The Turkish Ministry of National Education has made it possible for high school students in Turkey to study Ottoman Turkish. This was starting from the 2013/2014 academic year. The Ministry released the schedule of weekly courses, which students are meant to pursue. The electives that the students will be able to undertake will depend on which school they are in and what their interests are. Some of the options that were made available included Turkish rhetoric, diction, religion, morals, prophet Mohammed’s life and the Quran.
Learning Ottoman Turkish is still relevant in today’s world. One of the reasons why you should learn the language is due to the importance of Turkey in the world. Turkey has strong connections to various parts of the world such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, plus it has the 17th most largest economy worldwide. This makes it an ideal place to conduct business or pursue career opportunities. To do that effectively, you have to learn the language used in Turkey. In order to understand modern Turkish well, a knowledge of Ottoman Turkish will come in quite handy. Learning Ottoman Turkish will lay a good foundation and make it easier for you to learn and understand other Turkic languages such as Azeri, Turkmen, Tartar and Uzbek. About 150 million people speak Turkish.
Ottoman Turkish is an old form of Turkish. It was the language that was spoken by the ancestors of today’s current Turks. Ottoman Turkish was commonly referred to as Osmanlica. Ottoman Turkish has been survived by the Turkmen language that is spoken in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, and among the Osmanli people of Bulgaria. The Arabic alphabet, with a few additional characters was used to write the language. Despite this fact, it is difficult for an Arab to read Ottoman Turkish. This is because Arabs may know and recognize the Arabic letters but they do not know Ottoman Turkish words. Current Turkish speakers would have to learn Ottoman Turkish words if they want to read and understand Ottoman Turkish literature. Ottoman Turkish has a strong Turkish vocabulary, with additional vocabularies borrowed from the Persian language and Arabic.
