Living in Almaty: Expat View on the Kazakh Language

The Kazakh language is a member of the Turkic language family, distantly related to Turkish, Azerbaijani, and Uzbek and is used primarily in Kazakhstan. Even in Kazakhstan it is only spoken by 64% of the population. Hence why Kazakhstan is often considered a bilingual country as almost all Kazakhstanis speak Russian. Russian is even often referred to as the country's official language. Kazakh uses a Cyrillic alphabet, which you will notice throughout the city, similar to that used in Russian. As Russian can be heard around the world those expats relocating to Kazakhstan who are interested in learning the language will enroll in a Russian language course rather than a Kazakh course. English is not yet widely spoken so learning the Cyrillic alphabet, basic phrases, your address, and how to count in either of the local languages will help you transition into your new home.

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[MsGera1994]

Kazakh is a tough language than other Turkic lang-s.. tough, sounds like German..

i like turkish languuage more

[TheOne1945]

@iAmirx

You obviously know next to nothing about Kazakhstan. The fact is that in Kazakhstani cities like Almaty there are a huge number of KAZAKHS who do not speak Kazakh. This is absolutely due to the focus on Russian at the expense of Kazakh for the majority of the Soviet period.

[mexicanbear77]

@XbandosXpker same here bro, dude.

[iAmirx]

@Mclaud555 Only 60% of the inhabitants of Kazakhstan are Kazakhs, the rest are Russians, Uzbeks, Tatars and other Caucasian and Turkic tribes. That's why only 60% speaks Kazakh. Not because of the "colonialism"

[Mclaud555]

one reason - russians pushed kazakh language in soviet era. In last years kazakh language come back to kazakh's mind... So kazakhs try to reborn kazakh language

after russian colonialism...

[XbandosXpker]

I was born in almaty