Whether you are interested in learning Turkish or just a language geek looking to discover new facts about Turkish, welcome to Turkish Language Learning! In this post, I give a comprehensive overview of what the Turkish language is, what its origin story is, and what makes it such a unique language, which includes features such as vowel harmony, agglutinative grammar, and a lack of grammatical gender. Finally, to make sure I don’t miss anything, I end the post by giving some of my favorite Turkish facts that make it such a rich, historical, and fascinating language. Let’s dive in!
Is Turkish a Language?
The word Turkish can refer to anything that comes from the country Turkey, whose proper name is Türkiye. So, you will hear the word Turkish come before anything like food, clothing, music, and other cultural phenomena. However, Turkish is a language, even though it may not be as popular as others. So the word “Turkish” by itself usually refers to this primary language in Turkey, where almost 80 million people speak it. Do not confuse the word Turkish with Turkic, which more broadly describes a larger ethnic group and language family stretching across Asia and Europe.
Due to the prevalence of immigration, worldwide there are 80-100 million Turkish speakers, especially those who speak it as a second language. For example, Germany has a large Turkish population, making Turkish the second most popular language in the country.
What Is the Turkish Language?
The Turkish language, or Türkçe, is the most popular of the Turkic languages and the official language of Türkiye, the modern Republic of Turkey. The roots of the Turkish language go back thousands of years and are geographically stretched from Central Asia to the Mediterranean and Europe. The Turkish language today refers to modern Turkish, a reformed version of Ottoman Turkish, which was the official language of the Ottoman Empire until 1922. After the founding of modern Turkey, Atatürk established the Turkish Language Association as a regulatory body to reform the Turkish language. They replaced many Arabic and Persian loanwords, changed the alphabet to Latin, and researched Turkic roots to formally bring back old Turkish words. The most notable features of Turkish include vowel harmony, agglutination, and the lack of grammatical gender.
What Language Family Is Turkish?
So what kind of language is Turkish and where does it come from?
Turkish is classified in the Oghuz group of the Turkic language family, closely related to other popular languages like Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek. After knowing Turkish, these other Turkic languages are fairly easy to learn. Other related Turkic languages include Qashqai, Chaharmahali Turkic, and Gagauz. So, despite the overlap of words and culture (and common misconceptions), the root language of Turkish is not Arabic or Persian. The modern version of Turkish you would hear in Turkey today is derived from the 20th-century language reforms of Ottoman Turkish.
Modern Turkish has a smooth, graceful, and melodious sound, mostly from the vowel harmony. Vowel harmony is something most Turkic languages share in common and involves changing suffixes and letters to avoid harsh sounds and stops.
Also due to its origin from the Turkic language family, Turkish is an agglutinative language whose words can be incredibly long. You change the meaning of words by adding more and more suffixes, something that can be difficult for new Turkish speakers to grasp. One of the longest words in Turkish has 70 letters and carries an entire paragraph of meaning with it. Of course, most words are not this long, but this example highlights the agglutinative nature of Turkish.
| muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine | as though you are from those whom we may not be able to easily make into a maker of unsuccessful ones. |
When Was the Modern Turkish Language Created?
So, exactly how old is Turkish? Putting aside the long history of Turkic languages and Ottoman Turkish (thousands of years), the origin of modern Turkish dates back to 1928 when the language began a transformation as part of Atatürk’s reforms for the newly established Republic of Turkey. Changes occurred over the years, with the most notable one being the change to a Latin alphabet in 1928. Because of its phonetic Latin alphabet, learning Turkish is significantly easier, especially for English speakers.
By the founding of the Turkish Language Association in 1932, extensive research was replacing borrowed words (mostly Persian and Arabic) with old Turkish words. This formation of a modern Turkish fit into the larger goals of forming a new and pure Turkish national identity. However, because these reforms occurred over the years and across multiple generations, vocabulary choice can vary largely depending on a person’s age. As a personal example, when I speak to my wife’s parents (in their 50s) I can understand almost everything. However, I often need help when speaking with her grandfather who often uses older Turkish words of Arabic origin.
The Alphabet
As you can see, the reformed version of the Turkish alphabet from Arabic characters makes it look similar to English. There are six additional letters to learn and some different pronunciations, however, the updated alphabet makes Turkish much easier to learn:
Aa—Bb—Cc—Çç—Dd—Ee—Ff—Gg—Ğğ—Hh—Iı—İi—Jj—Kk—Ll—Mm—Nn—Oo—Öö—Pp—Rr—Ss—Şş—Tt—Uu—Üü—Vv—Yy—Zz
Other Related Languages and Dialects
The most closely related language to Turkish is Azerbaijani, and a conversation between the two languages would likely be successful. The pronunciation and spelling can be quite different, however, the shared Turkic roots make them mutually intelligible. You may sometimes see a connection made between Turkish, and other languages like Japanese, and Finnish. This connection came from the possible classification of Turkish in the Altaic family, supported by the sharing of vowel harmony, agglutination, and a lack of gender. However, most linguists no longer stand by the Altaic hypothesis.
Within Turkish, some accents and dialects represent specific regions. Some of these are particularly difficult to understand, even for a native Turkish speaker who grew up with the standard Istanbul Turkish. Besides regional accents, more official Turkish dialects include:
- Rumelian Turkish: A Balkan dialect that itself has many distinct sub-dialects.
- Edirne: A Turkish dialect associated with the northwestern city by the same name.
- Cypriot Turkish: A form of Turkish spoken in Cyprus.
- Güneydoğu: Southeast dialect
- Doğu: Eastern
- Orta Anadolu: Central Anatolia
- Karadeniz: Eastern Black Sea
- Kastamonu: City in the northern Black Sea region
- Karamanli Turkish: An extinct dialect that used the Greek alphabet.
Additionally, within many of these larger branches are more subtle variations and dialects, meaning there are more than 200 individual Turkish dialects with subtle variations in pronunciation and word choice.
What Countries Speak Turkish?
Who speaks Turkish worldwide? Officially, Turkish is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. However, even though the majority of Turkish speakers live in Turkey, you can also hear lots of Turkish speakers in surrounding countries like Iran, Syria, Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Macedonia. Many European and Western countries also have large Turkish immigrant populations, meaning you can hear Turkish in lots of places. Besides Turkey and Cyprus, you would most likely hear Turkish in Germany, where it is the second most popular language.
Turkish also has official status in 38 municipalities, the most popular ones including Kosovo and the Republic of North Macedonia.
Fascinating Facts About Turkish Language And Culture
As a summary and to make sure I give you a complete overview of Turkish, let’s have a bit more fun by listing some of the most interesting facts about the Turkish language and the culture more broadly!
1. Modern Turkish Is Less than 100 Years Old
Despite the ancestral Turkic language influences that go back thousands of years and the rich history of the region, it might surprise you to learn that modern Turkish is less than 100 years old. Old Turkish and Ottoman Turkish existed in the region until the fall of the Ottoman Empire, however, those versions of Turkish are significantly different. Turkish as we know it developed over several decades and reforms, but we can say that it officially got its start in 1928 with Atatürks reform to replace the Arabic script with a Latin alphabet.
2. It Is a Medium-Hard Language
According to the Foreign Language Training of the United States Department of State, Turkish is a level III language (out of four levels). This medium-hard categorization means that Turkish is reasonably difficult for English speakers, and they estimate that it would take a person 44 weeks (1100 hours) to comfortably use the language. However, level IV languages like Japanese and Arabic take double the time to become proficient.
3. There Are Over 80 Million Turkish Speakers Worldwide
Nailing down an exact number of Turkish speakers is difficult, considering how widespread Turkish people are. Conservatively, there are 80 million Turkish speakers who use the language natively, which is more than Italian and Greek speakers combined! However, if you account for bilingual Turkish speakers and the popularity of Turkish in countries like Germany, the total number could be as much as 90-100 million speakers.
Lastly, if you included other closely related Turkic languages in your calculation, the total would approach 200 million Turkic language speakers.
4. There Are Over 200 Dialects/Similar Languages
Standard Turkish refers to the Istanbul dialect that serves as the official language of Turkey. However, there are many variations and dialects of Turkish that you can hear in other countries and even throughout modern Turkey itself. Depending on how you categorize these dialects, the total can surpass 200.
Other closely related Turkic languages like Azerbaijani are also similar enough that they are mutually intelligible.
5. The Turkish Language Association Is In Charge
The Turkish Language Association, established in 1932 and based in Ankara, serves as the regulatory body for the Turkish language. Over 100 languages worldwide possess language regulatory bodies, however, the recent 20th-century modernization and reform of the Turkish language makes this association particularly relevant. In addition to its role in resolving language disputes, the institution had to do lots of research to replace loanwords with genuine Turkic words as part of the language reform.
6. Turkish Uses the Latin Alphabet
Even though Turkish evolved from Ottoman Turkish which used an Arabic script, modern Turkish uses a Latin alphabet. After the founding of modern Turkey in 1923, many reforms took place to purify and standardize the Turkish language, especially removing the many borrowed words from Arabic and Persian. However, the most significant reform, one that makes Turkish much easier to learn, is the adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1928.
7. Turkey Is In Europe and Asia
World history buffs will probably know this already, but I did not realize until my first trip to Turkey that Istanbul sits on the border of Europe and Asia. Besides the geographically crucial placement of this split with the Bosphorus Straight running through it, this placement also explains the unique blend of European, Middle Eastern, and Asian cultural elements you will find in Turkey.
In Istanbul, you will hear Avrupa Yakası to describe the European side, and Anadola Yakası as the name of the Asian side. One of my favorite things to do in Istanbul is to take a ferry across the sides and take in the beauty of the city!
8. Turkish Is an Agglutinative Language
In linguistics, agglutination is when you change a word’s meaning by adding morphemes (short linguistic suffixes) to the end. And, like its many Turkic language family members, modern Turkish uses agglutination to alter words and even create entire sentences. I think most English speakers will find the system fascinating. For example:
| Arkadaş = friend | Arkadaşlar (arkadaş + lar) = friends | Arkadaşlarım (arkadaş + lar + ım) = my friends | Arkadaşlarımdan (arkadaş + lar + ım + dan) = from my friends |
9. Turkish Uses Vowel Harmony
As you just read, Turkish is an agglutinative language that has numerous prefixes and suffixes. However, the grammar rule of vowel harmony means that these suffixes have to change depending on what they are attached to. This harmonizing of the vowels is what makes the Turkish language sound so smooth and beautiful.
The basics of vowel harmony rely on four categories of vowels: rounded, unrounded, front, and back. The principle of vowel harmony dictates that suffixes adapt to match the category of the final vowel in the word to which it attaches. Some rules only care about the front/back distinction while others match both categories.
10. Turkish Grammar Has No Gender
When my wife first moved to America from Turkey, she would always confuse gender pronouns when telling a story. The story would start with “My dad was sitting in traffic on the bridge…” and suddenly have a follow-up sentence of “So she was running late to the airport”. I did not understand such a mistake until I learned Turkish and realized that Turkish does not have grammatical gender. There is only one pronoun (O) that means he, she, and it. Plus, unlike many other languages, nouns also do not have gender associated with them.
So, the sentence “O gitti” could mean “he went,” “she went,” or “it went.” To be clear, Turkish still has words to distinguish between male/female, and the context of a sentence can still communicate gender. However, in terms of grammar rules, this is one aspect of Turkish you won’t have to stress about learning!
11. English Borrows Some Turkish Words
Since English is such a global language in modern times, you might not know how many words it borrows from other languages. And, there are some popular English words that we borrowed from Turkish, ones that are so well integrated that you barely notice the influence. The most obvious examples are:
- Yogurt (yoğurt)
- Shish kebab (şiş kebap)
- Kayak (kayık)
- Sherbet (şerbet)
- Pastrami (pastırma)
12. Being Polite Is Crucial
Turkish is recognized as one of the most polite languages globally due to its extensive usage of honorifics and grammatical structures that enable speakers to select the appropriate level of formality based on social distance, age disparities, and familiarity between individuals. Especially when coming from English as your first language, be aware of the social relationships and always default to the more polite pronouns and verb conjugations. For example:
| Sen = You | Use with close friends and other informal situations |
| Geliyor musun? = are you coming? | The informal (sen) conjugation |
| Siz = You | The plural and formal pronoun |
| Geliyor musunuz? = Are you coming? | More formal and polite |
Regarding honorifics, Turkish incorporates terms like bey (Mr.), hanım (Ms. or Mrs.), efendim (sir, madam), and sayın (honorable, dear), among others. Similar to English and various languages, Turkish also employs political and professional titles such as başkan (president), bakan (minister), and profesör (professor) to address individuals based on their societal position or status. However, unlike English, Turkish takes an additional step and combines traditional honorifics like bey or hanım with professional titles (e.g., doktor hanım, bakan bey).
Don’t stress too much, as Turks will recognize your beginner status and most likely will not take offense if you make a mistake.
13. Turkish Has Thousands of French Loanwords
Despite the many language reforms and attempts to purify the language, there are still thousands of French words in Turkish. Much of this influence can be explained by the ubiquity of French in international affairs throughout history, which had a similar status to the role of English today. More specifically, French was often taught to elite people in the Ottoman Empire, which could definitely explain this amount of French influence on Turkish vocabulary.
Some popular examples of French-derived words in Turkish include:
| Turkish | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| asansör | ascenseur | elevator |
| diyet | diète | diet |
| kuaför | coiffeur | hairdresser |
| ambulans | ambulance | ambulance |
| helikopter | hélicoptère | helicopter |
| duş | douche | shower |
14. Up to 15 percent of Turkish Is Arabic Words
Despite the language reforms after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, 10-15 percent of Turkish still consists of Arabic-derived words. Some of these words (over 6000) are not used as much by younger generations. However, many of them are everyday words that you will still hear Turks of all ages using.
Like the French loanwords above, expect the pronunciation to be quite different in Arabic.
15. There Is a Whistling Language in Turkey
I saved this Turkish fact for last because it is one of the most fun and surprising. For over four centuries in the city/town of Kuşköy (which literally means “bird village”), residents have used a form of whistled Turkish to communicate. Believe it or not, this whistled form of Turkish contains the same syntactic content as spoken Turkish. As these people work in the deep valleys and need to communicate verbally over vast distances, their whistling system can travel up to four kilometers.
The Turkish government reports that approximately 10,000 individuals employ Whistled Turkish as their means of communication. Previously deemed a dying language, the inclusion of Whistled Turkish courses in schools throughout the region has successfully rejuvenated this distinct variety and its rich cultural heritage.
Conclusion
I hope this article gave you a fun and thorough introduction to what the Turkish language is and how it ended up in its modern form. I had deeply personal reasons for wanting to learn Turkish (for my wife and her family). However, now that I have spent eight years learning the language, I am convinced that I would do this even without these personal reasons.
Learning Turkish is not just a fun challenge but can also be a unique gateway into one of the most historically significant regions in the world. Plus, there’s no better way to understand a place’s culture than diving into the details of its language. So, besides appreciating this history, I hope you also consider trying to learn Turkish sometime!
Have any comments or questions? Feel free to leave a note below in the comments or email me at: [email protected]
FAQs
What language does the country of Turkey speak?
The modern Republic of Turkey, or Türkiye, speaks Turkish, a language shared by over 80 million people worldwide. After many reforms of the proceeding Ottoman Turkish during the 1920s and 1930s, Turkish took on the Latin alphabet and the many other features it has today.
Is Turkish a romance language?
No, Turkish is not a Romance language but instead a Turkic language with similarities to Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Kazakh. The five major Romance languages—French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian—all came from Vulgar Latin.
Is it hard to learn Turkish?
Turkish is considered a medium-hard language, ranked as a level III difficult (out of four) by the United States Foreign Language Training Institute. So, coming from English, there are many easier languages to learn than Turkish such as Spanish and Italian, however Turkish is not as difficult as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.
