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Multilingualism in Kazakhstan and Problems of Teaching
the English Language
To have another
language is to possess a second soul.
— Charlemagne (742/7 – 814), King of
the Franks
With globalization and the widespread
acknowledgment and celebration of cultural diversity, multilingualism has
become common despite all skepticism and difficulties facing it. Nowadays, it
has become rare to find a person that cannot understand if not converse in more
than one language. Multilingualism is no longer simply a way to reflect a
person's identity but it is more of a means of communication in the big village
the globe has become. Notwithstanding all the opposition facing it and all the
disadvantages it is known to have, multilingualism has become the rule rather
than the exception in most countries. Despite its prevalence, different
references and different people have different views to multilingualism.
According to Encarta English Dictionary, being multilingual is either
"being able to speak more than two languages fluently" or being
"written in or expressed in more than two languages"
("multilingual").
Historical development of
multilingualism in Kazakhstan
consists of several
stages. The implementation of
teaching several languages into the education system of Kazakhstan, its current
development, and the peculiarities of teaching Kazakh language in this system
will be discussed. In the current
times of rapidly
developing technological progresses,
the development of
quality
education and
educated youth is
very important. The aims, peculiarities of multilingual
education in Kazakhstan, and its influence on the development of English
Language. In contemporary
Kazakhstan it is
important to master
the knowledge of
the Kazakh, English
and Russian languages.
Multilingualism is a concept widely spread in the vast multi-ethnic
geographical space. The situation in Kazakhstan
reflects this concept. Today, more than 130 nationalities live in Kazakhstan. The majority of people of Slavic origin mainly
speak only one language, whereas the majority of Kazakhs speak two languages [1].
Multilingualism is often a
process of using a combination of more than three languages in a social relationship. "Multilingualism" sometimes
refers to many
languages. In this
case, the issue
is not about the process, but
rather about language information. Today, countries of the world are,
basically, multilingual.
Multilingual environment necessitates
a common language;
that is why
international languages are used
extensively. Moreover, the
language is experiencing
globalization. At present, English is
recognized worldwide as the language
of globalization. In Kazakhstan, more than one hundred nations
and ethnic groups use their ethnic languages in daily life. Officially, the Kazakh and Russian languages
are used predominantly [2].
In the context of globalization, the demand for the knowledge of English
is undeniable. Currently, the English
language is taught
in pre-schools centres;
knowledge of English
is also important
in continuing education. The young
generation will lead
the country to
the future. The
system of education is the main
social institution that
influences the formation
of a young
person as a competitive professional. Therefore, the
education institutions are the main organs responsible for the implementation
of the “Trinity of languages” policy in quantitative and qualitative terms.
For the implementation of multilingual teaching, we
should first solve a variety of issues, such as the study of
international experience in multilingual education; the personnel training and
their availability; availability of material
resources, and etc.
Until proper solutions
to these issues
are found, the implementation of
the planned program
will create a
number of difficulties.
We tried to answer
the question of how these issues are being solved now.
The development of
teaching the Russian
and English languages
is planned as
follows in this program: the share of citizens knowing
Russian should reach 90% of total population by
2020; the share of citizens speaking English should be 20% by 2020.
Head of State
Nursultan Nazarbayev has
said: "We must
put all our
effort on development
of the Kazakh language as a main
factor of unity of all Kazakhstani people. Besides, we need to provide every
opportunity to different nationalities living in our country to speak, learn
and develop their own mother tongues”.
In conclusion, we claim that multilingualism is the need of the
globalizing world. We appreciate the trinity of languages as the phenomenon
strategically significant for our independent country. To meet the needs
of the society,
we find important
the knowledge of
the Kazakh, Russian
and English languages.
References
[1] The explanatory dictionary of terms of linguistics – Almaty.
"Dictionary", 2005. ISBN 9965-409-88-9
[2] Khassanuly, B. (2013) The State Language: the Society and the Youth.
Almaty.