Tokayev promised that the transition to the Latin alphabet will continue
The process of transition of the Kazakh alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin, initiated by Nursultan Nazarbayev, will not be curtailed.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stated this in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.
“This process was initiated by our first president Nazarbayev within the framework of the concept of spiritual modernization,” Tokayev recalled. “He has repeatedly stated that the translation into Latin will only affect the Kazakh language, it will not affect the position of the Russian language in any way.”
According to him, Kazakh children will have to “organically fit into the new realities” associated with the rapid transformation of the global information space, since “the main information flow is based on Latin graphics.”
The head of Kazakhstan also says that the modernization of the Kazakh alphabet is dictated by the desire to expand the communication capabilities of the Kazakh language.
“At the same time, we will switch to the Latin alphabet gradually, without artificial acceleration, taking into account the experience of the Central Asian states. After all, we are not talking about a simple translation from Cyrillic to Latin, but about a reform of the spelling of the Kazakh language. In addition, we must not forget that all significant works of the classics of Kazakh literature were created in Cyrillic, many generations of Kazakhs received and are receiving education in Cyrillic. Therefore, haste can harm this big undertaking; we need to approach it thoughtfully,” Tokayev concluded.
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