Languages of Uzbekistan: Uzbek, Russian and How to Read the Signs

Your train ticket says Toshkent, the board at the station says Samarqand, and the hotel in Bukhara writes its address as Buxoro. Nobody has misspelled anything. This is Uzbek in its Latin alphabet, and once you know four or five letters, the whole country becomes easier to read.

We are a tour operator in Tashkent, and this is the question guests ask us before almost every trip: which language do people speak here, and will English be enough? Below is the short answer, then the longer one: Uzbek, Russian, the languages you will hear in Samarkand and Nukus, how to read a sign, and the dozen words that open doors.

Which languages are spoken in Uzbekistan

The state language is Uzbek. It became the state language by law on 21 October 1989, almost two years before independence, and since 2019 that date has been marked as a holiday, the Day of the Uzbek Language. If you are here in late October, you will see it on posters and school stages.

Uzbek belongs to the Turkic family. If you speak Turkish or Kazakh, you will catch familiar words, though not whole sentences. Russian has no official status, yet in Tashkent and the other big cities it is still widely understood and you will hear it in shops, offices and taxis. In the Republic of Karakalpakstan, in the north-west, Karakalpak is a state language alongside Uzbek. And in Samarkand and Bukhara you will hear Tajik, a form of Persian, in the old quarters and at the bazaar.

So, will English be enough? In hotels, at museum ticket desks, in many restaurants in the four main cities and among young people, usually yes. With a taxi driver, at a market stall or in a village, often not. That gap is easy to close, and the rest of this guide shows how.

Uzbek: how to read signs and tickets

Uzbekistan adopted a Latin alphabet for Uzbek by a law of 2 September 1993, after more than fifty years of Cyrillic. Before 1928 Uzbek was written in Arabic script, then briefly in Latin, and from 1940 in Cyrillic. That is why today you will see both: street names, train tickets and official sites in Latin; many shop signs, menus and newspapers still in Cyrillic.

A few letters do most of the work:

• X is a throaty «kh»: Xiva is Khiva, Buxoro is Bukhara.
• Q is a «k» pronounced deep in the throat: Samarqand, Qarshi.
• O sounds close to the «o» in «hot», which is why Toshkent is said almost like Tashkent.
• O‘ and G‘ carry a small apostrophe: o‘ is a rounder «o», g‘ is a soft, gargled «gh», as in Farg‘ona, the Fergana Valley.
• Sh and Ch are read as in English, and J as in «jam»: Jizzax.

This matters in practice. Train and plane tickets, the departure boards at stations and the names in taxi apps use the Latin spelling, so it helps to recognise Buxoro, Xiva and Urganch at a glance.

Russian: the language of the big cities

Russian is the second language you are most likely to hear, especially in Tashkent. Many menus in city restaurants are in Uzbek and Russian, some also in English. Older taxi drivers and shopkeepers often switch to Russian when they see a foreigner, because they expect you to know it rather than Uzbek.

You do not need to speak Russian for a trip. But being able to read Cyrillic letters, even slowly, helps with menus and shop signs in the cities. Ten minutes with the alphabet before the flight is time well spent.

Tajik and Persian in Samarkand and Bukhara

For centuries, Persian was the language of poetry, science and the court across this region, next to Arabic, the language of religion. You will meet it on the buildings: many of the inscriptions on the madrasahs and mausoleums of Samarkand and Bukhara are in Arabic and Persian. In both cities you will also hear Tajik, the modern form of Persian spoken here.

Alisher Navoi and the roots of Uzbek

The literary ancestor of Uzbek is Chagatai, the Turkic language of the Timurid courts. Its great poet was Alisher Navoi (1441–1501), who wrote in both Turkic and Persian. In 1499 he wrote a treatise comparing the two, «The Judgement of Two Languages», to show that Turkic could carry great poetry as well as Persian. Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty, wrote his memoirs, the «Baburnama», in the same Chagatai Turkic.

You will see Navoi everywhere: streets, a theatre, a cinema palace and a metro station in Tashkent carry his name. At Alisher Navoi station, ceramic panels show scenes from his poems, a good stop on a ride on the Tashkent metro.

Karakalpak in Nukus and the north-west

Karakalpak is a Turkic language too, close to Kazakh. It is written in its own Latin alphabet, with letters such as á, ó and ú that Uzbek does not have. In Nukus you will see it on signs and in the museum labels; in the Savitsky Museum, look for the halls of Karakalpak jewellery, costume and woven yurt bands. People in Nukus also speak Uzbek and Russian, so you will not be lost.

English and guides

English is growing fast, above all among students and people who work with visitors. In our tours the guide speaks your language and is already included in the price, so the language question mostly matters for your free evenings and the moments you go out on your own.

For those hours, a translation app with Uzbek and Russian on your phone, a hotel card with the address in Latin script and a taxi app with the address typed in are enough. We list the ones that work here in useful apps for Uzbekistan. If you would like someone beside you in a city for a day, see how a private guide works with us.

A dozen Uzbek words that open doors

Nobody expects a visitor to speak Uzbek. That is exactly why a few words work so well: say «rahmat» to the woman selling bread at Chorsu and watch her face change.

• Assalomu alaykum — hello (the polite greeting); salom — hi.
• Rahmat — thank you; katta rahmat — thank you very much.
• Iltimos — please.
• Ha / yo‘q — yes / no.
• Kechirasiz — excuse me, sorry.
• Qancha? — how much?
• Mazali — delicious, the best compliment to any cook.
• Choy, non, suv, osh — tea, bread, water, plov.
• Xayr — goodbye.

Greetings come with a gesture: men often put the right hand on the heart. More on everyday customs is in what to wear and how to behave in Uzbekistan. A good place to use all of these words at once is a dinner with a local family in Bukhara.

In short

• Uzbek is the state language (since 21 October 1989); Russian is widely understood in the cities; Karakalpak is a state language in Karakalpakstan; Tajik is heard in Samarkand and Bukhara.
• Learn five letters of the Uzbek Latin alphabet (x, q, o‘, g‘, sh/ch) and you can read tickets, station boards and street names: Buxoro, Xiva, Samarqand.
• English works in hotels, museums and many city restaurants; for taxis and markets, use apps and a hotel card with the address.
• In our tours the guide speaks your language and is included in the price. To plan a route, start with the 8-day classic tour or a day in the capital on the Tashkent highlights tour.
• Say «rahmat». It costs nothing and is always remembered.