Why brands in Kazakhstan so often get the Kazakh language wrong
Translated from Russian.
In short
There are few good translators into Kazakh, and they're expensive. Cheaper ones often produce calques or AI translations. Most importantly, companies and agencies usually have no Kazakh-speaking editor who could judge the quality. So in brand communications we see Russian and English thoughts written in Kazakh words. What to do: build expertise in-house, reconsider what you expect from cheap translation and support projects that keep Kazakh alive and modern. Kazakh in advertising is required by law, and the best results come from content conceived in Kazakh from the start rather than translated.
In Kazakhstan's media space this is a perennial topic. To quote a post by Moldir Sapar: both foreign and local companies are guilty of it. In this piece I've tried to work out where the problem comes from and what can be done to gradually solve it.
Disclaimer. This is a sensitive topic, and I'm still an expat. So what follows is just my reflection on the last five years in this market. Local professionals and Kazakhstanis will talk about it far better.
Why this happens
- There are few top specialists, and they're not well known. So high-quality translation doesn't come cheap.
- There are plenty of inexpensive translators. As a rule, that's who everyone uses. But often the result is a calque or an AI translation, at best tidied up.
- The company has no Kazakh-speaking editor. This is probably the main point, and the reason the previous one exists. Companies and agencies often have nobody on staff who could assess the quality of a translation.
The translator sent back a text with Kazakh letters? Ship it.
And so: doing it well is expensive, doing it cheaply isn't great. But we can't really tell “good” from “not great”, because we don't know the language. That's why our communications are full of Russian and English thoughts written in Kazakh words.
We're no exception. We originally planned to translate the name of the Pain Navigator project using the word “ауырсыну” (pain). Until, after consulting the brilliant Zhadyra Akkaiyr, we learned that the word is a calque. So we translated the name as “Тән ауырғанда — көмекші” (roughly, “a helper when the body hurts”).
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But that's a particular case of a deeper problem.
The same words mean different things in different languages
It's impossible to translate something from language A into language B so that the meaning stays identical. Especially if that “something” carries a complex meaning.
Take the Russian “нормально” (normalno) and the English “normal”. You'd think they're literally the same. But when you say the word in Russian, you can mean almost anything:
- “all good”;
- “I can live with it”;
- “not perfect, but it'll do”;
- “I'm coping”;
- and so on.
Whereas in English it means something more like “ordinary”. It's hard to hear any emotional coloring in the word “normal”.
Derrida wrote that meaning is never fixed. When we read a text in a language we understand, we don't notice everything that lies behind it.
For a philosopher this is more of an abstraction, but for a marketer or PR specialist it's a professional problem. A text that “obviously” sounds right in Russian already carries a whole layer of cultural assumptions. A Kazakh reader reads the text through a completely different context, and the “obvious” may not be there at all.
Colonial and local languages
Languages can be roughly divided into “colonial” and “local” by how they spread.
Colonial languages came to different territories along with colonial policy. They absorbed many other languages and cultures and had to become more universal. On the one hand, such a language loses its locality. On the other, it absorbs the “localities” of all the territories it came to.
Local languages are the opposite. That doesn't mean their speakers never pursued colonial policies: rather, those policies weren't especially successful or covered small territories. Such a language developed within itself, on the basis of fewer cultures.
As a result, Kazakh is a local language with a rich nomadic culture that is fundamentally different from a settled one. Russian and English are colonial. Translating between them isn't about choosing words, it's about transferring one worldview onto another.
So what do you do?
- Build expertise inside the company. Until you have someone who understands Kazakh, you won't be able to tell a good translation from an inadequate one.
- Adjust your expectations of the translators you already work with. If you're saving on content, don't expect linguistic revelations from your contractors. Quality language, like quality meaning, is an investment.
- Support projects and initiatives focused on Kazakh. And here's the good news: there are lots of people making the Kazakh language living and modern.
For example:
- the Telegram channel “Калькасыз қазақ тілі” (“Kazakh without calques”);
- the educational project Qazaq Bubble;
- the educational project Tanda Bilim;
- the Telegram channel Qazaq Grammar;
- the speaking club Batyl Bol!;
- the speaking club Tildes;
- Qazaq Genius — finding meaning and learning the language through music;
- Qazaqsha Jaz — a volunteer project that criticizes all of us for our Kazakh;
- the ArtKӧshe theater.
I may have missed some. If you know of interesting projects, please share!
Does a brand need Kazakh? What the law says
Kazakh definitely has to be there. Let's start with the fact that it's the law. The Law “On Languages” requires announcements and advertising to be in the state language, with Russian and other languages added as needed. On signs, banners and other visual information, the Kazakh text goes on the left or on top, the Russian on the right or below, in letters of the same size. The Law “On Advertising” also sets language requirements.
Next, in my view it's the ethically right thing to do.
But there's a caveat. If you're planning to translate with ChatGPT, it's a big question which is better: doing that or not translating at all. A calque formally meets the requirement, but the audience sees through it immediately.
This is an overview from practice, not legal advice. Before launching a campaign, check the requirements with a lawyer and the current versions of the laws.
How to create content in Kazakh: three approaches
1. Come up with the idea in Russian and translate it. To be honest, that's how we work right now. We don't yet have a Kazakh-speaking editor on staff, so creative ideas are developed in Russian and then translated as far from a calque as possible. It's a workable option, but it has a ceiling. Coming up with an idea in another language means thinking differently. However good the translation, it can't make up for that.
2. Mix. On some projects, part of the content comes out in Russian and part in Kazakh. That works too: each language gets its own content, not a translated copy.
3. Create from scratch in Kazakh. The most correct path from the language's point of view. We once made an interesting attempt to get creative and produce several pieces of content purely in Kazakh, with no Russian involved at all. The client didn't like it, even though they had sworn how important it was to them. Солай (that's how it is).
The takeaway: content created in Kazakh from scratch is the best option, but not only the writers have to be ready for it — the brand does too. As long as there's nobody inside the company who feels the language, even a good Kazakh idea will be judged through a Russian lens.
Key points
- Kazakh in advertising is required by law, and translating with ChatGPT can do more harm than not translating at all.
- Creating content in Kazakh from the start gives better results than even the best translation, but the brand has to be ready for it too.
- There are few good translators into Kazakh, and cheap translation often turns out to be a calque or AI text.
- The main problem is that companies have no Kazakh-speaking editor who can tell a good translation from a bad one.
- The same words in different languages carry different meanings and cultural assumptions.
- Translating from Russian or English into Kazakh means transferring one worldview onto another.
- The solution: expertise in-house, realistic expectations and support for Kazakh-language projects.
Need content in Kazakh that sounds Kazakh, not like a translation? At TELLER we work with talented Kazakh-speaking editors and writers: they don't translate Russian thoughts into Kazakh words, they write and adapt texts for the Kazakh reader from the start. Message me on Telegram at @maximfetisov and I'll tell you how this can work for your project.
Sources
- Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Languages”, Article 21: language of details and visual information (in Russian)
- Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Advertising” (Adilet, in Russian)
