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It would probably be fun to read some original mathematical texts in arabic if you could. I would say that since modern turkish didn't come into being until the founding of the republic, you really do lose the historical context. I would love to learn ottoman turkish one day...

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Actually there is no such thing as Ottoman Turkish, it is still Turkish with heavily borrowed phrases. It is not a distinct language. You won’t have any hard time understanding the spoken Turkish in Anatolia of that time. So called Ottoman Turkish was mostly limited to the government and literature use. Here is a recording of “Ottoman Turkish” from that time.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fmNl4gcufBU&pp=ygU0RXNraSBrYXl...

I'm too out of practice to really engage at this level. But actually, I meant I would like to learn the Ottoman Turkish of government and literature. I obviously can't go back in time and converse with the Anatolian turks and if I could, I might prefer to also have some Greek and Armenian in my toolbox...

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