Many alphabets have been devised for the
Mongolian language over the centuries, and from a variety of scripts. The oldest, called simply the
Mongolian script, has been the predominant script during most of Mongolian history, and is still in active use today in the
Inner Mongolia region of China and de facto use in Mongolia. It has spawned several alphabets, either as attempts to fix its perceived shortcomings, or to allow the notation of other languages, such as
Sanskrit and
Tibetan. In the 20th century,
Mongolia first switched to the
Latin script, and then almost immediately replaced it with the
Cyrillic script for compatibility with the
Soviet Union, its political ally of the time. Mongols in
Inner Mongolia and other parts of China, on the other hand, continue to use alphabets based on the traditional Mongolian script.