Baris

The budding of modern Turkish

Picture this... It's 1792, and the fledgling United States of America is struggling to find her own way in the new world order. George Washington, its first President and hero of the War of Independence, ponders the future of the young country, and he worries. despite the reality of hard-won independence, there's a small but influential segment of the American public that favors re-establishing ties with Britain in much the same relationship as before the War!

"Intolerable!" he says. "I didn't break my back these last 15 years to give it all back to the British bully, without a fight. I've got to devise a way to cut this country off from its self-inflicted dependence on the old country. How can I do it quickly and effectively, and still maintain the enthusiastic support of the majority of Americans?"

"Well, suppose I abolish the current English language -- and make it illegal to use in public. Suppose I establish a brand new American Language. Now... that would change our relationship radically with old Britain and go a long way toward breaking those binding ties. And it would appeal to the majority of American citizens because they're still basking in the glory of our famous victory, and are in a once-in-a-lifetime mood for drastic nationalistic reform. And I can do it -- since I'm the country's Founding Father and most famous Independence War hero!"

So he sets out to do just that. And his first steps in the process are to mandate the creation of an All-American Alphabet based on Arabic characters, to ban old English script in public, and to obsolete portions of old English vocabulary (replacing it with unfamiliar, in some cases never before heard, "pure-American" words).

And to implement the changes, he pulls together a team of educators and language experts and, in caravan, they travel round the furthest reaches of the country giving lessons in the new language. And who's the celebrity professor and star of the show? The one who really draws in the crowds? Why none other than old George himself!


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Celebrity-professor Atatürk bans Arabic in Turkey --
shown here teaching
new 'English like' Turkish alphabet to villagers in 1932...

picture (not available here)

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And the people love it and accept their instant illiteracy in the Modern American Language with pleasure and courage and the ties to the old country (and old ways) are broken effectively, forever.

Impossible, you say...It could never have happened. And, you say, it's a good thing that George didn't try it, because it would have been thrown the new country into chaos. Besides, you say...even if he had set out to do it, it would have taken decades to make any headway and George only had seven more years of life in which to spearhead the effort.

Impossible, huh?

Well, in essence, that's what Mustafa Kemal, Atatürk (modern Turkey's Founding-Father and War of Independence hero) did successfully -- including the part about being the celebrity professor! And he did it in less than a year in a newly independent nation whose population was almost 10 times the size of the original USA!

Atatürk's Dil Devrimi (Language Revolution) began officially in May 1928 (with the introduction of the English-style alphabet for the Turkish language) and was complete on [January 1, 1929 -- the day it became illegal in the new Turkish Republic to use the centuries-old-standard Arabo Persian calligraphic-style alphabet. And on that day, the link with Turkey's Ottoman-Arabic-Asian-Islamic past was altered drastically and irrevocably, forever.

source:
http://www2.egenet.com.tr/mastersj/t...g-history.html

sjx69

What does Baska kapiya mean?

I am trying my best to learn Turkish but I find it very difficult, my friends from Turkey text me sometimes and some of it I do not understand... Can you please translate this?

Thanks very much x

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Sj x

akioz

turkish language now has nothing to do with what it was 100 years a go

mustafa kemal forbid all arabic, persian, greek, slavic, armenian words in order to create a pure turkish language and created new turkish words

Many Turks were not ethnic turks

what had been done for the population living in turkey (that's to say saying that all turkish citizens had to be ethnic turks) had been made with language

But still today, some turkish from pontos (east of northern turkey) still speak pontian greek dialect, and some speak arabic dialect in the south, and of course the kurds speak their kurdish language

volkan20

learn turkish language turkce

devanymfix

This Topic is old :D
I think Turkish is beautifull because it contains "arabic, persian, greek, slavic, armenian words" it's that diversity that make it special, I don't speak Turkish but I like it when I hear and understand a Turkish-Arabic word (like "ömrum", "hayatim"...) I think you must study the real and as you say "clear" Turkish in shcool, but without loosing the other Turkish ! it's just my point of view !!

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Nicol0314

Can you please help me translate this? I've looked everywhere online to get this translated and I've had no such luck. Thanks!

Hatýrladýðým kadarýyla,daha önce buna benzer bir kaç not yazmýþtým.24þubat pazar yani dün;
ben sana yalan söylemek istemiyorum bir kadýn olarak,jose'nin her
santýmetrekaresi ve ruhu benýmle,birbirimizi çok iyi tamamlýyoruz.
ayrýlsanda ayrýlmasanda birlikteyiz.
Bu seni rahatsýz etmýyorsa ayrýlmayabilirsin,
Þunu hiçbirzaman lütfen unutma ! Erkek ve bayandan asla arkadaþ
,dost olmaz.
biz kesinlikle arkadaþ deðiliz olamayýz yani,.. mesela;
býlgisayarý kapattýktan 2 dakika sonra aradýn ve bir daha ne sen onu nede o
sený aradý,gece bir ara senin bu 2 adresinede mail attýk hotel
numaralarý için....
.sabah 5 te joseyi ugurladým. o ana kadar beraberdik.
meryemanaya da birlikte gitmiþtik.
usa dayken bana mesaj býrakmýstý jose'seni seviyorum,seni çok
özledim' diye ,bunlarý biliyorsun,kulagýnlada duydun.sana bunlarý
söylememin sebebi,ortada bir gerçeðin olmasýndan
kaynaklanýyor.ayrýlmasýnýn sebebi kesinlikle ben deðilim. 9 aydýr josenýn 'seni
seviyorum dediðini duymadým,heran beraberdik çünkü (iþ dýþýnda
tabii.gerçi iþ çýkýþ saatlerimiz ayný),amerýkadan geldikten sonra
joseye sadece 3 defa 'seni seviyorum' kelimesini söyledin,bu saatten
sonra bize hiç inandýrýcý gelmemiþti. dediðim gibi olay bundan
ibaret.Benim içim rahat.bunu söylemeyi unutmamalýyým dýye
düþündüm.

ddk

Hi Nicol,here is what i got from that mail-it barely has any punctuation, so it is hard to figure out at some points:

I remember writing a couple of notes like that one. On Feb 24th (?- translators note:that sentence is unfinished, but i think you'd figure it out)
I don't want to lie to you, as a woman, every inch of jose's (body) and soul is with me, and we complete each other. We are together, whether you leave (him?) or not. If that does not bother you, you may choose to stay. A woman and a man can not be just friends, and we are not just friends.
You called him after (you? he?) shut the computer down, and then neither of you called each other. We sent an e-mail about the hotel numbers to your both mail addresses at the night.
I and Jose were together all night until him leaving at 5 am. We also went to see Virgin Mary (?) together. Jose left me a message when (I? he? you?) was in the US, telling me he loves and misses me. You heard that yourself. I am telling you these because there is a fact. For nine months I have not heard Jose saying he loved you. After getting back from the US, you told Jose that you loved him just three times, and we both did not find that convincing at that point. That is all, and I am at ease.