Turkish language

**Azalea** · 04-13-2012, 11:55 AM

What does it sound like to you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmYfss7H8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhE2k...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5btd0noAKz0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em4_kAeBmpU

**Talvi** · 04-13-2012, 11:57 AM

I tried learning it briefly a month ago but I must say I that I dont think it is a very beautiful sounding language... not ugly but.. its not really very inviting...

I was also in Turkey a while ago.

**Azalea** · 04-13-2012, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by Talvi

I tried learning it briefly a month ago but I must say I that I dont think it is a very beautiful sounding language... not ugly but.. its not really very inviting...

I was also in Turkey a while ago.

Do you think that Turkish sounds like another language? Which languages come to your mind when you hear Turkish?

**Talvi** · 04-13-2012, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Türkü

Do you think that Turkish sounds like another language? Which languages come to your mind when you hear Turkish?

When I was in Turkey I heard some official announcements in bus stations and such (woman speaking officially ) and they always reminded me of Korean news readers or something like that. I think somehow Koreans womens voices and talking style is similar to Turkish womens.

However, I have also studied Korean (1,5 years) and grammatically there seems to be almost no real similarity.

I dont support the Altai-Uralic language family hypothesis, so I dont believe that Japanese, Korean and even Estonia are related. (I can also speak Japanese casually).

**Azalea** · 04-13-2012, 12:08 PM

Thank you for your opinion.

Su · 04-13-2012, 12:11 PM

Just a general suggestion for users (the ones who havent done a comment), who have never been to Turkey and want to comment on the language , they should first listen to the youtube videos provided by OP then do comments and maybe try to suggest also a language that sounds or at least has got a vibe of another language, thanks

**Onur** · 04-13-2012, 12:12 PM

Agglutinative languages with lots of suffixes only sounds similar to each other but never to the other languages like Indo-European or Semitic ones.

So, Turkish language only sounds similar to Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian in Europe but all these languages are totally unrelated with IE languages of Europe in every way.

I taught Turkish to foreigners in Turkey before and i have to say that Turkish language is quite difficult to learn for someone who uses IE or semitic language as a mothertongue. I mean, it`s easy to learn basic Turkish which would be enough to communicate with people but it`s extremely difficult to learn proper formal Turkish.

I think it should be same for Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian too. I believe it should be extremely difficult for an English speaker to learn these languages with all their aspects.

Originally Posted by Talvi

I dont support the Altai-Uralic language family hypothesis, so I dont believe that Japanese, Korean and even Estonia are related. (I can also speak Japanese casually).

I do not believe current classifications of Uralic and Altaic languages either but comparing with IE languages, Uralic and Altaic languages definitely closer to each other, at least in terms of grammar. I know that most of the tense, mood suffixes in Uralic and Altaic languages are either exactly same or pretty similar.

**The Lawspeaker** · 04-13-2012, 12:19 PM

Turkish is a strange language and it reminds me a bit of Hungarian but it seems to depend very much on the speaker: if the speaker is an uneducated thoroughly Islamic hick from somewhere deep in Anatolia then it sounds as if it is a completely foreign (non-European) language but when you are watching Turkish TV then you will hear the very same intonation and speech patterns one hears on Dutch TV or on French TV.

**Talvi** · 04-13-2012, 12:27 PM

Originally Posted by Onur

Agglutinative languages with lots of suffixes only sounds similar to each other but never to the other languages like Indo-European or Semitic ones.

So, Turkish language only sounds similar to Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian in Europe but all these languages are totally unrelated with IE languages of Europe in every way.

I taught Turkish to foreigners in Turkey before and i have to say that Turkish language is quite difficult to learn for someone who uses IE or semitic language as a mothertongue. I mean, it`s easy to learn basic Turkish which would be enough to communicate with people but it`s extremely difficult to learn proper formal Turkish.

I think it should be same for Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian too. I believe it should be extremely difficult for an English speaker to learn these languages with all their aspects.

I do not believe current classifications of Uralic and Altaic languages either but comparing with IE languages, Uralic and Altaic languages definitely closer to each other, at least in terms of grammar. I know that most of the tense, mood suffixes in Uralic and Altaic languages are either exactly same or pretty similar.

Since I have come in close contact with 4 different agglutinative languages (that are all officially considered from different language groups) and I can say that they are all agglutinative in very different ways. Korean and Japanese are very very similar in their agglutinative and non-agglutiniative parts and I feel that the morphemes are joined in different ways than in Turkish and on different occasions.

In this aspect I feel like Estonian grammar would be closer to Turkish than Japanese or Korean would be. However how, and when the morphemes are joined in those 2 still differ a lot.