Should I choose Arabic language or Turkish?

Question

Hi friends;
I'm a student of foreign languages and in this Academic year, I must choose an optional language to study. Actually I'm between Arabic and Turkish. I like think that both languages are good and deserve to be learnt. Inu your opinion, which language should I study? Which is the easier? Which is the most widespread? Some other advices?
Thank you! ;-)

Answer 1

learn Turkish

it is easier than Arabic



Arabic is more widespread but It is hard

you have to learn Arabic script



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_language

Answer 2

I'm learning Turkish and totally loving it. I do think Turkish would be easier than Arabic, however in my opinion it is not as wide-spread. You have more countries speaking Arabic than Turkish.



I'd ask yourself what you'd use the language for? Travel? Social reasons? Do you have any interest in any of those cultures? Then I'd make a decision based on that. I think it'd be quite a waste of time and effort to learn a language you will never use.

Answer 3

If I were you I would choose Turkish as it would bring a wider perspective considering that Turkey has been a bridge between the east and the west. Furthermore, Turkish will probably be one of the official languages of the European Union in ten years time, in fact, it will be the most widely spoken language of the union by that time.



Considering the number of people that speak Arabic, Arabic might seem like a good choice, but as a person who has some knowledge of the language, I have to tell you that it is not possible for a Lebanese Arab to speak with a Yemeni. The text would be comprehensible for both, but dialects are unbelievably different. As a native Turkish speaker, I can speak Azeri because the two languages are like American and British English. Due to the closeness in the language tree, I can easily communicate with an Uzbek, Turkmen or Tatar. I do somewhat understand Kazakhs and Kyrgyzs. Besides these, please see the wikipedia link below.



According to the UN, among the languages that use Latin alphabet, Turkish ranks 4th, below English, Spanish and Portuguese, respectively and above French, German and Italian. According to that statistic 99,866,460 speak Turkish as their native language and 30,381,893 speak it as their second language. Besides Turkey, some of the statistics for the speakers of Turkish are as follows: Iran (13.5m), Germany (3m), Russia (10.4m), Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Saudi Arabia (0.4m), the Netherlands (0.23m). Don't forget these statistics do not include Turkic languages, of which most are intercommunicable.



Last but not least: the ease of learning a language. Arabic is one of the most difficult languages to excel at not because of the complex script, but because of the large number of words that are necessary to speak the language. Arabic is the richest language in terms of the number of words. On the other hand, at a daily level Turkish can be spoken with only 1200 words. There are many loan words from western languages especially English and French that could help you. Turkish an agglutinative language. If you don't know the meaning, don't worry. This means that a root can be used to create words by adding suffixes. An easy example:

öğret- (verb: to teach)

öğret-men (noun: teacher)

öğret-men-lik (noun: being a teacher)

göz (noun: eye)

göz-lük (noun: glasses)

göz-lük-çü (noun: optician/person who sells glasses)

So, with one root and a few number of suffixes you can learn tens of words without effort. :)



Fınally, Turkish is extremely systematic in terms of its grammar. As I studied German as my third language, it was shocking that I had to memorize an article (Artikel) for EACH word because half of the dictionary does not follow the general rules. With regards to pronunciation, I can teach any person speaking a western language, to read Turkish perfectly in less than an hour because there are virtually no pronunciation rules as a word is pronounced as it is written. It's enough to learn the alphabet.



I hope that has been of help. Feel free to contact me.

Answer 4

Turkish has sort of english alphabets , just some little difference like ç ü etc. But arabic is a total different language with different letters. But I do find the alphabet easier. Anyway go with Turkish.

Answer 5

I think Turkish is much easier to learn, nearly all the same letters then in Engish, Arabic whereas is very difficult in writing.

Answer 6

Turkish alphabet is easier for a westener but Arabic has MANY more speakers who can help you, but keep in mind there are regional differences in speech. (Then again, is the english spoken in Texas the same as in Leeds or Melbourne? no.)

Answer 7

i am a native arabic speaker and i think that learning arabic requires commitment on your behalf. it takes longer, it's more work but once you learn it, it gives a new spin on the news stemming from the middle east and you might perceive the middle east in a new light now that you know the language....

it really depends on what you want out of the course.

Good Luck in school :)

Answer 8

I would pick Arabic. It is more widespread than is Turkish, and if you learn it, you can read the Koran(which I personally think would be cool).