By the number of occupied territory, Mongolia is confidently among the twenty largest countries on the planet. At the same time, its population is only three million people and for every square kilometer of Mongolian land there is not even a couple of people. The vast majority of residents consider Mongolian as their native language, officially proclaimed as the state language of Mongolia. Oirat, Buryat, Tuvan and Kazakh languages are also in use in the republic.
Some statistics and facts
- Almost 84% of its citizens speak Mongolian in the republic. Quantitatively, this is more than 2200 thousand people.
- The second most widespread language is the Oirat language. It is used by almost 10% of Mongolians.
- Despite the established status of Mongolian as the state language, according to the Constitution, national minorities have the right to use their own languages and dialects not only in everyday communication, but also in education, artistic, cultural and scientific activities.
- The central component of teaching in primary school is the Mongolian language. At the same time, education in the country is compulsory.
- In Buddhist monastic schools, instruction is conducted in two languages - Mongolian and Tibetan.
Mongolian: history and modernity
The state language of Mongolia is a literary form of the Khalkha-Mongol dialect, whose history of development goes back to the 13th century. In addition to him, eastern and western Mongolian dialects are widespread in the country, but the differences between all three exist only purely phonetic. The writing system of Mongolia is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.
Russian in the steppe open spaces
The first Russian merchants arrived in Mongolia in the 17th century. They brought with them not only trade offers, but also language. Despite its territorial affiliation to China, Mongolia has since remained under the cultural influence of the Russian Empire and Russian has become the language of communication between the local population and visitors.
Tourist notes
In 2005, English was introduced as a foreign language in Mongolian schools, and therefore modern youth in the republic are fluent in it. Mongolian schoolchildren are also willing and sure to learn Russian, and therefore, finding yourself in Mongolia on business or on vacation, you do not run the risk of being misunderstood. In any case, there are restaurants and hotels in the capital with staff speaking the most common foreign languages.
