The vertical Mongolian script in graphic display

The sample shows the Mongolian vertical (downward) script from Luke 1:71-78. At the time of Genghis Khan, Mongolians loaned the script from the Uighurs, who in turn took it from the Aramaic (Syriac). While the Aramaic wrote and read from right to left, the Mongolians turned the page by 90 degrees. It is read from the upper left downward.

Even today, the spelling of the vertical Mongolian script is according to the pronounciation of the spoken Mongolian of the 13th century.

There are approximately 5-6 million people mainly in the northern parts of China (Inner Mongolia and neighboring regions) who are literate in the vertical Mongolian script.

Outer Mongolia (capital Ulan Bator) has made attempts to re-introduce the vertical Mongolian script since the 1990-ies. There, the vertical Mongolian had been abandoned sixty years ago and was  replaced by the cyrillic (Russian) alphabet.

Different scripts and languages require different amounts of space on paper or electronic media. Vertical Mongolian is less condensed than English. Mongolian needs about three to four times more space on paper than English. While English New Testaments are usually printed on 250-350 pages, the vertical Mongolian version requires  1,156 pages.