How To Pronounce Fethiye

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We get lots of questions about how to pronounce Fethiye.

The name Fethiye causes lots of amusement for our Turkish friends who listen to Brits.

And probably other nationalities too, trying to pronounce it.

First of all, Fethiye is actually named after the pilot in the photo above.

He is Tayyareci Fethi Bey and he has also given his name to the new recreation area which opened in 2018, Şehit Fethi Bey Parkı.

You can find out all about him by visiting that article.

It’s not that it’s difficult to pronounce ‘Fethiye’.

It’s just that people’s accents (especially most English accents) cause them to say Fethiye in a certain way.

For once, we’re okay because we’re from Wigan.

And us Wiganers speak with flat vowels anyway, so ‘Fethiye’ comes out okay for us.

This is purely by accident. But as we struggle with many other Turkish words, we’re quite happy that we can at least say one word correctly.

So for all you people out there with various accents, here is how to pronounce the name of our lovely town.

The first thing you need to bear in mind is that the ‘t’ and the ‘h’ are pronounced separately.

It’s not a ‘th’ sound.

But the main thing most Brits do is to pronounce the end of Fethiye as FethiyAY.

It’s not ‘ay’. It’s a flat (and short) ‘e’ as in the ‘e’ in ‘yet’ or ‘get’.

As we said above, it’s easy for us as Wiganers because the flat vowel matches our accent.

But people with other accents seem to struggle with the end bit.

It’s easier if you split it into 3 syllables, Fet – he – yE.

And there endeth today’s history and Turkish pronunciation lesson.

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