Сайн уу, сонин юу байна? (Hello, how are you?) I’m on my second week of studying Mongolian. Thanks to sponsorship from Language Trainers, I have a private tutor, Animaa. We meet Mondays at 3PM my time (Pacific). That’s 6AM on Tuesday for Animaa in Ulaanbaatar. On the first day, I was hooked. When I’ve had time to gain a deeper understanding of the learning process, I’ll write a more technical blog post. (I’ll probably share it on my Wild World of Research site.) Because I’m learning Mongolian for the Mongol Derby, I will share this first post here, where I focus on horses.
Mongolian will be my fifth attempt to learn foreign language. I became fluent in Spanish. My French was decent at one time (four semesters of intensive French, plus use in France). I made it through one semester of German twice, a basic course at Georgetown and an intensive one at Humboldt State 16 years later. (My German is mainly limited to lieder.) And I spent a semester studying Catalan while under the delusion that I would be completing a year at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Mongolian is more difficult than all of them put together!
Above: The Mongolian alphabet. I really should have introduced myself to Cyrillic before my first lesson! The Mongolian additions are 17 () and 23 ()–both vowels. Their sounds are absent in Russian. Not all of the others are the same. This site seems to explain it well: TalkPalAI. (But it’s AI so don’t trust!)
My First Lesson in Mongolian
On June first I had my first lesson. It was very confusing. I had done absolutely nothing to prepare. (Terrible. I advise my own students to get a headstart!) My tutor Animaa and I had exchanged emails to set up the lesson, but that’s all. Mongolia uses Cyrillic (I knew this) and I had no knowledge of Cyrillic (knew this too). Animaa knew I was learning Mongolian for the Mongol Derby, but that’s it.
We stumbled through a first lesson that involved the basics.
The Mongolian Alphabet
I learned that Mongolian adds some characters to the Cyrillic adopted from Soviet Russia (see image above). To my inappropriate amusement, I learned that Mongolian has feminine (or front) vowels (Э, И, Ө, Ү) and masculine (or back) vowels (А, О, У), and they cannot be in the same word. There are also six supporting vowels (Й Ы Я Е Ё Ю) that can mix with masculine or feminine vowels.
By the time we were 15 minutes into the lesson, I realized I needed to learn Cyrillic ASAP. It is very difficult to hear the separate sounds. I kept asking Animaa where my tongue should go, but I don’t believe she understood why.
Having learned other foreign languages gives me unique advantages and challenges. The advantages include the fact that I understand how important it is to know what to do with my tongue when speaking, and I am good at language pattern recognition. Disadvantages include the fact that Animaa cannot depend on me interpreting a phonetic spelling in the way she seems to expect. Her expectations seem to be based on English, although she also speaks Japanese.
Greek Upsilon (Y) does seem to get around
In Spanish, y is pronounced “i griega.” (“i” = ee = /iː/.). Turns out /iː/ (ee) in Cyrillic is И. And Й is /iː/-Grec or И краткое. A linguist could explain this to me. I just take note of patterns. People really don’t like staying in one place.
Age and formality
In Mongolia, age seems to determine form of address. (From what I can tell with my limited knowledge.) The formal Та is used for older people (including older siblings). Чи (chi) is used for younger people and those of your age.
There are also more or less formal ways to speak, apart from age differentiation. A lot to learn here.
Some potentially useful stock phrases from Lesson 1
- Намайг Жессика гэдэг. (My name is Jessica. Although it’s more like name-jessica-is. Jessica = Жессика.)
- Таны нэрийг хэн гэдэг вэ? (What is your name?)
- Таны бие сайн уу? (How are you? using formal Та/Таны – Tanii)
- Informally, no pronoun: Сайн уу??
- Би сайн. (I’m fine.)
- Та хаанаас ирсэн бэ? (Where are you from, using the formal Та. For younger people, you would simply substitute Чи for Та.
- I don’t think I’ll be using this. Afterall, everyone with whom I will need to use Mongolia will be from Mongolia… but I will need to understand it!
- Би Америкаас ирсэн. (I am from America; I – America with the “from” suffix — come from.)
- Би (bi/be) = I.
- Animaa said most people wouldn’t have hearad of California. I asked her how to say I am from a rural ranching area, and she gave me “Би Америкийн мал аж ахуй эрхэлдэг нутгаас ирсэн.” (I am from an American livestock-farming region.) When I asked her to make sure this blog post was accurate, she gave me an alternative: “Би Америкийн хөдөө, мал аж ахуйн бүс нутгаас ирсэн.”
- Та юу хийдэг вэ? (What is your job?)
- Би багш. (I am a teacher/professor.)
Need more info on:
Animaa also taught me how to ask people’s age, which appears not to be impolite in Mongolia, and how to answer. But I don’t know numbers yet, and I probably won’t be asking people how old they are. I will need to be able to ask how old a horse is though!
She also taught me Таны сонирхол юу вэ? (What are your hobbies?) Again, doesn’t seem too useful, but I did learn how to answer “Морь унах.” Animaa translated that as “I ride a horse.” The first word (Морь) means horse. Her phonetic spelling of it is “mori” but that is deceptive. The final character is silent, so it sounds more like “mor” or (to me) “mer.”
Above: Horses in Mongolia. Photo captured by the Equestrianists during the 2025 Mongol Derby Pre-Race Training Day 2.
Lesson 2 introduced handy phrases about horses (Морь)
I was much more prepared for my second lesson. Every day I had set aside 20+ minutes for learning Cyrillic. I had listened to a great podcast on Spotify (Mongolian Made Easy) for hours. To be clear, I did not progress much. I just repeated Episodes 1 and 2 over and over again! I had listened to Mongolian music. To the probable dismay of my friends, I had begun greeting people in Mongolian…
But I was still woefully lost when listening to Animaa!
We started by reviewing Lesson 1, then added to that. I’ll share some phrases that could prove useful for someone in Mongolia for the Mongol Derby.
Basics
Yes: Тийм. (Tiim)
No: Үгүй. (Ugui.) As I understand, adding Үгүй to a word makes it negative.
I understand: Би ойлгож байна (Bi oilgoj baina).
I don’t understand: Би ойлгохгүй байна (Bi oilgokhgui baina). Notice the addition of gui (гүй) changed it into a negative.
Please speak slowly: Удаан ярина уу (Udaan yarina uu). or Удаан яриарай (Udaan yariarai). уу = please. яриарай = speak. Удаан = slowly. (At least, I think so!)
Please say it again: Дахиад хэлнэ үү
(Dakhiad helne uu) or Дахиад хэлээрэй (Dakhiad heleerei). Дахиад = again. хэлээрэй = tell me. хэлнэ = say.
Thank you: Баярлалаа
(Bayarlalaa.)
You’re welcome: Зүгээр ээ (Zugeer ee).
About horses!
Where is the horse? Морь хаана байна? (Mori khaana baina?)
Which horse? Аль морь вэ? (Al mori ve?)
Is this horse ready? Энэ морь бэлэн үү? (Ene mori belen uu? belen uu becomes belnuu)
Can I ride this horse? Энэ морийг унаж болох уу? (Ene moriig unaj boloh uu?)
Essential for the Mongol Derby
Where is water? Ус хаана байна? (Us khaana baina?)
Where can I sleep? Би хаана унтаж болох вэ? (Bi khaana untaj bolokh ve?)
I’ll be making a list of useful phrases and will add later!
Other resources for learning Mongolian
As soon as I said good-bye to Animaa that first day, I started looking for resources. There was no way that one lesson a week was going to be sufficient. (I could have chosen two lessons a week, but I know from cognitive psychology that spaced practice is better.)
Learning Cyrillic
The first thing I did was find an app to learn Cyrillic: Write it! Russian. It lacks some Mongolian characters, but it is very useful. I have learned all the characters with the free version, no problem.
Music!
One of the best ways to learn a foreign language is to listen to music as you read the lyrics. I improved my Spanish pronunciation tremendously thanks to Mecano and Danza Invisible back in the day. Of course, it’s much more difficult with Mongolian, because I have to learn Cyrillic well first!
Above: This was one of the first videos I listened to, and I just loved the sound. The throat singing is impressive.
My friend Amy teaches AP World History. She told me her students enjoyed listening to The Hu when they studied the Mongol Empire. I’ve added them to my listening list.
Above: The Hu’s Wolf Totem was the song Amy linked to get me hooked. I had just interviewed Doniga Markegard at the time, who will be participating in the Blue Wolf Totem event in Mongolia. Curious coincidence!
Meanwhile, Animaa sent me links to three videos that are a bit tougher to get, but I am working on them!
Above: One of the videos Animaa suggested I watch for musical culture and aid in learning Mongolian.
Language Apps
I have only recently begun downloading language apps (not counting Write it!). Animaa suggested the Ling app. It’s well-reviewed, but it will cost me $80/year. I’m going to try the free trial next week. I plan to use GerTrainer as well, because it is recommended for expats.
Other ways to immerse myself in Mongolian
As mentioned above, I’ve gained a rudimentary understanding of Cyrillic with the Write it! Russian app. I am also obsessively listening to the Mongolian Made Easy podcast on Spotify. It’s very useful; highly recommended!
I bought a used copy of Lonely Planet’s Mongolian Phrasebook. Though I prefer physical books, I bought the Kindle version of the Mongolia Travel Guide in interests of saving space. (Amazon affiliate: I get a 1-2% commission if someone purchases through those links). I have always loved Lonely Planet travel books.
And just reading everything I can find about Mongolia… Of course, I have limited time right now, but I’ve got 13 months before I head to Ulaanbaatar. I’ve got time!
Mongolian horse proverbs
I’m going to end with a couple of entertaining proverbs. Unsurprisingly, there appear to be many idioms about horses in Mongolian. I am far from understanding them yet, but here are a few I want to become familiar with.
Ам алдвал барьж болохгүй. Агт алдвал барьж болно.
I love this: It’s translated in various places as “If you lose your mouth, you can’t catch it. If you lose your horse, you can catch it.” I’d understand it as you cannot take words back, but you can catch a loose horse. Or you can reclaim a horse if you let it go, but you can never unsay words.
I was a bit confused because “Морь” does not appear in the Mongolian. Some google-translation clarified that “Агт” means gelding specifically. (I wonder how stallions are gelded in Mongolia?)
Aside:
I always have Claude AI review my blog posts before publishing, checking for typos, coding errors, etc. The AI commented: “I wonder how stallions are gelded in Mongolia?” — charming aside but slightly non-sequitur; the question you probably mean is whether gelding is common practice there, not the method.”
I clarified that actually I did mean the method. The AI took it upon itself (read my commentary on AI and agency) to answer the question, in the words of Mongolian Ways:
Depending on the number of colts to be castrated, several households may participate so the procedure can be completed within a day. One of the removed testicles is pierced with a knife, a rope is inserted and fastened to the new gelding’s tail, with the belief that once the testicle has dried, the wound will completely heal. The remaining testicle is cooked in the ashes and eaten by men to attain the vitality of the stallion.
This appears to come (possibly word for word) from a great travel blog post (link to post: Mongolian Horse Culture). I’ll definitely be perusing that blog!
Ажил хийж хүн болдог. Ар давж хүлэг болдог
This is translated as “Becomes a human after working. Becomes a horse after going over and behind a mountain.” on a Mongolian proverbs page. хүлэг appears to be another word for horse. Or possibly knight (I’d guess steed). Google translates it thus: “By working, you become a man, and by overcoming obstacles, you become a knight.”
I guess that it means that a human becomes worthy by working hard and a horse becomes worthy by being capable of crossing mountains. As an endurance rider, I find this especially appealing.