# What Do The Turks Call Instanbul? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804 "2014-07-10T22:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/1 "2014-07-10T22:57:34Z")
Is the sound “ISS-tahn-bull” more or less the sound that a Turk would make when naming his/her city? INB4 “Not Constantinople” ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/2 "2014-07-10T23:27:49Z")
İstanbul. Note the dotted i. IPA: [isˈtanbuɫ], roughly the same as English. First i is more of a long “ee” sound. The last character is a [dark l](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_lateral_approximant#Velarized_alveolar_lateral_approximant), so pronounce l like a 4 year old. Says also: [ɯsˈtambuɫ]. That first character [doesn’t really work](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_back_unrounded_vowel) in English. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/3 "2014-07-11T04:39:41Z")
In Turkish, it is accented on the second syllable, whose vowel is pronounced like the A in “father”. Learn to use the Google translator, which has an icon to produce the audio of most languages. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/4 "2014-07-11T06:01:40Z")
Why did Constantinople get the works? ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/5 "2014-07-11T12:18:17Z")
Old New York was once New Amsterdam… ♫ ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/6 "2014-07-11T13:27:26Z")
It’s nobody’s business but the Turks. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/7 "2014-07-11T18:04:01Z")
Standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by. (Ooops, that was the next track.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-the-turks-call-instanbul/692804/8 "2014-07-11T21:12:36Z")
[Constant In Opal.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idiYlpx6Y2o)