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To modernize the alphabet so it better reflected modern Russian language, the reforms removed nine letters from the alphabet, as well as all the diacritical marks.

"The Latin alphabet was used [in Kazakhstan] from 1929 to 1940," Nazarbayev said. "In 1940…a law was adopted transferring the Kazakh language from the Latin alphabet to one based on Russian script.

10 revealing facts about Russian. Get your head around tongue twisters and jokes. It's also available in Russian with audio. Get started with 20 audio phrases and learn how to say a range of ...