Similarities Between Turkish and Hungarian

Turkish and Hungarian not only have several words in common but also many interesting similar linguistic features. In this video we explore some of the commonalities between the two languages, with Betti, a Hungarian speaker from Hungary, and Ethem, a Turkish speaker from Turkey.

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Hungarian (magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language that is primarily spoken in Hungary where it has official status, along with the European Union. Hungarian naturally shares a lot of linguistic connections with other Uralic languages, making its position in Central Europe very unique and different from its neighbouring countries. There are varying views on the history and development of the Hungarian language. Hungarian people originate from the Ural region in present-day Russia and migrated to the current location in Central Europe after conquering the Carpathian Basin. It is believed that prior to settling in Central Europe, Hungarians had contacts with Iranian (Scythians and Sarmatians) or Turkic nomads which influenced their language as a result. Today the language holds official status nationally in Hungary and regionally in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Austria and Slovenia.

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.