| Hi Merhaba ben Seda! |
| Welcome to TurkishClass101.com. Today, we'll talk about vowel pronunciation. I'm not gonna give you a translation of the words, I'm just gonna show you how to pronounce the vowels. So don't think about the meanings, don't worry. But if you like, of course, you can search about the meanings. That will be homework for you. But the important thing here is the pronunciation. |
| Turkish is said to be a language that's pronounced as it is written. That's mostly the case, but not exactly. So, I'm just gonna give you the tricks. Of course, there are a lot of different words, different pronunciations, not rules, but the way we say things. Especially different dialects, different regions have different types of pronunciation. So it's not a fixed thing, but these are the basics. |
| So let's start with it. As you know, Turkish has eight vowels. Let me just say them to you. I will put it somewhere here or here, I don't know, or here: A, E, I, İ, O, Ö, U, Ü. These are our vowels. And these vowels are generally pronounced like this. But in each of them, there're little nuances, let me put it that way. |
| So let's start with our first vowel, 'A'. So we actually have three types of 'A'. So one is, let's see, hard, soft, and long. Okay, the hard sound of 'A' is like this: 'A'. It is short, it's mostly from the throat. 'A', I hear my throat is a little bit shaking as in “at” , “araba” “arka” 'A', It's like a short voice coming from my throat. Okay, let me check another example. Yes, this one is also good “arsa” |
| The second 'A' is the soft one. We used to have something called a 'hat' (şapka). It is a shape like this on top of 'A'. Sometimes you may see it, but normally it's taken off the alphabet, so you don't see it as a different letter. It's like this. So when you see the 'şapka', the 'hat', it means that it's the soft 'A'. But as I said before, it's not put everywhere, so you actually need to learn the sounds to make sure. I'm sorry. So it's more soft, and it's more on the 'A' together in English, but I'm not sure about English. But for example, let me check the example: 'La', 'Lastik', It is not “La” but “Laaaaa” For example, hala hard sound it is aunt, hala it means still. |
| It is written exactly the same, but the way we read it makes the difference. So 'La', 'Lastik',”Lala”. Let me check another example. Yes. “hal”, not “hal” “halbuki”, “not halbuki” and yes “kase”, “lanet” “lazım” “lale” |
| So the third 'A' is like an actual double 'A'. It's the long 'A'. For example, nane, nadir, or nadiren, katil, hatta, or tarih.. So these are written the same, except the 'hat' one, but they are pronounced differently. So if you are very confused right now, don't worry, it takes time, it takes practice. It's in every language actually. It's the same with English. It takes time to learn these things. It's just good practice if you have, for example, a Turkish subtitle and you are listening to Turkish, so you hear how they pronounce some words. But in time, you will catch the way of how it's pronounced. So don't try to memorize these things. These things are just to give you a handbook so you can say, 'Ah, now okay, this is the long A, this is the hard A, this is the soft A.' I know these things in concept now, I can listen and try to hear them from the native speakers. Otherwise, it will be a very depressing thing to try to learn every word, 'Is this the long A or is this a hard A?' It will bring you down. So don't worry, just go with the flow, just try to hear and try to learn about the concepts. |
| Okay, let's continue. Now let's come to the 'E'. 'E', the English 'E'. So here we have two different 'E's actually. One is a “açık”, the other is “kapalı”, open 'E' and closed 'E'. So open 'E' is like 'E', it's like it's going out into the world. And the closed 'E' is like 'E', 'E', it's more in your mouth. And the other one is like 'Eeeee', it's like something like that. So let's give you examples. I have notes here so I can read it too. Yes, for example, for open 'E', it's 'eş'. Or “sen” It is not “sen” Or “ekmek” “edep” These are some examples. It's more open, as I said before. Let's look at some closed 'E' examples. It's 'elma', it's not 'elma', it's very short, very in the mouth.Or, let’s see “gece”,or “pencere” or “et” or “benek” . Okay, these were some examples of open and closed 'E's. |
| Now let's look at the sound of 'I'. I know this is really hard for you guys. It's not very common in other languages. It's like saying 'London', then the last vowel sound, the 'I'. It's really like “ııııııı” something like that. When you say 'I', you need to feel like your chin is making a weird shape, like 'I'. I feel it here. Okay, for example, “ışık”, “ılık”, “ıtır”, “ışıl”, or “fıkır” or “gıcır” |
| Generally in Turkish, we have double words. For example, “gıcır gıcır” it means 'very new'. Or “ılık ılık, we double the words. it's like 'warmy warmy''. Or 'ışıl ışıl”, it's like 'really bright'. So we like to put the words with “ı’s” together. And it's really hard, maybe you can try to say it back to back to practice a little. But other than that, this is a very unique sound, I think, to Turkish. |
| And let's look at the letter 'İ', which is probably a little bit easier for you. Normally we have only one 'İ', but sometimes we read some 'İ's a little bit longer. The thing is, Turkish is not just Turkish, as you know. It has a lot of words from French, from Arabic, and from Persian. So some of the words, especially coming from Arabic and Persian, have different dialects. So our vowels are a little bit changed over time to fit those words, I think. So I know it's a little bit hard for you to learn, but as I said before, this is just for learning the concepts. You can just learn every bit of... If you even ask me, you know, I'm a native speaker, even if you ask me, I can't tell you, 'This is long, this is...' You know, all of a sudden, I have to thin kabout it, I have to write and find some examples. So it takes time, don't worry again. |
| So with our normal 'İ's, for example, 'iz', 'izci', “diş” or “dil” “iii”. This is a little bit on the throat. |
| I'm making vowel sounds and my throat is scratching a little, sorry. “için”, or “bir”, or “iki”. The number is iki. This is, I think, one of the less complicated sounds. Let's look at the long 'İ's. For example, “icat” it is not “icat” but icat or “bitap” These are a little bit old-school words coming from Arabic and Persian. “biçare” “cani”, “hayati”, “nihai” “fuzuli” and one more “veli” |
| Okay, it's not “veli”, it's not “veli”. It's not, you're just not cutting your breath there, you're just making it a little bit longer. Okay guys, now let's see the hard 'O' and soft 'O'. Let me get a cup of my tea, just to soothe my throat. |
| Okay, so now 'O'. We have two 'O's. One is hard, one is soft. Okay, hard 'O's is like 'O', 'O', just like that. O, ot, ok, ocak, orman, ortak. “O” “ot” ooooo”It's a little bit on the mouth. You are making it very circular. You need to remember, when we make 'O', we make it circular. And when we make 'ö', we use our tongue to make the dots on the 'O'. So for now, it's 'O', 'O'. |
| And for the soft 'O', it's not that circular, not like 'O', it's like, for example “loş”, let me, yes, 'O'. It's more on the back, a little bit on the back. It's like 'Ok'. It's the hard one, “Looş” it's on the back a little. Okay, loş, “loca” “lokman” “lokma” “lokum” or “nohut” “Ok”. The hard 'O' is on the lips, the soft 'O' is a little bit on the back. Okay, you are still using your lips, of course, but it's a little on the back. |
| So that was it. Let's see, now we have three left. “ö,u,ü” These are only one sounds. Okay, 'ö' is like o, but you are using your tongue. I can't show you my tongue right now, but it's like 'ö', 'ö'. I'm using my tongue inside my mouth to make the sound, to make the dots on top of “o”. So it's like 'öööö'. I'm putting my tongue here. 'Öğretmen' “önlük” “ön”, “öğrenci”, “ödev” “öksürmek” “öfke” |
| These are some, I'm trying to make some meanings with them. “Söylemek” Generally, 'ö', I think it's in the middle of the word, instead of the later syllables. It's generally in the first syllables. So, “ökçe, 'ölmek', ölüm. So this was 'ö'. |
| Now we have two left. “U an Ü” And let's talk about 'U'. It's again, I'm using my mouth, but I'm just squeezing my cheeks a little. 'uuuuu', it's not like 'O', it's not that open. Uuuu. Ok? “Umut”, “bulut” “ufuk” “unut” Let me check. “Uzun”, “uyku” |
| And now let's say our last vowel, 'Ü'. Like you're, this way, you are blowing a whistle. It's something like that. There's no air coming out though, a little bit, just a little bit. It's not like, you're not, you're just making the sound 'Ü'. Okay, so let's give some examples. Let me check, yes. 'üşümek', 'üşümek'. “ütü” “üzgün”, üçgen” “üç”, “sürü” |
| Okay, that's it, guys. These were our vowels. Let's, I'll just say them one more time, “a,e,ı,i,o,ö,u,ü” eight of them. So just try to repeat with me. And if you want homework, you can try to find the meanings of the words I just said. Maybe you know some of them, maybe you don't know them. So you can check it out, and it would be good vocab homework for you guys. See you later. I hope you enjoyed the lessons. Bye. |
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