The fastest way to learn Turkish is to spend most of your study time on Turkish you can mostly understand. That kind of Turkish is called comprehensible input. What you read and listen to should change as you improve, so the plan below shows what to do at each level and how to split an hour of study.
What to Do at Each Level
Find the level that sounds like you. Its bar shows how to spend an hour of study.
- First Week
I can't read the Turkish alphabet yet.
Learn the Alphabet 40 min. Listen 20 min.
Turkish has 29 letters, and only six of them, ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü, are new to English readers. Learn them first, and listen to easy Turkish while you do, so the sounds start to feel familiar.
- Level 1
I'm just starting out or know only a few words.
Read and listen 35 min. Review 15 min. Speak 10 min.
Read short dialogues with audio and a translation, and review the words you saved. Watch Super Easy Turkish from Easy Turkish, which uses simple words, and say a few lines out loud.
- Level 2
I can handle simple exchanges.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 10 min. Speak 10 min.
Hide the translation, and when a long word stops you, find the root at the start and read its endings one at a time. Listen to the picture books in TRT Çocuk Kitaplık, and retell one to a tutor or a friend.
- Level 3
I follow conversations on familiar topics.
Read and listen 40 min. Review 5 min. Speak 15 min.
Add the Slow News episodes of the Easy Turkish Podcast, and listen to each lesson once more without reading along. Talk about what you heard for longer.
- Level 4
I understand most content but miss some nuance.
Read and watch 45 min. Review 5 min. Speak 10 min.
An episode of a Turkish drama often runs 120 to 150 minutes, so watch it with Turkish subtitles in shorter parts. Listen to Turkish Podcast with Ebru, which is made for intermediate learners.
- Level 5
I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.
Read and listen 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read the news on BBC News Türkçe, and listen to audiobooks on TRT Dinle, a free app from Turkey's public broadcaster. Look up only the words that block the story.
- Level 6
I read at near-native level.
Read and watch 50 min. Speak 10 min.
Read Turkish novels and watch Turkish films, and talk about them for their own sake. Look up new words in the Turkish Language Association's dictionary, which explains them in Turkish.
Move up a level when your lessons start to feel easy, and move back down if you lose the thread by the third line.
How Long Does It Take to Learn Turkish?
Turkish takes 1,012 class hours, or about 44 weeks of full-time study, to reach professional fluency, according to the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. That puts Turkish in the third of its four groups for English speakers, with Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Greek and Russian.
| Language | FSI group | Full-time weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Category I | 30 |
| German | Category II | 36 |
| Turkish, Russian | Category III | 44 |
| Japanese | Category IV | 88 |
Hacettepe University's Turkish center, TÖMER, teaches five levels, from A1 to C1, in a total of 960 class hours. Here is how long those take at different amounts of study a week:
| Study per week | Hacettepe A1–C1 (960 hours) | FSI professional fluency (1,012 hours) |
|---|---|---|
| 3½ hours | About 5¼ years | About 5½ years |
| 7 hours | About 2⅔ years | About 2¾ years |
| 14 hours | About 16 months | About 17 months |
| 28 hours | About 8 months | About 8 months |
These are class hours, so treat them as a rough guide. Time you spend understanding Turkish on your own counts too.
What Slows Learners Down
- Reading Letters the English WayA few familiar letters stand for different sounds in Turkish, so c sounds like the j in joy. Learn each letter's Turkish sound first, so you don't have to unlearn an English one later.
- Ending Tables AloneTurkish adds endings to a word one after another, so ev (house) becomes evlerden (from the houses). A table of endings is hard to use until you have read each one in many sentences.
- Content Far Too HardA Turkish drama where you know one word in five teaches you very little.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Turkish app should a beginner choose?
If you are serious about learning Turkish, start with Bubblegum. Poppy writes lessons at your level about things you like. Our Turkish app comparison covers courses, tutors and speaking apps too.
Can I learn Turkish in three months?
You can learn the Turkish alphabet and enough Turkish to greet people and order at a cafe. At 14 hours a week, three months is about 180 hours, which is less than a fifth of the 960 class hours Hacettepe University teaches from A1 to C1.
How much should I study Turkish each week?
Aim for three to five hours a week of Turkish you understand, in sessions of at least 15 to 30 minutes. A longer session lets you get lost in a story, which teaches more than five minutes a day, and steady time each week matters more than a daily streak. Our post on deep sessions over daily streaks explains why.
Is Turkish hard for English speakers?
Yes, by the Foreign Service Institute's measure: Turkish is in the third of its four groups, so it takes longer than Spanish and less time than Japanese. The alphabet is the quick part, and most of the time goes into the words and their endings, which you pick up fastest from Turkish you understand.
Is Bubblegum free?
Yes. The lesson library is free for everyone, because we believe everyone should be able to learn. It holds lessons that other learners asked Poppy for. A new custom lesson costs us real money to make, so your first one is free, and Bubblegum Pro gives you unlimited custom lessons.
The Turkish Alphabet course and the Turkish lessons on this site are also free and need no account.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Turkish alphabet (29 letters; c sounds like the j in joy)
- U.S. Department of State, Foreign Language Training (FSI language categories)
- Hacettepe University TÖMER, Frequently Asked Questions About Turkish Courses (960 class hours for A1 to C1)
- Wikipedia, Turkish grammar (suffixes added to nouns and verbs)
- Wikipedia, Turkish television drama (episodes of 120 to 150 minutes)
