Similarities Between Turkish and Turkmen

How similar are Turkish and Turkmen? What is the difference between them? Although the languages share a lot in common, the degree of mutual intelligibility can vary.

In this video Mihriban, Mayra, and Ekin will demonstrate to what extent Turkish speakers can understand the Turkmen language.

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The Turkish language, which is also referred to as Istanbul Turkish, is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with most of its native speakers living in Western Asia, and significant group of speakers in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Ottoman Turkish, which was a variation of the Turkish spoken today, influenced many parts of Europe during the time that the Ottoman Empire expanded. When the modern Turkish republic was established, one of Atatürk's Reforms consisted of changing the Ottoman Turkish alphabet with a Latin alphabet. Today, Turkish is recognized as a minority language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Iraq, Macedonia, and Romania.

The Turkmen language (türkmen dili) is a member of the Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages and it is spoken by the Turkmens of Central Asia, primarily in Turkmenistan where it has official status, and also in Iran and Afghanistan which both have a significant Turkmen community.

The Turkic languages consist of over 35 different documented languages, originating from East Asia. Turkish has the highest number of native speakers out of all Turkic language. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility among the various Oghuz languages, which include Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, Balkan Gagauz Turkish and Oghuz-influenced Crimean Tatar.