Learn the difference between Ottoman Turkish and Modern Turkish
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: Is Ottoman Turkish different from modern Turkish? |
| Dilek: And if so, what are the differences? |
| Michael: At TurkishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben and Nilgun are friends and are visiting a museum together. Ben looks at a book that is on display but cannot understand what it says. He asks his friend, |
| "What language is it?" |
| Ben Lee: Bu hangi dil? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Bu hangi dil? |
| Nilgun Nevsehirli: Bu Osmanlı Türkçesi. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Bu hangi dil? |
| Michael: "What language is it?" |
| Nilgun Nevsehirli: Bu Osmanlı Türkçesi. |
| Michael: "It's Ottoman Turkish." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Ottoman Turkish was a mixture of old Turkish, |
| Dilek: Eski Türkçe, |
| Michael: Arabic |
| Dilek: Arapça |
| Michael: and Persian. |
| Dilek: Farsça. |
| Michael: After the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, there were a lot of efforts "to simplify Turkish" or |
| Dilek: Türkçe'yi basitleştirmek |
| Michael: And get rid of the foreign influences on the language. That's why TDK -Turkish Language Foundation or |
| Dilek: TDK, Türk Dil Kurumu |
| Michael: was founded in 1932 to help develop the modern Turkish language. |
| Michael: Modern Turkish or |
| Dilek: Modern Türkçe. |
| Michael: is different from Ottoman Turkish. |
| Dilek: Osmanlı Türkçesi |
| Michael: Most Turkish people can't read the old alphabet, which was the Arabic alphabet or |
| Dilek: Arap alfabesi. |
| Michael: The current Turkish alphabet was made official and began to be taught at schools only between 1928 and 1929. In addition, most of the old words with Arabic and Persian roots have been forgotten. For example, let's consider the word meaning "endless," |
| Dilek: Namütenahi |
| Michael: Here the prefix |
| Dilek: Na |
| Michael: is of Persian origin and it means "without, not, " while the word |
| Dilek: Mütenahi |
| Michael: is of Arabic origin and it means "end," So together the two elements mean "endless" which is not used in daily Turkish language anymore. The current word for "endless" is |
| Dilek: Sonsuz. |
| Michael: There are a lot of words and phrases that are still commonly used though, such as |
| Dilek: Selamün aleyküm |
| Michael: which means "let the peace be upon you" in Arabic. It was used in Ottoman Turkish and it is still used in Modern Turkish. However, this greeting is mostly shortened by speakers nowadays as |
| Dilek: Selam |
| Michael: Nowadays, the word meaning "peace" is |
| Dilek: Barış |
| Michael: In this lesson, we learned that, before the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, Turkish used to look very different. It used the Arabic alphabet and its vocabulary was full of foreign words. While Ottoman Turkish was mostly used as an administrative and literary language, Modern Turkish became the language of the Turkish people used in all aspects of life. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Michael: The Turkish Language Foundation is still active today, and its focus has shifted to the influence of the English language on Turkish. For example, the foundation has created a word to replace the word Internet. |
| Dilek: Genel Ağ |
| Michael: However, people don't use it so often and almost everyone uses the word coming from English |
| Dilek: İnternet |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dilek: Hoşçakalın! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide