Karaganda RURL

A very interesting event was held at the English Speakinf Club on September 18. Our guest  was Elizabeth Blackburn. She has s position as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at local school. We discused the celebration and Elizabeth said it was extremely informative and useful for her.

The Day of Languages of thePeople of Kazakhstan is observed on the third Sunday in September. It was established by a Presidential Decree to celebrate all the languages spoken in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The date in September  was chosen to commemorate the law “On Languages” which was adopted in 1989.

Kazakhstan is the multinational state.  More than 130 nationalities and ethnic groups live  in our country.  Therefore, the respect to the languages, creation all terms for the receipt of education in native language and also development of national culture – is the important predominance in politics of the President.

Language is the prosperityof people, it influences to the association and rallying of nations. It means education and support relating the mutual relations of people. A Day of Languages is a sign of friendship, cognationand unity of all citizens of  ourcountry. Friendship of people, mutual understanding and collaborationare the main support of building of new Kazakhstan.

Since ancient times, the value of polylinguism was one of the important directions. Nowadays it is impossible to imagine that there are countries where people speak only one language. Bilingualism and multilinguism are integral to the normal functioning of any multinational state. Today the Kazakhstani educational system provides a study of Kazakh as the state language, Russian as the language of interethnic communication. At present time in Kazakhstan's schools along with the Kazakh language children are taught more than 10 national languages of the peoples living in the country.

According to the Constitution of Kazakhstan, the official state language of the Republic of Kazakhstan is Kazakh. Russian is officially used on equal grounds along with the Kazakh language. Russian is used  in business and everyday communication, although Kazakh is becoming more widely used.

Other languages spoken in Kazakhstan include Uzbek, Tatar, Kyrgyz, Ukrainian, Azerbaijani, Uygur, Korean etc. Although education is conducted in either Kazakh, or Russian, both, representatives of ethnic minorities usually have an opportunity to study their native language at school.

Due to the important role of language in the modern world, the question of language teaching takes the leading role in our society.

In order to ensure the competitiveness of the country and its citizens, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan NursultanNazarbayev in his Address "New Kazakhstan in the new world" proposed phased implementationof the cultural project "Trinity of languages": "It is necessary to develop three languages: Kazakh as the state language, Russian as the language of interethniсcommunication and English as the language of successful integrationinto the global economy "

The development of the Kazakh-Russian-English concept is an experiment in schools and universities. Schools began implementing teaching in three languages - Russian, Kazakh and English.

Day of Languages of the Peoples of Kazakhstan is celebrated with special lessons at schools, concerts, language contests, discussions, conferences, and other appropriate events and activities. These events are designed to celebrate linguistic diversity and promote mutual understanding between the people of Kazakhstan.