Why study Turkish?
Turkish is the main language of 65 million inhabitants of Turkey. It is a co-official language of Cyprus and is also spoken by smaller groups in Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans. Turkic languages are closely related and learning Turkish provides access to other members of the family, such as Azeri, Kazakh, Uzbek and Turkmen. Proficiency in modern Turkish is also an indispensable aid to learning Ottoman Turkish, the official language of the Ottoman Empire and the key to accessing a wealth of literary, historical and religious sources from the pre-modern Islamic world.
Turkish at Edinburgh
The department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies is in the process of re-introducing Turkish studies to Edinburgh, and is at present offering a one-year language course, Turkish 1. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the main aspects of the written and spoken language and provide them with a basic vocabulary. After completing the course, students will have gained a substantial grounding in Turkish grammar and syntax and will be equipped with the key tools to understand, speak, read and write elementary Turkish.
