Turkish
We would like to welcome you to our Turkish Program. We are excited that you are contemplating learning or continuing with Turkish and we hope the information on this website will be useful for you in making a decision. Also, look through our Instagram for a glimpse into our Program -- @nuturkishprogram.
Why learn Turkish?
Here are some reasons why:
- Turkish is considered a "critical foreign language" by the US Department of State, yet Turkish is offered in very few universities in the US.
- Turkish speakers are in high demand for work in both government and the nonprofit sector.
- Turkish is one of the globe's 15 most widely-spoken first languages. About 80 MILLION people speak Turkish as their first language.
- Turkish is the ONLY Middle Eastern language that uses the Latin script. It's a very regular and predictable language with no grammatical gender, articles, or irregular verbs. (Hooray!!!)
- Learning Turkish can get you
a scholarship to spend a summer in Turkey, or even a Fulbright year-long Fellowship.- Dominic Balestrieri-Fox (WCAS '20) recently won an American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) fellowship to study Turkish in Istanbul, and later he won a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Turkey.
- Diana Elhard also won an ARIT fellowship to study in Istanbul.
- Jovana Lakic won an Undergraduate Language Grant to further her language studies abroad.
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Students who take Turkish at Northwestern enjoy participating in a variety of activities outside of the classroom, including:
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writing for the summer NU Turkish Blog
- Make a short Turkish video:
- Participate in cooking demonstrations and Turkish dinners.
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For more information about the Turkish Program, download a pdf-file here.