Web Slow to Take Off in Kyrgyzstan

While internet use is rising fast in Kyrgyzstan, its commercial potential is still limited.

One reason is that very little material is available in Kyrgyz, as opposed to Russian or other languages. A portal for Kyrgyz-language newspapers is slowly winning customers, but a website selling books gets very little custom.

As in other countries, Google is a major search engine in Kyrgyzstan. Telek Mamutov, who works for the company in Dublin, is now leading a project to add Kyrgyz to the list of languages available on Google Translate, which should mean greater accessibility for many people.

The audio programme, in Russian and Kyrgyz, went out on national radio stations in Kyrgyzstan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.