Almaty Region has launched Smart Monitoring, a digital project to check Kazakh-language text on building signs, outdoor advertising and information boards. Each error identified by the monitoring team will be added to a dedicated map so that its correction can be tracked.
The monitoring group will include residents concerned about the development of the state language, representatives of public organisations and branches of the Qazaq Tili Qogamy society. The map will mark sites with errors in red, those where corrections are underway in yellow, and those where the issue has been resolved in green.
If a group member finds an error on a business sign, they will upload its photograph, address and a description of the issue to the map. The information will be sent to the relevant local administration. Officials will explain the violation to the business owner. Once it has been corrected, the owner will upload a new photograph, and specialists will verify the change before marking the site green.
Saltanat Bespayeva, head of the Almaty Region Department for Language Development, said language requirements for signs and outdoor advertising had previously been monitored in response to public complaints, through local administration checks and as part of the summer campaign “Let’s Preserve the Purity of the Language!” Information on errors was kept in different sources, making it difficult to track corrections. The new system will bring the data together and show progress in each district and city.
The first pilot project was carried out in the village of Baiserke in Ile District, where 120 language errors were added to an interactive map. Similar work is now underway across all districts and cities in the region. Authorities plan to map all identified violations and create a unified database by the end of the year. From the start of 2027, the information will be passed to the relevant local administrations to support outreach to businesses and help resolve the issues.
The system does not yet identify language errors automatically. Specialists find them and enter the information on the map themselves. The region plans to introduce a feature that uses artificial intelligence to detect errors in texts and incorrect translations.
Since the start of the year, the region has inspected advertising and information materials at 335 business premises. It found 170 language errors, 114 of which have been corrected. Work on the remaining 56 is continuing. Common issues include menus, signs and price tags displayed only in Russian.
Under current legislation, a warning is issued first for violating requirements on signs and visual information. If a business does not respond and repeats a similar violation within a year, it may be fined: 5 MCI (21,625 tenge) for officials, small businesses and non-profit organisations; 10 MCI (43,250 tenge) for medium-sized businesses; and 25 MCI (108,125 tenge) for large businesses. Residents can report errors in street and building texts to the department through the e-Otinish system.
