The Turkish Language Is a Delight to Learn
Did you know that Turkish lingo dates way back to the 11the century AD? Locals believe it’s at least 5500 years old. This makes Turkish one of the most ancient languages. Despite its old age, it’s one of the most uncomplicated and fun languages to learn and speak thanks to its flawless phonetic and straightforward syntactic structure.
Here’s what makes this language remarkable.
The Language Is So Much Easier to Learn
Do you want to know which are the most similar languages to Turkish? Because Turkish switched to the Latin alphabet around 1928, the spelling is phonetic, which means the grammar is simple. This makes Turkish easy to learn.
Although Mongolian, Azerbaijan, Albanian, Russian, Korean, and Japanese are similar to Turkish, the communication barrier becomes possible with geographical distance. For instance, a simple Turkish to English translation of the word woman, mother, or female is Ana, which is the same in Azerbaijani. But in Japanese female or a woman is onna while in Albanian its nënë.
The Language, Culture, and Traditions Make Turkey Unique
Apart from having a unique language, the local people are known for their hospitality and timeless traditions. The diversity of people further enhances their culture and traditions. Besides, other practices and customs from Arabic, Georgian, Greek, and Armenian people have been interwoven into the communities. As a result, Turkish has had many linguistic influences.
When visiting Turkey for the first time, visitors should take advantage of websites that offer Turkish to English translation, as it’s the best technique to learn a few common phrases. For example, if you hear a local saying Hos Geldiniz then in English, it means welcome. Hoşça kal in English is goodbye.
Although the country has six modern cities comprising of over a million people, the culture, language, and traditions continue to survive throughout the years. The customs and language are preserved through music, folk dances, and many other celebrations that bring people together.
For instance, the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival is a 600-year-old tradition and one of the most popular Turkish tournament. Camel wrestling, Mesir Paste, Mevlana Whirling Dervishes and Ahirkapi Hidirellez festival where locals jump over fire and leave food out in the open celebrates the culture of the Turkish people.
Boast of a Large Family
Did you know that once you understand Turkish, it becomes easier to learn other languages? It has similarities with several languages as long as they belong to the Ural Altaic family, which is also the Altay linguistic branch. So far, Turkish is divided into three main dialects: Western, Eastern, and Northern.
Each dialect in these three regions differs based on ethnic background, geographical terrain, and country of origin. For instance, the Turkic language commonly spoken by the Turkey people is mainly from descendants of the Balkans and Central Asia. Eski Instanbul, which dates way back to the Ottoman era, is the standard dialect that is mostly spoken in Turkey. For instance, Turkish to English translation of the word Gidiyorsunuz means are you going.
Other dialect variations include:
- Cypriot
- Karamanli
- Meskhetian
- Trabzon
- Balkan
The unique language which widespread in many continents lacks grammatical gender.
Turkish Literature Spreads Tradition and the Language
With a population of around 76 million, the different dialects add to the richness of the culture and make the language fun to learn.
The large population makes it easier for the diverse communities to communicate effectively; hence don’t see the need to learn the English language. This has made it possible for Turkey to have a thriving entertainment that is both culturally appropriate and advantageous to the economy. However, the English Language is spoken in Turkey cities such as Istanbul that is frequented by tourists and visitors doing business
Turkish literature is one aspect that has maintained its originality as most books have rarely been translated into English. While it’s hard to refute the benefits of literary translation, reading a Turkish book in its original language is an excellent strategy to learn new things related to the people and to enhance your language skills. Besides, reading a translation means you’re viewing the words in a way the translator understood them. This often results in the loss of the intended message.
For a good read, The Time Regulation Institute a novel by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali, Poems of Nâzım Hikmet, Summer’s End by Adalet Ağaoğlu and The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk are some of the must-read Turkish books. Some of these literature pieces have enjoyed popularity after their English translation.
Differences Between the Turkish and English Language
Turkish people who want to speak English have to think of it as a different experience. Unlike English Turkish language has the subject either at the beginning of a sentence or in the end. A preposition can also follow a noun, and a relative clause precedes the noun they are modifying.
Additionally, the alphabet has 29 letters, yet it lacks X, W, and Q, which are in the English alphabet. Furthermore, it has 21 consonants and eight vowels and has no definite article, and pronouns are less frequently used.
Another difference that a foreigner might find English to Turkish translation uncommon is the position of the possessive adjectives. Most English speaking people often find native language different because it’s structurally diverse. However, as soon as you grasp the word order, how suffixes work, and understand that Turkey is a phonetic language, then it becomes easier to understand.
Since Turkish shares many similarities with other languages and is a gender-neutral, an English speaker who learns Turkish will find it easier to learn other lingos. Besides, Turkish also forces the learner to think differently, which is a quality needed to understand the structure of any foreign language.