Turkish

Turkish is the official language of Turkey and is not only used in that country, but also by minorities in Cyprus, the Balkans, central Asia and the Middle East, as well as by guest workers throughout western Europe. 65 million people list Turkish as their mother tongue.

Sometimes also known as Anatolian, Turkish developed to become the imperial language of the Ottoman empire, which was founded around 1300 AD by Osman, a regional prince under the Seljuks. Originally, Turkish was written using the Arabic alphabet and consequently incorporated many Arabic and Persian words and additions over the centuries. In the course of Kemal Atatürk's reform policy, the Latin alphabet was introduced after 1928. Since the foundation of the Turkish Language Society in 1932, many loan words have been replaced by Turkish expressions. The number of Arabic and Persian components is, however, still very high.

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Language courses Turkish