Languages of Estonia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Languages of Estonia [1]
Official language(s) Estonian
Regional language(s) Võru, Setu1, Mulgi, Tartu, Insular, Western, Central, Eastern, Northeast Costal, Vironian
Minority language(s) Russian, Finnish, Swedish, German
Main foreign language(s) Russian (66%)
English (46%)
German (22%)

Contents

[edit] Estonian

Estonian is the only official language of Estonia.

[edit] Dialects

[edit] North Estonian

  • Central
  • Western
  • Insular
  • Eastern
  • Northeast Costal

[edit] South Estonian

Võru has a subdialect Setu, although some consider it a separate language.

[edit] Russian

There are towns in Estonia with large concentration of Russian-language community and there are towns where Estonian-language speakers are in minority (especially in North-East of Estonia). The Estonian government is working hard to integrate Russians to Estonia.

[edit] German

Main article: Baltic Germans

[edit] Swedish

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf
Main article: Estonian Swedes