Language is a carrier of culture and one of the fundamental indicators of national identity. Learning a new language is not merely an acquisition of communication skills, but also a process that broadens an individual’s worldview through engagement with a different culture. Diplomatic and cultural relations between China and Turkey began relatively late, and educational cooperation between the two countries has shown notable progress particularly since 2005. Following this development, the number of Turkish students studying in China has increased rapidly. However, factors such as linguistic differences between Turkish and Chinese, the limited availability of learning materials, and the insufficient English proficiency of students have made Chinese learning more challenging for Turkish students compared to learners from other countries.The aim of this study is to identify the main difficulties encountered by Turkish students in the process of learning Chinese and to evaluate the causes of these difficulties from both linguistic and pedagogical perspectives. Based on the analysis of survey data collected from Turkish students and local teachers in China, this article qualitatively examines the principal linguistic and structural challenges faced by Turkish students during their Chinese learning process. The impact of structural differences between Turkish and Chinese on the learning process has been analyzed in light of both students’ experiences and Chinese teachers’ observations. In the study, surveys and interviews were conducted with 25 Turkish students at different levels of study and eight teachers who had previously taught Turkish students. The findings indicate that Turkish students experience particular difficulties in the areas of phonetics (pronunciation), intonation, grammar, and character writing. The study concludes that existing teaching methods should be restructured to better accommodate cultural and linguistic differences, emphasizing the need for the development of specific teaching materials tailored to native Turkish speakers in the field of teaching Chinese as a foreign language.
Prof. Dr. Cemal Özdemir2 Sevda DURAN1* (Mon,) studied this question.