Astana, September 11, House of Mazhilis. Today parliament hearings were held in the Mazhilis: “On introduction of the uniform standard of the national language alphabet based on the Latin graphics”

Addressing the participants of hearings, the Chairman of the Mazhilis Nurlan Nigmatulin called the transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet a historical milestone in the spiritual and cultural development of the country.

- In addition to historical past, culture and territory, the language is always the most important unifying beginning of any nation, any state. That is why the President of Kazakhstan – Yelbasy Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev from the first days of Independence pays special attention to the issues of Kazakh language development. As you know, the Head of the state in his program article “The Course towards the Future: Modernization of Public Conscience” defined the staged transition of Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet as one of the key priorities. This is the real historical milestone in spiritual and cultural development of the country, - the Speaker of the Mazhilis noted.

The objective factors of the integrated process of transition of Kazakh alphabet into the Latin include the historical significance, the need of the language modernization, unchanged language policy as well as the system and staged approach of the implemented reform.

- Reform of the alphabet is conditioned by the historical reasons and is aimed to increase the global competitiveness of Kazakhstan, accelerated integration in the world scientific and educational, technology and communication space, - N.Nigmatulin said.

Modernization of Kazakh language is also necessary to open its whole potential – not only as communication tool, but also as a powerful factor of spiritual regeneration strengthening the national identity.

At the same time, the reform of the national language does not imply changing of the national language policy. Implementation of trilingualism development policy will be continued.

- Change of the alphabet affects only the Kazakh language. The transition to the Latin script is primarily aimed at reforming the Kazakh alphabet and spelling rules, which will allow us to establish a correspondence between the language phonetics and graphics. The firm, consistent position of Yelbasy on this issue should help everyone to understand that the Russian language as the world language having powerful cultural and historical roots in our country will continue to play an important role in the life of Kazakhstan's society, -N.Nigmatulin said.

Within this, a balanced and thorough approach to the issue of transition to the Latin alphabet, as well as the systematic and consistent nature of all performed and forthcoming work, have been noted.

- The transition to the Latin alphabet will be dynamic, but it does not accept rush and irresponsible forcing of events. Only this way, we will be able to ensure the high-quality implementation of the instructions of the Head of State and will make Kazakhstan an example of successful language modernization”, - the Speaker of the Mazhilis said.

The success of the forthcoming reform of the Kazakh language largely depends on the active involvement of all civil society institutions.

- Now, the history opens up huge opportunities for us and at the same time imposes a high responsibility on future generations. I am sure that the participants of today's hearings, as well as all Kazakh people, realizing the importance of historical moment, expressing high social activity, civic responsibility and state approach, will adequately show themselves both at the stage of the reform discussion and in its practical implementation, - N.Nigmatulin said.

                The alphabet project was presented by Yerbol Tleshov, Director of the Republican Coordination and Methodological Center for the Development of Languages named after Sh. Shayakhmetov.

                As the Deputy Prime Minister Yerbolat Dossayev, who presented his speech at the parliamentary hearings in the Mazhilis, stated, after the approval of the Uniform Standard, a step-by-step algorithm for its adoption will be prepared. In addition to training of the teachers for teaching all the population categories and publishing of the necessary teaching materials, it is planned to create auxiliary mobile applications and a set of information programs for studying Latin graphics.

Participants of the hearings stressed that the transition to the Latin alphabet will help to increase the openness of the Kazakh society and will make the Kazakh language an even more effective tool for acquiring and accumulating knowledge.

- In the modern information and technological space, the Latin alphabet is a global and pragmatic tool. A tool that does not separate anyone from each other. On the contrary, it is a communication tool, an instrument well known to Kazakh people. It is also important; that the Latin script allows to keep and to optimally adapt international, scientific and technical vocabulary into a national dictionary, - Sergey Seliverstov, Deputy Director of the Institute for Eurasian Integration, said.

The deputy of the Mazhilis Pavel Kazantsev also spoke about the importance for increasing of our competitiveness.

- Now there are favourable social and economic conditions for transition of the Kazakh graphics to the Latin alphabet. And the Kazakh society should understand that the implementation of the proposal to translate the Kazakh alphabet from Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet will ultimately unite the nation, bring us closer to modern achievements of scientific and technological progress and will lead to further integration of Kazakhstan into the modern world communication processes, - Deputy of the Mazhilis Pavel Kazantsev said.

The State Secretary Gulshara Abdykalikova, the deputies of the Senate and Mazhilis, representatives of state bodies took part in the discussion of one of the key issues of “Rukhani zhangyru” program - the transition of the Kazakh language to the Latin alphabet. The participants of the hearings and the alphabet project developers include the leaders of the Institute of Linguistics named after A. Baitursynov and the Republican Coordination and Methodological Center for the Development of Languages named after Sh. Shayakhmetov, rectors of universities, scientists and cultural figures, experts and representatives of public organizations and mass media.

The result of the parliamentary hearings was the adoption of the relevant Recommendations.

(Press service of the Mazhilis, 74-68-44)