How to read and say Mongolian

The Mongolian language is somewhat challenging to pronounce. There are a few sounds that are unknown to native speakers of English, and the language employs vowel harmony. English does make similar distinctions – consider the "a" sounds of father (back) and cat (front), or the difference in the "i" sound for bit (short) and beat (long) – but you will need to pay extra attention to it in Mongolian.

Vowels

А

like "a" in art

Э

like "i" in bit

И

like "ee" in beet

О

like "o" in off

Ө

somewhat like the German ö, similar to e in her, but rounded (transcribed eu )

У

somewhat like "o", as in boat

Ү

like "u", as in boot

Except for и, long vowels are written doubled (аа, ээ, оо, өө, уу, үү). They are pronounced just like the short vowels, but longer. <ий> and <ы> both represent long /i/ and are pronounced the same: as a longer и.

Vowel pronunciation guide

In Mongolian, the stress always falls on the first long vowel or diphthong of a word. If there are no long vowels or diphthongs, then stress falls on the first syllable. Loanwords can be exceptions to this rule.

If the first syllable of a word contains a short vowel, the vowel will be pronounced as it is written. Short vowels after the first syllable of a word will typically be dropped from pronunciation. Meanwhile, long vowels in the first syllable of a word are pronounced as written, while long vowels after the first syllable of a word are pronounced as if short. Essentially, the first syllable of a word can have long or short vowels, while later syllables only allow short vowels (phonetically speaking).

Let us take a look at the phrase Сайн байна уу. The first word of the phrase "Сайн" will be pronounced as (sain), whereas the second word of the phrase "байна" won't be pronounced as (bai-nah). It will be pronounced as (bain) instead.

Here are a few other examples:

Амархан: This word is pronounced as (Amr-Khn). The short vowels in the second and third syllables will not be pronounced.

Үндэстэн: This word is pronounced as (Un-ds-tn). The short vowels in the second and third syllables will not be pronounced.

These pronunciation rules can be challenging to grasp at first, but with time and practice, you will gradually get the hang of it.

Consonants

ч

the "ch" in chat

ж

the "j" in jewel

х

the "h" in hug

ш

the "sh" in shoe

ц

the "zz" in pizza

з

the "ds" in ads

л

a voiceless "l". Like the "ll" in Welsh.

If a word-final "n" is followed by a vowel, the vowel is silent and the "n" is pronounced like the English "n". For example: байна is actually pronounced "bain".

If an "n" is followed by a consanant or comes at the end of a word, then it is pronounced "ng". For example: Ulaanbaatar is pronounced "Ulangbatar".

Common diphthongs