I would like to learn Ottoman Turkish, does anyone have any tips on where to start? Learn via Persian or Arabic or is there a way to learn for foreigners who just have a basic knowledge of Turkish?

Actually Ottoman Turkish and modern one is very close. Except some synonyms can be old to understand. But if you know Turkish you just need to learn read Arab alphabet. Then you need a Turkish synonyms dictionary .

Good luck.

Ottoman Turkish is a combination of 3 languages : Arabic,  Persian (Farshi) and Turkish.  It´s not necessary to speak Arabian and Persian to learn Ottoman Turkish, but in my opinion you have to speak Turkish, cause is actually Turkish written with Arabic alphabet. Learning ottoman turkish can help you if you are interested in learning the other two languages because you use the Arabic alphabet and there is a lot of Arabic and Persian vocabulary in this language.  

Good luck

for understanding ottoman turkish

1. learn turkish

2. find a good dictionary (for old words)

3. learn turkish reading with arabic aliphba (for arabic letters)

As today´s Turkish mainly based on the language which was used in the Ottoman era, in my opinion, the best starting point is the language we currently use. The more you enrich your Turkish vocabulary the easier you will learn Ottoman language.

Though many of them have been replaced with newly made-up and derived words, or with the trendy words recently borrowed from Western languages, we still have numerous active loanwords from Arabic and Persian.

It is clear that even in the Ottoman era, from beginning to end, ordinary people especially lived in the rural areas never used the language which is known as Ottoman Turkish, and which was produced and used by the aristocrats lived inside the walls of the Topkapı Palace.

The Palace language, in the course of time, somehow leaked through the walls of the Palace and effected the language of the people who lived in the Capital. This infected language (also known as Istanbul Turkish) has been the base of the modern Turkish Language.

So, I don´t advise you to learn the Palace version of the Language which is totally useless.

If you mean the language which was used by the older inhabitants of Istanbul, as I said in the beginning, start with the current Turkish.

I am studying ottoman turkish, too.

if you are foreign to turkish; first of all, learn modern turkish well enough.

even if it is described as mixture of turkish, arabic, persian; it is not exactly like that. we should look at the grammar and vocabulary influence. Ottoman era official turkish is slightly influenced by persian vocabulary and heavily influenced by arabic vocabulary. in grammar point, influenced by some arabic grammar, especially plural forms but not much influenced by persian. So, knowing some arabic would be a great plus. Ottoman turkish build on turkish sentence structure and grammar rules, so it is same as modern turkish but differs on vocabulary point.

after learning modern turkish, learn ottoman alphabet. ottoman alphabet is very similar to persian alphabet today, with some additional letters for turkish. after alphabet, learn dictation rules for ottoman. You can learn most common persian and arabic words in ottoman turkish texts while studying, you dont have to know persian or arabic directly.

there is not one standart ottoman turkish by looking at loan words. the language of daily usage exactly the same as today, the only difference is it is written in a different alphabet. but officials, poets etc. used heavliy influenced ottoman turkish. You will come accross both while studying.

Thanks to all for useful suggestions. Does anyone have a tip for books or websites?