More than 75 million people speak Turkish, most of them in Turkey, where Turkish is the official language. Turkish is also spoken by many living in areas that had been governed by the Ottoman Empire, such as in the Balkans, Cyprus, and areas of the Middle East.
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Turkish is an important minority language in many European countries, especially Germany, where Turkish “guest workers” have been contributing to the German economy and enriching German culture and cuisine since the 1970s. In the United States, Turkish communities, think tanks, business associations, and cultural organizations are increasingly visible.
Modern Turkish, written since 1928 in the Latin script (like English), is also an excellent language to study in preparation for working with Ottoman Turkish documents. It is also helpful as background for the study of the related Turkic languages of Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkmen, Uyghur, and Uzbek. Because of features such as “vowel harmony” and “agglutination” and its regular grammar with a logic unrelated to Indo-European and Semitic languages, Turkish is also a favorite of scholars in the field of linguistics.
Many students study Turkish in order to communicate with Turkish speakers, to travel in Turkey, and to accomplish various types of academic study of the Republic of Turkey, which is a strategic partner of the West, a NATO member, a fascinating center of deep-rooted, regionally significant, and diverse culture, as well as a legitimate contender for the title of “Bridge between East and West.”
Due to our long-standing commitment to a minimum of three full years of language courses, along with the availability of a range of courses about Ottoman history and modern Turkish politics, history, security issues, and culture, Georgetown has one of the strongest Turkish programs in the U.S. Students who pursue the minor in Turkish from Georgetown will have a strong background in the language, culture, and regional affairs of a major power connected to the Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia.
The Faculty of Literatures, Cultures, and Language Studies has long prided itself on the breadth and depth of language offerings provided to Georgetown and consortium students. Turkish has three language levels offered each academic year, starting each fall for a year-long sequence. Turkish is taught with intensive courses at the beginning level (12 credits in one academic year) and non-intensive courses at the intermediate and advanced levels. The strong Turkish language offerings are complemented by diverse courses relevant to the region taught in English across the university.
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Georgetown University is one of the only universities in the nation that has been able to offer three levels of Turkish consistently, year in and year out. This makes us an attractive choice for undergraduate and graduate students who want to be sure of getting a full spectrum of language classes without interruption. Since the inception of the U.S. Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) in 2006, which allowed high school students to study for a year in Turkey, we have been attracting motivated seniors who want to be sure that they can continue to study Turkish in college.
The Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, founded and incorporated as the Turkish Studies Association in 1971, is a private, non-profit, non-political organization of persons interested in Turkish and Ottoman studies. The objectives of the Association are to promote high standards of scholarship and instruction; to facilitate communication among its members through meetings and written exchanges of information; and to promote international, scholarly cooperation among persons and organizations concerned with Turkish and Ottoman studies.