Customer Reviews

Colloquial Turkish: The Complete Course for Beginners (Colloquial Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book is full of mistakes and quite odd phrases. As a native speaker of Turkish (I teach Turkish, thus I have the book) I find the dialogues and passages artificial. Some idioms and phrases are used out of place and depending on the context the learner may choose to use them, they may result in embarrasment on the part of the speaker and/or hearer.
In terms of the organization of a language teaching/learning book, like many other non-English teaching books, it does not follow the criteria for a good book; such as presenting the subject matter clearly and in an organized way so that it is not confusing for the learner. The exercises are usually controlled, which is not a very good thing.
All in all, it fails in three important aspects: The correct use of the language and grammar, the authentic use of them, and the organization of the material.
I hope there are better alternatives around. This certainly doesn't qualify as a good one.

This book's a disaster - the material is presented in a disorganized manner; there are several errors (in grammar, in spelling, in usage, and even in class - Arabic or peasanty words that you won't often come across) in the dialogues and some in the answers; it's much harder to follow than the earlier edition written by different authors; it assumes a little background info on Turkish, which it shouldn't; and, above all, its back cover, claiming "jargon-free grammar notes," is an out-and-out lie: you'll have to pore through ablative cases, converbs, and relative clauses to get to the good stuff.

BUT - the good stuff is fantastic. The book fills a much-needed space in your studies. Other books are too didactic (such as the In Three Months series); others are too basic (the Teach Yourself book), and then you're left on your own. This book is hefty enough, intermediate enough, and colloquial enough to be of help when you're at the position of knowing the basics but not ready yet to read a Turkish newspaper and be on your own. The example sentences are superb and give you much practice in dealing with the topics so poorly presented. Probably the best way to approach it is to get another book first, then to get this book, skip the grammatical expositions, and to go over the sample sentences and exercises with a spouse or friend, who can help give other contexts in which they're used, and even correct some of the errors.

Over the past few months, as I've struggled to learn a bit of Turkish, books on that topic have filled my shelves and backpack. Every time I find another one, I add it to my collection. My addiction to all language books Turkish isn't just based on the delusion that owning a lot of books will automatically give me knowledge.

What I've discovered is that one book just won't do it -- (see my other reviews on this topic).

Rudimentary books are necessary at first to give you basic phrases you'd need. Once you find you can count to ten, say hello, good-bye, yes, no, please, thank you, how are you, fine, etc. you'll find a need for deeper understanding, a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of how to put sentences together.

In my opinion, this book (the 8th I've bought) is so far the best of those that teach you the language, not just phrases. It comes with two tapes (you MUST have something to listen to -- pronunciation is essential to get your message across correctly). Although you could get along without the tapes which do not cover all the chapters, dialogues or tests, if you are serious, make sure you get the tapes -- they are extremely helpful.

Using this book (in my opinion) works best if you have started with a couple of smaller, basic phrase books, and have a self-forgiving attitude. Turkish is different from English. Some parts are easy to learn once you understand the format -- others are difficult exceptions, difficult to comprehend. This book has helped me understand the tenses that are needed (so I don't have to only use the present tense for everything in my life!)

The tests are sometimes offered using words you haven't learned yet -- this is an intentional stretch for your learning curve -- and is a good thing. I'm pretty sure I've found an error or two in the answers (which is why it is good to have several books and sources on hand).

The more I did the lessons and then went back to my basic survivor books, the more I understood, and the more I could say.

So far this is the best book I've found -- I suspect the next level requires lessons with real people, which is where I'm headed!

Excellent for the mid to advanced learner!

Iyi talih!

I decided to learn a little of the Turkish language 2 months ago. I borrowed this book from my university's library, and held on to it for 1 and 1/2 months before returning it. I was actually late returning it! This is because it is such a good book! I was so disappointed to have to let go of it, that I decided I would buy myself this book as soon as I could - and I have just placed an order for it! I can't wait to have it on my bookshelf! :)
It has an excellent pronounciation guide, though it does make simple conversation seem more complex than necessary. But overall, I would say it is worth the purchase. It also provides a decent explanation of Turkish verb endings. The writing style of the authors is clear to the beginner. And isn't that just a great picture on the cover? It makes me want to visit Turkey one day...

There is a serious problem with the Kindle version of this book. On many occasions, the difference between dotted and undotted i, [I can't seem to upload a review with the correct letters either], g and yumasak g and even sometimes s with the cedilla is not clear. Those differences are vital in Turkish, especially for beginners (like me). My guess is that this is due to optical character reading problems.

I suspect this will be cleared up in the future. Kindle is still a new technology, and in just about every other respect it's been wonderful.

When it is cleared up, though, I hope re-downloads are free.

Gerry Schulze

A few days ago I posted a harsh review of this book. I decided that my criticisms were unfair in that my reactions had as much to do with my approach to learning a language as they did with the book itself.

I've acquired a professional interest in learning Turkish. My ultimate goal is to be able to read Turkish journals and Turkish publications in history and social science. I wouldn't mind acquiring some spoken fluency as well, but it is not my first priority. I am clearly not the audience for whom "Colloquial Turkish" was published. (The title should have been my first clue.) Some of my frustration with the book arise from the fact that the authors didn't write the book that I wanted them to.

That being said, even those who are most interested in conversational Turkish should be forewarned. Aarssen and Backus clearly believe in learning through immersion without much comment about how the language actually works. The book's central pedagogical device is the dialogue, one of which begins each lesson. These dialoques present situations -- meeting a friend on the street, introducing one's English family to one's Turkish friends, etc. The dialogues are followed by vocabulary lists. There is very limited discussion of the mechanics of the language. This makes for a slow start indeed. One can memorize vocabulary, but if you want to start putting together sentences and in other ways build your repertoire, you will find yourself frustrated. You'll want to start thinking in Turkish and trying out your own little expressions based on the content of the dialogue, but you won't have the tools.

In other ways, the presentation appears to be needlessly obscure. The exercises that appear in each unit are pretty sparse, and the explanations are often cryptic. This problem is compounded by the fact that examples and explanations often use vocabulary that hasn't been introduced in the vocabulary lists, and they may use verb tenses that haven't been covered. This makes for tough sledding, though, again, I think the authors do this intentionally on the principle that one expands one's command of the language by confronting forms and vocabulary that one hasn't previously seen. My argument would be that learning is much faster and more effective if these new forms, etc., are accompanied by more explanation.

I don't want to bash the book. I've been using it for several weeks now and I've made some headway. But I am basically self-teaching, and this is not the way I approach learning a language.

In my conversations with a couple of people who teach Turkish and from what explorations I've been able to carry out, I would say that if your approach sounds like mine, you would be better off with "Elementary Turkish" by Kurtuluº Oztopçu. It's not cheap at $75.00 plus shipping, but you get a much more complete text plus two CDs to help with pronunciation. If you buy "Colloquial Turkish" with accompanying CDs, you'll pay about the same. Unfortunately, I think you may have to buy "Elementary Turkish" online directly from the author. I haven't seen it listed on Amazon.

This is an interesting if slightly quirky introductory course. The quality of the material is very conversational, which is not a bad thing, and there is enough grammar so that by the end of the course the learner will have a pretty good idea of how the language works as well as a very serviceable everyday vocabulary. For more grammatical details, there are the oldies-but-goodies 'Elementary Turkish' (Lewis Thomas) and G.L. Lewis'classic 'Turkish Grammar'. The authors have chosen a very intuitive way of presenting the vowel harmony rules that apply with all the vast array of Turkish suffixes, but it is an approach that works surprisingly well and the rules are set out clearly for the benefit of more rule-oriented beginning students. In any case to naturally absorb this system it is necessary to spend a lot of time working with the accompanying audio. There are also a lot of interesting reads on Turkish history and culture, much better than the usual run that appears in books of this type. Most of the chapters start out with a relatively simple dialogue, usually have a slightly more complex dialogue in the middle, and a another, more challenging one at the end, where the idea is to read (and listen) to get the drift without necessarily learning every new word in advance. Be forewarned, though, that even in the early parts of the book grammatical forms (especially tenses) turn up that don't get explained until later. So this is a course that would definitely work better with a tutor, although it certainly isn't impossible to benefit from it if you don't have one.

This book has some useful information about "daily" Turkish. Some slangs and corrupted form of expressions which is used by many Turkish people today. However if you're looking for a book teaches Turkish Language "Literally", this book is not for you.

If you are interested in cassettes included, don't buy this book. Pronunciation in coversations are horrible. No intonations and no rhythm. All men are speaking with a Eastern Turkey accent.

Might be useful for teaching eastern accent, and corrupted expressions.

I am learning Turkish and bought this -at first sight promising- book. This book is uncomprehensible and right-on discouraging for beginners, one gets stuck into dialogues with some -but not 100 %- explanations and translations, while turning pages after pages from dialogue, to explanation to 'key' and finally to my own dictionairy. After lesson 2 I gave up. There are much, much better courses. This book is really written by teachers ??