Industry Minister hits back after Kazakh language skills criticised

Industry Minister Kanat Sharlapayev on Thursday lamented that there was too much “negativity” around officials who are not fluent in the Kazakh language.

“I one hundred percent respect everyone’s right to read news in a language of their choice,” Sharlapayev said when a journalist criticised him at a briefing for struggling to answer his question in Kazakh.

“You know perfectly well that many, including those working in government bodies, do not know the state language well. I am one of them,” he said in Russian.

“You comment is absolutely fair that I should try to give answers [in Kazakh] better. But I would like to say the following. I have spent quite a lot of time in various foreign countries. And I have never encountered so much negativity addressed at those who are learning the [local] language,“ he said.

Minister Sharlapayev added that he has been learning Kazakh for the past year and a half and has made notable progress.

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