FSI Turkish Basic Course

The Turkish Language

With over 75 million native speakers and a further 15 million who speak it as a second tongue, Turkish is a major regional language.

Furthermore, Turkish belongs to a family of languages that is spoken from Tatarstan in Russia to Xinjiang in China, and knowing it will make these related languages more accessible.

As an agglutinative language, it’s a fascinating one for the pure linguist, too – through a system of affixes, a single Turkish word can convey the meaning of a whole sentence in English.

Learning Turkish will provide an insight into a country with a rich culture and an important place in history, and taking it up will be the start of a long and exciting journey.

And for anyone hoping to start, this free Turkish course is one of the most comprehensive resources available.

Course Details

What is the FSI Turkish Basic course?

This version of the FSI Turkish course appeared in 1966 and comprises 60 units intended for around 240 hours of intensive study. The course consists of dialogs taken from real Turkish that present new vocabulary and grammar in authentic settings.

The new language is then practiced in drills to improve fluency, there are narrative exercises to allow you to expand your learning, and the course also includes many hours of audio you can use to perfect your pronunciation.

How was FSI Turkish Basic originally used?

FSI Turkish was designed as the course material for intensive study by US diplomatic personnel destined for postings in Turkey. They were expected to spend around six hours in class each day, and this was to be supplemented by at least two hours of personal study outside of class time.

On top of this, after only the first few days, they were expected to speak Turkish in class as well as among themselves outside of lessons.

In this way, after only six months of study, they would be able to achieve a relatively high level of competence in Turkish.

How can you use FSI Turkish Basic?

Although you won’t be able to recreate the perfect study environment enjoyed by US diplomats, if you know how to use these materials correctly, you can also benefit immensely from this free online Turkish course.

Other course books may be able to give you an introduction to the language and explain the grammar, but few offer you such a wealth of materials that allow you to practice your Turkish in as many different situations.

This means that, when used as a supplement to another coursebook, this FSI Turkish course can help you develop your fluency and pronunciation while also allowing you to build up a store of Turkish vocabulary.

On the other hand, using FSI Turkish as your primary learning resource will allow you to quickly grasp the basics of the language, especially when supplemented by other materials from elsewhere.

Taking it further

As any experienced language learner will tell you, you can’t learn a language just from books, however well-written the materials are.

This is why, as soon as possible, we encourage you to take your new Turkish skills and find opportunities to practice.

Find Turkish speakers to talk with and begin using what you have already learned. When you start doing this, you will see how rapidly you progress.

After all, speaking to people in Turkish is the reason you want to learn the language in the first place – so get out there and give it a go!

Volume 1

Student Text

Unit	Audio
Unit 01	Tape
Unit 02	Tape
Unit 03	Tape
Unit 04	Tape
Unit 05	Tape
Unit 06	Tape
Unit 07	Tape
Unit 08	Tape
Unit 09	Tape
Unit 10	Tape
Unit 11	Tape
Unit 12	Tape
Unit 13	Tape
Unit 14	Tape
Unit 15	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 16	Tape
Unit 17	Tape
Unit 18	Tape
Unit 19	Tape
Unit 20	Tape
Unit 21	Tape
Unit 22	Tape
Unit 23	Tape
Unit 24	Tape
Unit 25	Tape
Unit 26	Tape
Unit 27	Tape
Unit 28	Tape
Unit 29	Tape
Unit 30	Tape

Volume 2

Student Text

Unit	Audio
Unit 31	Tape
Unit 32	Tape
Unit 33	Tape
Unit 34	Tape
Unit 35	Tape
Unit 36	Tape
Unit 37	Tape
Unit 38	Tape
Unit 39	Tape
Unit 40	Tape
Unit 41	Tape
Unit 42	Tape
Unit 43	Tape
Unit 44	Tape
Unit 45	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 46	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 47	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 48	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 49	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Unit 50	Tape