Locale Kk Kz

Reference data for the Kazakh (Kazakhstan) locale — endonym Қазақ тілі (Қазақстан), written in the Cyrillic script, left-to-right (LTR).

Identifiers

• BCP 47 tag: kk-KZ
• ISO 639-1: kk
• ISO 639-3: kaz
• Script: Cyrl (Cyrillic)
• Region: KZ (Kazakhstan)
• Text direction: ltr — left-to-right (LTR)

Speakers (approximate)

• L1 (native): 16,000,000
• L2 (additional): 3,000,000
• L1+L2 (total): 19,000,000

Base locale

This is a regional variant of Locale Kk 001 (Kazakh), the base/macro locale for this language.

Pluralization

CLDR plural categories for this locale: one, other (2 forms).

• one — n = 1 (e.g. 1)
• other — everything else (e.g. 0, 2~16, 100, 1000, …)

See Unicode Messageformat for writing plural messages using these categories.

Translating into this locale

Apply Locale Kk 001 with the conventions of Kazakhstan.

• Context: Kazakh is the state language and Russian is an official language in government and widely used. Kazakh content should be complete, not a thin Russian translation.
• Formats: tenge (₸); dates 17.10.2026; 24-hour clock; decimal comma.
• Script: Cyrillic is the current script; a Latin alphabet is planned. Do not introduce Latin without a requirement.

Common pitfalls

• Using Russian forms in Kazakh text.
• Mixing alphabets.
• The general pitfalls in Locale Kk 001 also apply.

Learn more

• Locale for BCP 47 identifiers, locale-sensitive formatting, pluralization, and text-direction concepts that apply across all locales.
• Unicode Messageformat for writing plural/selection messages correctly for this locale's grammar.
• Unicode CLDR locale data for number, date, and currency formats (https://cldr.unicode.org)