I stayed a month in Turkey to learn some Turkish. I noticed that this strange language contains a lot of French words. Then I started looking actively for the French words, and they showed up in strange places, disguised in odd spellings.

Earlier, the Turks borrowed many words from Arabic and Farsi. 150 years ago they started borrowing French words. Many of these word describe the bourgeois life in town, and they were adapted exactly when the Turks began moving into towns. I was told that there are 5,000 French words in Turkish, nearly all of them nouns. 50 years ago English words arrived as well, but not to the same extent.

The Turks changed from using the Arabian alphabet to the Latin alphabet around 1920. It was one of Kemal Ataturk's numerous reforms. The Turks started on a fresh transcription with a one-to-one connection between letters and pronounciation. That is a clever principle. It is also the rule in Finnish, Hungarian, Italian and Korean, and it helps schoolchildren to read and write within their first year in school.

Five rules for Turkish pronounciation:

1. Every letter is pronounced
2. Each letter has only one sound
3. Letters are never combined to form other sounds as English ch in "church"
4. No diphthong vowels as in English "boil"
5. There is a slight stress on the last syllable

To make the Latin alphabet and the Turkish sounds match means that some letters are not pronounced as one would expect:

"ı" is an extra vowel quite apart from "i".

• Pronounce the vowel as the vowel in English "plus". Keep your teeth together and the lips unrounded.
• The same sound exist in other East European languages. It is spelled "ы" in Russian, "â" in Romanian and "r" (as a vowel) in Serbian and Croatian.
• As there is a difference between the two I's also in uppercase, it is necessary with a dot on top of an ordinary, uppercase I in Turkish: "İ"

Other deviations:

• "y" is a consonant as y in English "you"
• "c" as g in English "gentle"
• "ç" as ch in English "church"
• "ğ" is a soft g, barely pronounced. It will lengthen a preceding vowel.
• "j" is a voiced sh as the last sound in French "garage"
• "r" is rolled as in Italian, not at all like the English sound
• The remaining, deviating letters are not so difficult: Ç ç - I ı - İ i - Ö ö - Ş ş - Ü ü

Exercise: Pronounce these loans from English: videoteyp, greypfrut, flört, tişört.

The Turkish grammar uses vowel harmony where the basic Turkish words use either a - ı - o - u or e - i - ö - ü. These two sets of vowels will never be combined in a Turkish word. The rule reveals which words that are imported from other languages: "videoteyp" has the vowels i - e - o - e which are not consistent with the vowel harmony. Hungarian and Korean languages also use vowel harmony.

Further, the Turks likes words where there is only one consonant and one vowel at a time: vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant etc. That is easy and quick to pronounce, and that has altered "auto" to "oto", "sport" to "spor" and "machine" to "makinesi".

As every letter is pronounced, the Turks will always change the spelling of imported words so that they match with their Turkish pronounciation. Example:

• In French, "appartement" is pronounced with the ending "t" muted and with nasal ending "appartemang" sounding through both mouth and nose
• In Turkish, the muted "t" is omitted, precisely because it is muted. Turkish does not use the nasal ending, so the word is written and pronounced "apartman". The last syllable will be stressed - just as in French. By the way, the meaning of the word has also changed. In Turkish it means "a house with apartments". Still, it is a word of French origin.

 

A few French words are unchanged in pronounciation, meaning and spelling:

Turkish	French	English
pardon	pardon	pardon
lavabo	lavabo	washbasin
liste	liste	list

 

Some words have lost an unpronouced letter, changed a vowel, etc.:

argo	argot	argot, slang
bonfile	bon filét	good steak
depo	depot	depository
garson	garçon	waiter
gri	gris	grey
lig	ligue	league
otel	hôtel	hotel
pantolon	pantalon	trousers
park	parc	park
reklam	réclame	advertisement
sinema	cinéma	cinema
şef	chef	chief (not cook)
tren	train
vapur	vapeur	French: "steam", Italian, Croatian and Turkish: "steamboat"
vitrin	vitrine	showcase

 

Words with two changes:

avukat	avocat	advocate, lawyer
garaj	garage	garage
kantin	cantine	canteen
kalorifer	calorifère	furnace
kartpostal	carte postale	postcard
lamba	lampe	lamp
restoran	restaurant	restaurant
vazo	vase	vase

 

Completely reworked words

ajans	agence	agency
aksesuar	accessoire	accessory
alyans	alliance	engagement ring
apartman	appartement	flat, apartment
asansör	ascenseur	lift, elevator
banliyö	banlieue	suburb
berber	barbier	barber
bisküvi	biscuit	biscuit
büro	bureau	office
çikolata	chokolat	chocolate
ekselans	excellence	excellency
fayans	faïence	faiance
fuar	foire	fair
kalite	qualité	quality
kartvizit	carte de visite	business card
klozet	closette	bathroom
koaför	coiffeur	hairdresser
kolej	college	college
komodin	commode	commode, chest of drawers
kumanda	commande	command (noun)
kuzen	cousin	cousin
küvet	cuvette	bathtub
lisans	licence	license
lise	lycée	high school
makine	machine	machine
manevra	manoeuvre	maneuver, exercise
misyon	mission	mission
ofis	office	office
okul	ecole	school
omlet	omelette	omelet
peruk	perruque	wig
petibör	petit beurre	petit beurre, biscuit
piknik	pique-nique	picnic
randevu	rendez-vous	rendezvous
sabun	savon	soap
sekreter	secrétaire	secretary
sosyete	société	society
spor	sport	sport
şans	chance	chance
şifonyer	chiffoniere	make-up table
şifre	chiffres	digit
şoför	chauffeur	chauffeur, driver
şok	choc	shock
şömine	cheminée	fireplace
turizm	tourisme	tourism
tuvalet	toilettes	bathroom

 

Foreign towns and countries are often pronounced as in French:

Londra	Londres	London
Norveç	Norvege	Norway
Danimarka	Danemark	Denmark
Kopenhag	Copenhague	Copenhagen

 

Pronouncing several consonants in the beginning of a word is often easier if you add an "i" in front:

istasionu	station, gare	station
İsviçre	Suisse	Switzerland
İsveç	Suede	Sweden
İspanya	Espagne	Spain

 

Three French words are used for cell phones and computers:

mesaj	message	text message, SMS
ekran	ecran	screen
hoparlör	hautparleur	loudspeaker