91福利社

Turkish is the official language in Turkey with a population of over 72 million and also in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Turkish is spoken by small groups of ethnic Turks in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and some other regions of Eastern Europe. Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and France also have large Turkish immigrant communities, the most populous Turkish community being in Germany. In Azerbaijan and in some ex-Soviet republics Turkish is spoken too.

Turkish had many linguistic influences from neighbouring countries as well as from European languages throughout its history.

Ottoman Turkish experienced a great influx of Persian and Arabic words. There are also many loanwords of French origin in the Turkish language. Most words for fashion, many medical, political and ideological terms and most financial words are imported from French or pronounced the French way, eg.
听enflasyon, inflation,
听诲枚惫颈锄, currency,
听finansman, financing,
听resesyon, recession,
听kriz, crisis,
听bono, bond,
There also many Greek words in Turkish.

English brought mainly words related to new technologies, such as
听莽别办耻辫, check up,
听办补尘辫眉蝉, campus,
听dizayn, design,
听kokpit, cockpit,
听reyting, rating,
听brifing, briefing,
听site, data, hacker, mortgage, shop, fast food, star, miting, meeting.

Several Turkish words made it into English as well, such as
听divan,
kiosk from 听办枚艧办, open pavillon,
agha or aga, from 听补臒补, chief,
kayak, 听办补测谋办, and food words such as
听baklava,
doner kebab, 听d枚ner kebap,
shish kebab, 听艧i艧 kebap, and
yogurt, 听测辞臒耻谤迟.

Since 1928, Turkish has been written in a slightly modified Latin alphabet which is almost phonetic. Loanwords are adjusted to the Turkish spelling. For example,
media becomes 听medya ,
television becomes 听televizyon,
restaurant becomes 听restoran and
hotel becomes 听otel.

The absence of feminine or masculine forms of nouns and adjectives in Turkish also makes life easier for learners. But just like in French, you has two forms, the informal 听sen and formal 听siz. The verbs 鈥� which always come at the end of sentences - require suffixes according to the level of formality you choose when speaking.

Suffixes in Turkish may well cause difficulty at first, but once you鈥檝e got your head around the logic of conjugations, you鈥檒l see that it鈥檚 not impossible to figure out all verbal conjugations.
Git(mek), to go, in present tense appears as -yor:
听Ben gidiyorum, I am going: gid-i-yor is the present tense and -um is the first person singular personalisation suffix which determines who is doing the action.
Git(mek) in past tense appears as ti:
听Ben gittim, I went, : -ti is the past tense and -m is the first person singular personalisation.
Git(mek), in future appears as cek, depending on the vowels:
听Ben gidece臒im, I will go: 驳颈诲别肠别办(臒)* is the future tense of to go and -im is the first person singular personalisation suffix.

听艦u k枚艧e yaz k枚艧esi, 艧u k枚艧e k谋艧 k枚艧esi, ortadaki so臒uk su 艧i艧esi.
That corner is the summer corner, that one the winter corner and in the middle is the bottle of cold water.

听Bir berber bir berbere gel berber beraber Berberistan鈥檇a bir berber d眉kkan谋 a莽al谋m demi艧.
A barber told another barber 鈥渃ome barber, let鈥檚 start up a joint barbershop in Barberistan鈥�.

Most Turkish jokes seem to evolve around one main character, Temel, his wife Fatma and his friend Dursun. Temel is meant to be a typical guy from the Black Sea coastal region and there are hundreds of jokes about this trio and the various adventures they encounter, ranging from political to sexual antics. Here鈥檚 an example of Temel鈥檚 humorous wisdom:

听陌dam cezas谋na 莽arpt谋r谋lan Temel鈥檈 son dile臒ini sorarlar.
鈥淏eni o臒lumun yan谋ba艧谋na g枚m眉n鈥� der.
鈥淎ma o臒lun hala hayatta!鈥� derler.
Temel de, 鈥溍杗emli de臒il, beklerim.鈥� diye cevap verir.
They ask Temel, who is condemned to death, for his last wish.
"Please bury me next to my son", he says.
"But your son is alive!", they say.
Temel replies: "No problem, I can wait".

Turkish is understood in many countries of Central Asia and is a member of the Turkish or Western subgroup of the Oghuz languages, which includes Gagauz and Azeri. The Oghuz languages form the Southwestern subgroup of the Turkic languages, a language family comprising some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia. Some linguists believe Turkic languages are part of a larger Altaic language family that also include Mongolic, Tungusic, Korean and Japonic.

There are some words which look identical but actually sound quite different so you have to guess the correct pronunciation from the context.

听贬芒濒芒 means still or yet and 听hala means aunt (father鈥檚 sister鈥� there are two words for aunts in Turkish, as there are two different uncles, maternal and paternal.)

听Kar means snow while 听办芒谤 means profit.
Suffixes to the same word can make it more complicated.
听碍补谤谋苍 can mean of the snow or stomach or even your wife!

If you are a keen organic food consumer and want to make sure that there are no added preservatives in canned or jarred food, be careful not use the usual exportation of the word.
Prezervatif means condom in Turkish (a French import) and for additives you must use the word 听katk谋 maddesi.

听K芒臒谋d谋n, kalemin, m眉rekkebin kokusunu sevdi臒im i莽in yaz谋yorum. Edebiyata, roman sanat谋na her 艧eyden 莽ok inand谋臒谋m i莽in yaz谋yorum. Bir al谋艧kanl谋k ve tutku oldu臒u i莽in yaz谋yorum.
I write because I love the smell of paper, pen, and ink. I write because I believe in literature, in the art of the novel, more than I believe in anything else. I write because it is a habit, a passion.
The 2006 Nobel Laureate in Literature Orhan Pamuk (born 1952) is the most famous Turkish author of our time, He's widely read in the English-speaking world and his works have been translated into over 50 languages.

听Kim ger莽ek yabanc谋 鈥� bir 眉lkede ya艧ay谋p ba艧ka bir yere ait oldu臒unu bilen mi, yoksa kendi 眉lkesinde yabanc谋 hayat谋 s眉r眉p, ait olacak ba艧ka bir yeri de olmayan m谋?
Who is the real stranger 鈥� the one who lives in a foreign land and knows he belongs elsewhere, or the one who lives the life of a foreigner in her native land and has no place else to belong?
Elif 艦afak (born 1971) is another a well-known Turkish writer. Many of her books are written in or translated into English.

听Ya艧amak 艧akaya gelmez,
b眉y眉k bir ciddiyetle ya艧ayacaks谋n
bir sincap gibi mesela,
yani, ya艧aman谋n d谋艧谋nda ve 枚tesinde hi莽bir 艧ey beklemeden,
yani b眉t眉n i艧in g眉c眉n ya艧amak olacak.
Living is no laughing matter
you must live with great seriousness
like a squirrel, for example
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
I mean living must be your whole occupation.
Naz谋m Hikmet (1902-1963) is the best-known Turkish poet. His poems have been translated into English and many other languages, but the emotions, depth and power of his language are best experienced in Turkish.

The earliest examples of Turkish writing are the two monumental Orkhon inscriptions which are written in Orkhon script, or "Turkic runes". Dating back to 735 AD, they were erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khan and were found in the Orkhon river valley in Mongolia in the 19th century.

Just like in French, you should address people you've just met with the formal you, 听siz, until invited to use the informal 听sen. But you will find that shopkeepers, children and occasionally older people use the informal you even with people they鈥檝e never met before.

Turkish is the language of 1000 titles! Addressing people by their names on initial introduction is considered impolite, especially if they appear to be from the older generation. It might amuse you to be addressed as
听Emma teyze, aunty Emma, or 听Peter amca, uncle Peter, by young children, as it鈥檚 very rude even for youngsters to use only a first name. Younger adults are addressed as
听abi / 补臒补bey, elder brother, or 听abla, elder sister, by people seemingly younger than them.

Always use 丑补苍谋尘 after a woman鈥檚 name and bey after a man鈥檚, i.e. 听Ay艧e 丑补苍谋尘 / Zeynep 丑补苍谋尘 or 听Mehmet bey / Ali bey. It means Mr and Mrs but follows the name rather than precedes it. If you don鈥檛 know the name of a person you need to address, using
听丑补苍谋尘efendi, madam, or 听beyefendi, sir, is a good way to play it safe!