FAQs 1

1. Where is Mongolia?
Mongolia is a Central Asian country located north of China and south of Russia. It is a land-locked country and so has no true oceans. However, in Mongolian, the word used for "large lake" is often the same as the word for "ocean". Another free fact: several of the lakes in Mongolia are salt-water lakes.

2. What language do they speak?
Mongolians generally speak Mongolian. It is nothing like Chinese or Russian; in fact it is actually related to Turkish, Kazakh, and possibly Korean. Until the last century, Mongolians used a script borrowed from the Uighurs. Currently the Cyrillic alphabet is used.

3. Are you fluent?
This question still, after four years, sends me into a fit of giggles. Mongolian is not an easy language to learn, in part because it is unlike any other language I've ever tried to learn. Can I communicate? Yes, of course, but there is still so much vocabulary and grammar to be learned! Even people who have studied Mongolian for ten years feel like their language skills need a lot of improvement.