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The Delights of Learning Turkish: A self-study course book for learners of Turkish
'The Delights of Learning Turkish' is a self-study course book that takes the learner from the beginner level to the intermediate level in Turkish. It is designed for English speakers, targeting adult and young adult learners; especially for those planning to settle and live in Turkey or visiting Turkey for business or pleasure. It is a comprehensive, explanatory approach to Turkish language teaching how to construct and use the language both in formal and colloquial forms with dialogues, examples, grammar points, vocabulary and exercises. It shows the grammatical structures in detail with examples, which enables the learners to make their own sentences instead of depending on off-the-shelf phrases. In the book, you can also find general information about the Turkish alphabet and Turkish language as well as notes on Turkish culture in daily life. Covering so many language points, this book is also a grammar reference that targets a wide range of audience including advanced learners. At the end of the book, you will find the keys to the exercises. There are also Turkish - English and English - Turkish glossary sections as well as Turkish proverbs and idioms added to the book with explanations.
372 pages, Paperback
First published May 4, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 24, 2020
Learning languages is a hobby for me and I've been exposed to many, although I only speak 4. In my experience in learning new languages and as a translator I can tell this book is resourceful. I have reach the third chapter and I have read chapters 1 and 2 several times already as it is not a book to be read as you normally would. It's something else, a whole different type of reading that has you back and forward to understand notions and grasp ideas of the structure and new game rules of this new language. Little by little I am learning and understanding :) It is full of vocabulary, has lots of exercises, and the back of the book has a dictionary, historical and cultural contexts to review and other interesting trips to be in love with this new language and make it yours :) I definitely recommend it.
December 28, 2018
A very useful and informative book.
The author used various methods of teaching a beginner in Turkish how to step up to another level.
The book chapters are a wonderful blend of Turkish vocabulary and grammar along with dialogues and exercises at the end of the chapter.
Very useful appendices after the seventeen chapters that includes exercise answers and Turkish English / English Turkish glossaries.
Have to admit this is a very heavy book to read and readers who are new to Turkish could be easily lost reading it.
Mentioning how heavy the book is, and getting heavier as I went past the first half of the book ... I believe this one time read is definitely not enough for me if I am to properly benefit from the book .. will need to return to it at a different depth ..
Thanking the author for the effort put and knowledge given .. ellerinize sağlık :)
The author used various methods of teaching a beginner in Turkish how to step up to another level.
The book chapters are a wonderful blend of Turkish vocabulary and grammar along with dialogues and exercises at the end of the chapter.
Very useful appendices after the seventeen chapters that includes exercise answers and Turkish English / English Turkish glossaries.
Have to admit this is a very heavy book to read and readers who are new to Turkish could be easily lost reading it.
Mentioning how heavy the book is, and getting heavier as I went past the first half of the book ... I believe this one time read is definitely not enough for me if I am to properly benefit from the book .. will need to return to it at a different depth ..
Thanking the author for the effort put and knowledge given .. ellerinize sağlık :)
August 17, 2019
The Delights of Learning Turkish came highly recommended on a Turkish learning forum. I have since leafed through other introductory Turkish texts for the purposes of comparison and I can say that Delights does an excellent job of presenting the language to a beginner. It is replete with examples and exercises, allowing the learner to actively practice the concepts discussed. As always, one should use many resources - not just a text - to learn a language, but I would definitely recommend this book to those interested in learning Turkish.
April 10, 2018
I chose this book because it has a cheeky Turkish delights reference in the title... and I was not disappointed!
This study guide is everything I wanted and more! It is phenomenal at explanation, there are exercises to complete after lessons, vocabulary references, common phrases... I’m in love with this book! It is well-written by Yaşar Kuzucu, and I’m joined at the hip with it.
This study guide is everything I wanted and more! It is phenomenal at explanation, there are exercises to complete after lessons, vocabulary references, common phrases... I’m in love with this book! It is well-written by Yaşar Kuzucu, and I’m joined at the hip with it.
July 23, 2026
I am surprised that this book has so many positive reviews. It starts off well, and had I only got through the first chapter, I too would have thought “wow, this is great”.
Unfortunately, it deteriorated as it progressed.
The way the vocabulary, structures and grammar are presented seems totally random, and the whole book has no pedagogical flow, making me doubt it was ever tested on students! It feels more like being lectured rather than actually being taught anything.
Often, words are introduced with no explanation. Sometimes two different words meaning similar things, but these differences are just ignored, leaving the student to wonder “why does he use çarşı here but pazar there?” or “how come he first uses the verb oturmak but then suddenly starts using yaşamak?”
The dialogues are strange to say the least, in one conversation we learn about seeing a fox in the garden (not exactly important vocabulary for the beginner) and in another about eating snake and crocodile! Seriously?
Also, the vocabulary presented below the dialogues seems to be randomly selected and presented: some words are missing, and they are never in the order they appear in the dialogue, making it tiresome to find and understand the new and unknown words – here a better layout would have been advantageous.
Although the grammar is clear, the order and presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Many unnecessary details are added, which just lead to cognitive overload – for example, does a beginner really need to learn “ile” only to then be told it is not needed as it is usually shortened to “-le/-la” ?
Adjectives are presented as a long list … no explanations, no contexts, nothing. Not exactly useful for a learner trying to get through this alone!
The audio files (downloadable from the webpage) are OK but at times do not relate to the text in the book! Also the female voices are highly compressed and hard to understand. To make it worse, it sounds like the same two people doing all the voices, so when two men are speaking, you can not tell who is who! The English voice is computer generated and sounds awful.
All-in-all a disappointing book which makes learning Turkish more confusing.
Unfortunately, it deteriorated as it progressed.
The way the vocabulary, structures and grammar are presented seems totally random, and the whole book has no pedagogical flow, making me doubt it was ever tested on students! It feels more like being lectured rather than actually being taught anything.
Often, words are introduced with no explanation. Sometimes two different words meaning similar things, but these differences are just ignored, leaving the student to wonder “why does he use çarşı here but pazar there?” or “how come he first uses the verb oturmak but then suddenly starts using yaşamak?”
The dialogues are strange to say the least, in one conversation we learn about seeing a fox in the garden (not exactly important vocabulary for the beginner) and in another about eating snake and crocodile! Seriously?
Also, the vocabulary presented below the dialogues seems to be randomly selected and presented: some words are missing, and they are never in the order they appear in the dialogue, making it tiresome to find and understand the new and unknown words – here a better layout would have been advantageous.
Although the grammar is clear, the order and presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Many unnecessary details are added, which just lead to cognitive overload – for example, does a beginner really need to learn “ile” only to then be told it is not needed as it is usually shortened to “-le/-la” ?
Adjectives are presented as a long list … no explanations, no contexts, nothing. Not exactly useful for a learner trying to get through this alone!
The audio files (downloadable from the webpage) are OK but at times do not relate to the text in the book! Also the female voices are highly compressed and hard to understand. To make it worse, it sounds like the same two people doing all the voices, so when two men are speaking, you can not tell who is who! The English voice is computer generated and sounds awful.
All-in-all a disappointing book which makes learning Turkish more confusing.
October 15, 2015
Very good introduction! You will keep coming back to it. Great for review.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews