Rating: 
Summary: Republished with the same errors!
Review: A great product to start with, don't get me wrong ... but the publishers really lose all credibility when the same typos appear in the new edition, even though it's been thoroughly rebranded and redesigned.
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Summary: Turkish language for a greek
Review: For us Greeks Turkish is quite easy from the point of its vocabulary- so many common words- and at the same time its grammar and pronunciation is so difficult..almost weird. Its a good book as long as you see it as a task to be done and completed..it doesnt help much if you see it just as a game. I managed to study 8 of its 16 chapters before travelling to Turkey..it proved to be surprisingly helpfull..I managed to talk in naif Turkish with some Turks who had no knowledge of English..I thank the authors for this. it takes about one week of study to fully comprehend and assimilate each of its chapter..this doesnt mean that you dont have to go back to previous ones all the time..but, after all, its a new language.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I bought this book to study when I moved to Turkey. The cassete was absent, but I learned much from this book. I studies just an hour a day, and with the help of Turkish friends, was conversational in the language much faster than I would have without the book. Highly recommend, even without the tape.
Rating:
Summary: Few exercises!
Review: I got this book from a friend in Istanbul because I wanted to start studying Turkish but I hadn't managed to find anything good in my city. The book came with no tape so learning was at first hard (luckily I can count on Turkish friends).
I think it is good in the first lessons when stuff is really easy but then it becomes rather sketchy. Some grammar points are barely mentioned such as the "must" and "need" usage, I think more explanations would have been useful. There are few exercises.
Anyway, it is good to learn the very basics of the language but when you get the 10th lesson, you realise this book isn't enough. For this reason I ordered a new book from Amazon.
Rating: 
Summary: a serious short turkish course
Review: I got this book to learn a few words of turkish for a trip. It's much more than a phrase book -- it teaches the very interesting turkish grammar. If you only want a phrase book, this isn't for you, but if you are willing to put in an hour or two a night for 3-4 weeks, you will find that you really start understanding how turkish works, and how to use it. Since there's no easy index of phrases and it's bigger than a pocket book, you should probably get a little dictionary or phrase book to refer to while you're walking around in Turkey.
Rating:
Summary: Flawed but effective
Review: I just completed this course about six months into my stay in Turkey as a Rotary exchange student. Several of my fellow exchange students also studied from this book.
When I ordered the book from Amazon it did not include tapes or CD's; however I do not believe it was described as an "Audiopackage" at that time. For someone living in Turkey tapes are not essential.
To put it briefly, this book gets the job done: the facts of the grammar are presented in a fairly straightforward and engaging way. But there are a number of problems with it. It is badly edited; new words used in the dialogues that open each chapter are sometimes not defined, or words that are not used in the dialogues are. Sometimes, especially later on in the book, the authors fail to give all the examples of how verbs conjugate in certain tenses; while at this point one can generally figure out how things should work based on previous examples, more complete demonstrations would be helpful. Finally, the exercises at the end of each chapter are fairly sparse and (with some exceptions) do not seem particularly effective; lots of matching problems and even word-finds when basic rote drills, while boring, would be better practice for day-to-day communication.
These problems notwithstanding, this book has been my main tool in learning Turkish, and I feel myself sufficiently able to communicate in most situations I encounter--virtually all my talk with my host father is in Turkish, and we rarely have trouble understanding each other. One of my fellow exchange students, using chiefly this book (plus some classroom instruction before coming to Turkey) is well on her way to fluency after six months in Turkey, already able to pick through books by Orhan Pamuk. Of course a large part of learning a language is how much time and effort the learner puts into it; this book, despite its flaws, can be an effective tool for the committed learner.
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Summary: Easy, logical, useful, everyday Turkish
Review: I lived in Turkey for seven months and used this book more than several others I had at my disposal simply because it gives useful and logical explanations of Turkish grammar (which is very different to anything you have seen in English or other European languages). It is a step by step book with conversational examples that both extend your vocabulary and your use of grammar in everyday situations, making it easy to apply what you have learned as you talk to shop owners, waiters, fellow commuters and others interested in learning where the yabanci (foreigner/stranger) comes from! I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a basic understanding and wants to teach themselves. It would also work well with a tutor but you dont need anything else, except perhaps some assistance with pronunciation, as vowel harmony takes some getting used to.
Rating:
Summary: Very helpful and insightful.
Review: I took a semester of Turkish at University of Texas-Austin, and used this book as a companion to the professor's course packet. I found it very helpful, clarifying a lot of things that are confusing to the western mind. I definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in Turkish language or culture.
Rating:
Summary: On content and presentation...
Review: I was looking for a book that had in depth information about how the language works, as well as one with good examples. With the exception that the first edition does not have the tapes the book refers to (or the phonetic description of how to pronounce the Turkish words) the book is very applicable to one that expects to travel to Turkey or to another Turkish speaking state in a time frame of 3-6 months.
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Summary: the best book I've tried
Review: I've studied Turkish on and off for a few years, trying several different books, but this is definitely the best by a long shot. It presents the material in a very logical order, easing you into the conventions of the language, and explaining everything very clearly. Yet, it's also concise. The other books I tried were "Turkce Ogreniyoruz", a 4-part book that's publ. in Turkey and difficult to learn from since there are only grammar examples and no explanations, leaving you to derive the meaning; and "Elementary Turkish" - a little better but really more focused on grammar than on getting you ready to use the language conversationally and in everyday life, right from the 1st chapter, as "TYT" does. "TYT" also introduces the most useful vocabulary right away (such as politely refusing excessive food, which you'll need to do a lot with Turkish people!). I just wish I'd tried this book years ago. Also, I really wish they'd write another for the next level! You'll get there quickly and enjoyably with this book.
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