Turkish
Turkish is in fashion. The recent boom of Turkish soap operas such as my daughter (Kizim), Woman, (Kadin) and love is in the air (Sen Çal Kapımı), television series with a large number of viewers in other countries, has brought a lot of attention to both Turkey and the Turkish language. This is not surprising as it is a very interesting country, culture and language. Turkey is located on the border between two continents. Although most of its territory belongs to Western Asia, it is also part of Southern Europe, as is the case with Istanbul, the country’s most populous city.
TURKISH AND CULTURE
Turkish culture has changed greatly over the centuries, evolving from a strong Islamic culture to a more Western culture as a result of the transformations brought about by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president and founder of the Republic of Turkey. We can highlight several aspects of its culture, such as: the presence of the Turkish eye or nazar boncuk on the entrances to houses, on jewellery, on cars… The quality of its gastronomy, with well-known dishes such as doner and durum and other lesser-known but equally appetising dishes such as pide (Turkish pizza) or menemen, the typical breakfast made with scrambled eggs and sautéed vegetables.
TURKISH AND TOURISM
The most important tourist attractions in the country are: the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar, located in Istanbul; Pamukkale, where we find an incredible geological formation formed as a result of tectonic movements that caused the appearance of numerous thermal springs, declared a World Heritage Site since 1988; or the Greco-Roman ruins of Ephesus, such as the Temple of Artemis or the Augustus Gate.
Tourism in this region has highlighted the importance of translation and interpretation from and into Turkish, as tourists prefer to work with companies that offer their services in their language, which makes things much easier for them and ensures that there are no misunderstandings between the parties. This is why the help of a professional translator is so important, as it guarantees flawless communication.
WHERE IS TURKISH SPOKEN?
It is a language that belongs to the linguistic family of Turkic languages, specifically to the Oghuz branch. The language has more than 80 million speakers, of which 75 million are native speakers and around 70 million are residents of Turkey. It is the official language of Turkey, of Cyprus (together with Greek) and of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. There are also Turkish-speaking communities in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Europe, such as Germany and Belgium, where there are large numbers of Turkish foreigners.
LINGUISTIC ASPECTS
Nowadays the writing of this language uses Latin characters, but this has not always been the case. Turkish has been spoken in Turkey since medieval times, but at that time the alphabet used was Arabic. In 1928, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ordered the replacement of the Arabic script with the Latin script. This policy is known as The revolution of signs and thanks to it the literacy of the population was promoted.
The body in charge of regulating the language is the Turkish Language Association (Türk Dil Kurumu or TDK).
It also has several dialects such as Danubian, Dinler, Edirne, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Karamanli, Razgrad, Rumelian and Urfa, but the exact number is not known. There is a variety of Turkish considered Standard Turkish, which is based on the variant spoken in the city of Istanbul.
HOW CAN LINGUATRANS HELP YOU?
At Linguatrans we are experts in this language, which is present in all the services we provide, such as:
• Turkish translation
• Turkish sworn translation
• Turkish transcription
• Turkish subtitling
• Turkish proofreading
• Turkish voice-over
• Turkish localisation
We have excellent native professionals for each translation service and speciality. Count on a highly reputed company in the market of language services by contacting us. You can also consult our rates or request a free, no-obligation quote. We are standing by to take you far… including in Turkish!