Advanced Kazakh - Language Canvas

By:Akmaral Mukanova

Coming Soon!

In Advanced Kazakh, you will learn to express yourself clearly in a variety of situations, formal and informal. Expand your knowledge of the Kazakh language and culture through engaging, in-depth dialogues and unscripted discussions between native speakers. It was originally published as part of the highly-reviewed University of Arizona Critical Languages Series, and we have added many new mobile-friendly features. Explore 5 units, 4,100 audio clips, dozens of exercises, hundreds of annotations, and over 43 minutes of video performed by native speakers.

Watch video and learn about greetings, shopping, food, dining out, weather, education, literature, holiday traditions, and more. With our specially designed video player for language learning you can pause the video at any point and scroll the transcription. Read annotations about culture and grammar. Click on almost any word or sentence to hear it spoken, along with translations. This course can be used either by independent learners or by students in a traditional or self-instructional classroom setting, and is the equivalent of the material covered in a one-year college course.

Sample Video: Unit 1, Dialog 1

Introduction by Akmaral Mukanova

Advanced Kazakh consists of two parts. Units 1-3 discuss topics such as kinship, livestock and cultural metaphors. Units 4 and 5 offer a challenging opportunity to learn from naturally occurring unscripted interviews. Here is a sample lesson.

This course has been constructed with thorough consideration of recent research to ensure effective foreign language learning. The material is also based on the results of a needs assessment survey conducted by the author among advanced learners of the Kazakh language in Kazakhstan and the USA. Kazakh language learners who have participated in the survey come from various language and cultural backgrounds, including North American, Chinese, Australian, and Japanese. The survey revealed that these participants had several learning wants and needs.

First, they wanted to acquire a knowledge of the cultural systems inherent in Kazakh. To this end, cultural and linguistic anthropological material that highlights such cultural metaphors as livestock, kinship, songs, values and beliefs has been integrated into the dialogs.

Second, there was a need for learning conversational structures and speech patterns that significantly differ from the standard literary grammar, which most textbooks tend to overlook. To meet this need, dialogs have been designed to contain grammatical structures that are typical of conversational Kazakh.

Third, there was a desire to explore authentic short stories, folk tales, and idiomatic phrases. The Idiomatic Phrases section is designed to aid in gaining a better understanding of literary works, daily conversations, and the media.

Finally, the need for unscripted dialogs that give learners an exposure to natural conversations was expressed. Authentic video interviews in units 4 and 5 capture conversational speech patterns and dialectical varieties to assist you in expanding your active knowledge of Kazakh language and culture.

We are looking for a limited number of Beta Testers for the full course with Multiple Choice, Fill-in-the-blank, and Listening Dictation exercises, please fill out this form if you are interested.

About the Author

Akmaral Mukanova received her master’s degree in English Language and Linguistics from the University of Arizona where she was a Visiting Scholar with the U.S. State Department’s Junior Faculty Development Program. Her professional experience includes English and Kazakh language instruction, adult education, curriculum development, and online training. She managed U.S. government-led international programs and curriculum development initiatives. Her interests include adult learning and workforce development, instructional design, and e-Learning. She is also the author of our Intermediate Kazakh course.

Other publications: A Learner’s Dictionary of Kazakh Idioms