Political Scientist: Share of Kazakh Speakers Growing

Ambassador Dauren Abayev recently said that 95% of Kazakhstan’s population speaks Russian and called this an advantage. Political scientist Gaziz Abishev, however, believes the real picture looks different, Orda.kz reports.

Writing in his Telegram channel, Abishev argued that the ambassador’s words demonstrate loyalty to bilingualism in relations with Russia. He suggested that while most people may understand Russian thanks to media consumption, the share of citizens who speak only Kazakh has grown and now makes up at least 10–12% of the population.

At the same time, the expert agreed that Kazakh must remain the priority as the state language, and Russian continues to be a competitive asset internationally. Abishev also criticized radical positions that pit Kazakh and Russian against each other, noting that the number of active Kazakh speakers has grown rapidly over three decades.

In his view, the linguistic landscape will evolve over the next 15–20 years into two main groups: those who speak only Kazakh and those who also use Russian and/or English.

Original Author: Zarina Fayzulina