Journey to Fluency: How Long Does It Take To Learn Turkish?

One of the questions that people who want to learn a new language are most curious about is how long it will take. This will depend on many variables. The time you will devote to that language, your study pace, resources, the competence of your teacher, the quality of the course, etc. All of these directly affect the total learning time.

Additionally, your experience in studying other languages is also an important factor. All these factors aside, private teachers who will facilitate your learning process and a quality platform that allows you to follow all your lessons from a single panel will be the most important parts of your learning process.

How long does it take to learn Turkish for English speakers?

The answer will depend on how much Turkish you know, at what level you want to learn it, your motivation, the time you will spare, and your learning method.

If you want to shorten your learning process, it is of great importance that you work with the right teachers and be on the right platform that will motivate you and offer you the best resources.

Let’s view the example below to provide one of the possible answers to the question, “How long does it take to learn Turkish?”

• Target language: Turkish.
• Current level: Beginner.
• Desired level: Lower-intermediate (B1).
• Motivation level: High.
• Weekly sessions: 2-3.
• Duration per session: 1 hour.
• Time required to learn Turkish: 1 year 10 months.

The time calculated based on your answers is a very accurate estimate, and there is no harm in using this value as a reference. The criteria given here are valid regardless of the language you will learn.

All criteria are individually important. However, one of the most important things you need to learn a language is continuity and, therefore, motivation. In the example below, I just changed the motivation from high to low, keeping all other criteria the same. Pay attention to the change in the total time it takes to learn the language.

• Target language: Turkish.
• Current level: Beginner.
• Desired level: Lower-intermediate (B1).
• Motivation level: Low.
• Weekly sessions: 2-3.
• Duration per session: 1 hour.
• Time required to learn Turkish: 2 years 9 months.

Yes, you saw it right. If your motivation changes from high to low while learning, your time to learn Turkish will almost double.

To keep your motivation high, you can benefit from 1-on-1 lessons at LiveXP, thus saving both time and money while shortening the time it takes to reach your goal.

At LiveXP, lessons with teachers who have similar hobbies and interests are always fun. You can be sure that you will look forward to the next lesson. Thanks to the highly effective and entertaining private lessons, the teacher’s attention is always on you, so you can get the most efficiency during the lesson.

Is Turkish hard to learn?

It will vary from person to person. However, as a native Turkish speaker and an individual who knows more than one foreign language, I can say that learning Turkish is not easy and is a little more difficult than learning English.

While mastering Turkish is challenging in some ways, it can also be easy in others. For example, Turkish words are pronounced as they are written, which makes them easier to learn in terms of pronunciation and listening comprehension. However, Turkish is an agglutinative language, and its grammatical structure is completely different from English, which makes it a difficult language to learn.

How hard is it to learn Turkish?

No matter how difficult it is, you can overcome these difficulties more easily with the right method. For example, while someone who does not know Turkish at all can learn it more easily from a Turkish teacher who also speaks their language, it may be more appropriate and effective for someone who speaks Turkish at an intermediate level to work with instructors whose native language is Turkish.

Let’s assume that you are a native German speaker and do not know any Turkish. In this case, a Turkish teacher who also knows German will better understand you and guide you in the beginning stages.

However, if you know Turkish above a certain level, you no longer need a Turkish instructor who also knows your own language. With one or more native Turkish-speaking instructors, you can delve into the subtleties of the language and improve yourself better and faster in speaking.

Many language schools and courses provide you with only one teacher, but LiveXP allows you to work with more than one teacher with a single subscription. This way, you can start with a teacher who speaks your language and then continue with native-speaker instructors, and you will not have to pay extra for this.

Another advantage of this application is that you can learn different accents of the target language. Moreover, the extensive filtering features on the platform make it easy to determine the most suitable person to teach you Turkish.

Is Turkish easy to learn for English speakers?

Whatever new language you learn, including Turkish, it would be best to learn it together with its culture.

However, if your goal is just to gain the ability to communicate in that language, to be able to order food, to travel more comfortably, or just to learn a little bit of a new language, the situation may be different.

Grammar differences

There is a clear difference between the grammatical structure and sentence order of English and the grammar and sentence order of Turkish. This obvious difference is that in English, the verb comes right after the subject, while in Turkish, the verb comes at the end of the sentence.

Apart from that, understanding and internalizing the derivational and inflectional suffixes in Turkish can be quite challenging for a native English speaker.

The motivation we mentioned at the beginning and your reason for learning the language will be a big determinant.

The example below will be very useful if we explain the difference in the grammatical structure of English and Turkish with an example.

English example sentence: “I am not coming.”

The English sentence above consists of 4 different expressions. The following one-word Turkish expression covers this completely.

Turkish example sentence: Gelmiyorum.

This can be a bit challenging for a native English speaker to grasp. The analysis of the sentence is as follows: Gel-mi-yor-um.

• Gel—Verb root meaning “to come.”
• Mi—Negative suffix, meaning “not.”
• Yor—Present tense suffix, i.e. “to be -ing.”
• Um—Personal suffix, meaning “I.”

If your aim is only to express yourself, that is, if you do not aim to speak Turkish like a native speaker, instead of saying “Gelmiyorum,” if you say “Ben var gelmemek” as you are used to in English, the native Turkish speakers will understand what you mean.

How much time will it take to learn Turkish?

Thanks to the features offered in LiveXP, you can learn Turkish in the shortest time and with less effort. LiveXP constantly updates and improves, taking into account everything that will make language learning easier.

On LiveXP, you can find a private Turkish tutor based on your preferences. With the LiveXP subscription, you can study with several tutors at the same time. For example, if you’re a beginner and you want to understand grammar clearly, you will need a tutor who speaks your native language. This way, you will get explanations in your language so you can grasp them better. To practice communication skills, it’s a great idea to have lessons with a native Turkish speaker. This will force you to think in Turkish without switching to your native language.

Among the advantages of learning on LiveXP is that you can find a tutor who shares your interests and hobbies. You will have more engaging lessons where you can discuss topics you love and expand your vocabulary. And the major advantage is that you can get a FREE trial lesson with any tutor on LiveXP.

Is it hard to learn Turkish vocabulary?

The most difficult part of learning a new language can be memorizing hundreds or even thousands of new words and learning their correct usage. In this respect, we cannot say that Turkish has many words that are common to English.

Of course, many words that have come into use in recent years or express technological devices are common between Turkish and English, but memorizing words still remains a challenge for those who will learn Turkish from scratch.

There are many methods to memorize words. The oldest and easiest of these is to use flashcards, but to do this, you must prepare these cards, carry them with you, use them at appropriate intervals, and repeat them a lot. It’s obvious that it requires a certain amount of effort, isn’t it? However, you need to do this to be effective otherwise, it will be very difficult to memorize.

The Word Trainer offered by LiveXP comes to your aid here and makes memorizing Turkish words a breeze for you. The scientifically proven spaced repetition method used by the Word Trainer allows you to repeat the words you see for the first time or take notes during the lesson at regular intervals and learn them in a way that you will never forget.

Moreover, you can use the Word Trainer anywhere and anytime, thanks to LiveXP’s mobile application. Thus, learning and memorizing Turkish words will become easier than you expected, and your learning journey will be shorter.

Again, within the scope of this question, we can say that it is as difficult to learn Turkish words as it is to learn words while learning any other language.

What difficulties may I encounter while learning Turkish?

As with every language, you will encounter certain difficulties and obstacles when learning Turkish. However, the better your motivation and language learning environment are, the easier it will be to overcome these problems.

It is very important to plan your lessons according to your already busy weekly or daily schedule and stick to this plan. On many platforms, there is a fee deduction for missed lessons. After all, the time the other teacher devotes to you must have a price.

This is why many students move away from the language learning process and fail. Therefore, flexible planning, the ability to change the plan and/or cancel the lesson when necessary, is very important.

One of the numerous benefits that LiveXP offers is that you can plan lessons according to your own schedule and change or cancel them when necessary.

In this way, your motivation remains high, and you make the best use of your time.

How hard is it to learn Turkish?

In this article, I explained with different examples how difficult it is to learn Turkish and how long it will take for English speakers.

Remember that the entire process will be specific to you. Make sure that you work with the right teachers and resources on the right platform to carry out this process specifically for you in the best possible way and learn Turkish in the shortest time and with the least effort.

Whatever your learning method is, make it enjoyable and effortless!