Travel tips for Turkey: Languages? Turkish


Turkish is a member of the Altaic group of languages. It is related to Mongolian and Manchu, more distantly to Hungarian and Finnish. A large majority of Turkey's citiz¬ens speak it as their first language, as do
large minorities in Soviet Central Asia an( Caucasia, China, Bulgaria and Iran.
The Latin alphabet has been used since 1928. Pronunciation is phonetic, ie. eacl letter represents one sound, and one sound only, in all contexts. Vowels are as in Ger man, except for undotted i which sounds like the second vowel in "vowel". Of the consonants, c is always pronounced as in George, ç as in church, g as in grog, ş as in hashish. h is always a distinct sound; thus eg., Ishak is pronounced Iss-huck. g simply lengthens the preceding vowel.
Here's a base from which to build up a Turkish vocabulary. Accents have been provided for convenience's sake.
Hello
Mer'haba, selam' Thanks
Tesekkür' ederim, sagol Yes/no
E'vet/ha'yir Sorry
Ozbr' dilerim, par'don Please
Lütfen What/who Ne/kim When/where
Ne' zaman/ne'rede Why/how
Neden'/na'sil This/here/now
B u/bu'rada/ş i m'di That/there/then O/o'rada/o' zaman How are you?
Na'silsin? Ne' var ne yok? What's your name
Adin' ne? My name is... Adim' .... Do you speak English? Ingiliz'ce bilir' misin? I don't speak Turkish Türk'çe bilmem'
Is there ...? ... var mı? There is/isn't Var/yok
When is there a bus (to Samsun)? (Samsuna) otobbs ne zaman var? Where is it going?
Nereye gidiyor?
A ticket for Trabzon. Trabzona bir bilet.
Let me off here. Burada ineyim. How much is (this)? (Bu) kaç' para? Fine, nice, beautiful Gbzel Much/little/so so Cok/az/orta' Bad/worse/shitty Kötü/berbat'/bok tan' Food/ drink
Yemek/ içecek Wine/beer/soft drink Şarap/bira/meşrubat The bill please. Hesap lbtfen.
Do you have free room? Boş oda var mi? Bed/breakfast Yatak/kahvalti
A room for three. Üç kisilik bir oda. The shower doesn't work. Duş çalısmiyor. Right/left
Sag/sol Hopefully In'şallah Black Sea Kara'deniz City/town/village Şehir'/kasa'ba/köy Road/street/house Yol/sokak'/ev Cow/sheep/bird Inek'/koyun'/kuş Fish/trout
Balık'/ala'balık Person
Insan' Man/women/child Adam'/kadın'/çoc uk' Girl/boy
Kiz/oglan' 1...10
Bir, iki', üç, dört, beş, altı' yedi sekiz', dokuz', on
20 =yirmi' 50 =elli' 100 =yüz 1000 =bin.


BEYOND TURKISH

Turkish is spoken throughout the Black Sea region. The visitor may find it curious, however, that several native languages are still used in some areas despite the successes of the Turkish Republic in inculcating a unified national culture. The languages are not writ¬ten; not taught in schools; rarely used in pub¬lic settings. Typically, their speakers regard them as slightly embarrassing atavisms; sometimes even deny knowing them. Yet most children in these areas grow up to school age speaking hardly any Turkish at all; and child and grown-up alike become giddy with surprise/amusement/shyness when an outsider proves capable of uttering a few words in what they regard as a mere familiar jargon.
Laz is spoken by all in the districts of Pazar, Ardeşen, Fındikli, Arhavi and Hopa -ie. by a population of about 125, 000, not counting emigrant communities all around Turkey. It is a Caucasian, ie. non-Indo-european, language related to Georgian. It has borrowed a large number of words from Greek.
Georgian is spoken by some 50,000 people in Borçka and the northern (Meydancik) half of Şavsat districts, and in individual villages elsewhere in Artvin province. Some descen¬dants of the Georgian refugees of 1877 in the Onye and Ordu areas also speak it. Georgian speaking emigrants from Artvin in Izmit and Bursa provinces in Western Turkey probably outnumber those who remain at home.
The Pontic dialect of Greek is spoken by most people in Tonya, Maçka and Çaykara districts, and in specific villages of the upper Akçaabat, Surmene and Of districts. The total number of Greek-speakers may be guessed at between 50,000 and 100,000.
Armenian, like Greek an Indoeuropean lan¬guage, is spoken in some 20 villages on the mountains between Hopa, Arhavi and Borçka. The 8,000 or so villagers, all Muslims, call themselves "Hemsinli" and their language "Hemsince".
Here, finally, is your basic guide to Laz, Georgian, Trabzon Greek, and Hemsince, locally compiled in the best tourbook traditions by your intrepid Editor. Turkish, of course, is far more useful to communicate: but nothing beats these phrases when it comes to reducing a local kid to giggles. The transliteration is into Turkish phonetics: all letters as in Turkish, except kh like the Dutch guttural, gh like a Parisian r, dh as in this.
It is interesting that no words for "hello" and "thanks" other than the Turkish merhaba and teşekkür ederim/sagol exist in any of the languages-our interlocutors, at any rate, were unable to supply any others.
Hello
Merhaba Merhaba Merhaba Merhaba Do you speak...?
Lazuri gişkuni? Kartuli itzi? Rumca ekseris mi? Hemsince kides da? How are you
Muço re? Rawai khar? Do eftiyas? Inçbes es? I'm fine, thank you.
Vrossi vore, sagol. Garga var, sagol. Kala ime, sagol. Bedk im, sagol. How's the weather?
Hava muço in? Dghe darosi rawa ya? Havas inçbes e? What's your name?
Muce gozun? Sakheli rakh kwi ya? Onoma su do ine? Onunit inçn e? edi', Man/woman/chid
Koçi/okhorca/bera Gatzi/kali/gharci Andros/gineka/pedhi Mart/gnik/dgha Cat/dog
Gatu/laççi Gata/dzaghli -- Gadu/şun Water
Tzkai Tzkali To nero Çur