ZHABAGLY, KAZAKHSTAN // Yevgeny Belousov may have lived in Kazakhstan for 20 years and be married to a Kazakh, but the ethnic Russian admits his skills in the local language leave a lot to be desired.
The 56-year-old, born in Ukraine, rarely speaks in anything other than Russian, which remains the dominant language in Kazakhstan more than 15 years after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
Even in Zhabagly, which lies in the far south of the country two hours' drive from the city of Shymkent, about as far away from Russia as it is possible to get in Kazakhstan, Mr Belousov said all the local people are fluent in Russian.
"Maybe 99 per cent of people in Kazakhstan speak Russian and in many parts of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh people don't speak Kazakh," he said.
Mr Belousov and his wife, Sara, watch only Russian satellite television channels and chat with their bright-eyed four-year-old son, Alexander, in Russian.
"In my family we speak Russian and only a little, little Kazakh. And on the internet there is very little in Kazakh - maybe 10 or 20 sites," said Mr Belousov, who holds a Kazakh passport but always describes himself as Russian.
In this vast Central Asian nation, the ninth-largest country in the world, the Russian population has dwindled from close to half at independence in 1991 to little more than one-quarter now.
But even so, shop signs are often in Russian only, Russian newspapers and magazines dominate in news-stands and people usually chat in Russian. It is a situation the country's government wants to change.
Whereas government documents were once produced in Russian only, now they are written in both languages.
Officials have had to take lessons in Kazakh, while in schools the hours spent teaching the language have increased.
"I was speaking Russian and my teacher said, 'Why are you speaking this? Where's your honour?'" said Almas Moldakozha, 18, an ethnic Kazakh student in Almaty, the country's largest city and former capital. His experience reflects how sensitive a subject language is in a country where many were forced to learn Russian during the Soviet era.
The efforts to promote Kazakh are part of the Strategy Kazakhstan 2030, devised by the country's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The aim is for Kazakhstan, helped by its Caspian Sea oil wealth, to turn itself into a developed country where Kazakh, Russian and English are widely spoken by 2030.
The attempts to promote Kazakh come up against practical difficulties, not least in the education system, because far more literature and textbooks are available in Russian.
But such is the emphasis on Kazakh that some Russian speakers are now deciding that if they do not learn the language, their career prospects will suffer.
Aitzhamal Chukhry, who lives in Almaty, fits this category. Although she is ethnically Kazakh, and her parents and grandparents are Kazakh speakers, she went to a Russian school and university, is married to an ethnic Russian and speaks little Kazakh.
The 41-year-old manager of an education company said she believes "it's about time" she learned the language. Her poor skills, she admits, are "a limitation" when it comes to applying for jobs.
She has sensed a growing realisation among many of the country's non-Kazakh-speaking population that they must broaden their language abilities.
While Kazakh is a Turkic language and Russian belongs to the East Slavic group of languages, the two use the Cyrillic script, making it slightly easier for people who know one to learn the other.
"Five or six years ago, Russian speakers were really against learning Kazakh because it's a difficult language," she said.
"This is why Russians started moving back to Russia. They were afraid of their kids' future. But now, Russians who live here send their children to Kazakh kindergarten. Of 20 kids, three or four will now be Russian.
"People accept you have to speak Kazakh. For adults, there are good programmes to learn - if you want to you can find them."
This acceptance is particularly strong among the younger generation, according to Sergey Melnik, a Kazakh-born ethnic Russian from a village in the far north of the country.
A resident of the capital, Astana, employed as a cargo agent at the city's international airport, the 20-year-old said speaking Kazakh has become "cool" among teenagers.
"They think it's modern for our time, in an independent country, to speak Kazakh," he said. "The Kazakh population, they've got independence and maybe they're proud of it."
This resurgence of pride in the Kazakh language, Mr Melnik admits, can create tensions with ethnic Russians and other non-Kazakhs. He admits there are "problems" in inter-ethnic relationships, perhaps not helped by the fact that the focus on language is one strand of a wider aim to forge a distinct Kazakh identity in the post-Soviet world.
Billboards across the country show men and women in a range of traditional costumes to reinforce national identity.
But breathing new life into the Kazakh character after a century of Russian domination could prove even more fraught than reinvigorating the language.
The country's nomadic history means few traditions were recorded in literature and there is little architectural heritage, while the younger generation, hooked on the Russian equivalents of MTV, are as internationally minded as their counterparts elsewhere in the world.
Many may now speak Kazakh, but their ties to the country's past appear tenuous.
"In the villages, people continued to speak Kazakh and they kept their traditions, but in the cities it was different. And the youth now has an American culture that comes from television and movies. It's something new - more modern. It's not like 200 years ago," Mrs Chukhry said.
dbardsley@thenational.ae
The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ
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Engine: 6.5-litre V12
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SPECS
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Specs – Panamera
Engine: 3-litre V6 with 100kW electric motor
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Australia (15-1): Israel Folau; Dane Haylett-Petty, Reece Hodge, Kurtley Beale, Marika Koroibete; Bernard Foley, Will Genia; David Pocock, Michael Hooper (capt), Lukhan Tui; Adam Coleman, Izack Rodda; Sekope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Tom Robertson.
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Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
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The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
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Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
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THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
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Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
TOUR DE FRANCE INFO
Dates: July 1-23
Distance: 3,540km
Stages: 21
Number of teams: 22
Number of riders: 198
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