Among other states of Central Asia, Uzbekistan has the closest economic ties with Russia. This is also why two languages are used on its territory almost on an equal footing - Uzbek as the state language of Uzbekistan and Russian as a means of interethnic communication and office work in large cities of the country.
Some statistics and facts
- More than 27 million people in the world speak Uzbek. Most of its carriers, except for Uzbekistan itself, live in the northern provinces of Afghanistan.
- Russian in Uzbekistan became the second language for the inhabitants of the country during the Soviet era. It was used for communication by Ukrainians and Germans, Tatars and Kazakhs - the majority of national minorities living on the territory of the republic.
- Up to 80% of the population speaks Russian in Uzbekistan.
- The number of Russian groups in colleges exceeds 90%, and in universities of Uzbekistan all students are required to study it.
- In parallel with Uzbek, Russian had the status of an official language in Uzbekistan until 1989.
Uzbek: history and modernity
The current state language of Uzbekistan is literary Uzbek. It is based on the dialects of the Fergana Valley. Its formation was not easy and the development of the language was influenced by the dialects of neighboring countries and numerous conquerors who, over the long centuries, passed through the territory of modern Uzbekistan.
The writer Alisher Navoi fought for the purity of the Uzbek and its unity, thanks to whom the norms and traditions of the literary language remained unchanged until the end of the 19th century.
In Soviet times, Uzbek was translated into an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Then, in 1993, it was decided to use the Latin alphabet, and today a difficult situation with writing has arisen in the country. Cyrillic and Arabic, due to the traditions and conservatism of the older generation, continue to be widely used even for printing, while textbooks are published in Latin.
Tourist notes
When traveling in Uzbekistan, do not be afraid of difficulties with understanding and translation. Most of the locals speak Russian, and even in the provinces you will always find someone who can help.
Maps and tourist information, menus in restaurants in large cities and towns have been translated into Russian, and there are Russian-speaking guides in museums.
