Teach Yourself Turkish Complete Course

by David Pollard

Turkish is the most widely spoken of the Altaic language family. Its usage is common in such current political hot spots as the Balkans, Central Asia, and the Near East.Among the highlights of" Teach Yourself Turkish are: An in-depth study of how the language was formedA phonetic approach to the spoken languageThe grammar and rules of written TurkishVocabulary exercises to make learning easier

Genres: Language, Turkish, Reference, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published December 2, 1996

About the author

David Pollard was born in London in 1942. He fled accountancy to the University of Sussex where he was given his three degrees in literature, the history of ideas and philosophy. The last of these, a doctorate, was published as The Poetry of Keats: Language and Experience and is a Heideggerian interpretation of the poet. He has also published other work on Keats, as well as on Blake and Nietzsche. His latest, Nietzsche’s Footfalls, a meditation on the philosopher and his times, came out in 2003. He has also reviewed extensively in the fields of both philosophy and literature. Pollard’s work has appeared in: Omphalos, Tears in the Fence, Aletheia, Fire, Eratica, Eclipse and Poetry Monthly. He is curently writing a comparison of Blake and Nietzsche.

Reviews

[Jim Robles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our son and daughter-in-law took our only grandson to Istanbul thirteen years ago. Now they have all five of our grandsons there. I am working, at a low level, to acquire some Turkish, in part because they are there (we go every Spring), and in part because I do not with to die (completely) monolingual.

My 23andMe analysis shows that I am part of a genetic group that is less likely than average to acquire a second language as an adult. What does that mean? I am reminded that my Mother studied Spanish for four years in college, and got straight As, but never go to where she could follow or engage in conversations, in Spanish, with my Father and his relatives. So there is an upper limit even if I were to put more time and effort into this.

There is also the issue of why I am so comfortable with the book. It is deductive/nomological/nomothetic, and I am very comfortable with that.

I tried a Rosetta Stone course on Turkish. It was inductive/idiographic. That is probably a better approach for learning a language, but I was never comfortable with it. That is part of my limitation.

So? Where am I with this book? There are sixteen chapters.

I am pretty comfortable (albeit I am told my pronunciation is horrible) with the Introduction and Chapters 1 through 5.

I have scratched a bit at Chapters 6 and 7.

The book says I will be intermediate when I finish. I have a long way to go.

[Christian Crowley]

I started reading a library copy of this book heading out to the Playa for Burning Man 2010, as prep for my first Turkish class with the Global Language Network, GW's free foreign language nightschool program. It gave me enough grammar in the first couple chapters to let me skip GLN's Level 1 and start with Level 2.

After two fun semesters with GLN, I've continued on and off with an electronic copy of this book (and the recordings). Now that Alejo J and I are planning a trip to Turkey with Vickie B, I shall pick it up again in earnest to supplement my next two semesters!

[Sean]

A great introduction to this language or any language, it appears to be written by a native english and native turkish speaker, and their ability to construct lessons that are very informative and yet presented from the perspective of a second language learner make for an easy entry into a potentially difficult language.

[Juliette Jimeno · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a nightmare to find it at Istanbul, but, it worth my 2 days walking around lokking for it. A great help if you dont have much clues about turkish language.

[Agustinus Wibowo · Rating 5 out of 5]

good reading material to grab turkish, from totally beginner to intermediate level. the sentences and vocab are useful in daily life, and the exercises r also effective.

[Shuli · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as accessible language textbooks go, this one works incredibly! Turkish is a complex language that, while it isn't terribly irregular, comes off as almost totally grammatically alien to speakers of most Western languages, and this textbook, for the most part, explains things incredibly straightforwardly. While designed for tourists and other travelers to Turkey, this book works wonderful as a self-study textbook (that's what I used it for!)

Pollard does a lot of handholding through complex grammatical concepts and never assumes that the student has had any formal linguistic training which is wonderful for folks who are new to studying foreign languages. The vocabulary is arranged thematically in useful sections and progresses quickly but manageably and has a well assembled glossary in the back.

That being said, as someone with a fair linguistic background, I found that sometimes in an effort to be truly accessible, concepts that were relatively straightforward (especially phonological aspects) ended up being mystified or just ignored. A great example: vowel harmony is explained away as being governed by strange and esoteric rules that you just have to get an ear for then just leaves it at that. Vowel harmony is strange to a non-Uralic Westerner, sure, but it's hardly too complex to explain in a beginner's textbook and a pretty necessary part of Turkish grammar to understand if you're ever going to sound like anything but hopelessly foreign!

Aside from shirking some more complex concepts and some moments that felt dated (a whole chapter about phones and operators and nothing about the internet! It was adorable!) I think this was a wonderful introductory textbook. Highly recommend!

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the authors for such a useful book. It provides the reader/learner with comprehensive word structures and expressions that are easy to remember and make your own. The linguistic explanations and cultural backgrounds help immensely in understanding the way words and expressions are used by the native speakers. The grammar rules added and the examples provided for each of them make it easy to remember and use them.
I learned a lot from this book and added to my knowledge of the language. Highly recommended.

[David Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best, basic, Turkish language book out there.
If you get this Book then make sure that you also get the accompanying CDs. It's one of those books where you really need to do the exercises and re-read a few times. It will be frustrating a first but you can't really go wrong with this book.

Some of the alternative 'introduction' level Turkish books are just dire. Grab this one to get a handle on Turkish before trying anything more advanced.

[lidiya.vm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful! I’ve learned a lot but wish it was with more exercises.

[eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

this counts right😈

[Juraj Spilda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well structured, with lessons building on top of each other, and key vocabulary translations provided right next to the text. I will definitely go through this book again in the (near?) future!

[Saeid Mohammadpour · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been fond of learning languages in a self-study manner. However, not any self-study language training books is of my interest. I don't prefer the grammar-intensive books, because they are so boring and I won't be able to end these kind of books. The books that have a fair amount of grammar but they mostly focus on the conversation and context are the best ones for inspiring the reader to end the book. Teach Yourself Turkish is of this kind. It includes several lessons and in each lesson you'll be able to learn some new conversational phrases, grammar, and points along with some interesting exercises which ensures you of grasping all the taught lessons.
If you want to learn Turkish in a self-study manner, this book can be a good guide and help for you, since it starts from the very beginning and goes through some intermediate and advanced points as well.
I strongly recommend reading this book for the Turkish learners. I also wait for your comments and reviews on it.

[Abo Qasim]

ok

[Naouel Guergar]

Teach Yourself Turkish Complete Course

[Osamuyi Okpame · Rating 5 out of 5]

..very interesting and if you have Turkish friends, it makes learning Turkish worthwhile.