everyone!

I’m a 17-year-old living in Germany. Turkish is my heritage language, but since I’ve lived here my whole life, my situation is a bit mixed. My speaking and listening are okay for getting by at home. My mom only speaks Turkish fluently since she struggles with German, and my dad is bilingual, so I grew up hearing and speaking it. However, my vocabulary is mostly limited to daily household conversation, and I make mistakes with advanced grammar.

Because of this, whenever I go to Turkey for summer break to visit family, I get super embarrassed because my Turkish isn't as polished as theirs. Most of the time, I end up feeling insecure, so I just don't speak with them and instead I just sit there and listen. I really want to change that and feel confident joining in conversations.

At the same time, my reading and writing are really bad. I never formally learned Turkish grammar or how to write properly, and my written Turkish is full of errors. I want to improve both getting comfortable and natural enough with my speaking to not feel awkward around family in Turkey, while also learning how to write correctly.

I looked into Duolingo because it lets you take a placement test if you already know some of the language, but I honestly have no idea if it’s actually useful for someone in my position, or if it will just be too basic and slow.

What would be the best approach for a heritage speaker like me? Are apps like Duolingo worth it, or are there better resources for expanding my vocabulary, practicing writing, and building the speaking confidence I need? How did other heritage speakers bridge the gap between spoken kitchen Turkish and actual fluent, literate Turkish?
Any book recommendations, apps, websites, or study methods would be hugely appreciated. Thanks

Merhaba everyone!

I’ve created a new podcast episode for intermediate Turkish learners (around B1 level). In this episode, I talk about different weekend plans and situations you might experience in everyday life.

It’s a chance to practise your listening skills and learn useful Turkish vocabulary in context.

So, i am a language and literature major from Ankara University DTCF (faculty of language, history and geography), i have taught a1 to b2 but it has been more than 12-13 years at least. I have training and certification such as pedagogical certification in teaching both adolescents and adults from Ankara University again (but from faculty of educational sciences). so i am trying to create a revenue for myself and thinking of creating actual real cefr level story books in turkish.

So i have came up with this formula, would you read this kind of books;

1- depending on the level it is around 5-20 minutes OF READING TIME per story.
2- each book starts with a "how to read effectively at leve xx" where xx is the actual cefr language level
3- stories are checked with ai and actual python code to verify they do not have a higher level's words. So A1 only includes A1 level words, A2 focuses mainly on A2, might include A1 words and such
4- interactive vocabulary links, since it is a digital format (thinking of releasing on amazon for printed as well) and LEVEL-SPECIFIC words (not the lower ones) without smothering the user, are actually hyperlinks which can be clicked and when clicked it goes to vocabulary part which explains the word, type and english meaning. I am thinking of adding actual turkish explanation

Currently it says "araba - car" but i am thinking of making it " araba - car - Tekerlekli, motorlu veya motorsuz her türlü kara taşıtı."

5- at the end of each chapter a summary of the chapter in turkish
6- after each summary a few questions about the chapter
7- at the end actual answer key with explanation on each answer

Also depending on the language level each book will have a few stories. (I am thinking of making each book about 2-3 HOURS of reading only, so it will be around 15000-25000 words excluding the summaries etc)

a few examples (to show the structre. THERE ARE KNOWN ISSUES HERE AND THEY ARE NOT PROOFREAD PROPERLY, THIS IS AN EARLY TEST VERSION)

P.S. Stories will probably be not for children. I am thinking of making them adult oriented (not 18+ but not "happy little kitten got lost in the drains" kind) like daily stuff, mysteries, adventures. The ones i read are usually "John comes to Antalya and has a conversation with the local shop owner" which i dont think is fun to read. I am going back to my high school era and i would really like reading simplified Isaac Asimov stories for example. They were not insulting my intelligence like these "conversation posing as a story" stuff.

I am more than happy to provide more examples when i make the ai/python a little bit more reliable. and i am definitely glad if anyone volunteers to be the guinea pig the test reader

Hey Turkish Language Learning Community,

I have a question for all of you and want to get some of your thoughts. First off I'm a 38m American (so extra dumb) and have never learned a second language. I have been studying Turkish on and off for a while now and as far as grammar and reading I'm at upper A2 maybe starting B1 soon but speaking I am definitely lower. I don't use all the grammar rules when speaking but I can get my point across in most situations as long as I understand what they are saying. That's the main issue is a lot of the time I don't understand what they are saying. I don't have fears about just trying stuff even when I know it's a terrible sentence or attempt. In fact I think it's kind of funny! I don't get much opportunity to use it here in the states so I rely on online lessons and online language exchange partners to improve my speaking.

Ok so that's the back story of where I'm at. Here's the question. I am going back to Istanbul in December-Early January and I am doing a one month intensive class 3/hours a day in the mornings coupled with a homestay. For anyone that has done something like this or worked with people that have how much progress can someone really make? Also what things would you recommend to make the most out of it? I already specifically asked that my host family speaks zero English so I'm forced to use Turkish all the time. I don't have any crazy ambitions of reaching fluency or anything in a month but more just what other peoples experiences have been if you have done something like this.

Thanks in advance for any input!

Hello dear Turkish learners, I wonder about your motivation for learning our language. Hepinize bol şans.

Mods please feel free to take the post down if such a poll violates the rules.

Hello everyone I’m struggling in speaking Turkish i want to practice Turkish everyday with native speaker i prefer girl i really want to be fluent in Turkish

Is it a compliment to be called Esmer by someone of Turkish heritage?

Can someone who has a family plan please add me I am trying to learn Turkish for better comunication with my grandma

Hey, been working on this tool lately and thought some people here might find it useful.

It's a free, open-source popup dictionary (Windows, macOS) that lets you look up words directly from your screen using OCR, so you can use it while watching Turkish videos with subtitles, playing games, etc.

It's based on an existing Japanese popup dictionary called Meikipop, which I've expanded to support other languages and added a few extra features to. It was developed using AI, and it's still in beta, so there might be some bugs. However, I've been using it myself for Japanese for the past month, continuously fixing and improving things, and plan to keep doing so.

Download it from github: https://github.com/namidanokisetsu/wordcel

Any feedback or contributions are welcome!

When learning a language, we often look up a word in the dictionary, find its meaning, and move on. But words don't always translate directly from one language to another. There's a reason we say "lost in translation."

Words have histories, just like people and societies. They are born, grow, change, take on new meanings, and sometimes disappear altogether.

In my latest article, I explored the Turkish word devlet (state), its older meanings of happiness and good fortune, and its connections to Turkish history, culture, and ideas of justice.

It's a fairly long article, with plenty of historical sources and references for anyone who wants to explore further. If this kind of language and cultural history interests you, you're welcome to read it.

https://www.learnturkishwithseda.com/post/devlet-meaning-in-turkish

Disclaimer: The illustrations are AI-generated, based on my own ideas and refined through multiple revisions. I'm not a designer and I prefer creating visuals specific to my articles over using generic stock images. I respect differing opinions on AI art, but that's not the subject of this post.

My family is from Turkey, I speak Turkish moderately, but it is very bad, I struggle with almost anything mildly formal and my grammar is … meh. I really want to improve it, I’ve known Turkish since I was a toddler but once I got older I just stopped improving and learning it.

Hi all!

Long story short; early next year I'll move to Istanbul. I've already lived in Turkey before and speak Turkish at a low B1 level. For the first couple of months, 3-4 ish, I'm planning to do an intensive Turkish language course.

My questions are as follows:

• I'm a low B1 now. I can definitely ask the most basic things, have conversations about the weather and tell a taxici where to go. My partner is Turkish, so I know the customary language too, etc. How many months do you guys estimate are needed to go to a high B2 or even low C1 level? Would 3-4 months be enough? I'd say I definitely have a talent for acquiring languages fast. I could definitely do more -- perhaps it's even necessary for the language visa which i'll try to obtain -- but I figured this might be the sweet spot.
• As for language schools, I'm still stuck between ITU Tömer (even though I'm not really hearing good things about the TOMER-programme), Istanbul University's Dil Merkezi but I also found a smaller school -- https://dilmer.com/. The reviews on Google are better than for the ITU Tomer and the IU's Dil Merkezi programmes. Anyone has experience in any of these three institutions, and would recommend? Or any other place you strongly recommend? For financial reasons I want to follow the lessons in a class, not privately.

Thank you guys so much in advance, and for whomever's studying today, kolay gelsin

Bana mesaj atmaman için seni engelledim.

= I blocked you so you wouldn't message me.

Bana mesaj atma diye seni engelledim.

= I blocked you so you wouldn't message me.

if translated in english, both have the same translations but i feel like both have different nuances

could anyone explain it? thank you!

Looking for a language exchange partner to practice speaking over calls! 😊

I can help you improve your English, and in return, you can teach me Arabic or Turkish.

If you're interested, send me a DM and introduce yourself. Let’s learn from each other!

It is very frustrating that what used to be an open platform with users uploading their courses, suddenly takes control of those courses only to stop developing the minoritary languages.

Disappointing.

I just got done reading Teaching Yourself Turkish by Asuman Celen Pollard and its just such a good book. It presents itself as a book to learn the basics of turkish without getting too grammatical and it is just that, the author manages to simplify complex grammatical rules using simple words thus making it easy for every learner to understand them, while leaving the door open for you to seek out the full grammatical system if you wish. Now I’m just wondering where to go from that. I’m already watching a turkish series (Kızılcık Şerbeti iykyk) and I probably won’t fully read another book for a while since it will surely go over things i’ve already seen in TYT however I’d still like a more intermediate/advanced book that i could crack open from time to time to try and understand some other aspects of turkish that haven’t been treated in TYT, so I’m really open to any recommendation ! Now I guess i just have to keep practicing…

I am a native English and Japanese speaker.

I'm currently learning Turkish and would like to practice the language.

If anyone wants to become language partners, I can help with English and Japanese.

Anyone know of ways to practice Turkish?

I see a lot of people using "ne zaman" to say "when" outside of a question.

Ne zamn only works for questions (Ne zaman geldin? => When did you arrive?).

When "when" links two events, Turkish adds a suffix to the verb except in ne zaman + -sa, which means "whenever": Ne zaman arasam telefonun kapalı (Whenever I call, your phone is off).

Here are the main suffixes to link two elements:

1. -dığında (when) is the everyday "when". It takes a person ending but no tense, so the main verb sets the time, future included. Eg. Eve geldiğimde annem uyuyordu (When I got home, my mom was asleep).
2. -ınca (once): the first action is over before the second starts, and there's no person ending: Eve gelince duş aldım (Once I got home, I took a shower). If the two actions overlap, switch to -dığında: Annem aradığında yemek yapıyordum (When my mom called, I was cooking).
3. -dığı sırada (while): here one event happens in the middle of another: Yemek yediğimiz sırada elektrikler kesildi (While we were eating, the power went out).
4. -dıkça (the more) is used when one thing grows as the other does: Türkçe konuştukça daha rahat hissedeceksin (The more you speak Turkish, the more comfortable you'll feel).
5. -dığı sürece (as long as) when a condition has to keep holding: Düzenli çalıştığın sürece Türkçen gelişir (As long as you study regularly, your Turkish improves).

I wrote a guide with a few more forms (-ır -maz, -dığından beri) on how to express "when" here: https://turkishfluent.com/blog/how-to-say-when-in-turkish/

Merhaba everyone! 👋

I’m learning Turkish the fun way — years of listening to Turkish music and watching old Turkish comedies, especially the legendary Kemal Sunal 😄. His films didn’t just make me laugh; they taught me the rhythm and the heart of the language.

So I set myself a challenge: write a whole song in Turkish. It’s called “Öp Beni” (“Kiss Me”), and I’m sharing it here as practice — I’d genuinely love your corrections.

(A little backstory: I’m actually an Assyrian songwriter. The lyrics reimagine a song I wrote in my own language back in the 1980s — “Nshoqly” — reborn here in Turkish, with its own new melody.)

To be upfront: I wrote all the Turkish lyrics myself (that’s the part I’d love you to check!), and the singing voice is Almaz an AI vocalist I created and directed — noted in the video.

I’d love your honest feedback, as learners and native speakers:

• Does the Turkish sound natural, or are there spots that feel off / grammatically wrong?
• Any words or phrasings a native would never actually say?
• How does it land emotionally?

Here it is — it’s a lyric video, so you can read along in Turkish: https://youtu.be/AKJkNIptH4w?si=6KfRbFUL_kB7mTxP

I know it won’t be perfect coming from a learner, but it was made with a lot of love for your language.

Teşekkürler for any corrections or thoughts! 🙏

I want to start learning turkish. And I can't find a good coursebook. Can you give me advice? I bought Yeni Istanbul. It is too hard for me, because everything is on turkish and I don't know these words.

Hello. I have been living here since 2012 but i have a genuine problem with getting to know turkish friends

M/F im 17y/M it's not that i dont have the courage to talk to a girl

Its that im scared they will think im a wierdo or maybe i dont have a good approach

And yes its not just to find a girlfriend its about making turkish friends so any thoughts or ideas would be very helpful☺️

Hey everyone!
I’ve been living in Turkey for about 5 years, but unfortunately, I haven’t put much effort into learning Turkish, and now I really want to change that.
My Turkish is enough for basic daily situations. I can usually handle simple things on my own, but having an actual conversation is a completely different story. When someone starts talking to me in Turkish, I get overwhelmed and confused. I might understand a few words and get the general idea, but I struggle to follow the conversation or respond naturally.
My English is much better, so I tend to stick to English whenever I can. I think that’s one of the main reasons my Turkish hasn’t improved much over the years.
I don’t necessarily want to become fluent overnight, but I really want to reach a point where I can comfortably talk to people, make friends, and understand everyday conversations without panicking or switching to English.
For those of you who learned Turkish as a foreign language, or struggled with a similar situation:
**How would you recommend starting from scratch (or almost scratch) after living in the country for years?**
Should I focus more on speaking with locals, taking classes, watching Turkish content, or studying grammar and vocabulary?
How can I get better at understanding spoken Turkish when people talk quickly?
How do I stop relying on English whenever I have the chance?
If you’ve been in a similar situation, what actually helped you improve?
I’d really appreciate practical advice, personal experiences, or even a daily routine that worked for you.
Thanks! 🙏

hello, my level is A1-2. I like to learn from reading. I’d like to go to book shop and buy a book that is not too poetic. simple language. ideally not targeted at children too much. can be even a comic if it has a lot of text.

it can be novel. fiction. or whatever nice and simple. in Poland, there are books that explain how things work (cars, planes) in a simple language but aren’t too childish.

I will appreciate any recommendations 🙏