Estonia and language

Did you know that Estonian has no gender nor future tense, but 14 noun cases, three lengths of the consonants and vowels - short, long, and very long, and the way they are used changes the meaning of the word?

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Estonia and language

Do you know Estonia?

In short, Estonia is a republic. Located in Northern Europe by the Baltic Sea, Estonia stretches 350 km from east to west and 240 km from north to south. Sea islands form one tenth and lakes about one twentieth of the nation’s territory. All in all, Estonia’s territory comprises 0.03 per cent of the world’s land area. At the same time, with its population of 1.3 million, Estonia ranks among the smallest countries in the world. Compared to densely inhabited Central Europe, Estonians have plenty of space – the average number of people per sq. km is 30, which is similar to the United States and around twice as high as Finland.

Estonian language

The Estonian language belongs to the Finnic branch of Finno-Ugric group of languages. Estonian differs from its closest large related language, Finnish, at least as much as English differs from Frisian. The difference between Estonian and Hungarian is about as significant as between German and Persian. Along with Icelandic, Estonian is at present one of the smallest languages in the world that fulfils all the functions necessary for an independent state to ‘perform’ linguistically. Teaching, at both primary school and university level, is in Estonian; it is also the language of modern science (molecular biology, astronomy, computer science, semiotics, etc.). Estonian is used in the army, in the theatre, aviation, journalism — in all walks of life. Estonian is the only official language in Estonia in local government and state institutions. Since 2004 Estonian is an official language of the European Union.

Here you can find more information:

Estonica

Wikipedia page

“A dozen questions about Estonia”

“Estonian Language”

Travelling in Estonia:

Lonelyplanet

Visit Estonia

We invite people all around the world to get the taste of Estonian language during the language week 4 – 10 October! Help us to get together 3 million learners.

 

Estonian worldwide!

If you speak, study or teach Estonian, please let us know! On the map you can see everyone who has done so already!

You can also tag all your Estonian-related activities with the hashtag #keelest2020!

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