If it takes a village to raise a child, can a town teach me Kazakh?

I'm taking a temporary break from my Russian language studies to focus on learning Kazakh.

All OCAPs (the NGO and community development volunteers) learn mainly Russian during training but receive a couple of lessons in Kazakh. If a trainee is paying attention in the lessons, at the end of training OCAP volunteers can usually count to 10, give their names, and say they are an American Peace Corps volunteers in Kazakh. Except for the various words I've picked up over the last year, this is my current level.

I've waited until now to seriously concentrate on Kazakh because I wanted to learn enough Russian first to survive and be able to work. Kazakh is not critical for my work, as everyone in my organization speaks Russian. All of our documents are in Russian, and all of our donors speak Russian and English. Many of the people in my office speak Kazakh. They gladly speak to me in Russian and rarely use Kazakh if there is a Russian speaker in the room unless they are very angry. They also speak in Kazakh when they joke about me getting married. They know I understand, but this doesn't stop them. It's become a running joke.

I also do not need Kazakh for my personal life in Kazakhstan. Russian and Kazakh are the official languages of Kazakhstan, and many people in Esik speak both. I've learned that how you greet someone determines the language that the conversation will be in. For example, if I say hello in Russian, we will speak in Russian. If I say hello in Kazakh, we will speak in Kazakh. Or, we will speak in Kazakh for 2 minutes, and then I get the "I don't know what you are talking about" look in my eyes. I hope this will change as I learn more.

In addition, chances are that I will not need Kazakh for my future life after Peace Corps. Many universities have Russian programs, but only a handful has Kazakh programs (I will buy an ice cream cone for anyone who can list more than 8 universities in the United States where the Kazakh language is offered). Even if I pursue a career that requires traveling internationally, Russian will be more useful than Kazakh. Russian is the official language of several countries in the former USSR, and is still spoken heavily in other countries that have switched back to their original languages pre Soviet occupation. It's even one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations (The other five are English, Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish).

And Kazakh? Not as popular on the world stage. Actually, it's not very popular at all outside of Kazakhstan. There are some Kazakh communities in the UK, Germany, China and the US, but outside of Kazakhstan the language is spoken by very few. Kazakh helps when going to many of the other Central Asian countries as some (but not all) of the languages in the region are related. For example, Kyrgyz is really close to Kazakh, to the point that it is possible for a person from Kyrgyzstan can converse with a person in Kazakhstan in their own languages and be generally understood.

I'm not bad mouthing Kazakh or diminishing the importance of the language. In fact, I feel that Kazakh it is important to the development and culture of this country. It's only to make the point that nobody is forcing me to learn Kazakh. Not Peace Corps, not my organization, and defiantly not the occasional taxi driver that rants about how I should have learned Kazakh first (ironic, that this rant is usually in Russian, or broken English). This is totally my initiative, my choice. I'm learning it because I want to; because I think that learning Kazakh will maximize my cultural experiences here.

I won't lie. It's a tough language. Kazakh has 42 letters, the verbs (are they verbs?) are at the ends of the sentence, and Kazakh has a system where pronouns are tacked onto the ends of other words. It's really confusing, especially to me because I've had "subject, verb, predicate" engrained in my head from English and German lessons and Kazakh throws all of that to the wind. I don't expect to get really good at speaking Kazakh. In fact, if I am able to hold a serious conversation for 10 minutes in Kazakh by this time I leave, I will be happy.

I thought about getting a Kazakh tutor to help my learning, but this idea was smashed down by my office. We argued about it for about an hour last Monday, and I was clearly on the losing side. "Why spend money on a tutor?" they told me in Russian. "If you try to speak Kazakh, we will help you. Everyone will help you!" As this week went on, I've learned that so far they are right.

I've started using what Kazakh I know when I can. When I go to the bazaar, I ask for products in Kazakh. When I order food, I do it in Kazakh. I ask questions in Kazakh. So far, I've been amazed at the patience, kindness, and how helpful everyone is when I try to speak Kazakh, from both friends and strangers alike. If what I say is not right, I usually get corrected. This happens often. For example, I got an impromptu grammar lesson on how to stress Kazakh words on a bus from a babushka. If things get too intense, I fall back onto Russian, and everything eventually gets smoothed out.

The best reaction I had this week was from two small boys, not more than 8 years old playing outside. I greeted them and asked how they were doing in Kazakh. As I walked away from them, I heard them say in Russian, "Oh God! He knows Kazakh!"

I don't. But I'm trying.