A snapshot of Modern Mongolian

By namsraihenderson Comment Closed
People often ask me where Mongolia is, and even if they know, some ask whether Mongolian is a form of Chinese. Although it has been a fully independent democracy for nearly 30 years, somehow it embodies the notion of a far-off, exotic and unknown country. And it is true that despite huge social changes since the collapse of Communism, and rapid economic growth based mainly on mineral resources, Mongolia is still a land of blue sky,  vast steppes and mountain ranges, inhabited by friendly hospitable nomads, eagle hunters and fast robust horses. As well as talented opera singers! Mongolian was originally written in a complex ancient script that’s something like Arabic but written in vertical columns. This is still in limited use today. But under Russian influence the Mongolia officially adopted Cyrillic in the 1940s and though it does not fit the language perfectly, today Cyrillic is the standard way of writing modern Mongolian. As a language, Mongolian is classed as a member of the Altaic group, having some underlying grammatical similarities to...
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Journey across Mongolian

Journey across Mongolian

By namsraihenderson Comment Closed
This article was first published in The Linguist 57,2 in April 2018. https://thelinguist.uberflip.com/the-linguist-archive/the-linguist-57-2-april-may-2018?p=18 Enkhtuvshin Namsrai explores how the language has developed with each socio-political movement, and what that means for its future AL JAZEERA ENGLISH VIA FLICKR (CC BY-SA 2.0). Since Mongolia opened its doors to the West in 1990, images of Mongolian eagle hunters, riders, reindeer herders and wrestlers have become increasingly familiar. In recent years they have been joined by new impressions: talented young opera singers, huge mines, and Mongolian troops in international peace-keeping forces. Foreign tourism, and the use of Mongolia’s beautiful natural space for various international sporting events, have increased the country’s profile even further. But the local language remains a significant barrier to cultural understanding. Mongolian has evolved over many centuries to bear little resemblance to any other living language. More and more people, drawn by Mongolia’s many charms, are trying to learn the language. While undoubtedly challenging, this can also be deeply rewarding. Modern ‘standard’ Mongolian is spoken by around 3 million people in Mongolia. Various other forms of...
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A Life With Languages

A Life With Languages

By namsraihenderson Comment Closed
In her native Mongolian, Enkhee Namsrai MCIL CL reveals how her career as a language teacher, cross-cultural consultant and translator began as a teenage ‘interpreter’ in Communist Mongolia This article was first published in The Linguist 57,5 (October/November 2018) https://tl.ciol.org.uk/thelinguist#575octobernovember2018/a_life_with_languages My career in languages began early. In Communist Mongolia, I learnt Russian at school. One day, at the local cinema, I was quietly interpreting a Russian-language film into Mongolian for my family when the people behind us asked me to speak up. Soon I was standing on a chair doing my first simultaneous interpreting for the whole audience. I was only 16. I spent holidays with grandparents, who were pastoral nomads deeply rooted in traditional culture and the language that expresses it. This was quite different from the linguistic world of urban life. I was lucky to experience these parallel worlds. From an early age, I became aware of linguistic and cultural...
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