How does Turkish sound to foreigners?

[ConfusedGrocer]

I'm Turkish and I've always wondered how Turkish sounds like to foreigners. How does Turlkish sound to you?

If you've never heard it, here's Let It Go in Turkish:

This man beat his wife Tülay and begging her to come back:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=vNpF8wnP_Kw

Ask.fm teens that got viral:

And me reading the Wikipedia article about France (Istanbul dialect, the most common one):

[Greece1990]

To me Turkish sounds like Perisan, Arabic, Greek & Turkish. Most of the Turkish langauge comes from other langauges, before 1923 the Turks got their alphabet from arabic and had a lot of persian influences but when they came to anatolia a lot of people joined the turks. Those people that became turkified brought with them their own languages to influence Turkish.

Mustafa Ata Turk wanted to get rid of all the Greek and Arabic words from Turkish in the 1920's and he couldnt do that because it makes up over 2/3 of the Turkish language.

So if your like me and know Greek and Arabic and hear Turkish you can hear the influences from the other langauges. Sti poli which means the city or at the city in Greek and turkified it became stinbulI or now Istanbul. Hajj or Hatzi is clearly from Arabic and Pasha from Persia etc etc.

[Medieve]

upload.wikimedia.org/.../TurkishVocabulary.png

About 89% are Turkish and 11% are of foreign origin. But of course you don't want to believe this.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Of course you're a Greek, LOL. Gotta love our neighbours

[Medieve]

Haters gonna hate.

[Greece1990]

Language reform from Ottoman turkish to modern day turkish is because of ata turks reforms. If you dont believe that ottoman turkish was a mixture of arabic, persian, greek & turkish then you should learn about why ata truk was mad at the arabs & greeks and made your language go from the arabic script to the latin script.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Turkish_language

[Greece1990]

I know plenty of people who still speak ottoman turkish in Greece which is where I hear turkish all the time and is why it sounds the way I say it sounds.

[Medieve]

Ottoman turkish was a mix of arabic, persian and turkish, not greek. We just returned our language to what it was before.

[Greece1990]

Yea there is more arabic & persian in it than greek but greek still plays a role. Just look at the word istanbul which means the city or ankara which means anchor in greek or before turkification of last names ending with “yan, of, ef , viç, is, dis , poulos, aki, zade, shvili, madumu, veled, bin were changed to oğlu..

I dont know why Turks do not want to recognize assimilation, america did, australia did it to aborigines etc. For some reason modern day Turks do not want to recognize that other people joined them from persians, syrian arabs, greeks, armenians, slavs etc. I mean come on Mustafa Kemal had blonde hair and blue eyes.

[Medieve]

Ankara is a celtic name, greeks have surnames "oglou" which is borrowing from turkish, I never said we are pure race, we mixed a lot, but the mixing was mostly with hellenized anatolian people, we have unique features and a language, our mDNA is tracked to Asian turks, So basically, we aren't a raceless amount of people as you want to mention.

[Medieve]

Also my mom has blonde hair and green eyes.

[Greece1990]

You said it yourself you mixed a lot and so did the language which is why it has words from other words just as Greek has a lot of Latin words.

[Medieve]

Yeah but not 2/3 like you said. You talk like turkish isn't a language.

[Greece1990]

No thats just your perception of it. Turkish is clearly a language and it has a lot of influences from other languages because Turks today are a mix of a lot of different peoples just like America etc.

[canimisikma]

I'm sorry but I find the term "Turkified" so offensive even I usually think that itdoesn't matter. Let me give you an example from my family. My family is from teke area of turkey (located in western Anatolia) and call themselves "Horzum Yörüks". They are from the avşar tribe of Oghuz Turkmens and according to the historical records (Seljuk, Byzantine, Ottoman) they came to Anatolia with over 100.000 tents. My family came Anatolia escaping from today's Uzbekistan "thanks" to mongols and in 1300s. They founded Akkoyunlu village in Geyikler (western Anatolia). Turkmens also came to anatolia in 1100s just after the battle of Manzikert and in 1400s because the suppression of Timurids. According to that historical records, 22 tribes of the 24 primarily live in Today's Turkey (Alkaevli and Karaevli tribes live in Turkey too but they mainly live in Turkmenistan) and they all came to Anatolia as crowded as Avşars. And honestly, we aren't that much influenced. We still speak the same Turkmen language here

[ConfusedGrocer]

It's your family and a certain group of people. There's a lot more than that.

[canimisikma]

The thing I want to say is we need to decontaminate ourselves from hatred and racist sentiments. And the most important, we shouldn't believe all the things we hear or read if there isn't any proof. People should learn that whole Turkey is not as diverse as Istanbul and There are more Turks living in Turkey than any other Turkic countries (and as I said, they came to Anatolia with hundreds of thousands tents from 11th to 14th century according the Historical archives ). So, saying Turkish culture, population and language in Turkey is not actually Turkish without showing any proof is just being disrespectful against us and the history itself. I hope people stop anti-Turkish sentiment soon and learn that we are humans and we deserve respect too.

[username5675588]

Ottoman Turkish is not a language spoken natively by anyone around the world, and it never was. Ottoman Turkish is a form of Turkish that was only used in documents and was only spoken by elites. It is not mutually intelligible with any dialect of Turkish around the world. Atatürk did not change the vocabulary as much as people say he did. He did not magically turn Ottoman court Turkish—with its 80% loan vocabulary and grammar aspects that weren’t Turkish—into modern Turkish with its 90% Turkish vocabulary and almost fully Oghuz Turkish grammar. Modern Turkish is just Istanbul folk Turkish with some minor changes, some of which only made it closer to the folk Turkish spoken in other cities.

[CoverGuy]

I've heard quite a bit of Turkish and even some Turkish songs. I like the language and some parts of its culture; the language is quite condensed and efficient. Turkish culture is a lot less individualized, but I think the guys have some superiority complex over women. Their food is incredible.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Men have a superiority complex in pretty much every culture.

[Anonymous]

I can't really say how it sounds because to me it sounds like they're speaking too fast for me to even describe what it would sound like so if "fast" is a description then i'll go with that! Also for me i can't understand any word in Turkish like some other languages French for example even if you dont know the language you can sometimes tell by certain words what a conversation might be about or a indication to what someone is talking about but with Turkish it literally just sounds like a random bunch of letters put together and spoken so quickly that you literally have no idea what someone is saying, defiantly going to learn it someday though!

[Medieve]

Because turkish is in a different family language, closely related with mongolian and distantly related with korean and japanese.

[Medieve]

Related to*

[LittleMissGriff]

Turkish, to me, is a very animated language. It isn't as harsh as, say Russian, that very much breaks into a room and demands attention, but it isn't soft and smooth like French, either. It's lively, but it also can hold an edge if someone is sharp, frustrated, or impatient, without them having to raise their voice.

[curbylizzle]

Turkish seriously is the only language I've ever heard where there is literally no word to understand. Normally with most languages you can kinda indicate what the subject is, but I really don't know what the hell you're saying in Turkish.

[curbylizzle]

by the way, is that guy talking about his wife screaming or is it normal to talk louder?

[ConfusedGrocer]

He's screaming.

[xHoneyxBeex]

I'll be honest, it sound like complete nonsense to me. I can't distinguish any words. When I listen to most European languages, even though they sound foreign to me, I can still somewhat understand certain words that are being said.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Tabianlamazsınpisavruaplısenihehe

[xHoneyxBeex]

Is that one word or did you just push different words together? Lol It's a cool language, but not something I would probably try to learn myself.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Different words XD

I was saying ''Of course you don't understand you filthy European, hehe''. No offense!

[xHoneyxBeex]

Lol I'm not European anyway.

[ConfusedGrocer]

O zaman nerelisin?

Try to pronounce this: Muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine

[xHoneyxBeex]

Is that an insult too? I don't know the grammar rules of Turkish or how they pronounce their letters. It's obviously very different than English .

[ConfusedGrocer]

Nope, it's a word only made up to be the longest word in Turkish. It means ''As though you are from those whom we may not be able to easily make into a maker of unsuccessful ones''

[Medieve]

You can't distinguish because turkish is an Asian language and has no connection with indo-european or semitic languages.

[xHoneyxBeex]

@Medieve Yeah, I realize that.

[Sekaya]

Think it sounds cool, but I've always been pretty big for most other languages. Kinda reminds me a bit of German on some words, in how it's said/sounds. Only some, though, mixed with a flowy language. I suck at describing it, haha.

[godislovee]

Turkish sounds like Korean. Korean and Turk is same family language. I am Korean and if I hear them speaking I feel like I am listening to Korean.

[NYkid27]

I didn't even know Turkish was a language lol. I thought they just spoke Arabic but besides latin based or germanic languages everything just sounds like noises to me. I can't distinguish any words

[ConfusedGrocer]

God, why does everyone think that? *facepalm*

Yes, we have our own language and use Latin alphabet. Many people don't know this since all of our neighbours have their own alphabet. Our language was influenced by Persian, Arabic, Greek and other languages around. Examples; gül means rose, it's from Persian, hakim means judge, it's from Arabic, and domates means tomato, it's from Greek. It's originally an Asian language (mutually intelligible with Azerbaijani—or "Azerice" as we call it) and quite hard for Westerners to learn.

[hypno-trip]

Turks sometimes interacted with chinese in Central Asia.

[NYkid27]

Well the fact that there are only 5-10 Turkish people in my town is probably the main reason why I don't know much about their language

[Anonymous]

I love the sound of Turkish! I think the language has an exciting feel to it, it sounds kinda cool.

[Mussjuventino]

I have a turkish origins and i like everything about turkey language customs people... <3 you should be proud :)

[CoverGuy]

Oops, sorry for the downvote. That should be an upvote.

[abundantlyrich]

They have a weird vibe, i cannot really relate to. Their language is like an alien language.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Barış için geldik :)

[abundantlyrich]

Beam me up scotty

[snuggle_bunny88]

It sounds like someone talking in a language I can't understand. Same thing with people who speak Spanish or Chinese or anything that isn't English .

[dakraziest]

Sounds like pashtu to me
It is a native language used by people in kpk province of Pakistan

[ConfusedGrocer]

and Afghanistan!

[dakraziest]

No in Afghanistan they use a dialect that is closer to farsi

[ConfusedGrocer]

Afghanistan has 2 languages, Dari and Pashto

[dakraziest]

Ohhhh okay

[RexCatholicissimus]

Pure nonsense.

As almost all languages do to anything that isn't wonderful Anglo-Saxon, the very language you're using to convey this question.

[xxItsChristina]

It sounds like slurping, but... gently? It's like I'm hearing a lot of "k"s and "sh"s.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Gently slurping? :O

[Anonymous]

You know when you try to speak under water?

I don't like the sound of it, and to be brutally honest the Turkish people I've come across have been extremely rude, unwelcoming and unfriendly. B

[ConfusedGrocer]

You know it's not good to generalize.

[Opinion Owner]

Not a generalisation, I've said the ones I'VE met, so it's clearly not all of them.

[vekin]

does this say enough?
www.reactiongifs.com/.../neil-no.gif

[vekin]

@ImWhitetmProud he's semi

[ToxicValentine]

Merhaba ben türkçe konuşmayi biliyorum onun için başkalarin ne düşündü bilmiyorum :/

[ConfusedGrocer]

Nerede öğrendin bakalım Türkçeyi ^_^

[Cowboy6666]

What? I dont understood what you said... :(

[Medieve]

She said where did you learn turkish.

[Medieve]

Oh well, it was a misunderstanding and I cannot delete my post.

[ToxicValentine]

I don't get it anymore :/

[ScruffyNerfHerder]

Sounds okay. Not the most romantic sounding language, more exotic than sexy, at least to my ears. Interesting to hear, though.

[Anonymous]

We're to busy being number 1 to worry about other countries. Fuck yeah

i0.kym-cdn.com/.../2d2.jpg

[hypno-trip]

Sounds a little bit like Indian languages to me Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada...

[adilazimdegill]

actually turkish is a altaic language just like mongolian, korean, tungusic ones..

[Anonymous]

It sounds like a Scandinavian language had sex with an Asian language and Turkish was the confusing result of it.

[ConfusedGrocer]

Best description ever LOL

[Anonymous]

I like how u picked to show us let it go xD Frozen 2 HYPE

[LittleSally]

Kind of gypsy like and a bit sharp. But not unnatural at all.

[Lissy967]

I sounds normal to my ears because I hear it all the time :)

[NedfromtheNed]

It sound middle eastern mixed with a little european. Been to Turkey, beautiful country!

[Mistik]

Thanks you. ;)

[NedfromtheNed]

You are welcome!

[bubble_tea]

Listening to that Frozen song has not woken my interest to learn Turkish.

[samit11]

I think it sounds similar to german at some points. I really like it.

[ToxicValentine]

That's not true at all because I speak german AND turkish they don't even have any connection with each other and they don't sound similar in the slightest! Just saying :)

[samit11]

@ToxicValentine Oops! Thanks for pointing that out though.

[ToxicValentine]

no prob! :)

[iAmNotSkilled1]

something like this : idhewihfiwefhweoifhwuifhwuoigwouhfywouhfowrhflwhf :P
i am half turkish , and i can't speak turkish at all !

[Turkesteron]

"ismini söyle ismini" diyen kızı mı koydun? :D
allah belanı versin

[blondfrog]

I've hear Turkish people talk and know what they sound like they sound middle eastern people

[katiasorvino]

More importantly, what do they have for Thanksgiving in Turkey?

[ConfusedGrocer]

We don't, LOL

[Anonymous]

oh why eastern cultures are so insecure
what do you think about india turkey...

[ConfusedGrocer]

Insecure? What does it have to do with insecurity?

[Medieve]

People still think turks are arab, it might give you a clue.

[Xefion]

One lady from Paris once told me that "Turkish people swallow the words." by the way I'm turkish also...

[T4RKO]

:D ( Hüsnü Şenlendirici : Ah İstanbul ) Listen , Perceft... .. Ahhh I LOVE TURKİYE ;)

[kittykatbrat]

No offence, but often angry + guttural.

[ConfusedGrocer]

You need to hear me cursing LOL

[Despondency]

I voted World Peace! Hooray! \O/

[NonCreativeUsername]

Dying Armenians.

[ConfusedGrocer]

LOL. You're Armenian?

[NonCreativeUsername]

Haha, yea, don't take it so seriously though. The last guy did and an argument spawned

[googlenexus]

Im Turkish and I loled at this, not being disrespectful though :P

[NonCreativeUsername]

Do you live in Turkey?

[Omar5881]

I've the magnificent century

[Omar5881]

I've seen

[Cowboy6666]

Never heard a single word of it... :€

[Anonymous]

It sounds a bit similar to Hungarian language...

[SnowHearth]

Sounds normal to me.

[apexalpha]

Sounds normal

[hereiam_]

I'm Turkish man :P

[Anonymous]

Interesting