Kazakh and Turkish: how they differ
Both are Turkic, and people who moved to Kazakhstan often ask whether Turkish will help them later — and the other way around. In short: Knowing one makes the other noticeably easier — but does not replace it. Start with the one you need now.
Side by side
| Kazakh | Turkish | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Turkic family, Kipchak group | Turkic family, Oghuz group |
| Writing | the Cyrillic alphabet, 42 letters, nine of them exclusively Kazakh | the Latin alphabet with six letters of its own: ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü |
| Speakers | about 13–14 million speakers (Ethnologue) | about 85 million speakers (Ethnologue) |
| Official in | Kazakhstan | Türkiye and Cyprus |
| The hardest part | vowel harmony and long chains of endings | words growing endings in long chains, with the verb sent to the end |
| What comes easily | no gender, regular spelling, transparent word-building | spelled exactly the way it sounds, no gender, rules with almost no exceptions |
Point by point
Kinship
Both are Turkic but from different branches: Kazakh is Kipchak, Turkish is Oghuz. They share roughly as much as Russian and Polish do — recognizable, but not mutually intelligible.
Writing
Kazakh is written in a 42-letter Cyrillic, nine of the letters Kazakh-only. Turkish uses a Latin alphabet with six letters of its own. For a Russian speaker Kazakh starts easier.
The make-up
Both build words in chains of endings and both obey vowel harmony: the vowels in a word agree with each other. Once you have understood it in one, you will recognize the same logic in the other.
What comes free
Neither has grammatical gender. Both are read practically as they are written.
Which to choose
Knowing one makes the other noticeably easier — but does not replace it. Start with the one you need now.
Frequently asked
Which is easier: Kazakh or Turkish?
Comparing them by difficulty is almost pointless: vowel harmony and long chains of endings versus words growing endings in long chains, with the verb sent to the end. Knowing one makes the other noticeably easier — but does not replace it. Start with the one you need now.
Are Kazakh and Turkish similar languages?
Both are Turkic but from different branches: Kazakh is Kipchak, Turkish is Oghuz. They share roughly as much as Russian and Polish do — recognizable, but not mutually intelligible.