Original: Astana - The new capital of Kazakhstan In Kazakh and Russian, it is pronounced "As-ta-na", while in English and many other languages, the common pronunciation is "As-ta-na".
Simplified: The name "Astana", which in Kazakh language means "Capital city", was chosen because it is easily pronounced in many languages. Also, in Kazakh, it is pronounced "As-ta-na", while in English (and, for instance, German), common pronunciation is "As-ta-na".