- For the Site, see Ling: Learn Turkish.
- Available both on the browser and as an iPhone App.
- I've found the initial page-load to be a bit slow in the browser (at least using Chrome), so anyone clicking the above link may need to be somewhat patient.
- Ling Introduction:
- Turkey is an interesting country, split between Europe and Asia. The region has also been home to a number of important empires, leading to its fascinating culture and history that have shaped the country today. Millions of people are drawn to the country each year for these reasons. So what is it like to learn Turkish?
- There are over 75 million native speakers of the Turkish language, with several million more when considering second language speakers. While the majority are located in Turkey, it is also spoken in numerous other countries in the region. Turkish uses it own variety of the Latin alphabet when written, which consists of 29 letters. Seven of the letters have been modified to meet the phonetic requirements of the language. These all make use of diacritic markers.
- Turkish makes use of suffixes as a means to reflect the grammatical function of the word and change its formation. There is no definite article in the language with an accusative suffix instead to imply definiteness. There are actually six cases but no grammatical gender or noun classes. Another thing to note is that Turkish makes use of honorifics to reflect the social standing of the speaker and the one being spoken too. Word order in Turkish generally follows an SOV structure, with the verb coming after the subject and object, differing from English.
- So, should you take the time to learn Turkish? If you ever plan to visit the country or just enjoy the food, culture and history, it is definitely worth it. With millions of speakers worldwide, you will also open up new opportunities to communicate with others. With a relatively simple pronunciation system, you will be saying your first Turkish words in no time.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2025
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)