The Alphabet: Reading and Writing

Omniglot Encyclopedia: Provides the history, and examples, of the Turkish alphabet. Beginning with the modern Turkish script and continuing to Ottoman examples. Students will find notes on pronunciation, sample videos, and links to more information at the bottom of the page.

Grammar and Vocabulary

Essentials of Modern Turkish: This book, published by MEI in 1954, has been digitized and is available for free on HathiTrust. It starts with the basics--modern Turkish alphabet and sounds, and continues to provide 42 lessons, a key to the exercises, 164 pages of vocabulary (Turkish-English then English-Turkish), a list of the names of countries, and a brief bibliography.

The Yojik Website: Provides both volumes of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Basic Turkish textbooks from 1966, including links to audio files for listening exercises.

Listening Exercises and Videos

Easy Turkish: This YouTube channel features interactions with Turks on the street, discussing cultural topics at normal conversation pace with Turkish and English subtitles. Also provides videos for beginners, with vocabulary and basic phrases.

Internet Movie DataBase (IMDB): Provides a list of 100 top-rated Turkish series (en iyi Türk dizileri).

PowerTürk Canlı Radyo: This live radio station plays music 24/7 and provides lists of various university radio stations, and other Turkish podcasts
The radio station is also available on YouTube.

Turkish Class 101: This YouTube channel has short lessons ranging from six to 30 minutes, and focuses on vocabulary and phrases. 

Whats-on-Netflix (WON): Provides a list of Netflix’s expanding catalog of Turkish series. The list by WON was updated in June 2020. 

Dictionaries

Nişanyan Sözlük: çağdaş Türkçenin etimolojisi:  Modern Turkish etymology dictionary; this resource focuses on Turkish words in use today, providing historical and etymological roots. Definitions are only given if necessary.

SesliSözlük is a good tool for translating one word at a time, either from Turkish to English or English to Turkish, including Ottoman Turkish (using Latin script) to Modern Turkish. Provides definitions and related terms in English and in Turkish.

Oman Library Resources

Some Dictionaries Available at the Oman Library

The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, by A.D. Alderson and Fahir İz
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1984, c1959 
Call number: PL 137 .A4 1984 REF 

Redhouse Türkçe/Osmanlıca-İngilizce sözlük (Redhouse Turkish/Ottoman-English dictionary)
İstanbul : SEV Matbaacılık ve Yayıncılık, 2000
Call number: PL 191 .R547 2014 REF 

Some Grammar Books Available at the Oman Library

201 Turkish Verbs, Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses, by Talat Sait Halman
Woodbury, N.Y. : Barron's Educational Series, c1981
Call number: PL 161 .H3 ATA 

Essentials of Modern Turkish, by Herman H. Kreider
Washington : Middle East Institute, 1954
Call number: PL 123 .K7 1954 REF
Also available online at HathiTrust

The Function of Word Order in Turkish Grammar, by Eser Emine Erguvanlı
Berkeley : University of California Press, c1984
Call number: PL 171 .E7 1984 

Teach Yourself Turkish, by G.L. Lewis
London : English Universities Press, [1953]
Call number: PL 123 .L4 

Turkish Grammar, by G.L. Lewis
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1986
Call number: PL 123 .L4 1986 ATA c.2 

Some Bilingual Books Available at the Oman Library

Advanced Turkish Reader: Texts from the Social Sciences and Related Fields, by Andreas Tietze
Bloomington : Indiana University [1973]
Call number: PL127.5 .U5T5

Contemporary Turkish Short Stories: An Intermediate Reader, ed. by Richard L. Chambers and Günay Kut (Alpay)
Minneapolis : Bibliotheca Islamica, 1977
Call number: PL 240 .C6 ATA 

Turkish Literary Reader, by Andreas Tietze
Bloomington : Indiana University, 1963
Call number: PL 125 .T5

...and more! Visit the library online or in person to find out more: https://catalog.mei.edu/


This research guide is maintained by the Oman Library at the Middle East Institute.