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Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

bbc.com

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Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#21

Post by emodendroket »

y_molodtsov wrote: post #19
emodendroket wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

I guess all people who think that way should visit Hungary and try to read the signs there.

If you really want the signs to be intelligible to foreign visitors you can likely more easily do what many other countries do and provide signage in English. This seems like a weak rationale to change how the language is written.

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#22

Post by jdavis703 »

emodendroket wrote: post #13
pradn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit is to more easily draw international tourists and conduct business around the world. Most rich countries use the Latin alphabet, so it's a bid to move away from the Russosphere.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

Yes. When attempting to pattern match signs it's easier to match similar letters than symbols that appaear totally abstract. It probably has something to do with short term memory being able to hold 5-9 things. Also many languages use enough similar words (i.e. cognates) that you can use context to guess at the meaning.

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#23

Post by jsgo »

emodendroket wrote: post #13
pradn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit is to more easily draw international tourists and conduct business around the world. Most rich countries use the Latin alphabet, so it's a bid to move away from the Russosphere.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

I speak English only. I find it much easier to translate either online or via English-to-X dictionary if the other language uses Latin script. Could it be done? I'm sure it is possible, but without previously interacting with them, not easily.

I'll say this, for work I travel to Montreal at moderately regular intervals. Because everything is in French, it makes it a bit harder, but I can either: a) infer based off similarities to English words b) look it up as it only has a few unique glyphs versus what I'm accustomed to.

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#24

Post by emodendroket »

jdavis703 wrote: post #22
emodendroket wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

Yes. When attempting to pattern match signs it's easier to match similar letters than symbols that appaear totally abstract. It probably has something to do with short term memory being able to hold 5-9 things. Also many languages use enough similar words (i.e. cognates) that you can use context to guess at the meaning.

https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C3%B4_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_Di%E1%...

Can you make out anything in this article other than personal names?

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#25

Post by JetSpiegel »

fanzhang wrote: post #5
forkerenok wrote: post #3

Don't have an opinion on the news itself, but find it amusing that the title picture features journals exclusively in Russian.

Is that right? It's not just Cyrillic, but actually Russian language? If so, that's pretty funny.

Copy-pastable Magazine title (I just copied from a Cyrillic alphabet): Пекарь

Seems to be something about bread.

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#26

Post by emodendroket »

jsgo wrote: post #23
emodendroket wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

I speak English only. I find it much easier to translate either online or via English-to-X dictionary if the other language uses Latin script. Could it be done? I'm sure it is possible, but without previously interacting with them, not easily. I'll say this, for work I travel to Montreal at moderately regular intervals. Because everything is in French, it makes it a bit harder, but I can either: a) infer based off si…

English has a very large vocabulary either derived from French or having the same roots as French words, which I do not believe is the case with Kazakh.

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#28

Post by Semirhage »

y_molodtsov wrote: post #19
emodendroket wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

I guess all people who think that way should visit Hungary and try to read the signs there.

Hungarian (and Finnish) are unique cases; you haven’t identified a pattern, but the Uralic exceptions. It’s a language family only 25 million people on Earth speak, it is the proverbial exception proving the rule.

Re: Kazakhstan is changing its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin-based

#29

Post by skookumchuck »

emodendroket wrote: post #13
pradn wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The benefit is to more easily draw international tourists and conduct business around the world. Most rich countries use the Latin alphabet, so it's a bid to move away from the Russosphere.

Does it really make a difference to you if all the (from your perspective, as a visitor) unintelligible gibberish is written in Latin script rather than some other script?

It makes it:

1. far easier to look up a word you don't know in a dictionary

2. you can make a stab at pronouncing the word

3. you can type it in on your western laptop/phone you brought with you

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