enrollments query

[STEVE MARDER]

> One is an
anthro major
who spent last
summer in
> Mongolia and
is planning
grad research.
He wants to
> learn Russian
to use as a
lingua franca
in Mongolia
> and the
former Soviet
states in the
area.

I will limit my
comments only
to Mongolia,
where I lived
and worked for
four years.

If the anthro
major plans on
spending ANY
time in
Mongolia, he
would be much
better advised
learning at
least some
MONGOLIAN
rather than
Russian. Since
the breakup of
the Soviet
Union, Russian
no longer has
its former
status in
Mongolia. Many
older
Mongolians
know Russian,
of course,
although the
same cannot
be said of
younger
Mongolians
since Russian
is no longer
mandatory in
the schools.
One final point:
Even if a
Mongolian
knows Russian,
he may be
reluctant to
use it, and
English is very
often a happy
compromise.

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