# c/j pronunciation



## RosyIvory

Hi all 

My question is about the letters "C" and "J". What is the difference between them? I mean, for me they both sound like each other, more over, I didn't see the letter "J" in a word at all.

And there's also the letter "I" I can't distinguish it in a word, or I'd better say, I can't distinguish between all of "I", "Ö", "U" and "Ü" even though I know how each one is pronounced and listen to lots of Turkish songs over and over before and after reading the lyrics.

And this is one of my sources that I depend on http://www.onlineturkish.com/alphabet.asp


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## shafaq

C pronounced like ج ; and J like ج as pronounced by Lebanese' (without touching the tongue to the upper palate).
Although there is no  Turkish original word begins with J; Turkic languages do have this sound within some words.   

I or ı : Its pronounciation just like كسرةkasra sound of صِ  in صِيغة or صِيام .Sıyaam, Sıygah.
Ö pronouced like i of "first" or dirt.
U is strait forward like sound of ضمة  in نُور or خُرُوج .
Ü is as explained at the link you gave as u of nude approximately voice of ضمة س in سُبوت .


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## Rallino

Shafaq has explained thoroughly; I'd like to add one more example concerning C and J.

C is pronounced like the j in 'Jack',  in Jesus or in Jolt 
J is pronounced like the s in pleasure, the z in seizure, the s in Asian or in casual.

When I was teaching Turkish in Belgium; we used to make the beginner level students listen to recordings and write the words they hear.  It wasn't uncommon that when I checked what they'd written, I would find words like: saröşön (sarışın), Kormozo (Kırmızı)...I think it's harder for foreign people to distinguish the ı when they listen to TV or Radio or any type of recording.


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## yakamoz

While the above examples are valid, here is a much simpler explanation.

The C in Turkish is pronounced exactly like the G in the word "Gender" or "Gem". (i.e. precious stone)

The J is a lot rarer sound. It is prounced like the -ge in the words "Garage" or "Decolletage" or "Montage".

The I (undotted) is a very tough sound for beginnners, and very suprising to native speakers when foreigners cannot hear what to us is a very noticeable difference. Distinguishing it comes with practice, of course. It sounds like the i in the word "Nation" or the e in "Under". 


If you wanted to write the English pronunciations of these words using Turkish letters, for instance, here's what they would look like:

Gender = Cendır
Gem = Cem

Garage = Garaj
Decolletage = Dekoltaj
Montage = Montaj

Nation = Neyşın
Under = Andır


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## RosyIvory

First, thank you all for your responses  
I looked in an English dictionary to see the phonetic of each word you mentioned as an example and that's what I concluded:

  about the c & j I think that c is like a pure j, like the letter is pronounced in English, and the j has a little bit of ...sh in it like in vision.

 As for the ı, I think that it's like a softer ö
What are your comments about that?

Rallino, can I ask how you used to handle these beginner situations you mentioned?

there's also one thing I remembered about ı, I heard it pronounced like the letter e in English language in 
Ayı, pronounced like ay*i*, with English pronunciation, and the other pronunciation is   http://www.turkishdictionary.net/?word=ay%FD 

and hayır pronounced like hay*i*r, with English pronunciation, and the other pronunciation is http://www.turkishdictionary.net/?word=hay%FDr

I wish I know how to record these other pronunciations from the software for you to hear.


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## shiningstar

RosyIvory said:


> First, thank you all for your responses
> I looked in an English dictionary to see the phonetic of each word you mentioned as an example and that's what I concluded:
> 
> about the c & j I think that c is like a pure j, like the letter is pronounced in English, and the j has a little bit of ...sh in it like in vision.
> 
> As for the ı, I think that it's like a softer ö
> What are your comments about that?
> 
> Rallino, can I ask how you used to handle these beginner situations you mentioned?
> 
> there's also one thing I remembered about ı, I heard it pronounced like the letter e in English language in
> Ayı, pronounced like ay*i*, with English pronunciation, and the other pronunciation is http://www.turkishdictionary.net/?word=ay%FD
> 
> and hayır pronounced like hay*i*r, with English pronunciation, and the other pronunciation is http://www.turkishdictionary.net/?word=hay%FDr
> 
> I wish I know how to record these other pronunciations from the software for you to hear.


 
Hi RosyIvory,

I see you're still confused because of these sounds. I can't write or read in Arabic but since I speak Arabic I will try to provide some examples for you .

For the "ı" sound think this sentence "rghıyya matraha" (leave it/her where it/her is) as you can see there is no analogy between "ı" and "ö", they are totally different sounds

as for "c" , I can give this example "Alla' yic'al-l'bereke" (May God give  abundance) 

"j" sounds like "g" in English

as for "ö" and "ü" sounds I couldn't think of any sounds in Arabic resembles them. 

Take care.


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## RosyIvory

Hi shiningstar,

I want to make you happy first, so, now I can say that I understand the c and j thing, lets say that c like the jeem ج letter in Arabic with فتحة "fatha" sign and the j letter as you said like the English j letter.

Just to make sure, though it might look stupid, this difference we're discussing is about how the letter is pronounced in the word not its name, right?

Sadly, as for the ı letter, I know the phrase you used but I couldn't pronounce it to sense the letter. 

_<<YouTube links are not allowed. For audio links please ask for a moderator's approval before posting>>_

Are the pronunciation examples mentioned here http://www.onlineturkish.com/alphabet.asp  and http://linguistics.concordia.ca/turkishvowels/index.html accurate to rely on for real Turkish pronunciation?


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## dawar

Rallino said:


> When I was teaching Turkish in Belgium; we used to make the beginner level students listen to recordings and write the words they hear. It wasn't uncommon that when I checked what they'd written, I would find words like: saröşön (sarışın), *Kormozo (Kırmızı)...*I think it's harder for foreign people to distinguish the ı when they listen to TV or Radio or any type of recording.


 
That is funny. To give an other example : the word "cramoisie" (kramuazi) in french comes from "Kırmızı".


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## RosyIvory

Thank you all for helping me 

Finally, to conclude this topic, What do you suggest to improve my listening and letter-recognizing skills, so as not to be just hearing Turkish?


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## shiningstar

Turkish is, in my opinion, the most easy language to be learnt. If you have or can get a Turkish TV channel I suggest you to listen to the news. Even though I'm not fan of TRT1 channel (we may say that it's BBC of Turkey) I highly recommend it. Songs, since they are written in a poetic way, can be confusing. And read Turkish books and if you have Turkish friend around try to talk to them in Turkish. Don't afraid making mistakes. 

I don't know howelse I can help you. Sorry and hope these advices will help


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## RosyIvory

Sorry for the late reply, exams, and finally they're over.
Thanks, shiningstar for your advices, I found the channel you recommended online and also found one I can watch it on TV.


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