The Mongolian language has its roots in the Ural-Altaic family of languages which includes such diverse languages as Finnish, Turkish, Kazakh, Uzbek, and Korean. Virtually every citizen of Mongolia proper speaks Mongolian or one of several Mongolian dialects . The khalkha (Halh) dialect, spoken by about 90% of the population, is recognized as the prestigious "language of choice" among the International Mongol community.