One of the important things to know about when visiting a foreign city can be what the local language is. In many cities around the world, more than one language is spoken by the locals. Istanbul is a city where the majority of the population speaks one language, but there are other languages spoken in Istanbul, too. So, what are the languages spoken in Istanbul? If you are curious about this topic, let’s begin talking about the languages that people speak in this city.
What are Some of the Languages Spoken in Istanbul?
Istanbul is a culturally diverse city and there are lots of people living in this city. While some of the people are the locals of Istanbul, some are expats and some come from different cities in Turkey. So, we can say that Istanbul is a melting pot of different cultures and languages. As it is a city in Turkey, one of the languages spoken in Istanbul is Turkish, the official language of Turkey. Aside from Turkish, there are many other languages spoken in Istanbul, such as Kurdish, Arabic and many others. Also, there are expats in Istanbul who speak various foreign languages and some locals speak languages like English and German as a second language.
Languages Spoken in Istanbul
1. Turkish
When it comes to languages spoken in Istanbul, the first one that we should definitely mention is Turkish. Because Turkish is the official language of Turkey. As Istanbul is a city in Turkey, Turkish is the language that the majority of the population speaks. Turkish is a language that belongs to the Turkic languages group, which includes languages such as Turkish, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Uyghur and Kazakh.
As Turkish is the official language of Turkey, it is thought that 90% of the population in Turkey speaks it as first language. If you are planning to visit Istanbul and wondering what the main language is in this city, Turkish is the answer. So for those considering visiting Istanbul, it can be a good idea to learn some basic Turkish.
2. Kurdish
Turkish is the official language of Turkey and it is thought to be the first language of 90% of the country’s population. But Turkish is not the only language spoken in Turkey, as there are numerous minority languages in the country.
The minority language in Turkey that is spoken by the largest number of people in the country is Kurdish. Kurdish is thought to be spoken as first language by around 11% of the population of Turkey. Also, it is thought that there are around 2 million Kurds living in Istanbul. With this many Kurdish people living in this city, Kurdish language is surely among the languages spoken in Istanbul.
3. Arabic
There are numerous languages spoken in Istanbul. Aside from Turkish and Kurdish, another one that is spoken by a large amount of people in Istanbul is Arabic language. Arabs were a significant minority in Turkey even before Syrian refugee crisis, which caused the population of Arabs in Turkey to increase significantly.
According to an old research, Arabic was the first language of around 1.3% of the population of Turkey in 2006. Today, up to 5 million Arabs may be living in Turkey and there is a significant amount of Arab population in Istanbul. With Arabs being one of the largest minorities in Turkey, Arabic is another one of the languages spoken in Istanbul.
4. Persian
Another one of the languages that are spoken by many people in Turkey is Persian, which is an Iranian language. It is thought that there are around 600 thousand Persian speakers in Turkey, which makes it a fairly significant minority language in the country.
There are numerous Iranian immigrants living in various countries, with one of those being Turkey. Along with some other cities in Turkey, there are people from Iran living in Istanbul, too. As a result of this, Persian is another one of the languages that are spoken in Istanbul.
5. Greek
This may be a surprising one, but there are Greek speakers in Istanbul, too. Although the amount of people who speak Greek in Istanbul may be as little as 4000, it can still be worth mentioning.
Historically, there were significant hostilities between Turks and Greeks, and following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, a population exchange happened. As a result of this, many Greeks living in Istanbul went to Greece.
Despite this population exchange, there are some Greeks living in Istanbul today and because of this, Greek is another one of the langauges spoken in Istanbul.
6. Armenian
There are lots of different minority languages in Turkey, and one of those is Armenian. It is thought that from 50 to 70 thousand Armenians may be living in Istanbul. Because of this community, another one of the languages spoken in Istanbul is Armenian.
Just like with the Greeks, there used to be hostilities between Turks and Armenians in the history. However, today many Armenians live in Istanbul. Armenian is an Indo-European language with around 5.3 million native speakers and it is spoken in Armenia, Georgia, Turkey and Iran.
7. English
When we take into account the total number of speakers, which includes both native speakers and second-language speakers, English is the most spoken language in the world. As it is such an important language, there are people who speak English in Istanbul, too. So another one of the languages spoken in Istanbul is English.
8. German
Another language that is spoken in Istanbul is German, due to various reasons. There are German expats living in Istanbul, Turkish expats living in Germany, as well as Turks in Istanbul who learn German as a foreign language. In Turkey, there may be around 50 thousand German speakers and some of them can be in Istanbul.
9. Russian
It is thought that there are around 600 thousand Russian speakers in Turkey. There are numerous Russians living in Istanbul and some Turks learn Russian as a second language. So, another one of the languages spoken in Istanbul is Russian.
What are the Top 3 Languages Spoken in Turkey?
Istanbul is a city in Turkey, and if you are planning to visit this city you may be wanting to learn about Turkey in general, as well as languages spoken in Turkey. In Turkey, there are lots of different countries that are spoken, both by the local population and the expats. So what are the top three languages spoken in this country?
The answer to this may depend on what statistics used and what constitutes “speaking a language”. But we can say that the most spoken languages in Turkey are Turkish, Kurdish and English or Arabic. As the official language of Turkey, Turkish is spoken by around 99% of the population. While the Kurdish speaking population is around 10-15%. There is a significant number of Arabic speakers in Turkey and it is thought that 17% of Turkey is able to speak English.
How Many Languages are Spoken in Istanbul?
As we have discussed on this blog post, there are many different languages spoken by the people in Istanbul. While Turkish language is the majority language in the city, minority languages include examples such as Kurdish and Arabic, and foreign languages include examples like English and German. But how many languages are spoken in Istanbul in total?
Just on this post we talked about 9 languages spoken in Istanbul. According to many sources it is thought that around 30 languages are spoken in this city. As far as the amount of languages spoken in Turkey, it can be as high as 70. So both in Istanbul and Turkey in general, there are lots of different languages that people speak.
What Percent of Turkey Speaks English?
If you are planning to visit Turkey, one question you may be curious about can be: what percent of Turkey can speak English?
In Turkey, Turkish is spoken by the majority of the population and there are also languages spoken by the minorities in the country, as well as the expats. English is among the languages spoken by some of the expats.
Aside from expats in Turkey, some of the people in the country can speak English. According to some sources, 11-17% of the population in Turkey may speak English. However, the actual number can be lower than that, as English proficiency is quite low in Turkey.
Languages Spoken in Istanbul Final Words
When visiting a city in a foreign country as a tourist, you may get curious about the languages spoken in that city. So in case you are planning to visit Istanbul, you may want to know about the languages spoken in Istanbul and ask questions like: what language is spoken in Istanbul? As it is the official language of Turkey, Turkish is the main one among the languages spoken in Istanbul. Also, many people in Istanbul speak other languages like Arabic, Kurdish and Greek. Besides these, there are numerous people in Istanbul who speak languages like English and Russian, as well. Basically, there are lots of different languages spoken in Istanbul.
Keep reading our posts to get much more Tips for Istanbul Travel and Istanbul Touristic Places.