Politics aside, native language crucial for Kazakh children’s cognitive development 

Kazakh-language children tend to readily learn and switch to Russian because of the continued perception of Russian as a more “prestigious” language, according to German psycholinguist Hristo Kyuchukov.  

But, political and decolonisation issues aside, knowledge of the mother tongue is crucial for Kazakh children’s mental, emotional and cognitive development, he said in an interview with Exclusive.kz. 

Professor Kyuchukov, a prominent specialist on the Romany (Gypsy) language and Roma children’s education in Europe, was invited to Almaty by the Baytursynov Institute of Linguistics to conduct a study at nursery schools to assess Kazakh-speaking children’s psycho-linguistic development.  

What brought him to choose this area of study in the first place was his mixed Roma-Turkish background and experience of teaching Bulgarian to ethnic minority children at specialised schools in Bulgaria, where he was born. Because of not speaking Bulgarian well, such children were seen by the country’s education system as mentally retarded, he said. 

“It was the 1980s. Unfortunately, the practice is still in place in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In those countries there are specialised schools for Gypsy children who can’t speak Slovak or Czech well,» he said. 

“In such schools there were completely different teaching methods and, even if a child was absolutely normal, they would still be considered handicapped. I wanted to change that,” he said.  

Asked to explain why, when a Russian-speaking child joins a Kazakh-language nursery school, with time all the children tend to switch to Russian, Kyuchukov said that “it means that consciously or unconsciously children understand that Russian is more prestigious”.  

“It is a phenomenon that exists everywhere in the world. I think in this sense much work needs to be done to make the Kazakh language be seen by ordinary people as prestigious.  

“It is not just about state policies. Something needs to change in society so that people begin to respect their native language to the same degree as Russian or English.   

Kyuchukov said that the knowledge of the mother tongue is extremely important “because a person perceives the world through their native language, whether they like it or not, and whether they realise it or not”.  

“A person thinks in their native language, and analyses everything happening around them in their native language. Even if they do not speak it – because it is part of the genetic code. 

“Therefore, it is very important for parents to start speaking, singing, telling fairytales in Kazakh to their children from the very first months. It is very, very important for a child to hear Kazakh grammar and its various forms.” 

Kyuchukov said he was convinced that the native language was very important for a child’s psychological and emotional development, for their cognitive development – their perception of the world.  

The best way to develop a child’s cognitive development was through giving them knowledge about the world around them in their native language, he said. 

Kyuchukov added that, since for children schoolteachers are the first “authority” outside family, if teachers consciously or unconsciously, verbally or non-verbally signal that Russian or English are more “prestigious” than Kazakh, “children will pick it up”. 

“Therefore there needs to be a very well-thought-out state policy in this area,” he said. 

Kyuchukov said further that support for the Kazakh language was needed not so much to develop Kazakhs’ national self-identity – “it is already there” — but to raise its prestige.   

He also said that Russian was a lingua franca in the former Soviet space, like Spanish in South America, and English internationally.  

“The trouble is not a specific language, but how and who teaches it. Children can easily learn three-four languages at the same time.  

“Smaller languages are always beautiful, exotic and interesting. They must be protected, and everything needs to be done to preserve and develop them,” he continued.  

“It will make our world a better place. We are all the same, even if we speak different languages. Only when we know our own language, can we value other cultures.” 

• 45
• 41