{"id":2318,"date":"2021-05-14T11:30:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T11:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitlocalturkey.com\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2024-02-27T11:54:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T11:54:02","slug":"is-turkish-arabic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visitlocalturkey.com\/is-turkish-arabic\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish vs Arabic Languages: Similarities and Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this article, I will explain the similarities and differences between Arabic and Turkish and provide insights only a Turkish local would know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My international friends usually think the Turkish language is somehow related to Arabic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This assumption lies in the fact that Turkish people used the Arabic alphabet in their history and have religious and historical ties with the Arab world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of them also believe Turkish or Arabic languages are just different dialects of the same language. As a Turkish, I want to clarify this misconception because the reality is very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Turkish language is not related to Arabic, and both are distinctly different languages.<\/strong> Turkish and Arabic have totally different grammar structures, vocabulary, and sounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides some loanwords, Arabic and Turkish have no mutual intelligibility. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkish and Arabic are so different because Turkish and Arabic have evolved in parts of the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkish belongs to the Altaic and Turkic language groups, which originated in Central Asia, Mongolia, and the Turkestan region of China.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Arabic belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language group, which has its origins in the Middle East and North Africa. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arabic vs. Turkish Languages in a Nutshell<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>Arabic<\/strong><\/td>Turkish<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Language Family<\/strong><\/td> Semitic and Afro-Asiatic<\/td>Turkic and Altaic <\/td><\/tr>
Similar to<\/strong><\/td>Closely related to<\/strong> <\/strong>Hebrew, Maltese, and Ethiopian (Amharic)
More broadly similar to<\/strong><\/strong> the Northern African languages of Chad and Somalian languages.<\/td>		Closely related to<\/strong> Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Uyghur, Tatar, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz languages.
More broadly similar to<\/strong> Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese. (Altaic Family Source<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
Number of Speakers<\/strong><\/td>422 million speakers (native and non-native) in the Arab world. Source<\/a><\/td>88 million Turkish natives speak Turkish (Istanbul Dialect). Source<\/a> <\/td><\/tr>
World Rank according to the number of speakers<\/strong><\/td>The fifth most spoken language globally. Arabic is one of six official languages of the United Nations.<\/td>Turkish ranks as the 20th most-spoken language in the world.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Turkish vs Arabic <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in learning<\/strong> the Turkish language, this is the book that most of my friends use. You can check the book on Amazon<\/a>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Similarities between Turkish and Arabic <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The similarity between Turkish and Arabic is limited to loanwords, which are mostly transferred due to religious and cultural ties. Yet, the similarity ends here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, 6% percent of modern Turkish words are with Arabic roots. Yet, this does not mean modern Turkish is similar to Arabic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, 5% percent of Turkish words are of French origin, and Turkish is not similar to French, either.<\/p>\n\n\n

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6,6,5% of Turkish words are of Arabic origin, and 5% percent are of French origin<\/em><\/em>. Yet 89% of the words are unique to Turkish. Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Native speakers of these languages can understand some of these loanwords and some religious terms, yet the similarity and mutual intelligibility are near zero between Turkish and Arabic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mutual intelligibility between Turkish and Arab speakers is limited to some very common words and religious terms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with the shared words, the understandability is very low because words are pronounced differently by the speakers of these languages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only very basic Turkish and Arabic words like Merhaba (Hello), and Inshallah (\u201cIf God wills it\u201d) are understandable by speakers of both languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even European languages are more similar to the Arabic language than the Turkish language because European languages have a longer history than the Arabic language and its ancestor languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.1 Arabic has more similarities with Ottoman Turkish<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\"This<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Old Ottoman Turkish had 80% Arabic and Persian loanwords, and it was written in the Arabic Alphabet. Yet, Ottoman was not understandable and readable to native Arabic speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Ottoman Turkish was very hard to understand for ordinary Turkish people living in that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, Ottoman Turkish was only used by Ottoman scholars and the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ottoman Turkish was also called the palace language and was drastically different from the Turkish language spoken by regular Turkish people. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Poem about Rumi in Ottoman Turkish, From Mevlana Museum in Turkey<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

During the Ottoman Era, westerners believed the Turkish language was a dialect of Arabic because Turks were Muslim and used the Arabic language in their official businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference between Ottoman Turkish and the real Turkish language spoken<\/a> by the people also created many socio-economic issues in the Ottoman Empire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkish people did not understand the administrative language of the Ottoman Empire because it was full of loanwords from Arabic and Persian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, the Arabic alphabet was hard to learn and was not adequate for Turkish sounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these reasons, it is believed that more than %90 of the Turkish population in the Ottoman Empire was illiterate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Turkish Republic was founded, the Turkish language spoken by the ordinary people was accepted as Turkey’s official language. Also, the Latin alphabet was adopted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Differences between Arabic and Turkish<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

2.1 Origins<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Turkish and Arabic languages have very different paths of evolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkish and Arabic originated in different parts of the world, and they are not the same language or dialects of each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkish is a Turkic language<\/a> belonging to the Altaic language family, whereas Arabic is a Semitic language belonging to the Afro-Asiatic language family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arabic languages and dialects are spoken in the Middle East<\/a> and North Africa. On the other hand, Turkish languages and dialects are spoken in West and Central Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe the maps below will help you understand the difference between the geographies of native speakers of Arabic and Turkish speakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkic Languages Map<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Dark blue <\/strong>areas are the countries with an official Turkic language. Light blue<\/strong> areas are autonomous regions with an official Turkic language. The red dots <\/strong>represent countries where a minority population (of at least 50 thousand) speaks a Turkic language. Only the native population is taken into account. Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arabic Language and Dialects Map<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Dark areas are the regions with the majority of Arabic speakers. Light green areas are places where Arabic speakers are a minority. Source<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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Afro-Asiatic Languages Map. Arabic is an Afro-Asiatic Language. Source Wikipedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

2.2 Grammar and Language Structures<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Turkish and Arabic use different sounds, sentence structures, and grammar rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the major differences between Arabic and Turkish are<\/p>\n\n\n\n