Estonia Languages

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Estonia

Languages

Description

Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,000 outside Estonia.

Estonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family. It is one of the four official languages of European Union that is not of an Indo-European origin. Despite some overlaps in the vocabulary due to borrowings, in terms of its origin, Estonian and Finnish are not related to their nearest geographical neighbors, Swedish, Latvian, and Russian (which are all Indo-European languages), however they are related to the nearby minority Karelian and Livonian languages.

• the Estonian language has borrowed nearly one third of its vocabulary from Germanic languages.
• South Estonian languages are spoken by 100,000 people and include the dialects of Võro and Seto.
• Russian is by far the most spoken minority language in the country. Russian is spoken as a secondary language by forty- to seventy-year-old ethnic Estonians. Russian was the unofficial language of the Estonian SSR from 1944 to 1991 and taught as a compulsory second language during the Soviet era.
• From the 13th to the 20th century, there were Swedish-speaking communities in Estonia, particularly in the coastal areas and on the islands.

The most common foreign languages learned by Estonian students are English, Russian, German and French. Other popular languages include Finnish, Spanish, and Swedish.

Historical records are written mostly in German but also in Russian, Swedish, Estonian, and Latin.

More details on the Minority languages in Estonia

Word List(s)

• 1,000 Most Common Estonian Words
• 1,000 Most Common Estonian Words (Estonian 101) - with audio pronunciations

For word lists and help researching in Estonian records, see:

• Estonian Genealogical Word List
• Russian Genealogical Word List
• German Genealogical Word List
• Latin Genealogical Word List
• Swedish Genealogical Word List

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Estonian employs the Latin script as the basis for its alphabet,

and adds the letters ä, ö, ü, and õ, plus the later additions š and ž.

The letters c, q, w, x and y are limited to proper names of foreign origin

f, z, š, and ž appear in loanwords and foreign names only.

• Estonian Alphabet - Wikipedia
• Estonian Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Language Aids

• MustGo Travel - Estonian (Dialects, Vowels, Consonants, Grammar, Vocabulary, Writing)
• Robert T Harms, Estonian grammar, London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2017 - Available at WorldCat
• George Kurman, The development of written Estonian, London; New York : RoutledgeCurzon, 1997 - Available at WorldCat
• Andres Laas, Estonian Language : 101 Estonian verbs, United States: Preceptor Language Guides, 2015 - Available at WorldCat

Dictionaries

• Word order is considerably more flexible than English, but the basic order is subject–verb–object.
• Estonian - English : Estonian dictionary., [S.l.] [s.n.], 2005 (eBook) - [https://www.worldcat.org/title/estonian-english-estonian-dictionary/oclc/1012534639&referer=brief_results Available at WorldCat}
• Paul Friidrih Saagpakk & Johannes Aavik, Eesti-inglise sõnaraamat = Estonian-English dictionary, Tallinn : Koolibri, 2000 - Available at WorldCat
• Ksenia Benyukh, Estonian-English/English-Estonian dictionary and phrasebook, New York : Hippocrene ; Lancaster : Gazelle, 2002 - Available at WorldCat

Additional Resources

Estonian Language Resources

• Estonian language overview
• Online Estonian dictionary
• Estonian language resources
• Estonian grammar and basics
• Mati Erelt, Estonian language, Tallinn : Estonian Academy Publishers, 2007 - Available at WorldCat
• Urmas Sutrop & Jaagup Roomet, Estonian language, Tallinn : Eesti Instituut, 2000 - Available at WorldCat
• Mare Kitsnik & Leelo Kingisepp, Complete Estonian, London : John Murray Learning, 2019 - Available at WorldCat
• Christopher Moseley, Colloquial Estonian : the complete course for beginners, London : Routledge, 2015 - Available at WorldCat
• Birute Klaas, Sirje Rammo & Maarika Teral, Teach yourself Estonian, London : Teach Yourself, 2006 - Available at WorldCat