Interviews | Society | Central Asia

A Conversation With Mahabat Sadyrbek About the Kyrgyz Language

“When a language becomes accessible, it becomes visible. And when it becomes visible, it becomes part of international scholarship and global dialogue.”

Non for sale at a bazaar in Bishkek, with signs in Russian and surrounding chatter in a multitude of tongues. June 2024.

Language politics – and the politics of language – are a hot topic across much of Central Asia. Stemming largely from the 70-year Soviet era, Russian remains a veritable lingua franca across the Central Asian region, including in Kyrgyzstan. In recent years, however, there has been a surge in attention to the role and development of Central Asia’s local languages, and heated debates about the role of Russian (and Russia) in Central Asian societies. 

But those debates, often argued in absolutist terms, fail to wrestle with the nuanced reality of Central Asian’s multilingualism.

“From my perspective, multilingualism is not a problem to be solved but a valuable resource,” Dr. Mahabat Sadyrbek – a political scientist, legal anthropologist, linguist, and interpreter – told The Diplomat in an interview.

“The challenge is to ensure that Kyrgyz continues to develop while preserving the cultural, educational and international advantages that multilingualism offers.”

Sadyrbek is the author of two Kyrgyz grammar reference books, in German and English. These texts are the first of their kind, and as she explained, were created out of necessity: “A language needs more than native speakers to flourish.”

In the following interview with The Diplomat’s Managing Editor Catherine Putz, Sadyrbek outlined the fluid dynamics of language in Kyrgyzstan, why debates over languages can be divisive, how learning other languages – English, German, Spanish – brought her back to Kyrgyz, and how she ended up not just publishing two grammar texts but becoming a court-certified Kyrgyz and Russian translator in Germany.

From your perspective, what is the current reality of language in Kyrgyzstan? What positions do Russian and Kyrgyz occupy – in government, in public, in interpersonal communication?

Spend a day in Bishkek, and you will quickly notice that conversations move effortlessly between Kyrgyz and Russian. A discussion may begin in Kyrgyz, shift into Russian when talking about work, higher education, or technical subjects, and then return to Kyrgyz a few moments later. This natural code-switching reflects not only the country’s multilingual reality, but also its history, education system, and social experience.

From the outside, the linguistic situation is sometimes portrayed as a competition between Kyrgyz and Russian. In reality, it is far more nuanced. Since independence, Kyrgyz has steadily expanded its role in government, education, the media, and public administration, while also becoming a stronger symbol of national identity. Russian, meanwhile, continues to play a central role in higher education, science, business and interethnic communication.

Historical experience also continues to shape language attitudes. For many people, Russian remains associated with educational achievement, professional success and social mobility. These perceptions are gradually changing, but they continue to influence language choices, particularly in urban environments.

The real question, however, is not whether one language should replace another. The challenge is ensuring that Kyrgyz has the educational, scientific, and institutional foundations it needs to function confidently in every sphere of modern life. I see Kyrgyzstan’s future not as a choice between languages, but as a multilingual society in which each language fulfils its own role while Kyrgyz continues to strengthen its place in public life.

Debates over language in Central Asia can often be divisive, I think because language is so personal. We speak the languages our parents, our communities, our schools teach us to. It’s also political. What do you make of Russian efforts to reinforce the weight of the Russian language in Central Asia? Have you seen this play out in Kyrgyzstan??

Language is deeply personal because it shapes how we understand the world from childhood. At the same time, it is also political. Every country seeks to promote its language through education, the media, cultural institutions, and international cooperation. In that sense, Russia is not unique. Language has long been an important instrument of soft power.

Russia’s historical, cultural, and educational ties with Kyrgyzstan remain strong, and Russian continues to provide access to a vast intellectual and digital space. Beyond literature, higher education, and scientific publications, it opens the door to an extensive Russian-language internet, online education, professional networks, and media. These connections remain highly relevant in everyday life and help explain why Russian continues to play such an important role more than three decades after independence.

At the same time, Kyrgyzstan has steadily strengthened the position of Kyrgyz as the state language. I see this not as a rejection of Russian, but as a natural process of nation-building. Every independent state seeks to ensure that its own language can fully serve public life, education, culture, and national identity.

In everyday life, however, language choices are often far more pragmatic than political debates suggest. Most people move comfortably between Kyrgyz and Russian depending on the situation rather than making an ideological statement. From my perspective, multilingualism is not a problem to be solved but a valuable resource. The challenge is to ensure that Kyrgyz continues to develop while preserving the cultural, educational and international advantages that multilingualism offers.

How have the politics of language evolved over the years in Kyrgyzstan? What drives change in language usage patterns?

Language policy certainly matters, but it is only one of many factors shaping how people actually use language. In my view, language change is driven just as much by education, migration, urbanization, economic opportunities, technology, and everyday communication as by legislation itself.

Since independence, Kyrgyzstan has made considerable efforts to strengthen the role of Kyrgyz as the state language. Today, Kyrgyz is far more visible in public administration, education, the media, and political life than it was three decades ago. This reflects not only state policy but also a growing appreciation of the country’s linguistic and cultural heritage.

At the same time, society itself has become one of the most powerful drivers of linguistic change. Young people increasingly choose to speak Kyrgyz with confidence, create content on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and other digital platforms, and use the language in contexts that barely existed a generation ago. Meanwhile, the digital world and artificial intelligence are creating entirely new opportunities, but also new challenges. A language that is present in digital communication, online education, and language technologies has very different prospects from one that is largely absent from these domains.

For me, the future of Kyrgyz will depend less on symbolic debates and more on practical opportunities. People naturally choose the language that allows them to study, build careers, access knowledge, and participate fully in modern society. A language begins in the family, but it reaches its full potential when it is also used in education, research, public institutions, and the digital world.

Ultimately, languages do not develop by themselves. They develop because people use them, teach them, translate them, create new knowledge in them, and adapt them to changing realities. Language policies can create favorable conditions, but it is society that ultimately determines the future of a language.

Last year, you published a “Comprehensive Grammar of the Kyrgyz Language” in English, which built on a German version that came out in 2023. Why are texts like these important? What purpose do they serve?

People often ask me why I devoted so many years to writing grammar. The answer is quite simple: I did not begin with the intention of writing a book. I began by trying to answer one student’s questions.

Around 2011, while I was living in Berlin and working on my Ph.D., I was asked to teach Kyrgyz to a........

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