Pronunciation of Turkish Words

The modern Turkish alphabet is phonetic, i.e. each letter represents one sound. While there is no q, w, x in the Turkish alphabet, there are six letters which are not found in the English alphabet: ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü. The following guide is hoped to help the reader in the pronunciation of the Turkish words used in this publication.

c, C — as j in jam (e.g. can)

ç, Ç — as ch in chess (e.g. çanak)

ğ, Ğ — roughly as y in saying, after e or i (e.g. eğik); roughly as w in sowing, after o, ö, u or ü (e.g. öğle); hardly sounded but lengthens the preceding vowel after a or ı (e.g. ağrı)

ı, I — as i in cousin (lower case is always undotted) (e.g. arı)

i, İ — as i in bit (capital is always dotted) (e.g. İzmir)

o, O — as o in form (e.g. oyma)

ö, Ö — as i in bird (as the German ö) (e.g. ödev)

ş, Ş — as sh in shut (e.g. şal)

u, U — as oo in loot (e.g. unut)

ü, Ü — as the German ü (e.g. Türk)