Comments on learning Kyrgyz: Language policy

Your blog is great! We want to learn more about th...

2008-01-10T22:26:00.000+06:00

Your blog is great! We want to learn more about this language and we will be sure to link here!

Judy and Harold

Hmmm... Interesting. I knew about the promotion ef...

2005-10-28T10:23:00.000+06:00

Hmmm... Interesting. I knew about the promotion efforts and I knew the president had to know it. I just never heard they were switching the paperwork over to Kazakh only.

I am very sure about the government's intention to...

2005-10-27T11:48:00.000+06:00

I am very sure about the government's intention to have all official paperwork done in Kazakh. You see it in the news all the time. The Almaty Mayor's Office, for example, is planning to complete the transition by the end of 2006.

Russian remains what they call 'the language of interethnic communication'. Some do talk about 'linguistic pressure' on Russian-speakers, especially in the northern parts of the country.

By the way, in the media a 50% Kazakh language broadcasting quota was introduced several years ago. (http://www.gazeta.kz/art.asp?aid=12802)

So this remains a very controversial issue, but it is very unlikely that the officials will change their mind about the current policy.

Kazakh-only documents? Are you sure about that? Th...

2005-10-27T10:11:00.000+06:00

Kazakh-only documents? Are you sure about that? That flies entirely in the face of the policy of encouraging Kazakhstani (as opposed to Kazakh) nationalism and keeping the significant Russian population on the border happy and calm. The government certainly is interested in promoting Kazakh, but has been wary about being perceived to be doing so at the expense of Russian.

That's true. I may be mistaken about this, but dur...

2005-10-26T11:17:00.000+06:00

That's true. I may be mistaken about this, but during the Soviet times the Uzbek language was used widely throughout Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan, after it gained independence, had to deal with the fact that many educated Kazakhs (those who lived in the cities) were not fluent in Kazakh. So this may have something to do with the language policies of these countries.

When I visited Uzbekistan in 2000 I was surprised to find out that many ethnic Russians spoke some Uzbek - something that would be very unusual in Kazakhstan. I suppose now, five years later, the use of Uzbek is even more widespread.

I agree that Russian-speakers would be fine in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan, unless they go to some of the more remote areas. I found that even in bigger towns like Naryn some people had trouble making themselves understood in Russian and needed a Kyrgyz interpreter to communicate with us.

I mostly meant that a Russian speaker is going to ...

2005-10-25T19:57:00.000+06:00

I mostly meant that a Russian speaker is going to be fine in Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. KZ hasn't forced Kazakh on Russians the way Uzbekistan has promoted Uzbek so strongly.