Modern Turkish

Modern Turkish Program

Turkic languages go back 5,500 to 8,500 years. These languages are spoken throughout a large geographical region in the Middle East and Central Asia. The most widely spoken Turkic language is Türkiye Türkçesi, also known as Modern Turkish. It is the official language of the Republic of Turkey; and it is also spoken in Cyprus, Australia, the United States, and many European countries, including Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Yale offers Modern Turkish courses for Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. The four-course sequence of Elementary and Intermediate (L1-L4) is designed to guide students to proficiency in the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students have the option of taking Advanced courses (L-5) which will help them develop the language skills to speak adequately in social situations, read and write non-specialized material without frequent resort to dictionaries or grammar books.

Advanced Language Certificate

Students seeking to earn the certificate are required to take four courses beyond the L4 level, at least two of which must be Yale courses designated as L5. All courses must be taken for a letter grade, and students must achieve a grade of B or above. No courses taken Credit/D/Fail may be counted toward the requirements of the certificate. With the approval of the certificate adviser, one advanced non-L5 Yale course, conducted in the target language, such as an independent study course, a graduate seminar, or an advanced seminar may count toward certification requirements.

The certificate adviser may allow one “language across the curriculum” (LxC) course, which ordinarily is an advanced seminar with an additional weekly discussion section in the target language, to count toward the certification requirements. The certificate adviser may also approve the substitution of up to two credits earned during study abroad and taught in the target language to count toward the certificate requirements. If the adviser approves courses taken outside of Yale for inclusion in the certificate requirements, students must take the necessary steps to ensure that those courses appear on their transcripts.

Declaration of Candidacy for a Certificate

Students are invited to complete the Declaration of Candidacy for a Certificate Form using this Qualtrics Survey. Once completed, the form sends notification emails to the certificate adviser(s) and to the Yale University Registrar’s Office so that the student’s Degree Audit can be updated with the Certificate of Advanced Language Study. 

Certificate Adviser

Ezgi Yalcin, Lector of Modern Turkish <ezgi.yalcin@yale.edu>