Language and ScriptMongolian, the country's official language is spoken and understood throughout the country. Russian is another commonly used language, spoken principally by older generations; however, other foreign languages, especially English, are becoming more popular. Although unified by language, Mongolia’s 20 plus ethnic groups have each developed their own local dialects the dialect spoken by the Halha, Mongolia’s largest ethnic group, is the most widely known. The eastern Mongolian dialects include those spoken by ethnic groups who previously inhabited inner Mongolia and now live in Dornod Province, on the far eastern steppe Northern dialects are spoken by the Buriyat people, who currently live in northern Mongolia and the Buriyat Republic in southern Siberia, Russia. Western dialects include those spoken by the ethnic groups belonging to the Oirat, who generally inhabit Altai Mountain Range.
Today Mongolian is written in Cyrillic, but the nation's traditional Mongolian script, —written in columns and derived from the Uighur alphabet, is gradually reappearing, mainly on signs and logos, and now in some classrooms. The oldest surviving example of this script is the so-called Chinggis Stone, now on display at St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. Engraved sometime around 1225, the stone offers a eulogy for the fearless archer Esughei, who shot a single arrow 600 meters. The classic Mongolian script was an important development in written language for Central Asia.
In 1941 the classical script was replaced by the new alphabet based on Russian Cyrillic characters, and introduced as the country's official system of writing. There is no major difference between the spelling and the pronunciation of this script whether used in Russian or Mongolian. The modern Mongolian alphabet consists of 35 characters. Below are each of the char actors and a basic language guide, in eluding greetings, simple questions and numbers.
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