Who are your Turkish-speaking listeners?
Turkish-speaking communities in Britain are large and settled, especially in north and east London: Turkish Cypriots who came from the 1950s onwards, and people from mainland Turkey, among them Kurds and Alevis who speak Turkish as well as, or instead of, Kurdish. In Ireland and elsewhere there are Turkish students, doctors and engineers. Germany and the Netherlands have long-established Turkish communities, and English-speaking international churches there have Turkish neighbours and in-laws too.
Few of them belong to a church. That makes the occasions when they do come all the more important.
Moments when Turkish matters
- Mixed marriages. A British bride marries a Turkish groom, and his parents sit in the front row. With Turkish on their phones they understand the vows and the address, not just the music. See weddings, baptisms and funerals.
- Funerals. A Turkish-speaking neighbour or colleague comes to say goodbye and wants to understand what is said about the person they knew.
- School and community services. Carol services, Remembrance and harvest services, when parents from the local school come along.
- Turkish-speaking Christians. Small Turkish-speaking fellowships exist in Britain, and believers from Turkey sometimes join a local church. For them Turkish is the language of faith.
- Seekers. Someone curious about Christianity who would never ask for an interpreter, but will quietly scan a QR code.
Kurdish and Azerbaijani
Many Kurds from Turkey speak Turkish fluently, but for some it is a second language, and Kurdish is not available in ChurchTranslate. Be honest about that, and ask what people prefer. Azerbaijani, which is close to Turkish, is available as its own language if you have visitors from Azerbaijan.
Hospitality, not pressure
A Muslim family at a Christian wedding or funeral is there out of love for someone. Offer the translation as a courtesy, so they can follow, and leave it at that. Nobody needs an account or a name to listen, and no audio recordings are stored.
How it works
- 01Scan
Put the QR code on the order of service or a card on each seat. It opens in the browser on any smartphone.
- 02Choose Türkçe
No app and no sign-up. iPhone users can use the App Store app if they prefer.
- 03Listen or read
The Turkish voice follows the speaker a few seconds behind, with captions on screen. Guests who would rather not wear an earbud can switch the audio off and read.
What to expect
The translation is into standard Turkish. It carries the line of a sermon, a prayer or a eulogy well. Christian vocabulary is less familiar in Turkish than in many European languages, and Bible names have Turkish forms that the translation will not always choose. ChurchTranslate keeps a terminology list per language to correct known terms in the captions, but before a wedding it is worth a short test. See Bible names and terms.
Cost
A one-hour wedding into Turkish uses 60 credits. For a church that only needs Turkish a few times a year, an extra credit pack is usually the best fit: 300 credits cost €50 and never expire. See the pricing.