#43: Latin Kîrgîz

I came accross a proposed Kazakh alphabet in Latin, which reminds me of the necessity for the Kyrgyz language to switching back to Latin script.

The year I came back from the U.S., I had a T-shirt with names of exchange students printed on the back. My late grandfather, who was then 70, could read them because when he went to school in 30s he was taught the Kyrgyz in Latin script. I was really suprised at that moment. Kyrgyz language was initially written in Arabic script up untill 1929, when the Soviet introduced the Latin. However, in 1940 a Cyrillic script was adopted for the Kyrgyz language.

The Latin script could help the Kyrgyz language to develop independently from the Russian, by introducing Kyrgyz words to replace Russian words used frequently in Kyrgyz. However, the question whether Kyrgyzstan can afford or not such an expensive undertaking is another issue.

Jaşasîn Kîrgîz tili!!!