Домбыра
“Домбыра” — dombra in Kazakh. Noun, level A1. Two strings and up to twenty frets: modest on the surface, but the kui is built on exactly this. In a live sentence: “Домбыра тартады” — He plays the dombra. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Kazakh course, level A1.
In short
| Written in Kazakh | Домбыра |
| Translation | dombra |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- Домбыраdombra
What it is
A two-stringed plucked instrument with a long neck and a flat or spoon-shaped body. Kuis are played on it and singing is accompanied. It hangs on the wall of almost every home, musical or not.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
Two strings and up to twenty frets: modest on the surface, but the kui is built on exactly this.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Домбыра тартадыHe plays the dombra
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “dombra” in Kazakh?
«Домбыра». In a live sentence: “Домбыра тартады” — He plays the dombra. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Two strings and up to twenty frets: modest on the surface, but the kui is built on exactly this. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.