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The alphabet used for a language is bound to be a significant part of the culture belonging to that language. It's going to appear everywhere, absolutely everyw
by tomsmeding 9y ago
The alphabet used for a language is bound to be a significant part of the culture belonging to that language. It's going to appear everywhere, absolutely everywhere, all children will have to learn it, all people will have to use it daily, etc. It's not something you can just fuck up and be done with it.
And I get the feeling that this president, how great he may have been for the country in the past and present, is on the brink of defacing it now.
You may be an authoritarian leader, but if you first collect a commission of experts to form a new alphabet, then suddenly push your own idea (ignoring pushback from those experts you selected in the first place) and apparently are not willing to modify your proposal according to what your experts and the public want, you are being a dictator that's making wrong decisions.
I do find it promising that even though a quote in the article mentions that usually all that the president does shall be cheered, this proposal is getting friction from the public. I hope, for the sake of the Kazakh people, that the president will realise that he is in the wrong and will listen more to his people.
- baybal2 9y agoHardly anybody will wonder to yet another "what a joke of a man he is" when this will fly into Nazarbayev's face. Locals are kinda accustomed to it. The man was so infuriated with Kohen's "Borat" not for it taking an insult on the nation, but him himself, personally (or so he keeps thinking) lol. A so so dictator he is, not much of an issue he is. Ones who are the dangerous people in the country are his lieutenants: sharp guys who actually run the country, all waiting for him to finally die. To locals, him being an unscrupulous buffoon gives much elation, as many see that they will fare much worse were he to be as sharp as leaders of neighboring gangsterlandias
- batter 9y agoIf you don't want Russians to come 'protecting' russian-speaking people and stealing part of you territory (like in case of Ukraine/Georgia) you should be as far from them as possible. This tactic worked fine for Hitler when invading Austria and still working. As for me president done more long-term decision which should protect country. Even if that's harsh.
- russianbandit 9y agoAlphabet never stopped US from "bringing democracy" to Libya and Iraq. Let's not forget that.
- batter 9y agoI don't think Kazakhstan is currently on US radar. But for Russian's it's definitely attractive territory to steal. They're just waiting when country will be weakened like Ukraine to steal everything possible. Nothing basically changed after USSR: steal and conquer if not possible bring chaos and degradation. This can be clearly seen in: Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Abkhazia, etc.
- Koshkin 9y agoDon't underestimate the Russians. They might go as far as changing their own alphabet so they could invade anyone they choose.
- Const-me 9y agoI don’t think alphabet is a huge deal. Here in Montenegro we have two alphabets for the same language, one Cyrillic another one Latin. The Constitution says neither one is to be discriminated for/against. People just read & write both. Wikipedia and government web sites have transliteration switches. Media mostly use Latin.