Learning Turkish.

From an English language point of view Turkish seems very difficult and makes English grammar look simple in comparison. Turkish grammar adds letters to words and sometimes makes the word sound different. As a foreigner trying to listen you sometimes think 'well it sounds like that word but it's slightly different too' by which time the conversation has finished and you find yourself confused. For example...

My car = Benim Arabam
Your car = Senin Araban
His/Her car: Onun arabası

'Araba' is the word for 'Car' but the grammar changes it slightly depending on who it belongs to. There are other grammar rules like Ğ (soft G) and so on but if you are new to Turkish do not worry about it yet.

Also when you speak Turkish the sentence structure is different to that of English, for example....

English: 'On Saturday I will go my friend's home'
Turkish Structure: 'Saturday day friend my 's home to I will go'
Turkish: 'Cumatesi günÜ arkadaşIM'IN evİNE giDECEĞİM'

I have put the capital letters so you can see the grammar added/changes just to give you an idea of what it changes. Once you understand the rules on the grammar Turkish isn't really that hard to learn.

How long does it take to learn? Depends on the person I guess, I have been living and working here for 10 months and I am not fluent yet. Where can you learn it? There are courses at universities and some private tutors and companies that will teach you for a fee. If you have a tight budget make a Turkish friend, they are very friendly and welcoming people and there are always people looking to practice their English.

Good luck.

David