Nowadays it is a
well-known fact that everyone should know at least one foreign language. The
interest in Eastern languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Turkish,
Arabic and Hebrew is growing. When we start learning a language in the country
where it is spoken the most, we don’t know about its culture, society, etiquette, customs. Often
we rely on information from a variety sources and channels, but should we
believe? Six years ago I was engaged in
learning Turkish and only “hijab”, “slavery” and “polygamy” came to my mind. I’d like to dispel the myth that Turkey is a “downtrodden and
dispossessed” country. So I suggest some facts that surprise you.
1. Turkey has been called "The Cradle of Civilizations". Mosques are an important and popular tourism
destination among tourists. Just Istanbul has 3,113 mosques; the most beautiful one - The Blue
Mosque. It is considered the greatest masterpiece not only of Islamic
architecture, but also of the world. Turkish people are educated enough, because Turkey includes the opportunity to gain a
relatively inexpensive and good quality education. There are 178 universities and academies in total.
2. Another myth about Turkey is its polygamy. But you should know that polygamy has been illegal in Turkey since
1926. From a Western perspective, polygamy appears to be little better than
slavery. Nowadays some cases of polygamy occur more and more seldom, and in
Turkish press are highlighted as a crime and exceptional cases.
3. It is believed that Turkish is a very difficult language to learn, but in fact Turkish is easy: no genders, no noun classes and a phonetic Latin script. Also there are some confused words in Turkish, The word "durak" means parking place or bus-stop, whereas in Russian this word means "fool". Imagine the surprise of a Turkish speaking person visiting Russia and walking into "saray". In the Russian language it's a barn and in Turkish it's a palace. So be careful!
When we dispel the
myth, the world looks quite different. I hope you'll find something interesting!
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