Doing Business: Language Policy of Kazakhstan

Language Policy of Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is a bilingual country. The Kazakh language has the status of the state language. The Russian language has the status of official language. Both languages have equal status.
Kazakh is the primary language for state bodies, public administration and legislation. However, Russian is widely used in business and in governmental correspondence.

The Language Act requires that all financial, statistical, technical and other documentations should be produced in Kazakh and Russian. In addition it requires that all agreements and ancillary documents should be in Kazakh and Russian. However, it could also be duplicated in any other language.

In practice, most business and vital office documentation is produced in the Russian language. The requirement is not strictly observed since mirroring documentation in the Kazakh language becomes an unreasonable burden for businesses.
Some international and global companies maintain documentation in Russian and in English in order to provide proper access for headquarters.

The Kazakhstan authorities require goods descriptions to be in the Russian and Kazakh languages.

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