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As
the Kazakh language stayed undeveloped during Soviet times, government officials are now trying to remedy the situation by working on terminology and
modern vocabulary. In this regard, Kazakhstani linguists who are responsible for
this area revise international words – words that are well-known
worldwide regardless of what language you speak – and give them Kazakh
equivalents instead. This tendency ignites hot debates across the population and among linguists and officials in particular.
According
to the state program of
the functioning and development of languages (2011-2020), one of the main
directions to enrich the Kazakh language is “the standardization and terminological
unification of Kazakh with the goal of bringing it to the level of ‘developed’
languages so it could fully meet the new demands placed upon it and compete
with Russian as a language of culture, education, and technology” (Smagulova,
2008, p. 453). To realize
this promising goal, government officials created the State Terminology Commission, the main aim of
which is to “translate so-called “internationalisms”, adopted directly or
through Russian or Kazakh, and to find substitute terms” (Landau & Kellner-Heinkele,
2011, p. 97).
The work of this commission has yielded some ‘fruits’ so far: 31
terminological dictionaries were created. Moreover, as Isina (2002) and Masanov
(2002) underline, 610 new terms became current in the Kazakh language (as cited
in Landau & Kellner-Heinkele, 2011).
Some terms were immediately caught up; however, some could not get ‘acclimated’
into daily life. Here opinions are divided: many linguists hold a position of
having a “clear” Kazakh
language, while Kazakhstani society doubts this view. For example, the Kazakhstani linguist, Zhakupov, believes that all terms should be translated in
Kazakh; otherwise a stream of international words can negatively affect the language (Zakon.kz, 2013). However, it seems that those linguists who work on modern
Kazakh vocabulary distort it by bringing sometimes incongruous translations. This confuses Kazakhstani citizens. To illustrate, Salemov, a chief
of linguistic works under the Ministry of Culture and Information, was stricken
that the word ‘balcony’ was translated into Kazakh as ‘kyltima’: “in the Kazakh
literature this word is usually used as ‘aperture’ (Zakon.kz, 2013). Another sensational
example is the word ‘galamtor’ (‘internet’). Even though this word was
introduced to broad masses of population, many people still keep using its international version.
By
and large, the situation around the Kazakh language is more than serious. On
the way to make the Kazakh language not only de-jure, but de-facto language, the language which people speak and with which they associate
Kazakhstan, the steps towards this realization should be well-thought out. More
importantly, the work of the government officials and linguists who are
responsible for this direction should be done in unison. Otherwise, the
attempts to enrich and make language clear can turn out a ‘barrier’ for speaking and
understanding.
At
the end of this post, I would like to know your view on this issue. Should we
translate international words into Kazakh? Could this translation help us to
increase the depth of the Kazakh language?
References
Zakon.kz. (2013). Kazakhstancy stolknulis s
trudnostyami perevoda mezhdunaodnyh terminov na kazakhskii yazyk [Kazakhs faced difficulties in translation
international words]. Retrieved from: http://www.zakon.kz/page,1,3,4536557-kazakhstancy-stolknulis-s-trudnostjami.html
Smagulova, J. (2008). Language policies of
kazakhization and their influence on language attitudes and use. International
Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism,11(3), 440-475.
Landau, J.M., & Kellner-Heinkele, B. (2011).
Language politics in contemporary Central Asia: national and ethnic identity
and the Soviet Legacy. I.B.Tauris.
Ministry of Education and Science. (2010, February 1).
State program of the functioning and development of languages for the years
2011-2020. Retrieved from http://www.akorda.kz/ru/category/gos_programmi_razvitiya
It is so ridiculous! In my opinion, such international word as 'internet' must not be translated into Kazakh language. People all over the world use the international word 'internet' and never think about changing its pronunciation or sounding by translating into local languages. Overkazakhisation here is not appropriate. International words should stay international because they must be understandable for all without giving them new shape.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mariya for raiding such an interesting topic. Honestly, I am in doubt about your question and I also ask this question to myself. In Kazakh language courses we talked about this issue several times and our teacher said that many linguists have different opinions regarding this. For example, some of them suggest to just adapt international words into Kazakh, for example "машина" - "мәшине", "шофер" - "шопыр" or smth like that. However, elder folks use such words in their daily life and other linguists believe that we have to have our own Kazakh words, such as "Ғаламтор" and "қылтима". As for me, we should leave international words on their original spelling without adaptation or changing, because such words may harm for the general perception of the language of people who have already known the Kazakh or push away those, who would like to learn this language. Anyway, I support the development of Kazakh language and revival of greatness of Kazakh language, but I am against of language oppression through unfounded and somehow ridiculous novelties.
ReplyDeleteDear Mariya, thank you for touching upon such important topic! I totally agree with Dalmira and Diana, as translation of internationally accepted words and terms seems to be just the waste of time and resources. Introduction of those new words, which are really difficult to understand, can create an additional hindrance in the process of Kazakh language acquisition. In my opinion, it would be better to shift the focus on the existing issues of the State language, rather than generate new ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog. In my opinion, it is really a dilemma to strongly say which is worth or not. What I think is that we should translate some of the international words. The word "Internet" was translated into kazakh by the calque translation. And I dont see any difficulties in using it. The meaning of "ғаламтор" is quite beautiful. I personally like it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that people make problems themselves. The problem here is not only with internarional words, it is about attitude towards kazakh language. For example, even in our daily life we dont use simple kazakh words. We say "привет, столовая, магазин" instead of "сәлем, асхана, дүкен". And from this point, how kazakh language will ever be used? Why should we always consider others opinion or convience? Why do we have to make easier for the sake of other people? The point is that not to let other languages, even international ones, underfoot the kazakh one. Probably, my opinion is subjective, but it is time to be selfish.
Thank you for your post, Mariya!
ReplyDeleteIt is true that nowadays Kazakhstani linguists are trying to move the Kazakh language issue from the dead point and sometimes they even exaggerate. They try to translate every word into Kazakh which is not often appropriate. There are a lot of words along with internet - "ғаламтор" that have arabic, greek, latin roots and are not supposed to be translated. Despite this fact they are not neologisms no more in our language and widely used among society. Some good examples are: museum, müze, музей - "мұражай" (eng, tr, rus, kz relatively (more examples can be given but these are the languages I know)); archive, arśiv, архив - "мұрағат"; compositor, kompozitör, композитор - "сазгер"; piano, piano, пианино - "күйсандық".
So turns out while we are asking whether to translate international words into kazakh or not, a lot of words have been already translated and practiced among kazakh-speaking Kazakhs.