What Language is Spoken in Slovakia

If you plan to visit Slovakia any time soon, you may be wondering, What language is spoken in Slovakia? At first glance, it may appear that the Slovak language isn’t spoken anywhere else but its namesake nation, but that’s not actually the case. According to the UK Statistics Agency, there are several factors that determine whether a person speaks or not English. Here’s what you need to know about Slovak and how it compares to some of the world’s other languages.

Slovakian is the Official Language

Slovakian is also referred to as Slovak, which is a member of the Slavic language family. It is most closely related to Czech and Polish and is spoken by approximately 6 million people worldwide. Slovakian has some dialects that are unique to specific regions of Slovakia, with differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. Slovakia is one of the leading countries in Central Europe with a large population that is fluent in more than one foreign language.

The standard form of Slovakian is written using Latin characters, but it can also be written using Cyrillic characters. This method was adopted after World War II when Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia and was forced to adopt a common writing system with its neighbor. The country adopted its own standard form after gaining independence from Czechoslovakia in 1993. The native language does not have any official status outside of Slovakia.

The largest native-speaking communities exist in Canada, where about 100,000 people speak Slovakian at home; Ukraine; and Romania. Smaller populations of speakers live in other countries around Europe, including Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Poland. Half a million people (about a tenth of the population) are Hungarians who prefer the Hungarian language. About 2 million people in total speak Slovakian as their first language or mother tongue. Many more know it as a second language or are able to understand it because they grew up speaking another Slavic language such as Russian or Ukrainian.

Slovakian and German are the Main Languages

Slovakian is spoken by over 6 million people as a first language in Slovakia, but only about 200,000 of these live outside of Slovakia. It’s also one of two official languages in tiny Carpatho-Ukraine (the other being Ukrainian). Slovakian is closely related to Czech and Polish—all three are members of the Slavic language family—so if you already speak another Slavic language, learning Slovakian should be pretty easy.

German is widely spoken in business circles, especially among older generations; it’s also commonly taught in schools. You can hear both languages on television and radio stations, which often broadcast in both Slovakian and German. Many younger Slovaks are at least conversational in English, especially those who have studied abroad or spent time working for an international company.

However, it’s still helpful to learn some key phrases before visiting Slovakia. There are no dialects worth mentioning, although there is a large Roma population that speaks Romani instead of Slovakian. A small minority language speaks Hungarian too. If you want to avoid any potential confusion, stick with Slovakian when speaking with locals!

Other languages Used in Slovakia

Slovak, Hungarian, Ukrainian, and Croatian. The official language of Slovakia is Slovak, a Slavic language whose roots trace back to Old Slavonic. While there are seven million native speakers in Slovakia, it’s only spoken by about one million people outside of Eastern Europe. There are approximately 2.5 million ethnic Hungarians living in Slovakia who also speak their own language—and you may be surprised to learn that they make up over half of all residents living in Bratislava (the capital city).

Many of these Hungarians live on or near Hungary’s border with Slovakia, which has led some linguists to classify them as an independent dialect rather than a separate language altogether. However, many other languages have influenced modern-day Slovak, including German, Polish, Czech, and Russian. And although most of these influences have been limited to vocabulary words for things like technology and transportation terms (for example: tramvaj), some phrases have actually been borrowed word-for-word from other languages.

Slovak Literature

Slovak Literature is the body of written works produced in Slovakia. The oldest surviving literary texts are from the Stone Age, and some of them were inscribed on stone or bone. Written Slovak language appeared around the 9th century AD, after the arrival of Christianity.

The earliest surviving text was written in Latin, then later in the Cyrillic alphabet. The first known book was written in 1270 by Juraj Haulik, a priest from Nitra. His work consisted of prayers and hymns, and he wrote in Latin.

The first book written entirely in the Slovak language was “The Book of Lamentations” written by Ján Škvorc in 1332. He was a Franciscan friar from Trenčín. The first printed book was published in 1501, and the first printing press was built in 1473. This was followed by the invention of movable type in Germany in 1440. The first book printed using this new method was called “The Gospel”.

It was published in Nuremberg in 1450. The first book in the Slovak language to be published in the Czech lands was “The Book of Psalms” in 1503. It was written by Martin Kráľ, a Dominican friar from Zvolen.

Milestones in Slovak Literature and Arts

The first book written completely in the Slovak language and published in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was “A Short History of the Slovak Nation” by Anton Bernolák in 1747. Czechs and Germans differ in history, culture, and language, with notable distinctions in war impacts, artistic expression, and linguistic structure.

In 1837, Janko Lavieň, a teacher at the gymnasium in Košice, wrote the first Slovak play. Subsequently, in 1844, Karel Sabina, a composer and conductor from Prešov, created the first Slovak opera. Finally, in 1851, Vojtech Pribyla wrote the first Slovak children’s story.

Ľudovít Cerný compiled the first Slovak poetry collection in 1852, while Slovakia’s first magazine, newspaper, film, and radio broadcast followed between 1861-1920.

Beautiful Languages In Slovakia

The Slovak language is a Slavic language spoken in the country of Slovakia. It belongs to the East Slavic group, and it is closely related to Czech. The Slovak language has been written using Latin characters since the 12th century, but it did not become an official language until 1993.

Today, the majority of people speak both Slovak and Hungarian. There are also many speakers of Polish, Rusyn, Romany, Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, German, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Turkish, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Albanian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Armenian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Turkmen, Uighur, Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Chechen, Crimean Tatar, Dagestanian, Ingush, Lezgian, Mordvin, Ossetian, Shapsug, Circassian, Abkhazian, Balkar, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Crimean Tartar, Avarsky, Chuvash, Khanty, Mansi, Mari, Mordvin, Ostyak, Polabian, Svan, Tuvinian, Udmurtsky, Volga Tatars, Yakut, Yukaghirs, Yukaghir, Kalmyk, Khakas, Ainu, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Corsican, Irish Gaelic, Manx, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Galician, Asturian, Aragonese, Old Norse, Provençal, Occitan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Sicilian, Umbrian, Western Frisian, Faroese, Low Saxon, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Yiddish, and others.

Slovak People Speak Many Different Languages

Frequently Asked Questions