Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY, Dec 23 (THE GLOBE)
From the moment of issuing the Law on the state language 10 years have passed. Fir this period Kazakh language obviously has strengthened its positions. However, its status in the country is not satisfactory.
The media, especially electron ones, mainly broadcast in Russian. The only TV channel that broadcasts more programs in Kazakh is Kazakhstan-1. TV channels have a daily news-program and two to three other programs in Kazakh. The only Kazakhstani soap opera Perekryostok is in Russian, though it would quite possible to give Kazakh translation.
The most popular newspapers and magazines are also Russian. Moreover, Russian press invades Kazakhstan.
This situation with Kazakh language is observed almost in all spheres of the society, including business, state and political organizations, etc. even the Parliament does not use the state language, at the official meetings leaders of the country speak Russian. Press conferences are held only in Russian. Only questions there may be asked in Kazakh.
The Kazakhs are losing their language, at least in towns, as there is no requirement in Kazakh. first of all they need to know Russian.
There is a high percentage of Kazakh people, who do not know their mother tongue at all. Most Kazakhs, who speak Kazakh language, do not know it perfectly, i.e. they do not know the literary language that greatly differs from the spoken one.
This nonsense is not observed in any other CIS country than Kazakhstan. For example, in fact everyone knows the state languages in Uzbekistan or Baltic states. If you live in Uzbekistan you should know Uzbek. Possibly, the only exception is Byelorussia. However, Lukashenko�s cosmopolitanism in respect to the great neighbor may not match people�s opinion.
Today, at the eve of the new millenium people comprehend the Kazakhstan�s future. This future is unavailable, if the state language is not preserved and developed, as it is one of the main components of the national culture.
Kuanysh ZHUMANGAZINOV
ALMATY, Dec 23
(THE GLOBE)
Thirty-three percent of the Kazakh population do not know their mother tongue. In 1989 this index was 40%. If people learn Kazakh language so, it will take 50 years for all the population to know the state language, Bakhytzhan Tobayakov, the head of the Language Department of the Almaty Akimat says.
When Kazakh was announced the state language de jure, it did not make it state de facto. Though in 1996 the Conception of Language Policy was approved and the Law �On Languages in the Republic of Kazakhstan� were issued in July 1997, the process of introduction of the state language is still difficult.
Tobayakov said that one of the main objectives of regional programs on functioning and development of languages approved by local Maslikhats is to teach Russian-speaking Kazakhs to speak their native language.
On December 15 the results of the competition �Let�s increase the Status of the State Language� held in regions were announced. The competition was declared in Almaty in July 1999. Nobody got the first place.
According to the Almaty Language Department, programs of electron media in Kazakh are less than 50%. For example, the national TV channel Khabar broadcasts in Kazakh only 22 hours 20 min per week. This comes to 11% of the time stipulated by the Law. The situation in local TV channels is even worse: NTK broadcasts in Kazakh 6 hours 30 minutes, Shahar � 4 hours 10 minutes, Rakhat � 10 hours 10 minutes, and 31st channel � 2 hours 20 minutes.
Kazakh language is mainly used inside families. Laws issued in the country at first are written in Russian, then they translated into Kazakh, often with mistakes. For 8 years of Kazakhstan�s sovereignty only one law on migration was approved, which was both written and issued in the state language.
In Almaty you may often see advertisements in Kazakh with grammatical mistakes. This happens, as the Architectural and Constructional Department permits different commercial organizations to place their advertisements without prior agreement by the Language Department. Almatygoroformlenie and Almatyhzrnama are sometimes also guilty.
Today there is necessary legislation and sufficient number of textbooks and dictionaries in Kazakhstan. For the first time 31 volumes of Kazakh-Russian and Russian-Kazakh dictionaries on all branches of the economy, science and culture are being published in Kazakhstan.
That is why the only thing required for the complete introduction of Kazakh language in the country is respect to the language and people�s (first of all Kazakhs�) willingness to learn it.
Aigul MYRZATAI
ALMATY, Dec 23
(THE GLOBE)
The problem of Kazakh language is so urgent today, that it is impossible to settle it easily. To achieve any results, it will take some years, decades or even centuries.
It happened so that in the Soviet period Russian language became a foundation of communication between all peoples of the former USSR. That was caused by the Soviet ideology that gradually, step by step captured mentality of minor nationalities and peoples. It filled people�s consciousness, their conception of the world and their attitude towards life. Soon the common mentality became the basis of all political structure of the Soviet state.
The strategy of the Soviet power was to achieve some goals, including equalizing �multi-national collective union� by the common ideology. In this regard national peculiarities were to be replaced by the Soviet mentality. This strategy, on one hand, was to promote mass easy shift from the feudal system missing bourgeois-capitalistic one, to the socialistic system. On the other hand, it was supposed to change people�s consciousness painlessly replacing �one type of blood by another.�
The strategy had several directions, including struggle against illiteracy that had some goals. One of these goals was to teach all people to read and to write. �Liquidation of illiteracy� could be interpreted in both direct and indirect meaning. Directly, it was to create an educated society, indirectly � with the help of literacy to �re-qualify� people�s consciousness to another stage of the development, to the Cyrillic alphabet.
During the Soviet period it was not just prestigious to know Russian, but also promised a career. Some representatives of the Kazakh intelligentsia were sent to Russian universities. They were expected to agitate their people for ideas of socialism and communism, and for ideas of �Russification�. This way was very promising. By the early 1930s one-third of Kazakh people could not only read and write in Russian, but also express their thoughts in this language, strange to them. Gradually the number of Kazakhs educated in Russia was increasing. The prestige of the Russian language was replaced by the necessity to understand, to express thoughts, and to think, which was main. Kazakh language became secondary. It was not obligatory to know Kazakh language, as all communications were based on Russian.
After the country gained sovereignty, the problem of the Kazakh language became urgent. Many forces and money were spent to restore the Kazakh national mentality and Kazakh language. With the help of laws the state decided to fill the spiritual and language vacuum formed during the Soviet period. But theory is not practice. It is impossible to force a Russified Kazakh man to speak Kazakh. he lived without it and will live further. If the authorities promise him a job with salary paid in dollars, he will learn both English and Kazakh languages. This is the strategy of the time. This is the strategy of the modern consciousness.
However, our government does not take into consideration this consciousness. It contradicts to foundations of both the society and the mentality. To succeed we need different tactics that is first of all to match financial and spiritual interests of people. Only then we may issue laws and observe them practically. Today Russian language and education in a Russian school is considered more efficient than a Kazakh one. This is reality, and we cannot get rid of it.
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