Lithuanian language
The Republic of Lithuania is a country in Europe that belongs to the Baltic Region (together with Latvia and Estonia), and whose capital is Vilnius. It has a population of 2.8 million inhabitants (138º) and an area of 65,300 km 2 (121º). Its human development index is very high (35º) and its official currency is the euro. But what language is spoken in Lithuania?
What language do they speak in Lithuania?
Lithuania has one official language, Lithuanian.
Due to the Soviet occupation until 1991, a large part of the Lithuanian population speaks Russian, especially people over 35 years of age. Although there is part of the young population that has learned Russian after Lithuanian independence, the percentage is small and they are descendants of Russian families in the country.
Polish , meanwhile, is spoken in the southeastern part of the country, including Vilnius, the capital. In some cities it is even the most spoken language of the place.
The most widely spoken foreign languages are Russian (80%), English (38%), German (14%), Polish (12%), French (3%). English is compulsory in education and, therefore, a large part of the young population (more than 80%) dominates this language.
The Lithuanian language
Lithuanian (lietuvių kalba) is spoken by 92% of the population. It is a Baltic language, quite close to Latvian, although they are not mutually intelligible. It is written using the Latin alphabet with some adapted characters. The theory is held that it is the most conservative language (which has undergone the fewest changes) of all the Indo-European languages.
It currently has two dialects: Aukštaitian (or High Lithuanian) and Samogitian (or Low Lithuanian). The standard version of Lithuanian is based on Western Aukštaitian (Suvalkiečiai). In addition to the pronunciation, which varies between the two languages, Samogitian has many completely different words, as well as different suffixes. An Aukštaitian speaker has some difficulty understanding a Samogitian speaker, and vice versa. There are even some linguists who consider it a distinct language.
The Russian language
Russian (русский язык) is spoken by a large part of the Lithuanian population, although only 12.5% of its speakers are native. The numbers of Russian speakers are declining every year. Part of the older generation that is Russian-speaking does not speak Lithuanian. The native Russian community is made up of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, and other ex-Soviet nationalities.
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