Job Discussion Forums

[Woo_Woo_Williamson]

Hello all, has anyone here ever studied at the International School of Mongolian Studies in Ulaanbaatar? Do you know anyone who has?

It seems you can study the language a whole year for a reasonable price. I've sent them a few e-mails looking for more info, but I haven't received a response. I hope they're still in operation.

[Lyov]

I am currently studying Mongolian Language in Mongolian National University. $900 per semester, building is pretty good, (warm at least) instruction is usually good. There are no real text books which can be some kind of problem. Pretty easy to get a visa through the school, getting a job is very easy if your a native speaker. You can rent a place in the student dorms for less than $100 a month, $60 for a shared room but I've heard there pretty poor. Mongolian National U. is a high ranking school, there are cheaper school but from everything I've heard the quality really goes down. Any other question are no problem.

Regards

[Woo_Woo_Williamson]

Thanks very much for the info. I suppose ISMS has gone out of business and I'd have to enroll at a uni anyway.

You mentioned the right kind of price, too. I'm gonna go find their website. Thanks again.

[herman]

Lyov and Woo,

When I was in UB (summer 2003), a Japanese nurse told me there were quite a few Mongolian language schools there, you just have to be there to find them since most Mongolian institutions don't have websites anyways (or if they do, they're poorly maintained).

The Japanese nurse showed me one of the schools, called Nom-Ekhe, which was right next to ESPF (English for Special Purposes Foundation, also International House affiliate). She was very satisfied with them and they do have developed materials. Nom-Ekhe can help you get a study visa quite easily, too. They have courses year round and teach anything from vocabularly building to agriculture, Mongolian folklore, and the Mongolian Script. Tuition is around USD $160-170/month, not including accommodation and food (price probably changed by now). I have their brochure here so if you want more information I can type it all out if you're interested, including contact info.

Lyov, are there really no textbooks at NUM? I thought they have "A Textbook of Mongolian Language" by B.Batbaatar and D.Nyamaa. I bought this for 6500T only and it was developed at NUM itself. I like it very much and only wish I could find a Mongolian speaker in the middle of Indiana .
Or perhaps you have this book but don't find it particularly helpful?

[Lyov]

Herman,

They have books and some of those writers you mentioned are actually my teachers but they don't use the books in class. I don't know why that is. I really wish they would actually because instruction really jumps around. Another thing that is good about the thing I'm doing at NUM is they give you a certificate at the end (assuming you pass the exams, which I'm hoping I will) and then you could study in a degree course at a Mongolia U. (If one were so inclined) I'm just thinking it would look pretty good on a resume to actually have the paper.

Mongolian is really hard though. It makes more mainstream languages seem like a dream. If you speak Russian, Turkish, or Korean you will have definite advantages. If you are white-bread american like me you will probably struggle. Unless your a linguist which I am not. I can tell you more about it if you want.