The official language is Uzbek (a Turkic group of languages). From the very ancient times local people had their own written languages –the Sogdian and the Urhun alphabets up to the 8th century. After the Arab invasion in the 8th century the Arabic alphabet was introduced. It was in use up to 1929. After 1929 there occurred the rapid shift from the Arabic to the Latin alphabet and then to a modified Cyrillic as the official script. Though, nowadays the Latin script is gradually replacing it.

Russian language is still greatly utilised as a means of interethnic communication. However with present Uzbekistan's policies moving toward the West, the knowledge of English has become increasingly common.

The official language of Uzbekistan is Uzbek, but Russian is the most useful for a visitor is still Russian which most adults understand since it used to be everyone’s second language studied in school. The Uzbek language belongs to the family of Turkic languages and during the 20th century a series of linguistic reforms was carried out to replace the initial Arabian alphabet by the Latin script, then by Cyrillic during the Soviet time. After independence in 1991 Latin letters were reintroduced and are in effect now. In some areas Tajik is prevalent.

Younger population speaks some English and especially on historical places there are absolutely no problems with languages.