Do the Unconventional and Learn Turkish: 11 Reasons

Most of our language-learning community is learning one of the major world languages: French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic, and with good reason: They’re challenging, fun, interesting, and open a world of places, people, and foods to discover.

But I’ve found it surprisingly rewarding to learn Turkish — basic Turkish, anyway. Over the last few months I’ve built a word and phrase vocabulary of about 500 words — enough just to order food and get by in local life. And it has been transformative for our travel experience, more so than getting much further in other languages.

In this time, I’ve learned a lot about what makes Turkish interesting and unique when contrasted with other languages that are more popular targets for language learners. So I wanted to share this list of why I think Turkish is worth learning — at least the basics — if you plan on spending any time at all in Türkiye.

Why Learn Turkish — An Overview

Learning Turkish is an interesting and rewarding challenge. It’s definitely a language that’s “off the beaten track” for language learners. But that’s just one reason it’s interesting.

Turkish has old roots in a language family that may be unfamiliar to you. Its modern Latin-based spelling and many systematic suffix patterns make it approachable, even when the vocabulary is new.

No, Turkish isn’t “easy”. It has quite a few elements that make learning Turkish hard — the vocabulary is probably unfamiliar for you (unless you speak Kazakh or Uzbek…), the grammar has some unusual bits, and “agglutination” may do your head in at first.

But aside from that, the “ROI” of learning Turkish is quite high.

Outside the touristy areas of central Istanbul and common destinations, you’d be surprised how quickly the English level drops. You just have to cross the Bosphorus into Kadıköy, for example, and you’ll suddenly be greeted with situations where people won’t know much beyond nouns for things they’re selling.

If you learn Turkish, you get access to a family of related Turkic languages. Suddenly, other languages from Central Asia will seem far less foreign. And because you’ll probably be exposed in part to those cultures in Türkiye, it makes travel to those places seem much more enticing.

In a region where most tourists get by through gesticulation and translator apps, a bit of Turkish goes a long way!

Ancient Yet Modern: Time-Travel with Words

Learning Turkish is a little like time travelling to a different part of the ancient world.

While Turkish is used in today’s bustling bazaars and modern Turkish dramas, many of its words trace back to ancient times. You get this sense when you learn many everyday words in Turkish — they don’t sound like words from any other language.

I first experienced this when I started learning the counting system. After having learned a few Asian, European, and Middle Eastern languages, I’m used to finding a few numbers in common.

But every number (other than “zero”, which I rarely say) in Turkish is unfamiliar. They all have roots in old Turkic!

A few other examples of everyday words with old Turkish origins are ev (“house”), su, (“water”), yıldız (“star”), göz (“eye”), and dağ (“mountain”).

Many Turkish words have Turkic roots, while others are loans from Arabic, Persian, French and other languages. That’s a different connection from shared ancestry: English is Germanic, for example, but has borrowed extensively from French, Latin and Greek.

Unique Harmony Features

One intellectual reason to learn Turkish is to get exposure to some of its interesting elements. A relatively unique feature of Turkish is the combination of vowel harmony and consonant harmony.

In a nutshell, vowel harmony affects which vowel a suffix takes. For example, the adjective-forming suffix meaning “with” or “containing” has the forms -lı, -li, -lu and -lü, normally chosen from the last vowel before it.

You might be vaguely familiar with this concept if you know of gender agreement in European languages, like Spanish or Italian, e.g. “la Casa Blanca” (“the White House”) or “il cibo è buono” (“the food is good”). But Turkish vowel harmony is different as it can’t be neatly bundled up into grammatical gender (which Turkish doesn’t have).

Compare tavuklu pilav, “rice with chicken”, and şekerli kahve, “coffee with sugar”. The suffix -lı/-li/-lu/-lü describes what something contains. For “with” in the sense of accompanying someone or using something, Turkish also uses ile or -(y)la/-(y)le.

Vowel harmony looks like a lot of rules at first, but the core patterns become familiar. There are exceptions, including some common borrowed words and fixed-vowel suffixes.

See more about Turkish vowel harmony here.

Very Organised Grammar

One of the joys of Turkish is that many grammatical patterns are systematic. Its Latin-based alphabet was adopted in 1928.

The 1928 reform changed the alphabet, not created the grammar. Turkish’s suffix system and vowel harmony existed long before it.

Recognising the suffix patterns lets you reuse what you’ve learned, though common exceptions still need attention.

As an adult learner, being able to recognise and practise a pattern is an advantage.

Yes, Turkish grammar might seem hard if you focus on the unusual features, like vowel harmony, consonant harmony, and agglutination.

But don’t forget all the things Turkish grammar lacks, too: There’s no grammatical gender, there are no noun classes (like in Swahili), and plural forms are very easy.

See more about interesting features of Turkish grammar here.

Pronunciation Perks

Turkish pronunciation is, compared to most languages, very easy (for English speakers).

The consonants by and large all exist in English, other than a slightly trilled “r” — and it’s far easier for your average English speaker than the “r” in Spanish or French, two popular languages to learn.

A handful of unique vowels in Turkish may seem familiar to French or German speakers. Mastering these vowels can be both intriguing and rewarding.

For many English speakers, ı is the least familiar vowel. It is made high and towards the back of the mouth, without rounding the lips.

Turkic Family Pass

Learning Turkish gives you a head start with other Turkic languages, such as Uzbek and Kazakh. Shared words and grammatical patterns help, but they don’t make those languages automatically understandable.

Those languages weren’t really on my radar before. But I was pleased to see just how many basic words Turkish has in common with other Turkic languages (like numbers, which go a long way!)

See the below table of Turkish words that are quite different to English words, but which have very similar corresponding words in Uzbek and Kazakh.

Not all of these are originally from Turkic languages, but they’re shared among the three.

Note that Uzbek is in a phase of transition from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet. I use the Latin above so we can see the similarities more easily.

The degree of similarity varies: Azerbaijani is generally much closer to Turkish than Uzbek or Kazakh. Familiar vocabulary is a starting point, not a guarantee of mutual understanding.

Small Efforts, Big Impact

What better reason to learn a language is there than to connect with locals and do things that other tourists may not be able to do? Turkish is one language that gets you very far with very little.

One of my favourite reasons to learn Turkish is that it’s a high-ROI language.

By that I mean that for a little investment in learning Turkish, you get a huge reward.

Turkish is spoken in Türkiye and by communities elsewhere. For a visitor, the practical value is being able to use it in everyday interactions.

In my experience, English became less dependable outside heavily tourist-oriented areas. In local eateries on Istanbul’s Asian side, I often needed Turkish to order and ask questions.

Knowing your greetings, numbers, foods, and a few easy interactions will not only make your life go more smoothly, but they’ll open up a whole world of people to meet and tasty treats to try.

Here are five quick and simple Turkish phrases to get you started learning Turkish.

See here for a longer list of essential Turkish phrases for travel and everyday survival.

Turkish Culinary Adventures

Learn Turkish and eat delicious treats. This could be the only reason for many people

Turkish cuisine is diverse and rich. It combines a lot of middle eastern, central Asian, and Mediterranean cuisine, while adding its own spin on many individual items.

Before travelling to Türkiye, I thought of Turkish food as being “kebabs”. Well, they are a major feature, but there is a lot more to it!

For one thing, I learned very quickly that the word for a wrap is, in fact, dürüm. The döner is the meat. If it wasn’t obvious to me, I’m sure it won’t be for a lot of people…

Just a few foods that I see everywhere and that I enjoy regularly (let’s say, at least once weekly) include:

When ordering at most of those places on the Asian side of Istanbul, I have to speak Turkish. Even just a few phrases like “May I have?” or “Another one, please” are super useful.

So, learn Turkish, and eat well — afiyet olsun!

Enjoy Turkish Pleasantries

Turkish has a lot of charming and interesting pleasantries. Some of them feel European, and some of them feel distinctly Central Asian.

When you learn Turkish you start with greetings and pleasantries. After all, you hear these all the time, so you should understand them and know how to use them.

On top of that, Turkish people are quick to praise. You’ll hear the equivalent of “bon appetit”, afiyet olsun, very often.

See here for more essential everyday Turkish phrases.

Bargain at Turkish Markets

Learn Turkish and save a few bucks!

I’m not great at bargaining — but I do enjoy a bargain. Bargaining is common for some goods in bazaars and souvenir markets, not for every purchase in Türkiye.

There’s so much to buy in Turkish markets that make excellent gifts for friends and family — or for yourself. Backgammon sets, cute boxes, coffee paraphernalia, tea sets, jewellery warding off the “evil eye”… there’s loads. Quality and prices vary, so compare stalls. Turkish phrases can help you ask questions and discuss the price.

If you’re going to bargain, do so in Turkish for maximum effect. So it’s worth learning a few basic bargaining Turkish phrases (which we’ll cover in a separate article).

Of course, bargaining is more about your skill in it than in language. You can bargain in any language by just being stubborn and refusing to pay much. But it’s still fun to do so in the local tongue.

Other reasons

Many people have their own individual reasons for learning Turkish. Maybe you have mixed Turkish heritage. Or maybe you’re really into Turkish music — it has a rich pop and folk music scene.

Whatever your reasons, hopefully one of the above will have spurred you on further!