The account of Mount Ararat and Noah and the ark is one of the most widely known events in the history of mankind. True, some see it as tradition, myth or fairytale and others as a true account.Ever wondered how it all began? A variety of nationalities. Different languages. Variety in life is nice. For example, only two dogs were needed to give rise to all the dog species that exist today. Did you know there are more than 200 different breeds of dogs today? They range from the miniature poodle to the St. Bernard -- all of which have descended from one original dog species (as have the wolf, dingo, etc.).
If we stop and think about it, many other types of animals -- cat, horse, cow, etc. -- have similarly been naturally and selectively bred to achieve the wonderful variation in species that we have today.
Whether you speak with a Muslim or a Christian, the person will probably say that God programmed this variety into the genetic code of all animal kinds -- even humankind!
How many languages are there in the world today? I just did a quick check and went on the Ask Yahoo Web site. A report by Stephen R. Anderson of the Linguistic Society of America cites that there are currently 6,912 living languages, defined as languages that people speak today. If you thought language and culture is difficult where you are, get this: Interestingly, Papua New Guinea, alone, has approximately 830 languages for around 5.4 million people. That's about one language for every 6,500 residents. That's variety!
Turkey does not have anything near the hundreds of languages spoken by people in Papua New Guinea. For that matter, where I come from, the United States, only has about 160 spoken languages in use.
It is not unusual for people who have never visited Turkey to think the official language is Arabic. They have probably reached this conclusion because Turkey is in the Middle East and 99 percent of the population is Muslim. They are surprised to learn that Turkish is the official language. They are even more surprised to hear that it is written not in Arabic, but in Latin script. Of course, this makes Turkey all the more attractive to foreigners, as it should be easier to learn the language.
I remember once when I was giving an English lesson and two young ladies whom I thought were Turks started speaking to each other very softly. As I approached them, I could hear the sounds, but I could not understand a word. Suddenly, I realized that they were not speaking with each other in Turkish. I learned later that it was Armenian.
You may have noticed people here speaking to each other in some tongue other than Turkish. It could be Kurdish.
Visiting a small village near the Syrian border, I was invited by my host, the head of the village, to have some tea. While I was sitting there in the simple room that was obviously the guest room for entertaining, I began to speak some Turkish with the women who were coming in and out for whatever reason they could find to take a glimpse at the foreign woman. I was surprised when they sort of understood what I was trying to say. It turned out that I knew more Turkish than they did. They had never been outside that village and only spoke their mother tongue, Aramaic.
The main minority languages in Turkey include Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian and Greek.
Turkey has been working hard to meet the European Union's requirements. The EU has urged Turkey to do more to improve minority cultural rights, particularly Kurdish.
It was only this past January that TV broadcasting launched a round-the-clock television channel in Kurdish.
According to BBC news (Sept. 11) officials have announced that a Turkish university --Artuklu University in Mardin -- is to begin to teach the Kurdish language at postgraduate level. The program also offers Farsi, Arabic and Syriac, at the new “Living Languages in Turkey” institute.
Variety in nationalities and languages can also be nice, too!
Note: Charlotte McPherson is the author of “Culture Smart: Turkey, 2005.” Please keep your questions and observations coming: I want to ensure this column is a help to you, Today’s Zaman’s readers. Email: c.mcpherson@todayszaman.com
