Thanks Kedi,

Always nice to know how to pronounce your holiday destination (don't want to offend any locals lol).

I'm just trying to learn a few Turkish phrases but compared to English it's one hell of a tricky language to get to grips with like always pronouncing the H's. I've found a good site that has 100 common phrases, may have to print these out and take them. I know a lot of Turks speak English but I find it's always nice to 'learn' a few phrases like hello 'Merhaba', Goodbye 'Allaha ısmarladık' and thank you 'teşekkür ederim'. The website also shows the phonetic pronunciation.

This is the site if anyone wants to learn a few phrases:

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/details/LanguageGuide/100words_lessons/index.html

Good luck

It's also good to remember that Turkish is spoken as is seen and the pronunciation is always the same so once you get the hang of it, the pronunciation is actually easier than English (eg through and threw, etc). The same can't be said for understanding it though!!

Remember that the letter C is pronounced as J, therefore the CAN Hotel would be pronounced the JAN Hotel.

The letter C with a curly tail (it looks like Ç) is pronounced CH, so the word "ÇOK" would be pronounced "CHOCK" (it means very).

The letter S with a curly tail (it looks like Åž) is pronounced "SH" so the word "BEÅž" would be pronounced "BESH" (it means five).

The letter O with two dots above it (it looks like Ö) is pronounced as "UR" so the word "KÖPEK" would be pronounced "KURPEK" (it means dog).

The letter I with no dot above it is pronounced "UH" so "PAHALI" would be pronounced "PAHALUH" (it means expensive).

The letter I with a dot above it (it looks like Ä°) is pronounced "EE" so "Ä°YÄ°" would be pronounced "EEYEE" (it means good).

The emphasis in Turkish tends to be on the last syllable, although with place names it tends to be on the second syllable. I hope this helps a little - I'm currently studying Turkish and enjoying it, though finding it perplexing at times

Jak xx

Very helpful, Jakki - I do try to use some Turkish words, but it's a slow process. I do find, however, that it is appreciated by the locals, even if they have a good laugh at your attempts at pronunciation!

could anyone tell me what day and night temps likely to be in july, going next year for 1st time, cant wait

galey,

You might find our dedicated WEATHER: reports, news, Q&As topic useful. July will be well in to the late 30's in July and late 20's in the evenings.

Darren

thanks darren, nice and hot then, lol

I have a question about tipping (no not dumping rubish lol - I mean as in tipping waiters, staff etc).

I've read at most of the Hamam's they expect a tip at the end but there can be a few of them all lining up wanting tips (so I've heard), are they offended if you don't tip or is it kind of expected?

Also what about eating & drinking out? Are tips generally expected or not? I know most of us Brits are a bit tight in this country about tipping - I only do it if I feel the service is above & beyond normal standards but I know in a lot of other countries where the pay (if you can call it pay) is very low indeed and tips are a good way to boost their income.

I don't mind tipping but wouldn't want to get ripped off so how often and how much is a tip usually i.e. is it a percentage of the total bill or maybe just a Lira or 2?

Cheers

Justin

SunSeeker2011,

Tipping is entirely at your discretion. If you've had good service and feel like you want to tip, then do so and as much or as little as you want. If you haven't, then you're under no obligation to tip.

Darren

We rarely tip in bars unless we have been sitting there for a long time and have a large bill and then we usually round it up. I have been told by Turkish friends that it is not expected to tip taxi drivers but again I often use the same company and often round it up and then they sometimes round it down lol. We used to leave 10% in restaurants if we thought the service was good but then another friend who owns a restaurant said I was giving too much and something like a lira per person or so was OK. Again we tend to round it up so if the bill was 65 I would leave 70.
Last year I had a brief stay at Olu Deniz and we got a transfer taxi to the airport at the end. We feel we paid quite enough for this trip and then the driver was manic, we didn't tip and he was really off with us and shouted at us as we walked away. i speak some Turkish and was very tempted to say calmly that he drove like an idiot and didn't deserve a tip but I didn't and kept on walking.

I'll probably do something similar then i.e. round up a meal price to the nearest 5 or 10 Lira. Same for bars, if we spend an evening in one bar then may tip at the end of the night if they are nice & friendly (which I'm sure most will be if you're spending your hard-earned there lol)

I may also leave a small tip for the cleaners at the end of the holiday if they've done a good job throughout our stay.

And if we have a nice Hamam, I will probably divvy the tip up amongst them or pay a one off small tip.

Thanks for the advice.

Justin.

Hi everyone

My name is Mario.
I was just wondering if someone can give me advise about turkey?im going in two weeks time to kusadasi for 1 week and im taking 2000lira spending money with me,will that be ok?

if you guys can give me the normal prices of goods over there,like beer,spirits,meals.

thank you very much

Hi, just trying to improve my impending Turkish visit by learning a few phrases, and have coma across a question:-

How do you say 'Cheers' in Turkish? i.e. when you have a drink - similar to the Greek for 'Yiamas'?

Also, could you please put how it is pronounced and it's direct translation?

Thanks,

Justin

By the way, only 9 sleeps now Yay.

The easiest word to say is "Åžerefe". It is pronounced Sherefe (with the Es being pronounced as the e in egg).

Or you can say "Sağlığınıza" which means "to your health". This is a little harder to pronounce, it's saluh-uhnuhza. The ğ is silent and serves slightly elongate the vowel preceding it. The ı (without a dot) is pronounced uh as in the e in the word "open".

Hope this helps.

Jak xx

hi can anyone help me I want to get married in marmaris and just don't know where to start and where to go how much it will cost etc if anyone has any advice it would be much appreciated thankyou

Have you had a look at the 'getting married in Turkey' sticky at the top of the Turkey Discussion forum? loads of helpful tips and advice on there.

Gabbyannie,

Welcome onboard
Refer to the following topic Getting Married in Turkey questions, answers, advise etc where you'll find everything you need.

Darren

Can someone please tell me what the power sockets are like in Turkey.
I bought an adaptor when I was in Crete (converts the 2 pin socket to a 3 pin UK socket). Will this work in Turkey i.e. do they have the same sockets as Crete?

Thanks,

Justin.

P.S. only 4 sleeps - WooHoo I'm hoping it's nice and hot for us

Same plugs Justin, Enjoy your holiday.

Wilson

Hi, im Didim, guess the user name gives you a clue to where i go in Turkey, i first went to Altinkum in 1996 when i met my now husband, we have been together 15 years and married for 9 of them. we have an apartment and are regular travelers to the resort, really pleased to have come across this site. xx