The Best Way to Learn Turkish in 2026

The best way to learn Turkish is a mix: mostly Turkish you can understand, plus review and real conversation, with the balance set by your goal. Turkish you can mostly understand is called comprehensible input. Below, you'll see what each way of learning builds and the mix that suits six common goals.

Which Ways of Learning Turkish Work Best?

Reading and listening to Turkish at your level works best, and each other method adds one skill on top of it.

Input is the base of the mix: a 2016 review of 49 studies in Reading in a Foreign Language, a University of Hawaii journal, found that reading a lot of easy material improves reading in a new language.

What Is the Best Way to Learn Turkish for Your Goal?

For every goal, the best way is the same base of reading and listening, with the rest of your time on the skill that goal needs most.

• 📺Understand Turkish DramasPut most of your time into listening, starting with videos made for learners and moving on to episodes with Turkish subtitles.
• 💬Talk With Family or FriendsRead and hear lots of everyday conversations, and spend the rest of your time talking with them or with a tutor.
• ✈️Travel to TürkiyeSpend most of your time on short dialogues about ordering tea and getting around, and say each one out loud.
• 📝Pass the Turkish Proficiency ExamRead and listen at your level most of the time, and try the sample questions on the Yunus Emre Institute's official TYS site as the test gets close.
• 🏠Move to TürkiyeRead and hear Turkish about everyday life most of the time, and once you arrive, join a course at a university Turkish center, such as Ankara University's TÖMER.
• 💼Work in TurkishRead and hear Turkish about your field most of the time, and practice siz, the polite word for you, with a tutor.

To see how many hours each stage takes, read how long it takes to learn Turkish.

What Are the Best Resources for Each Part?

Each part of the mix has a good free option, such as the Easy Turkish Podcast for listening or Anki for review, and an app or service for when you want more. Bubblegum, which appears in a few rows, is a language app where Poppy, an AI tutor, writes Turkish lessons at your level about things you like.

What Should You Avoid?

Avoid anything that keeps you from reading real Turkish sentences you can follow.

• 🔤Sound-Out Spellings in EnglishTurkish is spelled almost the way it sounds, so learn the six new letters and read every word in its Turkish spelling from the start.
• 🗂️Lists With No SentencesOne Turkish word can take many endings, so save words from lines you have read, and each one comes with an example of how it is used.
• 🎬Dramas You Can't Follow YetSave Turkish dramas for when you can follow an episode with Turkish subtitles on, and watch Easy Turkish's street interviews before that.

Frequently Asked Questions