Learn Turkish Language Online Free | Beginners and Newbies | How do I begin?

One of the most 'Frequently Asked Questions' we receive from website visitors is...

How can a 'basic' beginner get started learning Turkish at Learning Practical Turkish? The reply that we've developed (and kept updated) during more than 12 years now -- which seems to have met most site visitor needs -- is as follows:
Oftentimes, it's better to think of LPT as a Grammar Reference work -- where you dive in as the spirit moves you!
But if you are just beginning Turkish, we'd recommend that you start by taking the links to...
1) The Story of the Modern Turkish Language
2) The Phonetic Pronunciation Guide
3) The Spoken Pronunciation Guide
4) The Free Downloads Page -- see our Cyprus Times articles for 'Beginners'
After that, assuming that your computer has sound capability, we suggest the following step-by-step approach...
As we mention in our Home Page 'opening statement', we see certain 'obstacles' that English speakers face when they try to learn Turkish -- obstacles that have to be overcome. What are they?
1) 'Difficult' vocabulary
2) 'Odd' sentence structure
3) 'So many' suffixes (agglutination)
4) 'Unusual' ways of expressing thought
For overcoming the first obstacle (difficult vocabulary), we recommend:
1. 'The Merciless Vocabulary' page...
2. Essential Turkish Headwords
3. Sounds of Specialty Turkish (where you may wish to take the link to Accent on Turkish, in preference to some of the others)...
4. Turkish Tongue Twisters -- to help you get the rhythm of the language and...to make you smile.
5. The Really Quick and Basic Turkish Language Phrasebook
6. Numbers in Turkish Language -- all the ways there are to use numerals in Turkish...
7. Turkish idioms -- starting with A, B, C, Ç, D, E, F, G, H, etc...
8. Intimate Turkish -- which is not for everyone, we know...
  But if you are unaware of it, you may be left in the dark
  at very *crucial* points of certain Turkish 'conversations'.
9. Turkish First Names -- the Plain English meanings
10. An Online-only Turkish-English-Turkish Dictionary
  (See the Downloads page for an offline-dictionary...)
11. An Outrageously Practical Memorization Method
[While we're on the subject of vocabulary... An as-big-as-you-can-afford bilingual dictionary is essential to your language learning success. We recommend the Redhouse Dictionaries (they have 4 or 5 different sizes), but they are not easily found in the states (although Amazon.com may have some in stock). If you can't find a Redhouse dictionary, the large Langenscheidt is acceptable (though curiously weak in places). The one to avoid is the Concise Oxford -- it's very misleading and out of date. Do not buy this one if the original publication date is between 1953 and 1985. It's terrible!]
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For overcoming the second obstacle (odd sentence structure), we recommend:
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For overcoming the third obstacle (agglutination), we recommend:
1. 'Too many suffixes -- agglutination'
2. A Conjugation Celebration, where many of the entries are suffixes
3. The other various pages devoted to 'suffixes' found under 'S' in the Table of Contents (where the -den suffix may be of particular interest.)
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For overcoming the fourth obstacle (unusual ways of expression), we recommend:
1. 'Expressing Yourself in Turkish'
2. Turkish idioms -- starting with A, B, C, etc...
3. Lost Articles
4. Doubles Troubles
5. How to Translate Turkish, Part I and Part II
6. The Commented Practical Turkish Translation Example, Hansel and Gretel folktale, 7 pages
7. The Commented Practical Turkish Translation Example, Courtroom Comedy, 4 pages
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And if you have time, check out the Verb Charts (for 'gelmek' -- to come, and for the 'verb to be') -- so that you can get a feel for the logic of Turkish verb-structure (which you will find very consistent, unlike our 'English' verbs)...
That's a pretty ambitious program we've laid out, we know -- and you ought not concentrate all your effort in one area. Skip in and out of each of the areas -- so you can get an overall 'appreciation'.
And don't let yourself be discouraged. Whatever you have time to learn, will pay big dividends.
And lastly, make sure you *enjoy* the language -- recognizing that it's got a very high *cool* quotient...
:^)
P.S. For Turkish language 'self-drilling' -- don't forget:
1) The *free* 'Talking Turkish' program, the Interactive Turkish Dictionary, the Learning Turkish Verb Conjugator, the Turkish Language Vocabulary Builder, etc. that you'll find on our 'Downloads' page...
2) Our very own product, the Enhanced 'Learning Practical Turkish Website on CD'. Among other things, it's got 1,000s more voice recordings than we provide online.