Lithuanian language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lithuanian
Lietuvių kalba
Native to	Lithuania
Region	Europe
Native speakers	2.96 million (Lithuania) 170,000 (Abroad) 3.13 million (Worldwide)  (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Baltic Eastern Baltic Lithuanian
Dialects	Samogitian, Aukštaitian
Writing system	Roman script
Official status
Official language in	Lithuania  European Union
Recognised minority language in	Poland
Regulated by	Commission of the Lithuanian Language
Linguasphere	54-AAA-a
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The Lithuanian language is a special language spoken mainly in Lithuania. It's one of the oldest languages still used today! You can also find people speaking Lithuanian in other parts of Europe, the Americas, and Australia.

Lithuanian and Latvian are the only two languages left from the Baltic language family. They share many similarities. However, Lithuanian has kept more of its original words and hasn't borrowed as much from languages like German. Long ago, it was influenced by Slavic languages, but a smart language expert named Jonas Jablonskis and others worked to replace those borrowed words with true Lithuanian ones around 1920.

What Makes Lithuanian Unique?

Lithuanian is known for being one of the oldest living Indo-European languages. This means it has kept many features from a very ancient language that was spoken thousands of years ago. Because of this, language experts find it very interesting to study. It's like a living fossil of language!

Main Dialects of Lithuanian

Lithuanian has two main ways of speaking, called dialects:

• Samogitian: This dialect is mostly used in the western part of Lithuania.
• Aukštaitian: This dialect is more widely used across the whole country. It's sometimes called the "High-landers' dialect."

The standard Lithuanian language that people learn and use in schools and official settings comes from the West-Aukštaitian dialect.

The First Lithuanian Book

The very first book ever written in Lithuanian was called Katekizmas. It was written by Martynas Mažvydas and was published in East Prussia in the year 1547. This was a very important moment for the Lithuanian language!

The front cover of the Katekizmas, the first book published in Lithuanian, in 1547.

Images for kids

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  Area where Lithuanian was spoken in the 16th century.

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  The oldest surviving manuscript (handwritten text) in Lithuanian, from around 1503.

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  A map of European languages from 1741, showing the first verse of the Lord's Prayer in Lithuanian.

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  Lingwa Lietowia (Lithuanian language) mentioned in a 15th-century book about the Council of Constance.

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  The Grand Dictionary of the Lithuanian language has 20 volumes and over half a million words!

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  A map from 1868 showing Lithuanian as the main language around Vilnius and Kaunas.

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  Lithuanian language mentioned as one of the languages at the Council of Constance (1414–1418).

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  A special poem for Sigismund III Vasa, with the first hexameter (a type of poetic line) in Lithuanian, from 1589.

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  An old Lithuanian language primer (a first reader) for kids, published in 1783.

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  An example of Old Lithuanian text from a manifesto of the Vilnius Uprising of 1794.

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  An old Lithuanian language edition of the Constitution of 3 May 1791.

See also

In Spanish: Idioma lituano para niños