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Comment by rascul | Hacker News Reader

Is it still pronounced like the bird? I've been reading and speaking American English all my life and would not know how to pronounce Turkiye. The last three letters are in a combination that is both unfamiliar and difficult to figure out.

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In Turkish the /ü/ is like a French /u/ in the word "tu" so super round and front. The /r/ is flapped like in Spanish, and for the rest you just pronounce it how it looks. There are three syllables: tür-ki-ye. Turkish orthography is very good.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with French or Spanish, so now I'm more confused and think that I may have been pronouncing Turkey wrong all along.

Which languages are you familiar with? I can potentially give examples in those.

American English. I have tried to learn others but I have failed each time.

Ok, that makes it more difficult. For /ü/ make the sound "ooh" and then push your lips forward. For the /r/ try saying /tülkiye/ with /l/ and then note where your tongue hits the roof of your mouth. Say it again and move your tongue back a bit. That's the best I can do with a written description, you could also try listening to the song "Ölürüm Türkiyem" on YouTube ... Yaren Doğan has a fun version.

> That's the best I can do with a written description, you could also try listening to the song "Ölürüm Türkiyem" on YouTube ... Yaren Doğan has a fun version.

Hearing it would probably be best for me. Hopefully I'll remember to check that out later when I'm home. Thanks.

Just asked my gf who is arab and they pronounce it Turk-e-yah

Yeah, seeing this for the first time, my brain wants to say "turk-aye". Hopefully someone can chime in if that's correct.

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