U.S. English Foundation Research
KYRGYZSTAN
Language Research
6. Language in everyday life: The use of language in everyday life, e.g. education, broadcasting, and other
The improvement of the status of Russians in Kyrgyzstan, as well as difficult economic conditions in Russia, has caused a significant decline of emigration, with some ethnic Russians returning to the country.
University education is carried out largely in the Russian language. Kyrgyz instruction is possible in some departments, where textbooks are available. Russian language fluency remains an important skill for those who wish to pursue higher education.
In order to promote the development of the Slavic ethnic groups and safeguard their culture, language and traditions, a Kyrgyz-Russian (Slavic) University has been established.
Updated (April 2004)
BROADCASTING AND MINORITIES
The State Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation (KRT) is the biggest television and radio broadcasting company. On its television channel 60/70 percent of broadcasting is in Kyrgyz and 30/40 percent in the Russian language (17 hours a day). There are also programs in the Dungan and Uigur languages.
The ratio of Kyrgyz to Russian-language programs on the state radio is the same as on the state television. There are two radio channels: the first channel broadcasting 17 hours a day also programs in the Uigur, Dungan and Ukrainian language, and news in German and the second channel (Radio of the 21st Century) broadcasting 16 hours a day.
Monthly Dungan language programs on the state television channel have a long tradition in Kyrgyzstan. Since 2001, a 30-minute program has been aired twice a month in Russian and Dungan. A 50-minute program in Dungan has been broadcast on the first channel of the state radio every week for more than 40 years. The same radio channel also broadcasts a weekly 60-minute program in the Uigur language. Soros Fund gave a grant to a Polish cultural enlightening association “Odrodzenie” and the KRT to produce a 20-minute weekly radio program.
Since January 1998, the Ukrainian national cultural society “Bereginya” has been broadcasting in the Ukrainian language. In the period between December 2000 and December 2001, 12 programs were broadcast in Kyrgyz, 13 in Russian and 32 in Ukrainian (each program lasted 30 minutes).
In the north (Chuisk Region), the population can watch the Kazakh television channel “Khabar”. The programs of the Uzbek television channel “Akhborot” are also available. “Manas” FM radio, which broadcasts in Turkish, has also been registered.
Most private televisions retransmit programs from Russian channels (from 16 to 21 hours of broadcasting a day). Their own broadcasting takes up only about 10 to 30 percent of the total broadcasting time (some do not have it at all). Because of this, private channels broadcast more in Russian than in Kyrgyz.1
In the south, fewer private television and radio companies are registered than in the north. A very limited circle of private television and radio companies broadcast in minority languages, except Russian. “Almaz” radio broadcasts daily several hours in Uzbek.
Source: Minority-language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE, Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP), Center for Socio-Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Oxford University & Institute for Information Law (IViR) (http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html), Universiteit van Amsterdam (Study commissioned by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), April 2003, edited by T. McGonagle (IViR), B. Davis Noll & M. Price (PCMLP), http://www.ivir.nl/publications/mcgonagle/Minority-language%20broadcasting.pdf
1 For example, at the TV KOORT, up to 20 percent of broadcasting is in the Kyrgyz language and they also planned to broadcast a 5-minute newscast a day in Uzbek. At Pyramid TV, there is a daily 10-minute news program in Kyrgyz (3 percent of the total programming).
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Updated (July 2009)
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES MUST TAKE KYRGYZ-LANGUAGE EXAM
To ensure the dominance of Kyrgyz as the country's first language, any candidate for the Presidency of Kyrgyzstan is obliged to pass a Kyrgyz-language exam before they can enter the actual race.
The candidates must pass the test in three parts: first, they must explain their presidential program in Kyrgyz within 15 minutes; then, they must listen to a three-page text being read aloud and explain what was understood from it; and finally, they must write three-page essay within 45 minutes on their presidential program.
The whole process is broadcast on State TV and monitored by a commission of well-known philologists, who decide whether the candidate speaks the state language at the required level. The candidate is barred from the presidential race if more than half members of the commission decide he or she does not speak appropriate Kyrgyz.
Some observers think the test was invented not just to check the candidates' language skills, but also their political views.
Feliks Kulov, seen as the most powerful candidate in the 2005 presidential elections, refused to take the language exam, arguing that Kyrgyz-language proficiency was imposed for political reasons and is not required by the constitution. Kyrgyz officials, however, claimed that Kulov was just showing his contempt for the Kyrgyz language, which he has failed to learn.
In 2000, for instance, five of the twelve candidates failed the language exam. Even though they could speak fairly good Kyrgyz, they failed in the oral comprehension part of the test.
Kadyraly Konkobaev, a prominent philologist and member of the State Linguistic Commission, underlines that the ability to speak and explain one's thoughts in literary Kyrgyz is very limited among the country's leaders. He says that during the previous two election examinations he was satisfied with the native-language level of only one candidate, who was later eliminated from the race when he was accused of having Kazakh citizenship.
Incumbent President Kurmanbek Bakiev was among the candidates to pass in the last language exam (although the examiner said he was satisfied with only one candidate and it was not Bakiev). He spent an early part of his life in Russia and is married to an ethnic Russian. Bakiev is running for reelection and the nation is watching to see how he fares this time around.
Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Transmission, May 21, 2009 by Venera Djumataeva http://www.rferl.org/content/Kyrgyz_Presidential_Candidates_Take_KyrgyzLanguage_Exam/1736728.html
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