Most ethnic minorities speak a different language natively; among the smaller groups this is often times a closely related Turkish language, but the largest minority in the country are the native Russian speaker. Due to their Soviet past, it is often times Russian, not Uzbek that is the language of communication between ethnic groups and nearly everyone in the country has at least a basic understanding of Russian. English, French, and other major world languages are less commonly learned in Uzbekistan, although they are growing in popularity.
Religion
Nearly 90% of Uzbekistan's population is Muslim, primarily Sunni Muslim. The ethnic Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Kazakhs tend to practice Islam. Among the last 10% most are Russian Orthodox and most of the ethnic Russian population falls into this category.
Islam (the name of the religion, whose followers are called Muslims) is a monotheistic religion, whose holy book is called the Qur'an. The Qur'an is believed to be the word of God spoken through the prophet Muhammad from 609-632 CE (Common Era is preferred over AD (Anno Domini or "year of the Lord") since the Islamic world doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah). Islam believes Muhammad was the last prophet sent to earth by God, the last in a long line of prophets, which includes Moses, Abraham, and Jesus among others.
Muslims follow five pillars of their faith: testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. These pillars, and other tenants of their faith, can give great structure to their lives as some foods, like pork, are forbidden and every Muslim is expected to pray five times a day. However, the level of participation in each of these pillars and to what degree Islam influences an individual's life varies from person to person and community to community. Generally speaking, Uzbekistan is fairly liberal in how they practice Islam.