Do you speak Kazakh?

Hi,

As per my experience, 10-20% Kazakh people knows English language, Its not essential to speak Kazakh language to survive in Kazakhstan, I think Russian language is more easy to learn and speak and commonly used language in Kazakhstan. So try to learn some basic and common used words in Russian 1st. It will be much easier to communicate with local people.

Thanks and wish you pleasant stay in Kazakhstan.

Regards

"It is widely agreed ..."

Is it?

When a reasonable proportion of the citizens do not speak it at all well (even the president takes longer to make a speech in Kazakh than in Russian, making the requirement that you must have good Kazakh to be considered for post of president a poor joke), and it is not a language that has any use outside of Kazakhstan (even the president acknowledges the lack of usefulness of it), then Russian is by far a better language for use in Kazakhstan.

The divisive language law that has seen many qualified people leave Kazakhstan is ill-thought through and will come to bite them back.

Each country has its own national language and dialects. Kazakhstan is no exception to this. Kazakh is the national native language and Russian is the 2nd language.  although it is not classified as an international language but still it is the country's native language. But one cannot deny the fact that in practical sense, English and/or Russian is needed in order to do business in the CIS region as Kazakh language is only restricted to Kazakhstan in country usage.

A the current generation, many locals is still unable to speak Kazakh as compared to Russian but local schools are now progressing to teach Kazakh to the new generation. Kazakhstan must be weary not to deny English & Russian as the people will need it to do business with the outside world. Do not fall victim and learn from country like Malaysia where the Prime Minister tried to instill Bahasa Malaysia to all people and was embarrassed when his own ministers could not speak and understand English during a convoy to other country. And now education in Malaysia comes in 3 languages English, Chinese and Malay.

Communication need not necessary to be in the national language to get by. There are other ways to communicate. I have stayed here for 8 years, although I and many others including the locals do not speak the language but the people and myself have learned to adapt to the situation.  In short, it is still advisable to learn the language to communicate and live and work effectively & efficiently here.

One can learn the language here is language centers like Da Fang LLP which was set up to teach the three languages Kazakh, Russian and English. If you need more e=details abount the center you can send me your email address and I can forward it to you.

Little bit

I studied Turcology in university and we learn other Turkic languages, too in that department. I've been to Kz twice and spoke Kazakh everywhere in daily life. They appreciated it a lot. My first time was 4 years ago and second time was last year. I can say that using Kazakh in daily life increased even in that short time period.