Just less than a 100 years ago the Turkish language was written in Arabic script (discussed in the previous Episode). Mix this with the fact of Islamic religion ruling in Turkey — and no wonder you end up with many people believing that Turkish and Arabic are all but the same. Let us bring clarity and even justice into this matter for no language deserves to be confused with another and not to be recognized for what it really is!

Turkish and Arabic languages are NOT similar. In fact, the majority of Turkish population does not speak, nor understands Arabic. The two languages are indeed so different — you would find way more similarities between Turkish and... Korean!

And did you know that words adopted from the Arabic language in modern Turkey are being pushed out from the usage? There are even laws in place to keep Turkish clean of any foreign borrowings. Exhibit "A" and a point of pride for the Turkish people: native-made word for "computer" — bilgisayar, which literally translates as "information/data counter". 

Of course, hundreds-year long influence of one culture onto another doesn't just vanish. Turkish still has many words that are similar or even same to those in Arabic (which, just to reiterate, does not make them alike). Just compare examples given in this video (4:46):

Now that Arabic is not on the table, guess what language out there is the closest to Turkish? To answer that we don't really have to go that far geografically: it is Azerbaijani (also commonly known as Azeri). In both languages, tenses, aspects, plurals, affixes of prepositions, etc. are based on the same logic and look almost identical when written. 

Speakers of Turkish and Azerbaijani can, to an extent of 60 to 90%, communicate with each other as both languages have substantial variation and are to a degree mutually intelligible, although, as Turkish soap operas are widely watched in Azerbaijan, it is easier for a speaker of Azerbaijani to understand Turkish than the other way around.

Again, similarity doesn't mean identical. So there are things that differ, thus making it harder to convey the nuances of certain meanings. Say, if you are a Turk on an Azerbaijani plane, the phrase "The plane will land in 10 minutes" will sound to your ear more like "The plane will crush in 10 minutes". Or sümük (sue-mew-k) in Azerbaijani means "a bone" whereas in Turkish the meaning is "snot" — a recipe for a disaster in cooking. Or uyumak (oo-you-muck) — "to sleep" in Turkish — turns into "to smoke weed" for Azeri.

So how come that these two languages relate so much? I chose that word —relate— on purpose: they used to be practically the same language! Because of their common history and cultural influences through the invasions and conquers before they got under the reign of Arabic and Persian cultures. Nowadays, the two languages go in two different directions, so it is expected of them to differ more over time.

If you want to understand what language you are dealing with —Turkish or Azerbaijani— seeing only a text, then keep in mind that the Turkish alphabet doesn't have letters ə, x, q which Azeri does. Also, in Dagestan (Russia) Azerbaijani uses Cyrillics, and in Iran —a modified Persian script, meaning it won't even look like Turkish at all.

If you'd like a little dive into Azerbaijani language (compared to Turkish) and its culture, let the German set it clear :) Here is a video by Franziska that gives you just the flavor (8:11):

So by the grand efforts of this Episode that much is established: the Turkish language is positively closer to other Turkic languages than to Arabic. Of course, the extent to which they'd be related varies. 

The list of other Turkic languages includes:

• Uzbek,
• Kazakh,
• Turkmen,
• Kyrgyz,
• Bashkir,
• Yakut,
• even Tatar, etc.

The Mongolian language, believe it or not, is way closer to Turkish than Arabic! Curious about that? Go to this intriguing Episode of the Langventure.

Even I, with my wee knowledge of Turkish, could recognize in the Kazakh translation (which was written in the Cyrillic script —with letters like ғ, қ, ң, ө, ұ, ү) of some information on a food packaging similarities to Turkish.

And just in case let me emphasize here then: Turkish and the Russian language are NOT the same either, if you were wondering. It took me quite a lot of energy to get familiar with Turkish words, grammar, logic. Its rhythm and melody are different to Russian as well, let alone the alphabet. Although, let me point out that pronunciation-wise it was a piece of ...mmm... Turkish delight :D, whereas my western-born husband is still struggling.

And on that delicious note I invite you to the last Episode of our Turkish adventure!

Şimdilik hoşçakal! 

(Sheem-dee-leak khosh-cha-kul)

Bye for now!

"Love your Turkish! And this article!"

Discover more about Turkish and other languages at langventure.mystrikingly.com!