Kazakh

The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia famous in the past for the fierce love of freedom, skillful horse riding, hunting with semi-domesticated eagles, and currently, for the rapid economic advances in independent state of Kazakhstan, making it one of the most promising states in the region.

Ethnically, they are a mix of early Turkic and Mongol tribes. Persian, Russian and in smaller degree Arab cultures influenced the current Kazakh traditions.

The Kazakh language is close to other Turkic languages. Native speakers of Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Uighur can easily communicate without the need for a translator; Turkish, Azeri, Turkmen can easily be picked up - due to the close similarity - for example: "al" means "take" in Kazakh, but it means the same thing in almost any Turkic language. The same goes for "at" - "horse", "otir(otur)" - "sit" etc.

The Kazhaks form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.