There are several differences in the Turkish language.
Grammatical Differences
Compared to German or English, there are some significant differences in grammar and inflection. For example, there is no grammatical gender, no definite articles, and the word order of individual sentence parts differs. The alphabet consists of 29 Latin letters with four special characters: ç (ch as in 'church'), ş (sh as in 'she'), ı (unrounded back vowel), ğ (follows a vowel and lengthens it). Overall, Turkish is characterized by a very flowery and vivid style.
Cultural Differences in Language Use
While spoken German tends to focus on a high density of information, Turkish language use is quite the opposite. In Turkish culture, especially in oral communication, messages conveyed at the relationship level play a much more significant role. Therefore, unlike German, Turkish is often referred to as a 'high-context' culture language, whereas German is considered a 'low-context' culture language.
Paralinguistic Features
Similar to other Southern European languages, such as Italian, Turkish is generally faster, brighter, and louder than German. Therefore, hasty conclusions, for example, regarding aggression, should be avoided.
Interpreting Becomes a Demanding Task
Precisely because of these differences, interpreting between German and Turkish becomes a demanding task. Highly qualified interpreters and translators are particularly important to avoid misunderstandings and to correctly convey culturally influenced rhetorical skills, vivacity, volume, and tolerance for interruptions.
