Turkish is an Oghuz Turkic language spoken by about 88 million people, mainly in Turkey, and also in Northern Cyprus, Germany, Bulgaria and other countries. There are about 82 million speakers of Turkish in Turkey, about 2 million in Germany, 606,000 in Bulgaria, 500,000 in the UK, 300,000 in Northern Cyprus, 165,000 in the USA, 130,000 in Uzbekistan, and smaller numbers in other countries.
Turkish is an official language in Turkey, Northern Cyprus, and Cyprus. It is recognised as a minority language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Iraq, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Romania.
Turkish is a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family. It is closely related to Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish, and there is considerable mutual intelligibility between these languages.
The ancestor of modern Turkish, Oghuz, was bought to Anatolia from Central Asia during the 11th century AD by Seljuq Turks. This developed into Ottoman Turkish, and contained many loanwords from Arabic and Persian.
Until 1928 Turkish was written with a version of the Perso-Arabic script known as the Ottoman Turkish script. There was also a way to write Ottoman Turkish with the Armenian alphabet, known as Armeno-Turkish, that was used by ethnic Armenians and the non-Armenian Ottoman Turkish elite until 1928.
In 1928, as part of his efforts to modernise Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk issued a decree replacing the Arabic script with a version of the Latin alphabet, which has been used ever since. Arabic and Persian loanwords were replaced with Turkish equivalents, based on the vocabulary used by ordinary people rather than the elite. Nowadays, only scholars and those who learnt to read before 1928 can read Turkish written in the Ottoman Turkish script.
Download an alphabet chart for Turkish (Excel)
Hear a recording of the Turkish alphabet by Muxan Eren Aslan
Hear how to pronounce the Turkish alphabet:
Bütün insanlar hür, haysiyet ve haklar bakımından eşit doğarlar. Akıl ve vicdana sahiptirler ve birbirlerine karşı kardeşlik zihniyeti ile hareket etmelidirler.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Hear a recording of the Ottoman Turkish alphabet by Muxan Eren Aslan
The Latin transliteration here is used in the İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopedia of Islam), which has become a de facto standard in Oriental studies for the transliteration of Ottoman Turkish texts. Other transliteration systems are available.
Download alphabet charts for Turkish (Excel)
Bütün insanlar hür, haysiyet ve haklar bakımından eşit doğarlar. Akıl ve vicdana sahiptirler ve birbirlerine karşı kardeşlik zihniyeti ile hareket etmelidirler.
With corrections by Ibrahim Musri
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Turkish | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Time | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Books about Turkish on: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk [affilate links]
- TurkishClass101.com - Learn Turkish with Free Audio and Video Lessons
- Learn Turkish online with Mondly
- Learn Turkish with Glossika
Information about Turkish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish_alphabet
https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/أبجدية_تركية_عثمانية
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/turkish/guide/
http://www.allaboutturkey.com/dil.htm
Online Turkish lessons
http://www.turkishclass.com
http://polymath.org/turkish.php
https://www.loecsen.com/en/learn-turkish
http://www.teachyourselfturkish.com
http://turkish.pgeorgalas.gr/indexEn.htm
http://www.turkishbasics.com
https://www.turkishaholic.com/
http://mylanguages.org/learn_turkish.php
http://www.turkishclass101.com/
Turkish phrases
https://www.ielanguages.com/turkish-phrases.html
https://iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/turkish/turkish-tips/turkish-phrases/
https://heyexplorer.com/turkish-phrases-for-tourists/
https://wikitravel.org/en/Turkish_phrasebook
Online Turkish dictionaries
http://turkishdictionary.net/
http://www.kadifeli.com/cgi-bin/compdict.pl
http://www.zargan.com
http://www.dictionarist.com/turkish/
http://www.sozlukte.com
http://pauctle.com/entr
https://dictionary.reverso.net/turkish-english/
https://www.seslisozluk.net/
Online translation between Turkish and other languages
http://turkceingilizce.ingilizceturkce.gen.tr/
Online input for Turkish and other Turkic languages
http://www.isa-sari.com/ctlk/?id=en
Online input for Ottoman Turkish
http://www.isa-sari.com/osmanlica/?id=en
Online Turkish language radio
https://radyo.trt.net.tr
http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkish/
http://www.radyoturkhareketi.net/
Online news in Turkish
http://www.gazeteler.de
http://www.bbc.co.uk/turkish/
Online e-books and audio books in Turkish
http://ekitap.kulturturizm.gov.tr/ana-sayfa/1-294/20120531.html
http://www.pandora.com.tr/yayinevi/sesli-kitaplar/2315
Türk Dil Kurumu (TDK) (Turkish Language Association) - the official language regulator of the Turkish language: http://tdk.gov.tr
- TurkishClass101.com - Learn Turkish with Free Audio and Video Lessons
- Learn Turkish with Glossika
Altay, Äynu, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Chagatai, Chelkan, Chulym, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Dolgan, Fuyu Kyrgyz, Gagauz, Ili Turki, Karachay-Balkar, Karaim, Karakalpak, Karamanli Turkish, Kazakh, Khakas, Khalaj, Khorasani Turkic, Krymchak, Kumandy, Kumyk, Kyrgyz, Lop, Nogai, Old Turkic, Qashqai, Romanian Tatar, Salar, Shor, Siberian Tatar, Soyot, Tatar, Teleut, Tofa, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuvan, Urum, Uyghur, Uzbek, Western Yugur, Yakut (Sakha)
Adamaua Fulfulde, Afrikaans, Arabic (Algerian), Arabic (Bedawi), Arabic (Chadian), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Gulf), Arabic (Hassaniya), Arabic (Hejazi), Arabic (Lebanese), Arabic (Libyan), Arabic (Modern Standard), Arabic (Moroccan), Arabic (Najdi), Arabic (Sudanese), Arabic (Syrian), Arabic (Tunisian), Arwi, Äynu, Azeri, Balanta-Ganja, Balti, Baluchi, Beja, Belarusian, Bosnian, Brahui, Chagatai, Chechen, Chittagonian, Comorian, Crimean Tatar, Dargwa, Dari, Dhatki, Dogri, Domari, Gawar Bati, Gawri, Gilaki, Hausa, Hazaragi, Hindko, Indus Kohistani, Kabyle, Kalkoti, Karakalpak, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Khowar, Khorasani Turkic, Khwarezmian, Konkani, Kumzari, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lezgi, Lop, Luri, Maguindanao, Malay, Malay (Terengganu), Mandinka, Marwari, Mazandarani, Mogholi, Morisco, Mozarabic, Munji, Noakhailla, Nubi, Ormuri, Palula, Parkari Koli, Pashto, Persian/Farsi, Punjabi, Qashqai, Rajasthani, Rohingya, Salar, Saraiki, Sawi, Serer, Shabaki, Shina, Shughni, Sindhi, Somali, Soninke, Tatar, Tausūg, Tawallammat Tamajaq, Tayart Tamajeq, Ternate, Torwali, Turkish, Urdu, Uyghur, Uzbek, Wakhi, Wanetsi, Wolof, Xiao'erjing, Yidgha
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 11.11.24
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