Quoting AlphaF:

YASAM and HAYAT are very close (first is Turkish, latter is adopted from Arabic). The corresponding English word to both is LIFE, but here LIFE is referred to as a stretch of time.
(Like when you mention someone's 35 year life; or as in LIFE INSURANCE where these guys can not guarantee you will survive after a skydiving activity, but promise a compensation for the period you have lost from an assumed lifetime.

As far as I know, the English word for CAN is also LIFE, but CAN is not a strech of time, is inner force that keeps one alive.

Quoting MarioninTurkey:

I know these two words both mean life.

Sometimes we have to use yaşam e.g.

yaşam tarzı = life style (hayat tarzı sounds wrong)

and sometimes we have to use hayat e.g.

hayat sigorta = life insurance (yaşam sigorta definitely doesn't exist!)

My Q is: is there a rule that will help me know when to use yaşam and when to use hayat?

Thanks!

Quoting elham:

in addition to above
when you want to say someone" you are my life"
you will say "hayatım", but you can not say yaşam
as i think

Quoting caliptrix
I think you are completely wrong.

"hayat tarzı" is neither wrong nor weird. It is very normal, at least for me.

"hayat sigorta" is wrong, it must be "hayat sigortası". And "yaşam sigortası" is common and well-known as well. "yaşam" is Turkish, "hayat" is Turkish too, but from Arabic origin.

Maybe the only difference is "yaşam" sounds more elite level people's usage.[/QUOTE:

Thanks to everyone who wrote in on this. In actual fact I have worked in the life insurance industry in Turkey for 10 years. Yaşam sigortası is not used as terminology in the industry at all. Yaşama bağlı sigortalar is used, but never yaşam sigortası. I have discussed this a number of times with some very educated people in the industry, and they have just said "sometimes we use hayat and sometimes yaşam ... you just learn which sounds right when"

We use hayat sigorta as a description (adj) e.g. hayat sigorta şirketi or hayat sigorta yönetmeliği. You are right, the actual insurance is hayat sigortası (as a noun).

It is interesting, someone said that we don't do can sigortası. But the overriding legislation as part of the Commercial Code(Türk Ticaret Kanuni) is called Can Sigortaları Bölümü !!!