Subject: Mongolia Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.31 (April 8th, 1996)
Date: 8 Apr 1996 19:03:39 GMT
X-Access: 16 17 19
Summary: This  posting  contains a list of Frequently Asked
. Questions  (and their answers) about Mongolia, Mon-
. golians   and  the  areas  where Mongolian-speaking
. people live.
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Version: 2.31
URL: http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/mf.html

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<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>
..Mongolia FAQ
</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><H1>
..Mongolia FAQ
</H1>
..Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked
..Questions (and their answers) about Mongolia, Mongolians 
..and the areas where Mongolian-speaking people live.
<P>
..Archive-name: mongol-faq Version: 2.31
<P>
..Anyone wishing to contribute to or improve this document 
..should not hesitate to send the edited part(s) to me, 
..i.e. Oliver Corff,
<ADDRESS>
..corff@zedat.fu-berlin.de or infomong@zedat.fu-berlin.de
</ADDRESS>
..Thanks to Christopher Kaplonski, Peter Crandall, Mingan 
..Choct, Ariunaa, Peter Lofting, Ken Beesley, Wolfgang 
..Lipp, Noreen Palazzo, Solongowa Borzigin, Purevdorj, 
..Darima Socktoyeva, Prof. Dr. Yondon, Mykel Board, Dominik
..Troger, David Methuen, Peter G. Campbell and all others 
..who have contributed by submitting facts, corrections or 
..suggestions on what to include.
<P>
..Nota Bene: This text is distributed in HTML format. If
..you view it with your HTML document viewer then you can
..directly follow the embedded links. The chosen format,
..however, allows reading this text even with an ordinary
..text viewer. If you want to remove the HTML tags then
..simply delete all lines which begin with a HTML tag; you
..get "pure" text then.
<P>
..soc.culture.mongolian FAQ Version 2.31 (April 8th, 1996)
<P>
..========================================================
<P>
..Table of Contents:
<P><H2>
..Introductory Notes
</H2><OL><LI>
<A HREF="#HowTo">
<H3>
..How can I get a copy of this Frequently Asked Questions 
..list?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Sources">
<H3>
..Are there any other sources of information on Mongolia in
..the Internet?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Internet">
<H3>
..Is there an Internet or e-mail link to Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#IDD">
<H3>
..Is there an IDD (International Direct Dialing) telephone 
..link to Mongolia?
</A></H3></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#ShortWave">
<H3>
..Are there radio broadcasts in Mongolian?
</A></H3></LI>
<H2>
..Mongolia - Land, People and Language
</H2><LI>
<A HREF="#Where">
<H3>
..Where do Mongolians live?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Who">
<H3>
..Who speaks Mongolian?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Language">
<H3>
..What kind of a language is Mongolian?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Easy">
<H3>
..Is Mongolian easy to learn?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Dialect">
<H3>
..Are the Mongolian dialects an obstacle for the foreigner 
..learning Mongolian?
</H3></A></LI>
<H2>
..Mongolia - Administrative
</H2><LI>
<A HREF="#StudyM">
<H3>
..I want to study in Mongolia. Where do I establish 
..contact?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#WorkM">
<H3>
..I want to work in Mongolia, e.g. teach a foreign 
..language. Where do I establish first contact?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#StudyIM">
<H3>
..I want to study in Inner Mongolia. Where do I establish 
..contact?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#WorkIM">
<H3>
..I want to work in Inner Mongolia, e.g. teach a foreign 
..language. Where do I establish contact?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#TravelM">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Mongolia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#TravelIM">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Inner Mongolia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#TravelB">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Buryatia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#TravelK">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Kalmykia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Embassy">
<H3>
..Where is the nearest embassy/consulate of Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<H2>
..Mongolia - Tourism
</H2><LI>
<A HREF="#TravelM">
<H3>
..How to travel to Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#LodgeM">
<H3>
..What kind of accommodation is available in Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#TransportM">
<H3>
..What kind of transport is available in Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#SeasonM">
<H3>
..Which season is recommended for travelling?
</H3></A></LI>
<H2>
..Inner Mongolia - Tourism
</H2><LI>
<A HREF="#TravelIM">
<H3>
..How to travel to Inner Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#LodgeIM">
<H3>
..What kind of accommodation is available in Inner 
..Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#TransportIM">
<H3>
..What kind of transport is available in Inner Mongolia?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#SeasonIM">
<H3>
..Which season is recommended for travelling?
</H3></A></LI>
<H2>
..Mongolia - Computing Issues
</H2><LI>
<A HREF="#Encodings">
<H3>
..Is there some kind of "Mongolian ASCII" or commonly 
..acknowledged encoding standard for Mongolian language 
..data processing?
</H3></A></LI>
<LI>
<A HREF="#Computer">
<H3>
..Are there computer programs for processing Mongolian 
..language documents?
</H3></A></LI>
<H2>
..Mongolia - Suggested Readings
</H2><LI>
<A HREF="#Books">
<H3>
..Which book do you recommend as a start?
</H3></A></LI>
</OL><H2>
..Introductory Notes
</H2><OL><LI>
<A NAME="HowTo">
<H3>
..How can I get a copy of this Frequently Asked Questions 
..list?
</H3></A>
..You are holding a copy of this document in your working 
..memory! Save it now. A copy of this document is always 
..kept in Infosystem Mongolei (see below) but here again is
..its URL:
<ADDRESS>
..http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/mf.html
</ADDRESS></LI>
<LI>
<A NAME="Sources">
<H3>
..Are there any other sources of information on Mongolia 
..in the Internet?
</H3></A>
..Yes and No.
<P>
..First the No. There is a number of miscellaneous 
..documents (mainly U.S. government publications) on 
..Mongolia available on the Internet. These documents (not 
..much more than a handful of files) are partially 
..outdated, difficult to find and frequently available on 
..various mirrored sites increasing the confusion.
<P>
..Now the first Yes. In spring 1994, the USENET newsgroup 
..soc.culture.mongolian came into existence. It enjoys a 
..certain popularity, not only among Mongolia specialists 
..but also among other interested persons. This newsgroup 
..(which is not moderated) offers lively discussions on all
..sorts of topics ranging from food to religion, from 
..history to modern politics. Many frequent contributors 
..supply soc.culture.mongolian also with news about current
..events, exhibitions etc.
<P>
..In order to read the news of soc.culture.mongolian, start
..any of the news readers available on your machine (this 
..may be tin, rn, nn, or any other favourite). Following 
..the instructions, it should not be too difficult to 
..subscribe to soc.culture.mongolian since this is a 
..mainstream USENET newsgroup which should be available at 
..any Internet site featuring USENET services.
<P>
..Now the second Yes. The
<A HREF="http://www.bluemarble.net/~mitch/monsoc.html">
..Mongolia Society
</A>
..in Bloomington, Indiana established a WWW home page in 
..Summer 1995. The WWW homepage gives information about the
..Mongolia Society and its activities. The Mongolia Society
..URL is:
<ADDRESS>
..http://www.bluemarble.net/~mitch/monsoc.html
</ADDRESS>
..The author of this site, Mitch Rice, is very active in 
..collecting, bundling and updating Mongolia-related 
..Internet documents, references to other WWW home pages on
..Mongolia and Tuva, gopher servers and single documents on
..Mongolia in the
<A HREF="http://www.bluemarble.net/~mitch/monglinks.html">
..Mongolia WWW Virtual Library
</A>
.., the URL being:
<ADDRESS>
..http://www.bluemarble.net/~mitch/monglinks.html
</ADDRESS>
..In addition, his
<A HREF="http://www.bluemarble.net/~mitch/mongolia.html">
..Mongolia Homepage
</A>
.., the URL being:
<ADDRESS>
..http://www.bluemarble.net/~mitch/mongolia.html
</ADDRESS>
..deserves attention, too.
<P><P>
..Now the third Yes.
<P>
..In November 1993, the first gopher server offering 
..dedicated information on Mongolia started working. It was
..located at Free University, Berlin, Germany, and could be
..reached via:
<ADDRESS>
..gopher gopher.fu-berlin.de
</ADDRESS>
..This gopher server used to offer the Infosystem Mongolei 
..featuring a small but growing collection of articles, 
..maps, legal documents and software related to Mongolia. 
..From early 1995 on, this gopher server was supposed to 
..migrate to a WWW site, but, alas! due to a handful of 
..reasons this aim could not be achieved before spring 
..1996.
<P>
..In its present phase, the
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/">
..Infosystem Mongolei - WWW site
</A>
..is to a certain extent still a mirror of former gopher 
..site but soon the former gopher site will only be 
..recognizable as its root, not as its substance any more.
<P>
..New technologies are constantly advancing and create new 
..opportunities for publishing documents which seemed to be
.."unpublishable" due to technical constraints. The new WWW
..site supports Chinese characters in its documents 
..eliminating effectively the need for dedicated software 
..on the users' side.
<P>
..The Infosystem Mongolei - WWW URL is:
<ADDRESS>
..http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/
</ADDRESS>
..More information on other Asia-related sources which may 
..be important for Mongolia studies can be found at the
<A HREF="http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AsianPages/AsianE-Journals.html">
..ANU - Register of Asian Studies E-Journals
</A>
..maintained by Dr. Ciolek.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="Internet">
<H3>
..Is there an Internet or e-mail link to Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..Yes, there is now the first e-mail link to Mongolia. It 
..came into existence in January/February 1995 and is not 
..yet a continuous (i.e. 24 h/day) operation but it seems 
..to work. It is organized by a commercial service 
..provider, Datacom Co., Ltd. Mongolia. The address is:
<address>
..bataa@magicnet.mn
</address>
..and requests to this address will most certainly be 
..answered by Bataa, the system operator. There are various
..types of service charges. First, one has to open an 
..account which is between US$ 20.-- and US$ 100.-- 
..depending on whether one is a private or an institutional
..user. Then there is a monthly charge (starting with US$ 
..5.-- / month), and in addition there is a volume charge 
..for every kB of data which is 30 cents. Despite these 
..various charges, the operation via e-mail is by far the 
..cheapest because fax and DX telephone costs are 
..tremendous.
<P>
..In addition, the Academy of Sciences has its own 
..connection now (UUCP) to the Internet via Dubna, Russia. 
..The addresses are:
<P><ADDRESS>
..postmaster@icm.jinr.dubna.su
</ADDRESS>
..for the Computer Centre of the Academy, and
<ADDRESS>
..HZH@icmill.jinr.dubna.su
</ADDRESS>
..This is the address of the Institute of Language and 
..Literature, the Director being Prof. Dr. Yondon.
<P>
..There is no public e-mail link to Inner Mongolia at 
..present but the scientists at the Computer Centre of the 
..Inner Mongolia University are working to supply the whole
..university with a backbone which will also have internet 
..access, scheduled to be active by summer 1996 (personal 
..communication to O. Corff in February 1996).
<P>
..By information of February 4, 1996, Buryatia can be 
..reached via e-mail. For first contact, you may 
..communicate to
<ADDRESS>
..root@inov.buriatia.su
</ADDRESS>
..(Communicated by Darima Socktoyeva, February 1996)
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="IDD">
<H3>
..Is there an IDD (International Direct Dialing) telephone 
..link to Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..Yes, there is the possibility to place IDD (International
..Direct Dialing) telephone calls to Mongolia. The country 
..code is ++976.
<P>
..Only a few area codes are known (hopefully this list will
..grow!):
<P><PRE>Darxan...037
Ulaanbaatar..01
</PRE>

..At present the telephone system in Ulaanbaatar is under 
..reconstruction which implies that certain numbers are 
..changed. Ulaanbaatar used to have 5-digit telephone 
..numbers until 1992. Those numbers which then began with a
..2 are usually converted by placing a 3 in front of the 
..leading digit. Other numbers were changed later. Some 
..numbers still retain the 5-digit order.
<P>
..Inner Mongolia can be reached via China. The country code
..is 86, the area code for Huhhot is (0)471 (skip the 
..leading 0 when dialing from abroad). In 1995, there was a
..change in the telephone system of Huhhot, and a "9" must 
..now be included after the first digit. So, a number like 
..454433 becomes now 4954433.
<P>
..Buryatia can be reached via Russia. The country code is 
..++7 but there are two city codes for Ulan Ude: 3012 for 
..6-digit telephone numbers, 30122 for 5-digit telephone 
..numbers.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="ShortWave">
<H3>
..Are there radio broadcasts in Mongolian?
</H3></A>
..Mongolia has a domestic radio service, both wireless and 
..wire, as well as television. Besides the domestic radio 
..service, there is also an international shortwave 
..service.
<P>
..The radio in Ulaanbaatar is mainly based on a 
..wire-distributed system with loudspeakers in virtually 
..every urban househould. In some areas there is only one 
..channel available while other areas feature two channels 
..which are propagated with long waves and detected with 
..very simple sets: two channel buttons, volume control, 
..that's it. If one does not want to listen, one pulls the 
..plug.
<P>
..The 'boxes' (
<I>
..xa&iuml;rcag
</I>
..in Mongolian) were available in the department store but 
..where ever you go you would inevitably run into the soft 
..background of these ever-present voices, especially at 
..offices, workplaces etc. The movie "Argamshaa" has a 
..scene where an empty apartment is shown with just the 
..radio being switched on.
<P>
..Mongolian television is a complex story: the state-run 
..television can mainly be received in Ulaanbaatar, but in 
..recent years many satellite channels mushroomed. It is 
..now possible to watch MTV. Besides these new stations, 
..Mongolian television has also diversified: There is now 
..Ulaanbaatar City Television which even broadcasts on 
..Monday when the state-run television station habitually 
..has its day off. More details on television schedules 
..and broadcast history can be found in an article by John 
..W. Williams,
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/im/Landeskunde/john.html">
..Mass Media in Post-Revolution Mongolia
</A>
...
<P>
..International broadcasts on short wave by Radio 
..Ulaanbaatar can be heard daily in English and Mongolian. 
..The frequencies given here are last winter's schedule 
..but appearantly there are not many changes so these can 
..be tried:
<P><PRE>Time (UTC).Frequencies.Direction
0300-0330:.9960, 12000kHz.Asia
0910-0940:.9960, 12000kHz.Asia
1445-1515:.7530,  9950kHz.Asia
1930-2000:.4080,  7530kHz.Europe and Asia
</PRE>

..The reception is usually fairly weak (as reported 
..repeatedly and backed up by own experience).
</LI><H2>
..Mongolia - Land, People and Language
</H2><LI>
<A NAME="Where">
<H3>
..Where do Mongolians live?
</H3></A>
..Mongolians live in:
<P><OL><LI>
..Mongolia proper, the huge, land-locked country between 
..China and the Siberian part of the Russian Federation;
</LI><LI>
..Southern Mongolia, or Inner Mongol Autonomous Region 
..which politically belongs to China;
</LI><LI>
..Buryatia, direct north of Mongolia proper, south and 
..south-east of Lake Baikal;
</LI><LI>
..An important number of Mongols who are known as Kalmyks 
..live in Russia;
</LI><LI>
..A significant number of Mongolians live dispersed in 
..other Chinese provinces. Some of them form their own 
..nationalities, e.g. the Dagurs, the Dongxiang (Sarts), 
..the Bao'an etc.;
</LI><LI>
..Small communities of Mongols named Moghols live in 
..Afghanistan;
</LI><LI>
..There is also a worldwide somewhat scattered community of
..Mongol scholars, students and professionals living in 
..many countries from [A]merica to New [Z]ealand. About 500
..or more Mongols live in Germany. Many of them came to 
..Germany during the existence of the German Democratic 
..Republic which is now united with the Federal Republic of
..Germany.
</LI></OL></LI>
<LI>
<A NAME="Who">
<H3>
..Who speaks Mongolian?
</H3></A>
..Virtually all citizens of Mongolia proper speak 
..Mongolian. Some do not because they are either of Kazakh 
..or other ethnic origin. Not all ethnic Mongols in 
..Southern Mongolia do speak Mongol, many of them have 
..switched to Chinese. Similar phenomena can be observed in
..Buryatia where many inhabitants speak Russian. The minor 
..communities scattered over China (
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/im/Sprache/Dongxiang.html">
..Dongxiang
</A>
.., Dagur, Eastern Yugur, Tuzu, Bao'an etc.) and 
..Afghanistan (Moghol) speak some very old varieties of 
..Mongolian which have developed into proper languages in 
..their own right. Some of these languages are not well 
..documented. The Kalmyks speak a form of Mongolian known 
..as Kalmyk which even developed its own modified form of 
..writing known as "Tod" or "clear" writing because it 
..identifies vowels and some consonants (k/g, t/d) in an 
..unambiguous manner.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="Language">
<H3>
..What kind of a language is Mongolian?
</H3></A>
..Mongolian belongs to the Altaic family of languages 
..showing structural (and partially lexical) similarities 
..with languages of the Tungusic group of this family (e.g.
..Manju) and the Turkic group of this family (e.g. 
..Turkish). Mongolian has strong vowel harmony: all vowels 
..within one word and even all grammatical particles must 
..be chosen from one of two vowel sets which are known as 
..male and female or back and front vowels. Mongolian has a
..total of seven short vowels. There are also seven long 
..vowels. The distinction between short and long vowels is 
..essential as it alters the meaning: [tos] is "grease, 
..oil" while [toos] is "dust". Besides simple short and 
..long vowels there are also diphtongs which have duration 
..values similar to long vowels. The stress is usually put 
..on the first syllable if all syllables of a word are 
..short; otherwise the stress is put on the first syllable 
..carrying a long vowel. The set of consonants has many 
..constraints: [r] may not occur at the beginning of a 
..word. [f] only occurs in foreign loans and is frequently 
..converted to [p]. [w] and [b] though phonetically 
..different do not form an opposition on the phonological 
..level. The same holds true for [c] and [q] ([c] as 
..[ts]ar, [q] as [ch]ill) as well as [j] (as in [j]eep) and
..[z] (best described as fairly unvoiced [ds]). Both pairs 
..are expressed by the same symbol in Classical writing and
..the development of different phonetical realisations is 
..mainly due to vowel environment and dialect situation. 
..The consonants [k] and [g] are linked to vowel harmony. 
..In words containing back vowels, [k] changes to [x] and 
..[g] becomes [G] (a voiced velar). Beginners frequently 
..confuse the latter with something like a French [r].
<P>
..The grammar is fairly simple: all predicates are put at 
..the end of the sentence resulting in a S.O.P. (subject - 
..object - predicate) structure. There are no subordinate 
..clauses in the sense of Indo-European languages. 
..Attributes are placed in front of the denominated entity.
..Indo-European style subordinate clauses (Relativsatz, 
..etc.) are resolved as attribute constructions. Verbs can 
..be collated to form new meanings or expand or intensify 
..the meaning of the main verb. Verbs occur in two distinct
..categories: 1) the "genuine" or finite verb forms finish 
..phrases, serve as predicates and can be compared to 
..ordinary verbs of Indo-European languages; 2) all other 
..verb forms, be they converbs (modifiers of other verbs), 
..verbal nouns (usually translated as verbs but with the 
..complete behaviour of nouns like the ability to form 
..oblique cases) or the equivalents to participles and 
..gerundial forms cannot be used to finish phrases. As a 
..rule of thumb, a Mongolian phrase usually has numerous 
..occurrences of verbs of the second class but only one 
..finite verb at the end of the phrase. As an exception to 
..this rule of thumb, under certain circumstances phrases 
..may also end with a verbal noun as predicate. All 
..grammatical functions and relations are expressed by 
..suffixes which are "glued" to the end of a root be it 
..noun or verb hence the term "agglutinative language". 
..More than one suffix can be attached to a word: e.g.
<I>
..t&auml;&auml;sh
</I>
.."bag";
<I>
..t&auml;&auml;sh&auml;&auml;s
</I>
.."out of the bag";
<I>
..t&auml;&auml;sh&auml;&auml;s&auml;&auml;
</I>
.."out of his/her bag");
<I>
..bolgoomj
</I>
.."care";
<I>
..bolgoomjto&iuml;
</I>
.."with care" -&gt; careful (as adjective);
<I>
..bolgoomjto&iuml;goor
</I>
.."acting with care" -&gt; doing something carefully (as 
..adverb).
<P>
..Mongolian writing is a fairly complex topic. The 
..traditional Mongolian script is written in vertical lines
..from left to right, very much like an Arab page turned 
..counter-clockwise by 90 degrees. Though this script 
..(called Uighur script because the Uighurs had used it 
..first) has been the main vehicle of written Mongolian, a 
..number of other writing systems have been and are being 
..employed. In 1940, The then Mongolian People's Republic 
..started using a modified Cyrillic alphabet (extended by 
..two vowel symbols, [&ouml;] and [&uuml;], the female 
..counterparts of [o] and [u]. In the beginning of the 
..1990's, Mongolia was considering the return to the 
..Classical script despite the heavy financial and social 
..cost: New schoolbooks had to be compiled and many adults 
..who were born after 1940 must now learn a completely 
..different writing system which does not only look 
..different but which also represents a different 
..historical development stage of the Mongolian language. A
..law was passed to the effect that from 1994 on Mongolian 
..Classical script be the official writing of Mongolia 
..again but one year after this magic date nothing really 
..changed substantially.
<P>
..The repetitive nature of similar endings has strongly 
..influenced traditional lyrics which uses line 
..alliterations and line-internal alliterations as a main 
..element for structuring versed speech. The emphasized 
..beginnings of words thus form a healthy offset to the 
..grammatical suffices.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="Easy">
<H3>
..Is Mongolian easy to learn?
</H3></A>
..From the introduction about the Mongolian language we can
..draw the following conclusions on whether Mongolian is or
..is not easy to learn.
<P>
..Since it is an SOP language its grammar may pose problems
..to speakers of most European languages and Chinese. It 
..should however be much easier for learners with a 
..background in Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Manchu or 
..similar languages.
<P>
..Since the assumptions on word classes ('parts of speech')
..sometimes differs thoroughly from most Indo-European 
..languages, problems may arise in this field (When does an
.."adjective" need declension? Is it really what we call an
..adjective?).
<P>
..The pronounciation does not pose enormous difficulties. 
..Although there are no completely unfamiliar sounds for 
..speakers of most other languages tutoring is strongly 
..recommended during the initial phase of acquiring 
..phonetics and phonology.
<P>
..The Classical writing system should be learned under a 
..teacher's or tutor's guidance - it is sometimes a bit 
..tricky to master it on one's own. The number of language 
..training materials is not overwhelming, dictionaries are 
..only available for a few languages (notably Russian, 
..Chinese and English; but also German and Japanese. See 
..the document by Christopher Kaplonski and Oliver Corff:
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/im/Buch/srom-dic.unx">
..SROMDIC - Suggested Readings on Mongolia - Dictionaries
</A>
..in Infosystem Mongolei) The final key to success is 
..practice, practice, practice. Expose yourself to as much 
..printed and audio material as possible.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="Dialect">
<H3>
..Are the Mongolian dialects an obstacle for the foreigner 
..learning Mongolian?
</H3></A>
..The language[s] in Mongolia and Southern Mongolia are 
..virtually the same: Mongolian is spoken in Mongolia and 
..Southern Mongolia, but it is spoken in its Xalx (Khalkha)
..form in Mongolia but spoken in its Chahar (Cahar) dialect
..form in Southern (Inner) Mongolia. Besides Chahar, there 
..are other dialects: Alashan in the western regions of 
..Southern Mongolia, and the forms spoken in Hulunbuir 
..(eastern part of Southern Mongolia). Nonetheless, Chahar 
..is the quasi-standard of Southern Mongolia.
<P>
..Differences can be found in lexicon, pronounciation and 
..grammar. The differences in lexicon differs mostly in the
..realm of foreign loans: Chinese words are more popular in
..Southern Mongolia (e.g. $ biyanji @ for editor) which is 
..# redaktor @ in Russian-influenced Xalx; both try to 
..re-introduce the genuinely Mongolian term # nairuulagq @ 
... Other words, especially of theoretical and political 
..nature, are often formed after completely different 
..roots.
<P>
..The pronounciation differs in the case that some sounds 
..which were not separated in the Classical Mongolian 
..writing (like [z]) are now pronounced like [z] in 
..Mongolia and [j] in Southern Mongolia. This is a general 
..rule which is influenced by the following vowel, i.e. 
..whether a [i] or something different follows.
<P>
..Grammar is occasionally distinct because elder forms are 
..sometimes preserved in Southern Mongolian speech.
<P>
..In general, it is not too difficult to speak Xalx in 
..Southern Mongolia since Xalx is recognized as the 
..prestigious lingua franca of the International Mongol 
..community. It is however slightly more difficult to 
..understand Chahar if one has only enjoyed Xalx training.
<P>
..The differences are aggravated by the usage of different 
..writing systems. Southern Mongolia keeps using the 
..Classical Mongolian writing (which is very conservative, 
..also for the grammatical endings of verbs etc.) while in 
..Mongolia in the 1940s an extended Cyrillic alphabet was 
..introduced. The extensions were necessary to accomodate 
..the Mongolian vowels [&ouml;] and [&uuml;] which are 
..usually indicated by two dots over o and u in 
..transliterations.
</LI><H2>
..Mongolia - Administrative
</H2><LI>
<A NAME="StudyM">
<H3>
..I want to study in Mongolia. Where do I establish 
..contact?
</H3></A>
..Contact your university. They may already have an 
..exchange program with Mongolia without your knowledge. If
..this fails, contact your national academic exchange 
..service (e.g. the DAAD in Germany or the JFPS in Japan).
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="WorkM">
<H3>
..I want to work in Mongolia, e.g. teach a foreign 
..language. Where do I establish first contact?
</H3></A>
..Here as above it is recommended to contact your 
..university or your national academic exchange service. 
..You are strongly discouraged to go to Mongolia posing as 
..a foreign language teacher if you are not one for 
..purposes other than teaching, e.g. missionary work. While
..in the beginning of the 1990s it was still possible to do
..so, anyone not being sent by an acknowledged academical 
..institution or governmental body must now show 
..certificates proving his/her qualification as a teacher.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="StudyIM">
<H3>
..I want to study in Inner Mongolia. Where do I establish 
..contact?
</H3></A>
..The answer here is the same as above. Only one difference
..must be observed: Politically being a part of China, all 
..programs dealing with Inner Mongolia are usually in the 
..Chinese section or department.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="WorkIM">
<H3>
..I want to work in Inner Mongolia, e.g. teach a foreign 
..language. Where do I establish contact?
</H3></A>
..The answer here is the same as above. Only one difference
..must be observed: Politically being a part of China, all 
..programs dealing with Inner Mongolia are usually kept in 
..the Chinese section or department of the exchange 
..organization or university.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="TravelM">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Mongolia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A>
..You must obtain a visa at a Mongolian embassy or 
..consulate. (See below for a list of embassies / 
..consulates). In order to obtain a visa you must produce 
..an invitation issued by a) a Mongolian private person or 
..b) a Mongolian institution. This may be a university. 
..Once you have entered Mongolia various regulations on 
..registering with police may apply depending on the length
..and nature of your stay. Ask your Mongolian embassy when 
..receiving the visa.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="travelIM">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Inner Mongolia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A>
..You need a visa issued by the authorities of the People's
..Republic of China. Once in China (and Inner Mongolia) 
..you'll be requested to register at a hotel etc. by using 
..the forms available there. Various other procedures may 
..apply depending on length and nature of your stay.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="TravelB">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Buryatia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A>
..You need a visa issued by the authorities of the Russian 
..Federation. Contact your local (usually former USSR) 
..embassy.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="TravelK">
<H3>
..I want to travel to Kalmykia. What kind of travel 
..documentation do I need?
</H3></A>
..You need a visa issued by the authorities of the Russian 
..Federation. See above.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="Embassy">
<H3>
..Where is the nearest embassy / consulate of Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..There are not so many Mongolian embassies and consulates.
..Most of them are accredited for several countries. The 
..following list is very incomplete and remains to be 
..completed with the readers' help.
<P>
..Since it is helpful to use a travel agency's services 
..when applying for a visa this list contains also some 
..information about travel agents. If you miss your 
..favourite agent here then you can send the address to 
..Infosystem Mongolei. The selection here is purely 
.."global" (whatever is submitted gets published).
<P>
..Please note that the addresses, telephone numbers etc. 
..could not always be verified and counter-checked. They 
..may be subject to change without notice. The editor of 
..this FAQ tries to maintain all information in a state as 
..correct as possible but relies on the contributors' 
..accuracy.
<P><PRE>* Embassies and Honorary Consuls by country *


Mongolian Embassy in Australia
There is no embassy in Australia. Australia is
covered by the Mongolian Embassy in China, Beijing.


Honorary Consul in Austria
Mr. Johannes Stiedl
Anhofstr. 65-67
A-1130 Wien
Tel.: ++ 43 1 8773353
.  1724
.  5661


Mongolian Embassy in China
No. 2 Xiu Shui Bei Jie
Jian Guo Men Wai District
Beijing
Tel.: ++ 86 10 532 1203
Fax : ++ 86 10 532 5045


Mongolian Embassy in France
5, Av. R. Schuman
Boulogne


Mongolian Embassy in Germany
Siebengebirgsblick 4
53844 Troisdorf
Tel.: 02241-402727


Au&szlig;enstelle der Mongolischen Botschaft in Berlin
Gotlandstr. 12
10439 Berlin
Tel.: 030-4469320
.       21


Honorary Consul in Hong Kong
Mr. Kwok Shiu Ming
4 Sommerset Toad, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel.: ++ 852 338 9034
Fax : ++ 852 338 0633


Honorary Consul in Italy
Mr. Aldo Colleoni
viale XX Settembre, 37
34126 Trieste
Tel.:  040-362241
Fax    040-363494
telex  461138 CONMON1.


Mongolian Embassy in Japan
Pine Crest Mansion
21-4, Kamiyamacho
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150
Tel.: 03-3469-2088


Mongolian Embassy in New Zealand
New Zealand Embassy and Ambassador in Beijing are
credited for NZ foreign affairs to Mongolia, while
Mongolian embassies in Tokyo or Beijing handle
matters between Mongolia and NZ. See China.


Mongolian Embassy in the United Kingdom
7 Kensington Court
LONDON
W8 5DL
Tel: (0171) 937 5238
Tel: (0171) 937 0150


Mongolian Embassy in the USA
2833 M Street, NW
Washington, DC
Tel: 202-333-7117


Honorary Consul in Switzerland
Stephan Bischofberger
P.O.Box 173
Limmatstr. 35
8005 Z&uuml;rich
Fax : ++ 1 272 7924
Tel.: ++ 1 272 4005

According to the Swiss electronic telephone directory ETV,
Mr. Bischofberger seems to be in charge of a travel
agency named 'Discovery Tours'.



* Selected Travel Agents *

'Mongolian Tourism Corporation of America'
A joint venture between Zhuulchin
and an American travel agency.
Princeton Corporate Plaza
1 Deer Park Drive, Suite M
Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852
Tel.: ++ 1 908-274-0088


NOMADIC EXPEDITIONS
(This one seems to have contact with Zhuulchin, too)
Princeton Corporate Center
5 Independence Way, Suite 300
Princeton, NJ 08540


BOOJUM Expeditions
14543 Kelly Canyon Road
Bozeman, MT 59715 USA
Tel.: ++ 1 406-587-0125
Fax : ++ 1 406-585-3474
Boojum@delphi.com
boojum@mcn.net

BOOJUM Expeditions now have their own URLs:
http://www.manymedia.com/tibet/Boojum.html   or
http://www.gorp.com/boojum/boojum.htm


NOMADIC JOURNEYS Ltd
P.O. Box 479
Ulaanbaatar 13
Tel/fax:  +976 1 323043
Which can be reached from June to mid September every year.
In the winter period reservations for tour operators and
groups are with Jan Wigsten in Gotland:

Eco Tour Production Ltd
Burge i Hablingbo
620 11 Havdhem
Gotland, SCHWEDEN.
tel 0498 487105
fax +46 498 487115
e-mail: janw.nomadic@gotlandica.se
</PRE>

..Beyond the range of the official state travel agency 
..Zhuulchin there are now numerous private agencies 
..operating in Mongolia. Their addresses are occasionally 
..hard to come by but a good source is the World Tourism 
..Handbook.
</LI><H2>
..Mongolia - Tourism
</H2><LI>
<A NAME="TravelM">
<H3>
..How to travel to Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..The principal ways to Mongolia are by train and by air. 
..The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, is connected via 
..the Transmongolian Railway to China and Buryatia. In Ulan
..Ude, capital of Buryatia, the Transsiberian Railway 
..(leading to the Russian Far East, Khabaravosk, Nakhodka 
..etc.) connects to the Transmongolian Railway. Trains from
..Moscow to Beijing run once a week in each direction and 
..take about five days for the whole trip. There are also 
..'local trains' between Irkutsk (&Auml;rx&uuml;&uuml;d) 
..and Ulaanbaatar which take about 24 hours one way. 
..Similar local trains run between Ulaanbaatar and Beijing.
..Since the Transmongolian Railway sports only one track 
..this is a bottleneck for railway traffic which results in
..these one train/week schedules. Prices for train tickets 
..vary between US$ 200 and US$500. It is not possible to 
..state any exact amount because prices fluctuate, the 
..currency exchange rates vary daily and pricing policies 
..create different price tags depending on where the 
..tickets are purchased.
<P>
..The second feasible way to enter Mongolia is by air. Air 
..transport is available between Buyant Uxaa (the 
..international airport of Ulaanbaatar) and Beijing as well
..as Irkutsk, the latter with a weekly connect flight to 
..Moscow (or should I say, it's a weekly flight to Moscow 
..with a stop-over in Irkutsk?). These lines are served 
..throughout the whole year. In summer, there are 
..additional flights to Huhhot (Inner Mongolia) and Japan, 
..the latter being served on a somewhat irregular basis. 
..Past experience has shown that these links were just 
..chartered flights without a genuine "schedule" in the 
..sense of the word. There are about four to six 
..international passenger flights per week connecting 
..Ulaanbaatar and the rest of the world. Links to other 
..Central Asian regions are under consideration or offered 
..on a seasonal basis such as a flight between Almaty / 
..Kazakhstan and Mongolia. A new route has recently been 
..opened between Buyant Uxaa and Seoul, Korea.
<P>
..Only the prices on the Ulaanbaatar / Beijing route are 
..fairly constant: around US$ 150.-- for a one-way ticket. 
..For all other destinations there are wildly varying 
..ticket prices depending on where the ticket is bought and
..whether the client is entitled to special reductions 
..(like being an official student at the Mongolian National
..University).
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="LodgeM">
<H3>
..What kind of accommodation is available in Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..In Ulaanbaatar there are some big hotels. One of them is 
..a monument to Soviet-style luxury and lavishness: The 
..Ulaanbaatar Zoqid Buudal. Located next to the central 
..square, it is ideal for travellers with a not so 
..restricted budget. Price tags start at US$ 60.- (or so) 
..and the two dining rooms are frequently used by external 
..guests when every other supply of food in Ulaanbaatar 
..collapses. The next important hotel (near the Bogd Gegen 
..Palace) is the Bayangol which was thoroughly revamped in 
..1992. Similar standard. The Chinggis Khan Hotel near 
..Sansar (a district name in Ulaanbaatar) has been "due to 
..open soon" since 1991 but did not do so until 1995. It 
..used to be "under construction" and was temporarily 
..managed by the Holiday Inn group, a Korean group (Lotte, 
..I think) until it was finally taken over by a Mongolian 
..enterprise.
<P>
..Small hotels for the traveller with a tight budget 
..include the "Stroitel" (Russian: construction worker) 
..which is north of the Ix Toirog (Great Ring) Road close 
..to the smaller monastery. A Mongolian-Chinese joint 
..venture is the "Manduhai" hotel near the Ix 
..D&auml;lg&uuml;&uuml;r (Department Store). Clean rooms, 
..simple furniture, but nice atmosphere and acceptable 
..price tag. Other private hotels keep opening with the 
..rise of the private sector. These offer similar prices 
..(sometimes starting with US$ 10.-- / day for a complete 
..little flat) but the situations keeps changing so it is 
..difficult to give names and addresses here.
<P>
..In the countryside the situation looks different. In the 
..tourist spots there are ger camps with a complete 
..infrastructure (restaurant gers, shower facilities etc.) 
..and they are quite convenient because they ensure a 
..minimum of reliability for the traveller. Once leaving 
..the tourist paths the situation again looks different. It
..is possible to ask at people's homes (= gers) but one may
..be turned away (already too many people staying there). 
..Prepare for a long demarche to the "neighbour" (maybe 50 
..or 100 kilometers (30 to 60 miles). Never, never forget 
..to bring a reasonably useful and valuable gift. When 
..staying at somebody's home then stick to the following 
..minimal rules regardless how friendly people may appear 
..to you:
<P><OL><LI>
..Check carefully whether your potential host is capable at
..all of accommodating another guest. In order to find out,
..you can check for the number of family members, the 
..situation of the animals, etc.
</LI><LI>
..Never stay longer than one day.
</LI><LI>
..Never refuse ceremonial offerings of tea even if it is 
..salty, etc.
</LI><LI>
..Roll down the sleeves of your shirt/coat no matter which 
..temperature it is. If it is summer and you (and 
..Mongolians) wear a t-shirt, then pretend to roll down 
..your sleeves symbolically when being offered food and 
..drink.
</LI><LI>
..Never accept any offering of food, drink etc. with your 
..left hand. Both hands is best.
</LI><LI>
..If there is only a well, not a river nearby, never abuse 
..it as a bathtub. Water in general and wells in particular
..are precious in this country.
</LI><LI>
..When bringing your own food or drink never forget to 
..offer it to everybody. Never attempt to munch your 
..biscuits secretely. If you can't resist eating your own 
..biscuits then wait until you are on the road again.
</LI><LI>
..Perhaps last in this list, but not least: Show due 
..respect to the dogs and animals of your host. The dog 
..will only respect you if advised by his master to do so. 
..Mongolian dogs are no pets!
</LI></OL><LI>
<A NAME="TransportM">
<H3>
..What kind of transport is available in Mongolia?
</H3></A>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
.."In UB, you can walk, ride the bus, or flag done a 
..private vehicle and negotiate a price. No taxis. I was 
..fairly insulated from that, as my cousin has a car. But I
..did a lot of walking anyway, because I like to walk and 
..the city is a convenient one to walk in. Most of the 
..hotels are near the center of the city, as are many of 
..the sights. The exception is the big market, which runs 
..on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays - it's a bit of a 
..hike from downtown."
</BLOCKQUOTE>
..- Quoted from Peter Crandall's Mongolia Travelogue.
<P>
..Besides that, Ulaanbaatar sports numerous public bus 
..lines which are usually more than crowded but offer about
..the cheapest rides in the world even though the prices 
..went up by a factor of 100 from 1991 to 1995: In 1990, a 
..bus ticket was 0.50t, while in October 1995 it was 50t.
<P>
..Travelling to the country requires going by MIAT, the 
..national air line carrier, or renting a jeep. MIAT 
..flights are fairly irregular (usually only once a week 
..per direction) and may be cancelled completely for lack 
..of gasoline. It may happen that you take a flight to Uws 
..and cannot return for 8 weeks. Renting a jeep is fairly 
..inexpensive and usually includes a driver who is 
..indispensable because this man usually knows the way in 
..the endless steppe. He also has the technical skill to 
..cross rivers, sand dunes etc. A "Camel Trophy" - 
..commercial-like driving style may ruin vehicle and 
..passengers.
<P>
..In the areas closer to Ulaanbaatar (within a 500-km or 
..300 miles range) there are busses available. Their 
..departure takes place in front of the Museum of Fine Arts
..downtown Ulaanbaatar.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="SeasonM">
<H3>
..Which season is recommended for travelling?
</H3></A>
..Summer is beautiful but short. Winter is not recommended 
..if you go beyond Ulaanbaatar. Road conditions, living 
..conditions, nutrition and everything becomes too scarce. 
..A good start is in May. It is still cold but the 
..overwhelming beauty of spring, the mild fragrance of 
..blossoms and the fresh smell of water offer experiences 
..which one will never forget.
</LI><H2>
..Inner Mongolia - Tourism
</H2><LI>
<A NAME="TravelIM">
<H3>
..How to travel to Inner Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..Inner Mongolia can be reached by train and by aircraft. 
..The Transmongolian Railway which leads from Beijing via 
..Ulaanbaatar to Ulan Ude crosses the Mongolian-Chinese 
..border at Erenhot (Erlian[haote]) / China and Zamyn 
..&Uuml;&uuml;d / Mongolia. North of Datong it connects to 
..the Chinese Railway, Inner Mongolian branch leading to 
..Baotou and eventually to Ningxia and Gansu which implies 
..that one can also travel to Inner Mongolia when coming 
..from Lanzhou and Yinchuan. It takes about 10 hours to 
..travel from Beijing to Huhhot and the night train which 
..leaves Beijing in the evening is very convenient as one 
..arrives at Huhhot early in the next morning. Trains go on
..a regular basis (usually every day, sometimes every 
..second day depending on the line) and are fairly 
..reliable. Prices are reliable, too, but the foreign 
..traveller is forced to pay about twice as much as the 
..Chinese citizen. Due to frequent depreciation of the 
..Chinese Yuan no fixed number can be given here but a 
..one-way trip (second class sleeper) from Beijing to 
..Huhhot should be around US$ 40.--.
<P>
..Flights between Huhhot and Beijing go several times a 
..week and last less than one hour. The ticket prices are 
..not very much higher than those of the railway 
..(considering prices for foreigners). Other destinations 
..in Inner Mongolia are also served from Beijing. 
..Up-to-date information on schedules should be available 
..at travel agencies dealing China Airlines tickets.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="LodgeIM">
<H3>
..What kind of accommodation is available in Inner 
..Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..The traveller's situation is governed by more rules here 
..than in Mongolia. Basically, when staying in the cities 
..(like Huhhot etc.) the traveller has no choice but to 
..stay in huge hotels. In the countryside the situation is 
..similar to that in Mongolia but is more difficult to get 
..to the countryside.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="TransportIM">
<H3>
..What kind of transport is available in Inner Mongolia?
</H3></A>
..In addition to railway (from and to Beijing, Huhhot, 
..Baotou, Hailar etc.) there are flights between regional 
..centres and long-distance busses within the regions. For 
..local excursions you can also rent cars with drivers.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="SeasonIM">
<H3>
..Which season is recommended for travelling?
</H3></A>
..See the answer about Mongolia above. Generally speaking, 
..travelling is difficult in winter. The grasslands show 
..their beauty only in summer, and in winter there is 
.."nothing to see" in the conventional sense. On the other 
..hand, since there is "nothing to see" in winter, winter 
..is a good time to go there if you want to see temples, 
..monasteries etc., because at that time you most certainly
..do not have to compete with other tourists for resources 
..like accomodation, transport e.a. In addition, the places
..you're interested in will most probably be fairly empty.
</LI><H2>
..Mongolia - Computing Issues
</H2><LI>
<A NAME="Encodings">
<H3>
..Is there some kind of "Mongolian ASCII" or commonly 
..acknowledged encoding standard for Mongolian language 
..data processing?
</H3></A>
..Unlike the American ASCII code, the Chinese GuoBiao code 
..or the Japanese JIS code there is not yet a national code
..system for the encoding of Mongolian writing be it 
..encoded in its Classical or Cyrillic form. As a 
..consequence, no international standard organization (like
..ISO) could accept a national standard and turn it into an
..international one.
<P>
..The problems we find in this field are of a complex 
..nature and frequently have strong mutual dependencies.
<P>
..Let's look at Cyrillic encoding first. It is not 
..far-fetched to suggest using an existing Cyrillic 
..encoding scheme for encoding Mongolian but not even such 
..a simple idea is without its traps. There is more than 
..one Cyrillic encoding, and some encodings are incomplete:
..they do not include the Cyrillic
<I>
..yo
</I>
..or
<I>
..&euml;
</I>
... In addition, these tables (or code pages) usually have 
..no space to accommodate the additional Mongolian vowel 
..symbols
<I>
..&ouml;
</I>
..and
<I>
..&uuml;
</I>
..which must then be placed somewhere outside the natural 
..order of the alphabet. Several modified code pages of 
..this type exist; implementations available are mentioned 
..below.
<P>
..With Classical writing, the situation is even more 
..complicated. For a long time in history, there has not 
..been one commonly acknowledged Classical Mongolian 
..alphabet (or
<I>
..cagaan tolgo&iuml;
</I>
..); differences can be observed in the number of letters, 
..the sorting order and the treatment of ambiguous letters 
..which have more than one reading for a given shape, like
<I>
..t/d
</I>
... The situation is further complicated by the fact that 
..one given letter may assume numerous different shapes 
..depending on its position within the word. The designer 
..of an encoding scheme has to decide whether only 
..canonical letters (the ones under which one would try to 
..find a word in a dictionary) are to be included or 
..whether all shape variants should be included as well.
<P>
..The next problem arises when thinking of computer 
..technology. The eight bit (one byte) code space of 
..commonly used systems cannot hold more than 256 
..characters of which 128 have been defined already. If 
..both Cyrillic and Classical writing are to be enclosed in
..one common code space, it is only possible at the cost of
..sharing common letter shapes between Latin and Cyrillic 
..characters. There is no other choice if one wants to 
..avoid the switching of code pages in one document.
<P>
..Another problem intimately related to writing is the 
..field of transcriptions and transliterations. The layout 
..of rules for transliterating Classical or Cyrillic 
..Mongolian has many consequences in the field of data 
..exchange, automatic text processing, the building of 
..library catalogues, etc. Some popular systems (e.g. the 
..so-called Petersburg transliteration) use characters 
..which are not readily available on today's computers, 
..and the ones working with reduced character sets are 
..sometimes not popular.
<P>
..Only in recent years (more or less starting with the 
..UNESCO conference on the Computerization of Mongolian 
..script in Ulaanbaatar in August 1992) there has been a 
..genuine international effort to solve these problems and 
..to come up with an encoding scheme that will be accepted 
..world-wide. The Mongolian National Institute for 
..Standardization and Metrology (MNISM), the Chinese 
..National Standard Bureau, other standard bodies of other 
..countries, ISO and UNICODE all have held regular meetings
..during the last years in order to define a standard.
<P>
..So far, no final agreement exists, and there is no 
..software package which could serve as a demonstrator for 
..this future standard. All available software either 
..defines its own code page or relies on ASCII 
..representations of Mongolian which are then converted 
..into Mongolian writing.
</LI><LI>
<A NAME="Computer">
<H3>
..Are there computer programs for processing Mongolian 
..language documents?
</H3></A>
..Yes, there are.
<P>
..Nota Bene: While the editor is happy to offer this 
..information it must be mentioned as a caveat that in most
..cases the editor could neither verify the sources of 
..these programs nor did he have a chance to review them. 
..In addition, not all of the programs are direct 
..competitors: some of them provide 'pure' front-ends for 
..printing systems, other focus on data models which make 
..them useful for text processing, etc. The available 
..programs can be roughly classified as follows:
<P><UL><LI>
..Layout software for Classical Mongolian produced at Inner
..Mongolia University for MSDOS and UNIX platforms. Maybe 
..this is the most complete package one can dream of since 
..it supports everything from different writing styles 
..(Ulaanbaatar vs. Inner Mongol typeface) to different 
..alphabets (including Oirat, Phags-ba etc.) Availability: 
..Yes, but with a high price tag in the four-digit US$ 
..range.
</LI><LI>
..Windows Software by American and German producers. These 
..are usually only font sets which are sold in combination 
..with some exotic text processing software. Does not offer
..full support for correct conversion of text data, etc.
</LI><LI>
..The "Sudar" package of the National University of 
..Mongolia was written in 1991/2 by M. Erdenechimeg. This 
..package runs on a DOS platform, can do both Classical and
..Modern Mongolian and has import utilities for a number of
..encodings. The author is developing a new package at the 
..moment, the support for improvements of "Sudar" 
..supposedly being discontinued.
</LI><LI>
.."Cyrillic only" products for enhancing MSDOS platforms 
..are available at little or no cost in Mongolia. These 
..include printer drivers, screen fonts and keyboard 
..mappers for the extended Cyrillic alphabet. Around three 
..or four different encodings are known under the following
..program names: NCC, MOSLAST, SUNCHIR and MONKEGA. No 
..commercial code converters available, no support for 
..Classical Mongolian.
</LI><LI>
..Research-type programs for MacIntosh machines, produced 
..by the Universit&eacute; de Nanterre but never made 
..publicly available.
</LI><LI>
..One classical font is offered by Ecological Linguistics 
..for Mac systems.
</LI><LI>
..A commercial font package is available for extended 
..Cyrillic by Linguist's Software for both the Mac and PC 
..worlds.
</LI><LI>
..Daniel Kai's XenoType Technologies' Inner and Outer 
..Mongolian TrueType (and Postscript) fonts for the Mac (as
..well as Soyombo, Phagspa) in the computer systems for 
..Classical Mongolian. This system gets good reviews.
</LI><LI>
..MLS - Mongolian Language Support. Originally developed 
..for IBM compatible PCs, now extended to the Unix world. 
..Availability: free. See the
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/im/MLS/overview.MLS.html">
..MLS
</A>
..software section of Infosystem Mongolei. MLS is a MSDOS 
..enhancement featuring support for both Classical and 
..Cyrillic Mongolian. It offers conversion modules, a 
..viewer for text with vertical lines and allows the 
..continued use of (text mode) applications like dBASE, 
..spreadsheets and text processing packages. Windows 
..support is currently under development. Besides the MLS 
..package itself there is the above-mentioned Mongolian 
..text viewer (MVIEW) with on-line conversion from 
..transliteration to Mongol script and a converter from 
..Mongol text to graphics (MLS2PCX) which generates 
..graphics files out of Mongolian language texts. The free 
..packages do not yet contain printer support which is 
..overly due and can be expected soon (says the author of 
..MLS).
<P>
..It should be mentioned that the focus of MLS lies in 
..processing Mongolian language data and providing Internet
..support rather than creating beautiful documents.
</LI></UL></LI>
<H2>
..Mongolia - Suggested Readings
</H2><LI>
<A NAME="Books">
<H3>
..Which book do you recommend as a start?
</H3></A>
..A dedicated document by Christopher Kaplonski -
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/im/Buch/srom.unx">
..SROM - Suggested Readings on Mongolia
</A>
..- is available at "Infosystem Mongolei". This document is
..occasionally updated and gets posted to the USENET 
..newsgroup soc.culture.mongolian. A second document (
<A HREF="http://fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de:8080/~corff/im/Buch/srom-dic.unx">
..SROMDIC - Suggested Readings on Mongolia - Dictionaries
</A>
..) by Christopher Kaplonski and Oliver Corff at the same 
..location reveals information about commonly used 
..dictionaries.
</LI></UL>
</BODY></HTML>

--
Dr. Oliver Corff              e-mail:    corff@zedat.fu-berlin.de
c/o Wuertz    Wielandstr. 20  telephone:   ++ 49 - 30 - 852 93 75
12159 Berlin  GERMANY 
--
Dr. Oliver Corff              e-mail:    corff@zedat.fu-berlin.de
c/o Wuertz    Wielandstr. 20  telephone:   ++ 49 - 30 - 852 93 75
12159 Berlin  GERMANY 
