The idea for the “Makul Dictionary” project originates from my 2019 visit to one of the cities of Silicon Valley—America’s technology hub—and to Stanford University in Palo Alto. When I visited the birthplace of world-renowned startups, I was inspired to create something that could also be of benefit. But what would that be? I pondered this deeply. We had established the “Makul Hyzmat” Translation Center, yet there was no large-scale, modern, and electronically accessible English–Turkmen dictionary available for our translators. I envisioned a project that might not bring immediate profit, but would first benefit us and, ultimately, society. Until now, most English–Turkmen dictionaries published have been rather limited in scope.
There is a Turkmen proverb: “Bake the bread when the oven is hot,” meaning that the best time to begin is when motivation is at its peak. In that spirit, I called a friend in America to share my idea, and later consulted with a friend in Turkmenistan. Thus, with the support of the “Makul Hyzmat” Translation Center, this project was launched.
Of course, I had no prior experience in compiling a dictionary. Inevitably, there were many mistakes at the beginning. But we learned from those errors, organized the work more effectively, and gradually reduced the mistakes to the minimum. As a result, we now feel confident in presenting this dictionary to you with pride.
The first version of the English–Turkmen dictionary was published on our website,
www.makulsozluk.com. Encouraged by the interest it received, we developed illustrated dictionaries and playful versions for children. Later, we recorded the pronunciation of thousands of Turkmen and English words, creating an “Audio Dictionary.” The bilingual dictionary expanded into four languages, first by adding Turkish, then Russian. We enriched the content with idioms, prefixes, suffixes, and hundreds of conversational phrases in both English and Turkmen. Afterwards, we translated hundreds of Turkmen proverbs into English, and an equal number of English proverbs into Turkmen, publishing them on our website and within the “Makul Dictionary” applications.
We live in the age of artificial intelligence! Yet AI is not yet capable of “writing,” “speaking,” or “translating” well in the Turkmen language. By making thousands of words and recordings from the Makul Dictionary database—and tens of thousands of news articles, video reports, and audiovisual materials from “Atavatan Media” (www.atavatan-turkmenistan.com) and other sources—available for AI training, we aimed to contribute to the development of the Turkmen language in the digital age.
This “Makul Dictionary” is likewise placed at the service of artificial intelligence. As an additional feature, this dictionary includes not only specialized terminology from fields such as law and medicine, but also technical terms related to artificial intelligence itself.
Makul Dictionary – the Smart Dictionary!
The preparation of this dictionary has been made possible through the contributions of many individuals, to whom I extend my heartfelt gratitude, even if I do not mention each one by name. I would especially like to take this opportunity to thank my family—my spouse, Dünýägözel Orazgylyjowa, and my sons, Ysmaýyl, Ýusup, and Ýunus Orazgylyjow—for their unwavering support throughout this endeavor. Finally, I wish to express my deepest gratitude and respect to my mother, Akbäbek Orazgylyjowa, and in honor of my father, Durdygylyç Orazgylyjow (deceased), who raised and nurtured us with dedication and love.
We dedicate this dictionary to the 34th Anniversary of Turkmenistan’s Independence and the 30th Anniversary of its Permanent Neutrality.
By publishing this dictionary in the United States, we hope that it will serve as a “bridge of language” in diplomatic, economic, technological, academic, humanitarian, and cultural relations between Turkmenistan and the United States, for the benefit of both peoples. We believe that it will be a useful resource for Americans who wish to learn the Turkmen language, and for Turkmens who aspire to improve their English in order to pursue education, business, and cultural exchange in the United States. It is also intended as a valuable guide for the Turkmen diaspora in America—those born there or who migrated at a young age—in learning and maintaining their mother tongue. Of course, we offer Makul Dictionary to readers worldwide who have an interest in the English and Turkmen languages.
The “Makul Dictionary” in your hands contains a total of 16,500 English headwords and tens of thousands of their Turkmen translations. It is widely recognized that a vocabulary of around 16,000 words is sufficient to master a language at an academic level. While our aim was to create a comprehensive dictionary, we refrain from calling it “complete,” for a dictionary is always a “living” entity. Therefore, we kindly ask you to send your suggestions, critiques, and new word proposals to turkmenlawyer@gmail.com.
Dr. Dovran Orazgylyjov
September 3, 2025
Davis, California, USA
www.turkmenlawyer.com
Dr. Dovran Orazgylyjov is a Turkmen lawyer who has been a licensed legal consultant in Turkmenistan since 2011. He is also one of the founders and the chief editor of the international journal Atavatan Turkmenistan. Dr. Orazgylyjov earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in law from Dokuz Eylül University in Turkey. In addition, he obtained a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law in the United States. He has also completed short-term programs at world-renowned universities such as Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of the book “Joint Ventures in the Context of International Direct Investments” published in Turkey, and a co-author of the book “Entrepreneurship: Law and Practice” published in Turkmenistan.