FAQ

How long will it take for me to learn Turkish?
This obviously depends on you, your teacher and how much time you can spare for Turkish lessons. Broadly speaking, you can expect to have basic daily conversations in about …. months, say, with … hours of lessons (twice per week). To be able to chat somewhat fluently, you will need …

How can I improve my vocabulary?
Our teachers go over the day’s vocabulary at the end of each lesson and then remind them again at the beginning of the next lesson. This helps to keep things fresh. ..Keeping a separate vocabulary notebook might be helpful. Keeping an eye open for ads, billboards signs etc is also effective. Another way is to watch Turkish TV, especially series or soap operas. Most of our students report watching cnbc-e helpful since they can read the sub-titles in Turkish.

I know a lot of grammar but I can not speak. Why is that?
As with all languages, speaking practice is an essential part of the learning process. With Turkish, it becomes even more important. There are many things to consider at once (vowel harmony, the rule itself, word order etc.) so merely understanding the rule is never sufficient.

Our teachers spend a substential amount of time on speaking practice, till the student is comfortable with the topic and the vocabulary associated with it.

Outside of lessons, we recommend lots of practice. Speak as much as possible! Maybe you don’t remember your vowel harmony, maybe you’ve mixed the tenses up. It doesn’t matter as long as you get the message accross which will get the communication going!  Don’t over think to try and form a perfect sentence.  You can do that with your tutor in your lesson time but while you are out, try to speak as much as you can, even if it doesn’t sound right.

Sometimes I know I am saying the word right but people stare at me and they don’t get what I’m trying to say. Why?

This might mean that you need more pronounciation practice. Also, if you are using an isolated word or expression, try to add more information to clarify it.  Let’s say you are asking for mayonaise. Even though its practically the same word in Turkish, incorrect pronounciation might make the word sound different. In this case you can add other words to clarify it, like ‘ketçap’ ‘patates’etc.