Fonetik Spelinj (Phonetic Spelling)

.

Turkis iz i fesineytinj lenguic. (Turkish is a fascinating language.)

First, it has 29 letters to our 26, but with no Q, W nor X. “But how is that possible?” you ask yourself silently, forehead furrowed like the plains of Kansas in May. “How can there be fewer letters, yet more?” Once, I asked myself these self-same questions, but got stuck on, “Is self-same a real word?”

Turkish vowels are pure; there no diphthongs. However, Turkish speakers pronounce their consonants in a fashion generally opposite of ours: for ‘M’ we say “em”; they say, “meh.” So, here is the phonetic Turkish alphabet:

A = ah
B = beh
C = there are two ‘c’s: one plain ‘c’ and another with a “tail.” The unadorned ‘c’ is pronounced ‘jeh’; the one with a tail is pronounced ‘che.’ So, in Turkey, one does not say one’s ‘ABCs,’ one says one’s ‘Ah-Beh-Jehs.’
D = deh
E = eh
F = feh
G = there are also two g’s: geh (hard ‘g’) and ‘g’ with a diacritical mark shaped like a flat ‘u’ above it. The latter ‘g’ is not sounded; rather, it serves to stress and elongate the vowel preceding it. For example, in my name there are two g’s; if the 2nd ‘g’ had the diacritical mark above it, my name would be pronounced “GrEH-ory”)
H = heh (hence, Turkish for ‘lol’ is HH—just kidding)
I = there are 4 ‘I’s—both in lower and upper case: “i” = ‘ee’; “I” = ‘uh’ with teeth clenched
J = zheh (think French)
K = keh
L = leh
M = meh
N = neh
O = as in ‘c’ and ‘g’, there are two versions of this letter: a plain ‘o’ and one with two dots above it. Unless you can speak German, this vowel may pose a problem. The plain ‘o’ is pronounced “oh.” With the dots, it’s pronounced half-way between ‘oh’ and ‘ee.’
P = peh
R = rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreh (‘r’s are rolled)
S = two versions again, one plain, one tailed. The plain ‘s’ is pronounced “seh,” the tailed ‘s’, “sheh.”
T = teh
U = oo; w/dots, half-way between ‘oo’ and ‘ee.’
V = veh

Y = yeh

Z = zeh

Here are some words in common English usage that one can see on store fronts and billboards that are now common Turkish words spelled phonetically:

Active: aktiv
Aesthetic: estetik
Auditorium: oditoryum
Champion: sampiyon (‘s’ w/tail)
Circuit: serkit
College: colej
Courtesy: kirtesiye
Coiffure: kuafur (2nd ‘u’ w/dots)
Decoration: dekoreyson (‘s’ w/tail)
Dinner: doner (‘o’ w/dots)
Gallery: galeri
Garage: garaj
Image: imaj
Logistic: lojistik
National: nasyonel
Reservation: rezervasyon
Restoration: restoreyson (‘s’ w/tail)
Saxophone: saksafon
Scenario: senaryo
Synthetic: sentetik
Taxi: taksi
Technique: teknik
Tourism: turizem
Valet: vale

Look at these words carefully. Clearly, the Turkish spellings make more sense. English is colorful (kolerful) but weird (uird). I will share more of these very common-sense spellings as I discover them.