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Can’t decide between Greek and Turkish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| sam_vimes Newbie Bulgaria Joined 3852 days ago 2 posts - 5 votes Speaks: Bulgarian* | Message 1 of 9 14 May 2014 at 10:34pm | IP Logged |
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Hi, everybody! I accidentaly came across this forum and it seems really helpful!
Congratulations on the work and efforts you've put to achieve that. I'm a Bulgarian, I've studied and graduated law. English and German are the foreign languages I've been learning since 1993, when I was 5 years of age. A few years back, I've decided to learn Italian, since our legal acts follow quite closely the Franco-Italian (Roman) legal system. Of course, I've experienced some difficulties, but now I know enough to understand almost everything written in my area of expertise. What I'm trying to say is that I've a passion for studying foreign languages and I consider it a hobby. Now I'm facing an unprecedented challenge - I would like to try and study any of these two languages. For those who are unfamiliar with the facts - Bulgaria's closest countries (in terms of geography and economics) are Greece and Turkey. I've visited them both on several occasions and was fascinated by them. Now I can't make my mind. I've heard Greek is a unique language and resembles none of the other European languages (which is understandable given its origin), and the Turkish language is a typical representative of Turk languages that are based on a completely different logic in terms of grammar, gender and so on. If anyone has experienced the same dilemma (which is not that likely) or can provide some information about the modus operandi to learn them, I'd be really thankful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3872 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes  Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 2 of 9 14 May 2014 at 11:01pm | IP Logged |
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Welcome.
You probably prefer one more than the other, even a little. I think that's where you should start from. And after a while you start with the second one. The good news: they are completely different so you will not be confused and at the same time they share common words to an extend that will help you a lot. Strange but true. The bad news: each one is a mountain to climb. But isn't that true of all languages? There are wonderful courses you can test drive before you decide to follow one. In fact why don't you do that with both languages and see which attracts you more? You can spare some days reading both and making up your mind. Good luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zografialep Hexaglot Groupie GreeceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4142 days ago 41 posts - 71 votes Speaks: Ancient Greek, Greek*, EnglishC2, GermanB2, Spanish, Latin Studies: Russian | Message 3 of 9 15 May 2014 at 12:34pm | IP Logged |
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You could see videos with people speaking both languages, or learn more about each
country's culture to see what interests you the most. Or perhaps you'd like to see it from the point of : are there any greeks or turks where you live? perhaps learning the language would bring you closer, or they could help you. Or you could think like this, are you interested in glossology, to see how the words are the way they are(greek, being one of the oldest languages has affected a lot of the languages that you alredy speak), or would you like to venture in another turkish- related language later(e.g. Azerbaijani) Either way, people of both countries will be glad to help you and very happy that you're learning their language- which you probably know since you've been there. Good luck with your studies! I hope I helped somehow. ps: sorry if the word ''Azerbaijani'' is not correct. i mean the language of Azerbaijan. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4613 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 4 of 9 15 May 2014 at 9:52pm | IP Logged |
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Welcome to our forum. I hope you find lots of useful information and inspiration here.
A few other things you could also take into consideration: Which language has better learning materials in Bulgarian? (or do you plan to use materials with an English base?) If you've got some great materials, they will keep you interested and motivated. For example: For me, the fact that Language Transfer and Michel Thomas are available for Greek are a huge plus as I love their method. Some swear by Assimil, Pimsleur, Linguaphone and FSI. Are you interested in doing conversation exchanges on line, via Skype? If so, you could put up your profile on conversationexchange.com and iTalki (or others) and see how many potential partners there are. Maybe there are loads of interesting people who speak Turkish and are interested in practising Bulgarian, but not so many Greeks (I really don't know, I'm just using this as an example). As for travel Turkish will serve you well in Turkey (and beyond) as English is not as widespread there as it is in Greece. Good luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7147 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 5 of 9 15 May 2014 at 10:46pm | IP Logged |
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I don't want to push you one way or the other in terms of which language to learn, but I would think that the presence of lots of Turkish-speakers in Bulgaria just might be a factor to consider. I would think that it might be easier to find people to practice with if you were learning Turkish rather than Greek, and that the "local" Turks would probably be quite friendly to a Bulgarian-speaker learning Turkish. Whether a knowledge of Turkish might potentially be beneficial in your legal work I don't know, but that could be a consideration as well.
In any event, I think both are fascinating and rewarding languages with lots of connections to your own history and culture, and wish you luck with whichever one you choose to study. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4256 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 9 18 May 2014 at 11:32am | IP Logged |
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Greek is related to Bulgarian and will in all likelihood be much easier, but Turkish will open the doors to the Turkic-speaking world. Azeri, I've heard, is perfectly understandable knowing Turkish, and all other Turkic languages are quite similar to one another (with the exception of Chuvash).
Something to consider. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4710 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 7 of 9 18 May 2014 at 11:57am | IP Logged |
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Greek is only distantly related. It will be easier, but not by that much.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| fireballtrouble Triglot Senior Member Turkey Joined 4527 days ago 129 posts - 203 votes Speaks: Turkish*, French, English Studies: German | Message 8 of 9 18 May 2014 at 2:23pm | IP Logged |
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Probably both of these languages will serve as just for linguistic or personal pleasure
unless you plan to work in one of those countries. *Greek can serve you in Greece and Southern Cyprus and Turkish in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. *Intelligibility between Turkic languages is a plus but this won't happen until you become a solid B2. It opens a door that's true, but it's not a magic unlocking. * Turkish speaking population goes upto 77-80 million, and Greek should be 11-13. So, coming across to a Turkish speaker on internet will be more likely than a Greek one. * Native speakers of both languages will be happy to help you, and they won't switch to English if you really try to tell something in Turkish/Greek. * For future, as a Bulgarian citizen, always changing visa regimen may cost sometimes for entrance to Turkey, if you plan to make it regularly. Turkish administration is really tired of never ending demands of Schengen zone.Take it in account :) But Greece will always be easy to access, as it's a EU member. * I don't know in which sector you work, whether the countries' economic capacities are important or not, but Turkey has a higher total GDP than Greece, whereas Greece has a higher GDP per capita. * Learning sources : I think there is no significant difference for source variety. * Both have their unique grammar and vocab. You will enjoy both. Edited by fireballtrouble on 18 May 2014 at 2:26pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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