MWW 34: Төгрөг - Part I

Cyrillic	төгрөг
Transcription	tögrög
IPA	[ˈthөk.rөk]
Layman’s Pronunciation	TOOK-rook
Translation	1. Mongolian currency 2. circle
In Genghis Khan’s time it was tögürig.

Presumably, the currency took its name from the word for “circle,” rather than the other way around. The Japanese yen (en in modern Japanese, wen in pre-modern Japanese) also comes from the Japanese pronunciation of a Chinese character (円) referring to a circle, which is yuán in Modern Mandarin Chinese. You wouldn’t guess it from looking at төгрөгүүд (the plural) now, because they certainly aren’t circular. They’re printed on rectangular sheets of paper, just like American dollar bills. But perhaps in the past төгрөгүүд were represented by circular coins.

The exchange rate now, I think, is about 1300 tugrug to 1 US dollar. A tugrug can get you pretty far, most of the time. Here are the prices (with variation) of some items:

	Tugrug	USD
30L of water from a well	20	0.02
a 1-minute phone call	70	0.05
1 buuz in a restaurant	300	0.23
1 egg	400	0.31
a city bus ride	400	0.31
an hour in an internet café	500	0.38
1km in a taxi	700	0.54
a loaf of bread	800	0.62
1kg potatoes	800	0.62
1L milk	1000	0.77
1kg rice	1000	0.77
a bottle of Mongolian beer	1200	0.92
1.5L of Pepsi	1400	1.08
a chocolate bar	1500	1.15
a public shower	1500	1.15
a letter to America	1700	1.31
a tub of butter	2000	1.50
a bag of boov	2300	1.80
1kg of apples	4000	3.08
a haircut	4000	3.08
a box of Frosted Flakes	6000	4.62
a dorm bed in a hostel	6000	4.62
1kg of boneless beef	8000	6.15
1 ton of coal in a mining town (rumored)	8000	6.15
a bus ticket from UB to Tsetserleg	23,000	17.70
1 month’s rent in a ger	50,000	38.46
1 goat	80,000	61.54
a ger	700,000+	538.46

As you can see, most things (especially coal) are cheaper than in America, with a few exceptions - a letter sent to America from a rural area costs 1/3 more than the same letter going the other direction. Contrast this with Japan, where, if I recall correctly, a public bath cost about $5 (although it was much nicer bath).

Ганбаатарын дэлгүүрт найман зуун төгрөгөөр нэг килограм төмсийг авч чадна.

Ganbaatar.GEN store.DAT eight.ADJ hundred.ADJ togrog.INS one kilogram potato.ACC take.PART can.NON-PAST.

Ganbaataryn delgüürt naiman zuun tögrögöör neg kilogram tömsiig avch chadna.

In Ganbaatar’s store, for eight hundred tugrug you can buy one kilogram of potatoes.

Keep going for more on tugrugs...