Mongolia talk · Languages in Mongolia
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Languages in Mongolia
Languages in Mongolia
See also: Mongolian phrasebook
With the exception of the westernmost province where Kazakh is spoken, everybody in the country speaks Mongolian. The language is extremely difficult for Westerners to learn and speak, even after multiple months of being immersed in the culture. Westerners typically take a minimum of 9-18 months of full time Mongolian language study to be conversant. Most locals will appreciate attempts to speak phrases in Mongolian, although the traveller will inevitably pronounce them wrong (be careful when ordering water in a restaurant - the word for water [pronounced "oos"] is indistinguishable for that of "hair" to the English ear! Makes for a good laugh over and over ...). Picking up a phrasebook and practising a few phrases will help. The numbering system is regular, and fairly easy to learn.
If you can speak Russian you should not have any major problems communicating. Mongolia has had a long history of alliance with the Soviet Union, and Russia after the break up of the Soviet Union, meaning that Russian is the most widely taught second language in school. English is not widely spoken, although it's been getting more popular lately.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Mongolia
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Mongolia Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.