LingoflyAt the admissions office in Uzbek
The registrar of a university in Tashkent, document submission day in Uzbek. 6 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Assalomu alaykum, men tarix fakultetiga kirishni istayman.» — Peace be upon you; I want to enter the history faculty; «Va alaykum assalom. Mutaxassislikni tanladingizmi?» — And peace to you. Have you chosen your major? The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: the registrar of a university in Tashkent, document submission day. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Peace be upon you; I want to enter the history faculty.
- Va alaykum assalom. Mutaxassislikni tanladingizmi?And peace to you. Have you chosen your major?
- To this office. An application and a certificate are needed.
- Sertifikatimni oldim, arizani hozir yozaman.I have received my certificate; I will write the application now.
Lines one by one
| Uzbek | Translation |
|---|---|
| Assalomu alaykum, men tarix fakultetiga kirishni istayman. | Peace be upon you; I want to enter the history faculty. |
| Va alaykum assalom. Mutaxassislikni tanladingizmi? | And peace to you. Have you chosen your major? |
| Ha, tarix. Hujjatlar qayerga topshiriladi? | Yes, history. Where are the documents submitted? |
| Shu qabulxonaga. Ariza va sertifikat kerak. | To this office. An application and a certificate are needed. |
| Sertifikatimni oldim, arizani hozir yozaman. | I have received my certificate; I will write the application now. |
| Yaxshi. Imtihondan oʻtsangiz, yotoqxona ham boʻladi. | Good. If you pass the exam, there will be a dormitory place too. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Uzbek in this situation?
“Assalomu alaykum, men tarix fakultetiga kirishni istayman.” — Peace be upon you; I want to enter the history faculty. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.