Turkish Translations—Language & Dialects

Correct language translation is a requirement for successfully entering a foreign market. And in the last several decades, Turkish translations have become very important to conduct international business in and around this country, especially as Turkey is located strategically between Europe and Asia. Turkey has emerged as an important nation in the global economic arena and represents of a profitable market. And to reach this vast market, you can't ignore the importance of good Turkish translations.

Belonging to the Ural-Altaic linguistic group, Turkish is spoken by more than 77 million people worldwide. It is the official language of Turkey, and one of the official languages of Cyprus. It is also spoken by the Turkish diaspora in several countries such as Germany which is home to over 2 million Turkish people, Belgium, Austria, France, Netherlands, the UK and Switzerland. In addition, Turkish also has speakers in Iran, Iraq, Greece, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Georgia, Albania, Finland, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Israel, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia, Honduras and more.

Turkish characteristics and script

Just like Azeri, Gagauz, and Qashqai, Turkish is a member of the Turkish subgroup of the Oghuz languages. The characteristics of the Turkish language, such as lack of grammatical gender, vowel harmony, etc. can be found in other Oghuz languages too.

Until 1928, Turkish was written in Perso-Arabic script. However Mustafa Kemal Atatürk replaced the Arabic script with the Latin alphabet in an effort to modernize Turkey. The  Latin-based Turkish alphabet contains 29 letters out of which 8 are vowels and the rest 21 are consonants.

Vocabulary & Modern Turkish we know today

Turkish language contains several loanwords from Persian and Arabic. However when the script was changed from Arabic to Latin, various loanwords of Arabic and Persian origin were replaced with Turkish equivalents. As a result, various new words derived from Turkish roots were coined and a large number of old Turkish words which had not been in use for decades or centuries were revived. All these changes have contributed to shape the modern Turkish language in use today.

Dialects of Turkish language

Turkish language has various dialects which are spoken in different parts of Turkey. The official standard language of Turkey uses the Istanbul dialect of Anatolian. Although the Istanbul dialect is used in the media and taught in schools, various regional dialects are used in different parts of Turkey.

While the Erzincan, Elazig and Malatya dialects are spoken in the Eastern part of Turkey, Denizli and  Kütahya are used in Western Turkey. In Southern Turkey, the Gaziantep and Antalya dialects are used and the Ankara dialect is spoken largely in Central Turkey.

In addition, there are several differences between the Turkish spoken in Turkey and the other Turkic countries such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhistan, Kyrgyzstan and others. Turkish spoken in these countries include Azerbaijan Turkish, Kirghistan Turkish, Kazakhstan Turkish, Uzbekistan Turkish and more. And then there is Cypriot Turkish which is a Turkish dialect spoken by Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus.

All these dialects differ from the standard Istanbul dialect in terms of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and more. Therefore before you assign translation work to a company, first you need to find out where your target audience is located.

Are you targeting potential customers living in Turkey or the people living in Cyprus or Kazakhistan? Once you are sure of your target audience, do some research and approach a professional and reliable translation company, whether you need a translation Regina or Ottawa translation services provider who work with highly skilled and trained translators who have an in-depth understanding of the Turkish language and its dialects, so they can provide accurate Turkish translations for your target audience.