This podcast lesson deals with the recent name change of the Middle Eastern country that forms a bridge between Asia and Europe, Turkey. In this podcast lesson, you’ll learn all about Turkey’s new name and how to pronounce it in English.
So, what’s going on? In June 2022, Turkey requested the international community to call them by Türkiye. Soon after, the United Nations, The World Trade Organization, and NATO accepted the change.
So, ‘The Republic of Turkey’ becomes ‘The Republic of Türkiye’.
Listen again: Türkiye | Türkiye
Türkiye
Note that Türkiye is spelled with two dots above the ‘u’. This punctuation mark is an umlaut. With the two dots above, the ‘u’ is pronounced ‘eu’, similar in sound to the ‘u’ sound in ‘pure’.
Türkiye is trying to re-brand and change its image. One of the steps is to distance itself from the relationship with the bird named turkey. In case you don’t know a turkey is a large, domesticated bird raised for food. It is especially delicious with mashed potatoes and gravy. The word ‘turkey’ also describes something completely unsuccessful. So, with those two connections in mind, rebranding to Türkiye makes a lot of sense and we should start using the name.
The downside though is you need to learn new spelling, and in particular, learn how to add those funny little dots above the ‘u’.
Welcome, Türkiye.
Conclusion
Friends, that’s all for now. Subscribe to this podcast and you’ll never miss a lesson. Also, feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments regarding this podcast – I always welcome suggestions! I will be back here soon with some more English for economists.
This is Alan Robert. Take care!
Comment * The umlaut is not used in English. What hubris they have demanding English-speakers use a non-English symbol in our own language. I will spell it ‘Turkiye’ without the umlaut. It’s our language, we make the rules.
Thanks for your comment, John. I see your point. You may see it as hubris, but they see it as self-determination. The “ü” isn’t really an umlaut here — it’s a distinct Turkish letter. The fact is that countries often choose how they want to be named internationally. Over time, we usually adapt, even if reluctantly, though I suspect “Turkey” may stick around in popular speech for a very, very long time.