On May 15, 2019, the Department of Practical Kazakh Language of the Faculty of Philology held a dispute "Latin script and us: opportunities and achievements." The debate was held between candidate of philological sciences, associate professors of the named department Gulbaira Otelbay, Aynur Naimanbay, senior teacher Satybaldy Berdibayev and 2-year students of the Management major of the Faculty of Economics.
The event consisted of three parts:
1. discussion of dictation, written on the basis of Latin script;
2. problems in translating text from Latin to Cyrillic script;
3. suggestions and ideas for the future.
After dictation, students began work on translating text from Latin to Cyrillic. So that students could see the results of their work, they were shown the correct versions of two tasks on the blackboard. Everyone found their mistakes and reported the results to the teachers. Many have stated that while writing dictation, the letters “y”, “ұ”, “ү”, “s”, “i”, “и” were confusing.
In the latter part, the majority of students emphasized the importance and necessity of switching to the Latin alphabet. Kolesnikova Angelica noted that this news creates many opportunities for foreigners who want to learn the Kazakh language and live in Kazakhstan. Alibek Nespekov said that it was not difficult to write using the new script, as he knows Turkish, and Orynbai Yersultan added, “We support a new event in our country and I am sure that everything will become natural and normal in time”.
The remaining students of the group Mn-22 were also active in the discussion. In particular, Kopeeva Madina, Nauryzbayeva Alina, Ryskulova Zarina, Ruslankyza Dilyara, Smagulov Aspara, Taiten Asem, Tusenova Aziza. They said that at the beginning there were difficulties, but by the end of the work everyone had an interest. The teachers wished all the best to the new alphabet and the youth who will use it in the future.
