The Turkish alphabet is your first step into the language. The good news is that it uses a modified Latin script, so most of the letters will look familiar. It has 29 letters in total, and it's almost entirely phonetic, meaning each letter usually has only one sound. Once you learn the alphabet, you can pronounce almost any Turkish word you see.

Six letters in the Turkish alphabet don't exist in English. Let's look at them one by one. Getting these right is key to sounding natural.

A few letters look familiar but have different sounds. Pay close attention to these, especially the two different versions of the letter 'i'.

Turkish has two distinct 'i' sounds, one with a dot and one without. This is a crucial difference.

Iı (dotless) sounds like the 'a' in the English word "sofa" or the 'u' in "plus". It's a short, back-of-the-throat sound.

İi (dotted) sounds like the "ee" in "see" or "feet". It's a high, front-of-the-mouth sound.

Finally, the letter Cc sounds like the 'j' in "jam."

Here is a quick reference for the entire alphabet.

Let's review these new letters.

Now, test your knowledge.

The best way to learn these sounds is to listen and repeat. Try saying each letter out loud. With a little practice, pronouncing Turkish words will become second nature.