Description

About the Book:-Without wishing in the least to detract from the labours of his predecessors, the author thinks he may say, without any fear of contradiction on the part of those who are really acquainted with the subject, that all Turkish Grammars which have hitherto appeared in English were extremely defective, and only adapted to give the most rudimentary knowledge of colloquial Turkish. A great number of Arabic and Persian rules of grammar, which have been adopted by all educated Osmanlis, and are indispensable for writing, and even conversing correctly on abstract subjects, were entirely omitted. Moreover, these works were generally crowded with errors, some, it is true, only clerical, but even such mistakes, not to speak of fundamental ones, are very injurious and embarrassing to the student. On the other hand, thoroughly correct native works, published of late years in Turkey, and others, are either inaccessible or too difficult to be of any use to anyone not already possessing a very considerable knowledge of the language. He has endeavoured to steer between these two extremes. The book deals with exercises for translation into Turkish, quotations from Turkish authors, illustrating Turkish syntax and composition, and such rules of the Arabic and Persian grammars as have been adopted by the Osmanlis. The pronunciation being given in English letters throughout.