Script guide › Latin
How to recognize Turkish
Turkish is one of 35 languages in Grafle's Latin group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- The dotless ı is the classic tell, plus ğ and ş.
- Never uses q, w or x.
What Turkish looks like
Bütün insanlar hür ve haysiyet bakımından eşit doğarlar.
Merhaba, bugün nasılsın?
Ağaç yaşken eğilir.
Latin scripts: The alphabet you're reading now. Each language gives itself away by its own special letters and accent marks.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Turkey
- Cyprus
Easy to confuse with
- Azerbaijani — The schwa ə is Azerbaijani's signature — Turkish never uses it. Azerbaijani also writes q and x, which Turkish's alphabet lacks.
- Turkmen — Turkmen uses ý, ň and w (boýunça, deň); Turkish uses dotless ı and ğ instead.
- Uzbek — Uzbek has o'/g' apostrophe letters and uses q freely; Turkish has ğ, ş and dotless ı but never q.