Audio-Visual materials in learning Turkish

Whether you’re learning Turkish from scratch, or studying for Turkish GCSEs/A Levels, watching and listening will help for sure. If you’re looking for a purpose-made visual material teaching Turkish, there’s not many on the market but I honestly don’t recommend them since natural way of talking is not encouraged in them.

As a teacher, I find some TV shows, soap operas and/or songs more helpful rather than the former. There will, of course, be some unfamiliar words or grammar structures, yet this shouldn’t demotivate and discourage you. As you keep hearing, you will get more familiar and start using the phrases as they are without much thinking.

Below are my very own recommendations for you to watch and listen. You can watch with subtitles on but try not to focus too much on each word. The list is formed considering the effective usage of language as well as being engaging.

Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to leave a comment if you do!

TV Series:

Action/Crime/Mafia:

Poyraz Karayel (2015-2017) A story of an ex-police officer who tries to get the custody of his son and find happiness with his true love but keeps encountering extra ordinary problems which sometimes turns out to be quite fun.

Ezel (2009) A high-end crime drama series with interwoven romantic stories

Halka (2018): Halka is a paced, adventure-themed TV series that uses detective tricks. Unlike classical mafia narratives, women carry a strong, and directed character. The heroes of the story are Kaan and Cihangir who struggle with the organization by learning that they are the victims of Halka.

Kanıt (Evidence – 2010) Mystery series of murder cases

Kuzey Güney

Drama:

Mucize Doktor (Miraculous Doctor – 2019): A medical drama series about a doctor with autism. https://www.fox.com.tr/Mucize-Doktor/bolumler

Böyle Bitmesin (2012) Engrossing mysterious stories about an exclusive unit helping couples solve their problems in marriage and avoid seperation. https://www.trt1.com.tr/arsiv/boyle-bitmesin/bolum/1-bolum

Asmalı Konak (2002) A love story between a couple from completely opposite backgrounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub68YvFZEBQ

Ekmek Teknesi (2002) A life story of a traditional Turkish family, having elements of both comedy and drama.

Yeditepe İstanbul (2001) A brilliant drama of ordinary people, nestled in the heart of Istanbul yet living in a slum. It’s also a good representation of Turkish culture, hospitality and neighbourhood. https://www.trtizle.com/diziler/yeditepe-istanbul/yeditepe-istanbul-1bolum-122893

Comedy:

Leyla ile Mecnun (2011) Turkish television comedy series set in Istanbul, Leyla and Mecnun is a surreal and absurd comedy that revolves around the fictional love story between Leyla and Mecnun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSEI6mTgB5c

Çocuklar Duymasın (2002) A sit-com narrating the story of a married couple with two kids who could only agree on disagreeing. It is a comedy but contains strong cultural elements so could be best for those who have a Turkish background. It has 9 seasons in total but my favourites are the first 3 seasons.

Movies:

Ayla (2017)

Babam ve Oğlum (2005)

Haybeden Gerçeküstü Aşk (2007)

Dedemin İnsanları (2011)

Hadi be Oğlum (2018)

Aşk Tesadüfleri Sever

7. Koğuştaki Mucize (2019)

Mucize (2015)

Evim Sensin (2012)

Songs:

Teoman – On yedi (-miş’li geçmiş zaman)

Funda – Affetmem (-se conditional)

Turkish Cartoons for kids (Türkçe’yi geliştimek için çizgi film önerileri)

If you’re a parent worrying about your child’s not communicating in Turkish well enough, that’s quite understandable for you, yet natural for the child growing up and having education outside Turkey. Watching cartoons in Turkish will definitely help to improve the child’s understanding in Turkish but in order to be able to speak more fluently, spending a good amount of time with Turkish speakers is highly essential. I would also recommend cartoons especially for under 8s.

Here is a selection of quite popular English cartoons being available in Turkish. When you’re searching you can just write the original name and add Turkish to the end or use the Turkish title in brackets.

Paw Patrol

Ben and Holly

PJ Masks (PJ Maskeliler)

Rainbow Ruby (Gökkuşağı Ruby)

Thomas and Friends (Thomas ve arkadaşları)

Caillou

And here are the originally Turkish cartoons:

Niloya

Pepee