Kazakh has been written in three alphabets in a century

Most languages keep one script for centuries. Kazakh has had three in about a hundred years, and is changing again.

1. Arabic (until 1929)

For centuries, Kazakh was written in an adapted Arabic script, like many languages of the Muslim world. The great 19th-century poet Abai wrote in it.

2. Latin (1929–1940)

In 1929, the Soviet Union introduced a Latin-based alphabet (called Yañalif) for Kazakh and other Turkic languages. It was presented as modern and a break from religion.

3. Cyrillic (from 1940)

Just eleven years later, in 1940, Latin was replaced by Cyrillic, bringing Kazakh closer to Russian. Cyrillic Kazakh adds extra letters for Kazakh sounds, such as Ә, Ғ, Қ, Ң, Ө, Ұ, Ү, Һ, І. Three generations learned to read and write only in this script.

4. Back to Latin (from 2017)

In October 2017, Kazakhstan announced a gradual return to the Latin alphabet. The first version used apostrophes for Kazakh-specific sounds (for example, ә became a’ and ш became s’), which was widely mocked as hard to read and type. In February 2018, it was replaced with a version using diacritics and digraphs, and later revised again. The deadline, first set for 2025, was moved to 2031.

Different scripts, same language

Kazakhs in China, Iran and other countries still use the Arabic script. So a Kazakh text may look completely different depending on where it was printed: the same language in three different alphabets.

Each switch meant libraries, signs and school books had to be redone, and families where grandparents, parents and children learned to read in different scripts.