Slovenia:
The Country and Its Languages - Part 2
Slovene is an
Indo-European language and is the official language of Slovenia.
The
Slovene Language
Slovene is an
Indo-European language and is the official language of Slovenia: it uses the
Latin alphabet. The Slovene language is a rare and unique language in that it
uses dual grammatical forms as well as the plural and singular.
An
Unusual and Unique Language
In Slovenia, the Slovene
language has played a large role throughout its history, and today it’s still
considered one of the foundations of national identity. It’s always managed to
retain its special linguistic features (despite various influences) with the
most unusual feature being the preservation of the dual form. This refers to
the grammatical number used for two things (or people) in all inflected parts
of speech. Together with Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian and Croatian (and even
though it has many features in common with the West Slavic branch) this
language is classified within the South Slavic branch of the Slavic languages.
The
Slovene Alphabet
Geographically, the
territory of Slovene lies in one of Europe’s most complex linguistic areas, an
area where Slavic converges with Germanic, Romance, and Finno-Ugric. In the
areas of morphology, lexicology, and phonology (and when compared to most of the
other Slavic languages) the Slovene language has a number of characteristic
features. Slovene uses 25 Latin letters to orthographically represent its 29
phonemes, including three with a wedge - č,š,ž.
Even though this
language is limited to a small number of speakers in a relatively small
territory, dialectologists have determined that there are up to fifty clearly
defined dialects, and these are divided into six regional groups, namely –
Upper Carniolan, Lower Carniolan, Carinthian, Littoral, Styrian, Rovte, and
Pannonian.
Today, there’s a growing
interest in Slovene as a foreign language, and Slovene is taught at many
universities around the world.
Did
you know that…
- The Slovene language is
generally considered one of the most archaic languages in Europe.
- In 1550, the first book in
Slovene titled The Catechism, was published. It was written by a
Protestant parson by the name of Primož Trubar during the Reformation
period: Trubar is considered the father of the Slovene literary language.
He wrote in the language spoken in the City of Ljubljana, combined with
elements of dialects of the Gorenjska and Dolenjska provinces – thus
creating the standard Slovene.
- Jurij Dalmatin translated the
Bible into Slovene in 1584. Slovene was the 12th language in the world to receive
a Slovene translation of the Bible.
- People of Slovenia who live in
opposite parts of the country could well have difficulties understanding
each other because this is a language with up to 50 dialects in 7 dialect
groups – namely, Gorenjska, Panonska, Primorska, Dolenjska, Rovtarska,
Štajerska, and Koroška. This variety of languages is the result of
historical, political, geographical, social, and other factors.
- Because it’s a Slavic language,
it means that anyone who speaks Slovene is only one step away from 400
million speakers of these languages.
- One Hour Translation can handle
all your Slovene translations.
Contact us today!
Some
Slovene Words and Phrases with Their English Translation
Dobro jutro - Good
morning
Dober dan - Hello
Nasvidenje - Goodbye
Dober večer - Good
evening
Kje je stranišče? -
Where is the toilet?
Koliko stane? - How much
(does this) cost?
Prosim, hvala -
Please/thanks
Letališče - Airport
Koliko je ura? - What's
the time?
Pošta - Post office
Hotel - Hotel
Bolnica - Hospital
