[lg policy] Language policy programme brings positive results, considers Kazakh terminology update

[Harold Schiffman]

 Language policy programme brings positive results, considers Kazakh
terminology update

By Zhanna Shayakhmetova *in* Nation
<https://astanatimes.com/category/nation/> *on* 30 November 2018

ASTANA – The state programme on language development and functioning is in
full swing throughout the country. More than 42,000 people have attended
language courses at the training centres and 52,245, including 20,057 civil
servants, passed the KazTest examination of their proficiency of the Kazakh
language in a seven-month period, said Vice Minister of Culture and Sports
Aktoty Raimkulova at the Nov. 26 government meeting.

<https://astanatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/148855-preview-image.jpg>

The programme was augmented with tasks to clarify the phased switch of the
Kazakh language to the Latin script to improve spelling and ensure
accessibility.

One state and 88 regional national language centres operate throughout the
country. Approximately 600 civil service employees from central executive
bodies participated in language courses this year and the government
supported 26 ethnic groups in studying the native language to preserve the
nation’s linguistic capital.

“The share of total document circulation in the state language was 93
percent, including 91 percent in central executive bodies, 95 percent in
local executive bodies and 46 percent in national companies in nine months
of this year,” said Raimkulova.
<https://astanatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Vice-Minister-of-Culture-and-Sports-Aktoty-Raimkulova-.jpg>

Vice Minister of Culture and Sports Aktoty Raimkulova. Photo credit:
primeminister.kz.

Kazakh language documentation for all sectors is available at Qujat.kz. The
onomastic website Atau.kz, orthographic portal Emle.kz, Tilmedia.kz
trilingual website and Balatili.kz children’s website have been launched.

The ministry is also monitoring the use of terms. The national terminology
commission approved 21,000 terms, including 40.8 percent rooted in Kazakh
and 59.2 percent borrowed and mixed.

In addition, the ministry is monitoring terminology principles and solving
the main tasks of applied terminology to preserve the purity of the Kazakh
language and translate it into scientific language. Kazakh equivalents for
a number of foreign language terms were revised.

More than 45,000 school graduates passed the native language assessment and
literature test and mastered their level to B1, said Minister of Education
and Science Yerlan Sagadiyev. The indicator increased to 90 percent this
year.

Work is underway to introduce the standard practice of continuous state
language education in the kindergarten – school – college system.

Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev proposed creating a new language
development and functioning programme for 2020-2024. The programme would
ensure the harmonious co-existence of the state language as the major
factor in strengthening Kazakhstan’s identity and unity and the languages
of all ethnic groups living in the country.

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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