Intermediate Mongolian I

Catalog description

Mongolian is the national language of the independent State of Mongolia and the language of the nomadic warriors Genghis Khan (known to the Mongolians themselves as Chinggis Khan). It is also spoken in China and Siberia. Today Mongolian musical styles like throat singing (khoomii), products like cashmere (nooluur), and tourism to visit Mongolia's nomadic herders (malchid) are making a mark on the world stage. In this class the students will continue with the basics of modern Mongolian language, as spoken in Ulaanbaatar "Red Hero," the country's capital. They will learn in the phonetic Cyrillic script, which was adapted to Mongolian language from Russian in 1945, with a few additional letters. Intermediate and more advanced grammar will be taught through communicative methodology. Students will also have opportunity to experience Mongolian arts, culture, and cooking in and out of class. This is the first semester of Intermediate Mongolian. By the end of two semesters intermediate Mongolian, students will have learned all the noun forms, and all the major verb forms and will be able to form complex, multi-clause sentences, telling stories, expressing their feelings, and making arguments and explanations. They should be able to interact in all basic "survival" situations in Mongolia.