Learn the meaning of Turklish
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What is Turklish? |
| Dilek: And is it commonly used? |
| Michael: At TurkishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Mark Lee is having a meeting with his colleague and he's asked: |
| "Did you take care of the project?" |
| Kıvanç Kandıralı: Projeyi handle ettin mi? |
| Dialogue |
| Kıvanç Kandıralı: Projeyi handle ettin mi? |
| Mark Lee: Hayır, deadline haftaya. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Kıvanç Kandıralı: Projeyi handle ettin mi? |
| Michael: "Did you take care of the project?" |
| Mark Lee: Hayır, deadline haftaya. |
| Michael: "No, the deadline is next week. " |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: If we had to choose a modern lingua franca, English would be the first candidate. No other language has as many non-native speakers as English does. In modern times, English is used for international business, for diplomatic purposes, and also to bring people from different countries together. It's one of the most influential languages, so it's no wonder that it influences other languages themselves. This can, for example, be observed in Turkish with the rising number of English loanwords, called "anglicisms" or |
| Dilek: İngilizlik |
| Michael: This development is called |
| Dilek: Türkilizce. |
| Michael: The word "Turklish" is a fusion of the words |
| Dilek: Türkçe and İngilizce, |
| Michael: meaning "Turkish," and "English" in the Turkish language. This is a peculiar development of the Turkish language that mostly involves Turkish expat communities living in anglophone countries, or anglophone communities living in Turkey. |
| Some people do not appreciate this development and fear that Turkish might become a hybrid of English and Turkish in the future. Loanwords are everywhere in Turkey, even if the Turkish Language Foundation tries to constrict their spread. For example, when referring to a job, you might hear |
| Dilek: full time iş, |
| Michael: meaning "full time job." Or, when at the bank, you might hear about a |
| Dilek: Mortgage, |
| Michael: literally meaning "mortgage." You might also hear some people saying, |
| Dilek: Sıcağım, |
| Michael: literally meaning "I'm hot," on a hot day. This is also an example of "Turklish" because a more natural way to express the same feeling for a Turkish native speaker would be |
| Dilek: Terliyorum, |
| Michael: meaning "I'm sweating." So it's not only a matter of English loanwords but also a matter of how thoughts are organized. Though the speakers use correct Turkish, they keep an anglophone mindset. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Mark's colleague asks "Did you take care of the project?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Selin as Kivanc: Projeyi handle ettin mi? |
| Michael: Have you heard how the English words were adapted into Turkish grammar? This is one of the main features of Turklish. Even if the words are coming from English, they become part of Turkish speech and have to follow Turkish grammar rules. The word "handle" becomes a verb in Turkish and is adapted into the phrase |
| Dilek: handle etmek |
| Michael: which means "to handle" |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Mark answers "No, the deadline is next week. " |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Selin as Mark: Hayır, deadline haftaya. |
| Michael: Here, the word |
| Dilek: deadline |
| Michael: clearly comes from English and is used as a noun. When using Turklish, this word is sometimes treated as an ordinary noun and can be attached to pronoun suffixes like in |
| Dilek: deadline'ımız, |
| Michael: which means "our deadline." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned that Turkish speakers tend to adopt an anglophone mindset. This is also called "Turklish," and, while some people might promote this practice, others will see it as a blow to Turkish. On the other hand, as we mentioned at the beginning of the lesson, this phenomenon is limited to restricted communities. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Turklish is especially used by white collar business people who generally work inside "skyscrapers." which in Turkish are called: |
| Dilek: Plaza |
| Michael: As a consequence, Turklish is sometimes referred to as "Skyscraper Turkish" or |
| Dilek: Plaza Türkçesi |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dilek: Hoşçakalın! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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