Eastern Asia
Video Chat with People from Mongolia
Mongolia combines one big, fast-growing capital with enormous open space, and the people you meet often have a foot in both. Many live in Ulaanbaatar, while others are in Erdenet, Darkhan or Khovd, or have family in the countryside raising herds and living in gers. Mongolian is written in Cyrillic letters day to day, with the traditional vertical script being brought back into wider use, and Kazakh is spoken in the far west around Ölgii. English is popular among younger adults, and older people often know some Russian.
Ulaanbaatar is on UTC+8, the same clock as Beijing and Singapore, and the western provinces are an hour behind. That puts Mongolian evenings at breakfast time in New York and around lunch in London. Naadam in July, with its wrestling, horse racing and archery, is a reliable topic, and so are Tsagaan Sar at the lunar new year, khöömii throat singing, the horsehead fiddle, buuz dumplings and salty milk tea. Plenty of people follow sumo closely too, thanks to the Mongolian wrestlers who have become champions in Japan.
Mongolia at a glance
| Flag | 🇲🇳 |
|---|---|
| Official name | Mongolia |
| Capital | Ulan Bator |
| Region | Asia · Eastern Asia |
| Official language | Mongolian |
| Currency | Mongolian tögrög (₮, MNT) |
| Calling code | +976 |
| Time zones | Ulaanbaatar Standard Time (Asia/Ulaanbaatar); Khovd Standard Time (Asia/Hovd) |
How to say hello
A few words of Mongolian make a great first impression, even if you switch to English right after.
| Language | Phrase | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mongolian | Сайн байна уу? | sain BAIN oo | Hello, how are you? (polite) |
| Mongolian | Сайн уу? | sain oo | Hi! (casual) |
| Mongolian | Баярлалаа! | bai-yar-lah-LAH | Thank you! |
| Mongolian | Баяртай! | BAI-yar-tai | Goodbye! |
Tips for chatting with people from Mongolia
- Answer "Сайн байна уу?" with "Сайн, сайн байна уу?" (sain, sain BAIN oo), meaning "Fine, and you?" It's the expected back-and-forth.
- Ask whether they went to Naadam this year or who their favorite wrestler is; it's an easy way into sport and summer plans.
- Winters in Ulaanbaatar are seriously cold, so weather is a genuine topic here, not just filler.
- Mongolian names usually pair a given name with a parent's name instead of a family surname, so simply ask what they'd like to be called.
- Mongolian evenings fall in the Americas' morning; our guide to time zones helps if you're juggling clocks.
Only meet people from Mongolia
Omlet matches you Worldwide by default. To meet only people from Mongolia, use the country filter, the only filter Omlet has:
- Open Omlet and press Country on the control panel.
- Search for Mongolia and select it.
- Press Start. Press Next to meet someone else from Mongolia, or switch back to Worldwide any time.
Your first day is free: you add a card through Stripe to start it, and nothing is charged that day. When the 24 hours end, the country filter costs $3 one time, charged to that card, unless you cancel before then in Settings (if you cancel, you can still pick a country until the day ends). It's not a subscription, and it stays unlocked on that device and browser. It doesn't carry over to other devices or browsers, and clearing your browser data removes it. There's one free day per device, home network and card. Payment goes through Stripe, so Omlet never sees your card number.
The filter works both ways, and matching can be slower when fewer people from Mongolia are online. Chatting itself is free, and Worldwide matching never costs anything.
Your own country is detected automatically and shown to the people you meet as a flag.
Neighboring countries
Mongolia borders 2 countries. Curious about the people next door? Meet them too: