· 6 min read
Learn Turkish for Free: Official Resources
By Language Lab editorial team
Learn Turkish for free with the Yunus Emre Institute's teaching portal and video lessons, the BBC's archived Turkish guide and the official TYS sample exam.
The official free route into Turkish is the Yunus Emre Institute, which teaches Turkish and promotes Turkish culture abroad. Its Turkish teaching portal page carries the title Learn Turkish For Free and describes a distance-learning portal built on the European framework of levels, with activities for reading, listening, writing and speaking and a separate module for vocabulary. The Institute also offers video lessons based on its Yedi İklim Türkçe textbooks, which it says let you learn Turkish without enrolling on a course. One caution: when checked on 13 October 2026, the portal's own address did not load, although the Institute's page describing it did. The BBC's archived Guide to Turkish adds 20 audio phrases, and the TYS exam site publishes a sample paper with audio.
The free resources at a glance
| Resource | Who makes it | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Distant Turkish Teaching Portal | Yunus Emre Institute | Level-based lessons with activities in the four skills, and a vocabulary module |
| Video lessons | Yunus Emre Institute | Lessons by the Institute's teachers, based on the Yedi İklim Türkçe textbooks, arranged by topic |
| A Guide to Turkish | BBC (archived) | Ten facts about the language, the alphabet and 20 audio key phrases |
| TYS sample exam | Yunus Emre Institute | Reading and listening texts with questions, six audio files, writing and speaking tasks |
The Yunus Emre Institute's portal
The Institute says it aims to teach Turkish independently of time and place through its Distant Turkish Teaching Portal. Word lists and grammar structures are set out level by level and shown in stages, and the structures students use most in daily life are taught with activities based on the four basic language skills. The portal follows the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and uses thematic, real-life topics. A separate Word module lets you keep building vocabulary outside the courses, with reading, listening, writing and speaking activities for each word.
- Price: the Institute's portal page is titled Learn Turkish For Free.
- Languages: the page is offered in ten languages, including English, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.
- Status: on 13 October 2026 the address the page links to for the portal did not load on two attempts. Try it again before you rely on it.
- Not the same thing: the Institute also runs online courses with teachers, which you apply for. The page does not state their price, so check before enrolling.
Video lessons
For learners who prefer to watch, the Institute points to video lessons prepared by its Turkish teachers and based on the Yedi İklim Türkçe textbooks, arranged by topic. In its words, they let you learn Turkish without enrolling on a course.
What to expect as a beginner
- A familiar alphabet. Since 1928 Turkish has been written in a slightly modified Latin alphabet which the BBC's guide calls almost phonetic.
- No gender. Nouns and adjectives have no masculine or feminine forms, which the guide says makes life easier for learners.
- Verbs last. Verbs always come at the end of the sentence.
- Suffixes. Tense and person are added to the verb as endings; the guide warns they may cause difficulty at first.
- Two kinds of you: the informal sen and the formal siz.
- Words you can guess: medya, televizyon, restoran and otel are media, television, restaurant and hotel.
First phrases, free from the BBC
| Turkish | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Merhaba | Hello |
| Teşekkür ederim | Thank you |
| Evet | Yes |
| Hayır | No |
| Benim adım… | My name is ... |
| İngilizce biliyor musunuz? | Do you speak English? |
| Anlamıyorum | I don't understand |
A free weekly plan
- Four days a week, 25 minutes: one portal lesson or one video lesson, with its activities.
- Every day, 5 minutes: BBC key phrases aloud.
- Twice a week: vocabulary review, recalling each word before you look at it.
- Once a week: write five short sentences, verb last.
- Later, when you are well past the basics: the official TYS sample, to see what B2 looks like.
The plan relies on practice testing and distributed practice, the two techniques a 2013 review of learning research rated as high utility. Rereading and highlighting were rated low.
How far free takes you
Free material can carry you through the early levels. The whole road is long: the US State Department places Turkish in Category III, hard languages, at about 44 weeks or 1,012 class hours for English speakers. Free lessons give you reading, listening and vocabulary. Speaking needs a partner. Language Lab's Turkish course is built around voiced real-life scenarios with an AI tutor, which supplies spoken practice.
Frequently asked
Can I learn Turkish for free?
Yes. The Yunus Emre Institute's Turkish teaching portal page is titled Learn Turkish For Free, and the Institute also offers video lessons. The BBC's archived Guide to Turkish is free too.
What is the Yunus Emre Institute?
The institute that teaches Turkish as a foreign language through cultural centres abroad, online courses and a distance-learning portal. It also runs the TYS, the Turkish Proficiency Exam.
Is the Yunus Emre Turkish portal working?
When checked on 13 October 2026, the page describing the portal loaded, but the portal's own address did not. Try it again before relying on it.
Is Turkish hard for English speakers?
The US State Department classes it as a hard language, at about 44 weeks or 1,012 class hours. The BBC's guide notes helpful features: an almost phonetic Latin alphabet and no grammatical gender.
Does Turkish use the Latin alphabet?
Yes. Since 1928 it has been written in a slightly modified Latin alphabet.
Is there a free Turkish practice test?
The TYS site publishes a sample exam with reading and listening texts, audio files, and writing and speaking tasks. TYS certifies B2 and C1.
Sources: Yunus Emre Enstitüsü, Turkish teaching portal page (read on 13 October 2026) and TYS site, TYS Örneği and Türkçe Yeterlik Sınavı; BBC Languages, A Guide to Turkish: 10 facts and Key phrases (archived pages); US Department of State, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Foreign Language Training; Dunlosky et al., Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. Checked on 13 October 2026. Photo: Hot-air balloon rising at dawn over Göreme, Cappadocia, Adam Jones / CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons).
