Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Herkese merhaba! Hi everyone. I am Selin from turkishclass101.com. Today, I am going to teach you 10 Hardest Words to Pronounce.
The first one is,
1. Şoför
“Driver”
O ünlü bir işadamının özel şoförü.
“He is the personal driver of a famous businessman.”
So, many Turkish people say söför actually but it’s not correct. So we say ö ö but it’s actually o ö.
So it’s going to be soför, not söför. So please be careful about that when you’re learning Turkish.
2. Meşgul
“Busy”
Meşgulüm. Sonra konuşalım.
“I'm busy. Let's talk later.”
So we say meşgül usually and it’s also not correct. We say ü but it’s actually u. So meşgul, not meşgül. So please be careful about that too. And meşgul is I think originally from Arabic language if I am not wrong. It’s also not Turkish word.
3. Japonya
“Japan”
Japonya'da yaşıyorum.
“I live in Japan.”
So I think it is hard to pronounce because many foreigner people, they tend to say Japan like Caponya.
Especially I heard Japanese people speaking Turkish and they say Caponya but it’s actually Japonya.
So the letter J you read as /SH/. That is why it is going to be Japonya, not Caponya.
4. Eczane
“Pharmacy”
Eczane çoktan kapanmış.
“The pharmacy is already closed.”
So now, I will tell you what mistakes we make in Turkish when we say Eczane.
For example, we say eczehane, yazane, ezzane. All are wrong. The correct one is Eczane.
I know it’s a bit hard to say but do your best.
5. Şemsiye
“Umbrella”
Şemsiyemi unuttum.
“I forgot my umbrella.”
Actually it’s a very basic word, right? Şemsiye “Umbrella” but yeah it’s because of the Ssh voice. I think it is hard to pronounce Şemsiye. Şemsiye.
6. Memnun
“Content”
Hayatımdan memnunum.
“I'm content with my life.”
Okay. So this one it’s also not a Turkish word. I mean the origins are different. It is Egyptian dialect and I think it is hard to say for us, pronunciation I mean because there are so many n’s and m’s in one word, memnunum.
“I am content.” Hard to pronounce if you are speaking fast. So the correct pronunciation is memnun.
7. Yayla
“Plateau”
Çoban koyunları yaylaya çıkardı.
“The shepherd took the sheep to the plateau.”
Actually we also say plateau in Turkish, not just Yayla. There are two words but both are actually hard to pronounce, yayla and plateau. So the correct pronunciation is,
Yayla, yaylalar, plateau.
8. Karşılama
“Greeting”
Harika bir karşılama partisi hazırlayacağız.
“We will prepare a great welcome party.”
I think in my opinion, Karşılama is the easiest one in this list. It is not very hard to pronounce, maybe because of the - again the ş voice and ı voice.
It can be hard to pronounce, especially for foreigner people because I know they don’t have the ı voice.
I think that is why it is hard to pronounce. The correct pronunciation is karşılama. It’s ı, karşılama.
9. Su şişesi
“Water bottle”
Cam su şişeleri daha sağlıklı.
“Glass water bottles are healthier.”
This one is even hard for me to pronounce.
It is I think the hardest one and in Turkey, we have like a tongue twister we are using this word.
So now, I will try to challenge myself and I will try to say it for you. But if I fail, I am very sorry.
Şu köşe yaz köşesi, şu köşe kış köşesi, ortadaki su şişesi.
Oh sorry. One more time.
Şu köşe yaz köşesi, şu köşe kış köşesi ortadaki su şişesi.
Well, it’s almost. Okay.
“This corner is summer corner and this corner is winter corner and in the middle, there is a water bottle.”
I know it doesn’t make any sense but since it is hard to pronounce, we have that kind of tongue twister.
Şu köşe yaz köşesi, şu köşe kış köşesi, ortadaki su şişesi.
Şu köşe yaz köşesi, şu köşe kış köşesi, ortadaki su şişesi.
Good luck.
10. Ukala
“Know-it-all.”
Ukalalık yapma.
“Stop acting like a know-it-all.”
The last vowel la, usually we say la but in this word, you need to say it more softer like la but you start, like, more harder way, like uka and then you need to end it with more softer way, la, Ukala. I think that is why it is hard to pronounce for us.
Okay. That’s all for this lesson. I hope you learned a lot about the words that we cannot pronounce. Please try it at home. I am sure you can do it. I hope to see you guys next time. Bye-bye.

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