Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

I'm going to some more remote places here in the TRNC, where I expect English knowledge to be far less common than in Girne, Lefkosa or Lapta (where I'm staying).

My question is: can most Turkish Cypriots speak standard Turkish (possibly with a local accent), and if so, how willing are they to do it with foreigners having fairly solid "tourist" knowledge of Turkish?
Does it also depend on location/age group?

In German-speaking Switzerland, where I live, they similarly speak Swiss-German, a group of dialects incomprehensible to those only speaking standard German. But pretty much everyone who isn't really isolated or has some disability/dementia can speak decent standard German, but many more or less dislike doing so out of pride for their dialects.

I also wonder whether Turkish Cypriots even make a clear-cut conscious distinction between pure dialect and standard language (like in German-speaking Switzerland), or if in-between "soft core" varieties are common.

THanks for any feedback.

There are many mainland Turks here, so non-Cypriot Turkish is widely understood.

Groucho wrote:There are many mainland Turks here, so non-Cypriot Turkish is widely understood.

Figured as much; question is whether they can/will talk to me such that I'll understand them.

Crazydre wrote:

Groucho wrote:There are many mainland Turks here, so non-Cypriot Turkish is widely understood.

Figured as much; question is whether they can/will talk to me such that I'll understand them.

Well that is very much up to your level of understanding. In all fairness, it is their language.

what do you mean with "remote places"?
we are not in Nepal, we have school buses. we have BMWs.

and if you meet somebody who can not speak (some) english and-or somebody whos turkish dialect you can not understand then make a bet (85%) this person comes from Turkey.

be sure ...pretty much everyone who isn't really isolated or has some disability/dementia can speak decent standard Turkish.

Yes I wondered where these remote places may be. Do tell Crazydre. Anyway so far as language is concerned there will, I am sure, be no problem at all. Everyone that I have come across is only too happy to speak Turkish and although sometimes I have difficulty when they speak amongst themselves in dialect when they speak directly to me it is in Turkish as I understand it. It was said to me by a Turkish person in Turkey before I came here that in Cyprus ''they speak better Turkish than we do'. Enjoy your travels.

Would love to know where these remote places are. There are probably more Mercs and BMW's per head of the population than most countries in Europe and it's really a tiny place. Just for our info. it would be interesting to know where you are obtaining your information about us. Its getting to the stage that having a working knowledge of Russian is helpful as we!! Enjoy.

Laura B wrote:Yes I wondered where these remote places may be. Do tell Crazydre.

Went to Sadrazamköy today, and going to Kaleburnu the day after tomorrow

Ah lovely. Thanks for the reply Crazydre. I don't think you'll be having too much of a language problem. Enjoy your hols.

In the good old days , less than twenty years ago (when owning a BMW was not seen as the height of civilisation and inter-city roads where not made to allow off road vehicles to race in tandem without actually going off road) the Sandrazamköy peninsula, and the Kapas, and even ,would you believe; Lapa were were seen as being remote. Not just because there of the small Turkish Cypriot population but also because the mainland settlers came from remote parts of Turkey- and if course spoke with a dialect. Koruçam ıs, of course , Maronite and therefore Greek speaking. There is(or was, it is a long time since I have been there) also a Greek village in the Karpas. I had language problems there because the UN troops who were delivering supplies to the village and blocking the road spoke only Swedish (or it might have been Norwegian)!

The great thing about Northern Cyprus used to be (and sometimes still is) that even if it resembles the Tower of Babel and iif they dont understand you they usually know a man who does, and if not they will jump in their car and guide you to where you want to be.

I hope you have a really good time, Crazydre, and manage to explore more of the more remote genuine areas of this once lovely coountry.