| Turkish is one of several Turkic languages. Other
Turkic languages are Uzbek, Azerbaijani and Kazakh. The Turkic languages
are a subfamily of languageswithin the Altaic language family. The two
other subfamilies are Mongolian and Manchu-Tungus.
About 220 million people around the world
speak Turkish, although there are only 61 million people in Turkey. The
remainder live in Iran, Iraq and the countries of the former Soviet Union. |
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| Modern Turkish, as spoken by more than 90% of
the population, has its roots in Ottoman Turkish. The Turkish language
once contained many Arabic and Persian words and expressions. There was
an intensive campaign to rid the language of these elements and to introduce
new words to describe modern matters during the early Republican period. |
| Did
you know? |
| |
Gule gule,
a good-bye wish, can be literally translated as "Go smiling." |
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| Kurdish and Arabic are also spoken in Turkey.
Kurds, who make up nearly 20% of the population, live mainly in rural areas
in the east and southeast part of the country. Arabic is spoken by about
1% of the population, mainly in the southeastern part of the country close
to the borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria. There are small pockets of Greek
and Armenian speakers in large cities such as Istanbul. Many of the Jews
in Turkey are descendants of the Sephardic Jews exiled from Spain in the
late 15th century. They speak a language called Ladino, which is a form
of Spanish, but written using Hebrew script.
In the 1920s, the Latin alphabet was introduced
by government decree. It replaced the Arabic script. People were given
three months to learn and start using the new alphabet. Because most historical
documents written before the 1920s were in Arabic, many Turks cannot read
them. |
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| English
Turkish |
| Yes |
Evet |
| No |
Hayir |
| Please |
Lutfen |
| Thank you |
Tesekkur ederim |
| Hello |
Merhaba |
| Good morning |
Gunaydin |
| How are you? |
Nasilsiniz? |
| I'm fine, thank you |
Iyiyim, tesekkur ederim |
| What is your name? |
Adiniz ne? |
| My name is.... |
Adim... |
| Excuse me |
Affedersiniz |
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