Comments on: Welcome to Turkey, Bloomberg ‘efendim’

By: Bryan

Bryan — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:36:44 +0000

I would love Bloomberg to broadcast in Turkish in Uzbekistan as well. We also speak a kind of Turkish.

By: etzel1315

etzel1315 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:32:33 +0000

If you put a question mark after “efendim” or if you put the stress on the last syllible which is typical for turkish to make a question out of a phrase then it means “You say what?” or “What did you say?”

By: Gizem Salcigil

Gizem Salcigil — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:06:48 +0000

Being originally from Istanbul, first I want to thank you for your article. The previous comment is pretty true.The word “Efendi” was a very common title during Ottoman Empire. Today, in modern Turkey, mostly we use “Merhaba (hello) efendim” as a welcoming gesture to our guests. It is also a very polite way of showing respect to older people. For your example, instead of saying “Robert efendim”, we would say “Robert beyefendi” which means “Mr. Robert”. For men “bey or beyefendi”, for women “hanim or hanimefendi” are the most common words to say “Mr. or Ms.” as well.Additionally, FYI: After the collapse of Soviet Union, there was formation of independent Turkic Republics. These states are Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan…Look forward to see more articles about Turkey! Thanks!

By: Robert MacMillan

Robert MacMillan — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:31:33 +0000

Here’s a reader comment from someone who asked not to be identified for work reasons. Fair enough. I think all these points about Turkish are true, but I welcome input from all our native Turkish speakers out there who can’t go a day without reading Media File.OK, I am not an expert on Turkish, but I do live with a Turk and try to spend some time with her family. I am not 100% sure on this, but I think that use of efendim is dated. I know it use to mean ‘my master’ and maybe if you are being REALLY polite to older people who could still use it, but when she and her family use that word it means something like “I am sorry, I didn’t hear that” or “what is it?”.I think Bey or Hanim are the polite ways to say Mr.I could be wrong. And either way I am happy to see Turkish coming across the wires!