> Joseph Becker <Joseph.Becker@pahv.xerox.com> quoted an AP story:
>
> > Schools in Tatarstan will now use the Latin alphabet for written work
> > in the local Tatar language, spokeswoman Zukhra Minekhanova said. The
> > transition from Cyrillic will take 10 years, she said.
>
> Is it just me, or does 10 years sound overly optimistic?
Well, they've been there before. Tatar, like other Turkic languages,
in the Soviet Union, had a Latin alphabet in the thirties, until
Stalin arrived at the conclusion that Cyrillic was better.
> > and because it would make European culture more accessible to
> > students.
>
> This is the real reason, of course.
And particularly other Turkic cultures. I'm not sure, but I believe
that the Central Asian Turkic republics and Azerbaijan already have
switched to Latin for their languages.
-- Erland Sommarskog, Stockholm, sommar@algonet.se
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