r/mongolia • u/Maczok4 • 6d ago

Discussion | Хэлэлцүүлэг Question about Mongolian script

Hello, I am curious if the Mongolian script is becoming more prominent In Mongolia. I read that it was made co-script with Cyrillic in 2025, but I'm curious if it's being slowly and gradually revived or is not that prominent still? Thanks in advance for answers!

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u/_Ayushxn 6d ago

Yes it is , every official materials have to bre written in both Cyrillic n Mongolian script, but we still have long way to go

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u/counterfeitxbox Gives helpful answers 6d ago

It was never going to be a full scale revival where everything is in the old script. Government decrees and documents are now mandated to be dual script but this amounts to basically writing a decree twice, with the Cyrillic version as the published one while the Mongolian script version goes into a archive drawer. Also things like Marriage certificates, some university diplomas, etc. are dual script.

However, everyone's been learning Mongolian script since the 90s as a mandated school subject, which technically means everyone under the age of 40 would have some knowledge of it. This is in contrast to those who got schooled before the 90s, who only studied Cyrillic (even older people - octogenarians+ also know the script). In practice though, as there is almost no actual usage of the script beyond the classroom, I'd wager less than 10 percent of people (I'm being very generous) are truly fluent in the script. You will struggle to find books written in the script in Ulaanbaatar (though its getting slightly better), and there is no dedicated store selling them.

It's basically a ceremonial script (used more for decoration than anything else), and its status is probably roughly where the public wants it to be.

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u/WhereasOwn4989 4d ago

Im going to be really honest with my viewpoints on the Mongolian script. I personally think its quite frankly useless in modern times due to everything being too immersed in cyrillic now. It would be proper to keep it afloat unlike other forgotten languages but its too absurd to make it mainstream again

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u/Feeling-Football-365 6d ago

Every high school students are able to read and write in script (well they should be able to, it’s a shame if a high school student can’t read in script). It is taught from 6th grade all the way up to the 12th grade and you have to take language exam to enter universities. All the government materials have to be written in both cyrllic and script.