Oxford University Press has given permission to publish the first edition of the Kazakh-English and English-Kazakh Oxford dictionary compiled by the National Translation Bureau, QazMonitor reports citing Rauan Kenzhekhan, the Bureau’s executive director.
The Oxford Qazaq Dictionary reportedly contains a total volume of 1,300 pages with 60 thousand words.
“The world-famous Oxford University Press has given official permission to publish the bilingual Oxford Qazaq Dictionary. The dictionary development was based on the methodology and technology of the world-famous Oxford English Dictionary,” Kenzhekhan wrote in a Facebook post.
The executive says the work of compiling the dictionary continued on for four years, and more than 50 experienced journalists specializing in the vocabulary of the Kazakh and English languages took part in it.
Specialists of the Institute of Linguistics named after Akhmet Baitursynuly took part in the improvement of the dictionary, and the Scientific Council of the Dictionary Institute was responsible for its examination.
Another important development is the upcoming introduction of the Kazakh language to the Oxford Global Languages platform. Kenzhekhan noted that it aims to create a common global language corpus by connecting the vocabulary of 100 major and basic languages of the world.
The news about the dictionary got traction on social media, and Twitter user Nurlan Turaliyev posted the first image of the hard copy:
“This is the first printed copy. [It] passed all the procedures of Oxford and the scientific authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan.”