Turkish For Beginners

there are good links for whom wants to learn basic Turkish:

http://www.manastro.co.uk/members/turkey/turkish.htm
http://ingilish.com/beginner-turkish.htm
http://static.unilang.org/resources/...turkish_en.pdf (nice book)


Lets start from the nice book:

Introduction
Turkish is the national language of Turkey, and is also spoken by minority groups in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus,
and other countries. It is the most important member of the Turkic group of languages which form a branch of
the Altaic family. There are about 70 million speakers.
Turkish was originally written in the Arabic script which, though poorly suited to the language, had been in use
since the conversion of the Turks to Islam. In 1928 President Ataturk decreed the introduction of a slightly
modified version of the Roman alphabet, consisting of twenty-one consonants and eight vowels. In Turkish, the
letters q, w, and x are absent, while the letter c is pronounced like the English j (e.g., cep-pocket), j like the
French j (jale-dew), ç is pronounced ch (çiçek-flower).
The English words "caviar", "yogurt", and "shish kebab" are of Turkish origin. The word "tulip" comes from a
Turkish word for turban, because its flower was thought to resemble a turban. The word "meander" comes from
the ancient name of the Menderes River of western Turkey, which was noted for its winding course.
Turkish is spoken/used in the following countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus (Republic of), Greece, Macedonia, and
Turkey.
Language Family
Family: Altaic
Subgroup: Turkic
Branch: Southwestern (Oghuz)
(from www.worldlanguage.com)