Because I work with people from all over the world who are trying to learn English, I often get asked by colleagues and just curious individuals how many languages I speak myself. The question is pretty straight forward, right? But when I say that I speak three languages β Lithuanian, English and Russian β the reactions I get lead to some very interesting revelations.
First, no matter which order I list my languages in believe me, I tried! Lithuanian sometimes gets the attention it deserves, but most often, people take the Russian and run with it. Lithuanian and Russian, are they related languages? Because I think they sound the same, sortaβ¦. I suppose, we all tend to draw on what is familiar to learn something new.
A lot more people know where Russia is than Lithuania. Today my mission to highlight some facts about Lithuanian language and to reassure you, that it is an independent language spoken by over 3 million people worldwide as well as give you some interesting facts.
The only two living languages in the Baltic branch are Lithuanian and Latvian. Old Prussian, which is a dead language, used to be part of this branch as well. Due to historical circumstances, a lot of Lithuanians know or at least understand some Russian and in the Vilnius region, Polish as well.
Lithuanian is very old and is related to Sanskrit which is a classical language of India , Latin and Greek. It has retained a lot of archaic elements:. English Lithuanian. Lithuania is a small country, which had to face many difficult decisions throughout history. It is an amazing thing that Lithuanian language has survived at all. During the Soviet times, Russian was the official language of the Soviet Union, and although Lithuanians were able to keep education in Lithuanian, everything from street names to public announcements and media was very much influenced by the Russian language.
