Kazakstan

[Andrew Jameson]

Dear Seelangers,
Sorry, Will, much as I enjoy your erudite contributions to the list,
but you are mistaken.
About three years ago I queried a posting on a similar list which
included the spelling Kazakstan, and received several polite emails
from American Orientalists to the effect that the form Kazakhstan
had been imposed by the Soviets (probably in order to avoid
conflict with the terms for Cossack in Russian) and that definitely
the form which the West should now be using is Kazakstan, at the
express wish of the Kazak government.
I wrote to the Head of Communications at the DTI mentioning this,
thinking that this would be important information for business
relations with Kazakstan (although I didn't receive a reply). The
question is a serious one for businesspeople, who certainly don't
want to be offending possible business partners by spelling the
name of the republic wrongly. If this happened at the start it
could blight negotiations.
I don't suppose that German businesspeople would fall into this
trap.
Andrew Jameson
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Languages and Professional Development
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK
Tel: 01524 32371  (+44 1524 32371)

----------
From: William Ryan <wfr at SAS.AC.UK>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Kazak(h)stan
Date: 23 August 2000 09:42

PS to my last message - I pressed the button before I meant to while
finding the answer to several of my own queries.

Kazakstan with a k is indeed the current Cyrillic spelling on Kazak
passports (as shown on one apparently official Internet site
www.welcome-to.kazakstan), and also widely used on the Internet. The
alternative form Qazaqstan given on this website indicates that the k is

not the same as an English or Russian K and is presumably the reason for

the kh. On the other hand even more websites, including other apparently

official ones in Kazakhstan, include the h. I therefore deduce that the
matter is not one of great consequence at the moment and will stick by
my earlier decision until persuaded otherwise. The case is quite
different from that of [the] Ukraine.
Will



--
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W. F. Ryan, MA DPhil FBA FSA
Warburg Institute (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
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tel: 020 7862-8940 [direct line]; from outside UK dial +44 20 7862 8940.

fax: 020 7862-8939; from outside UK dial +44 20 7862 8940.
The Warburg Institute's main switchboard number is 020 7862-8949
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