| Lithuanian is the state language of the Republic
of Lithuania. It belongs to the Baltic group of languages and uses the
Latin alphabet. Several letters have special marks above or below them
to indicate how they should be pronounced. For example, ?; is pronounced
"sh" as in ship; č is pronounced "ch" as in check; é is pronounced "ai"
as in pair; and i is pronounced "ee" as in feet.
The Lithuanian language includes several distinct
dialects. Low Lithuanian, Žemaičiu, is spoken in the western part of the
country, and High Lithuanian, Aukštaicių, in the highland areas. Lithuanian
grammar is quite complicated, with four verb tenses more than English,
and masculine and feminine genders for nouns.
The first writing in the modern Lithuanian
language was by a scholar called Martynas Mazvydas in the mid-16th century.
Some of his original manuscripts are preserved at the Vilnius University
library. The first Polish-Latin-Lithuanian dictionary was compiled in about
1620. The 450th anniversary of the publication of the first Lithuanian
book was celebrated widely in 1997. |
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| Lithuanian was the country's official language
from 1918 to 1940. During the Soviet period, Russian displaced Lithuanian
in cultural, economic, administrative and political spheres, and the Soviets
made systematic attempts to suppress the use of Lithuanian. In 1989, the
government reinstated Lithuanian as the official language of the republic.
Today, most people speak Lithuanian, although Russian is still widely spoken.
English is the most common foreign language spoken by Lithuanians, and
English words are creeping into the Lithuanian vocabulary. In some areas,
people also speak German. |
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Did
you know? |
| A
popular Lithuanian saying is "Negirk dienos be vakaro," which means "Don't
praise the day before evening." |
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|
English |
Lithuanian |
| Hello |
Labas |
| Yes |
Taip |
| No |
Ne |
| Please |
Prašom |
| Thank you |
Ačiū Jums |
| How are you? |
Kaip sekasi?/ Kaip
gyveni? |
| Excuse me |
Atsiprašau |
| OK |
Gerai |
| Welcome |
Sveiki atvykę |
| Goodbye |
Viso gero/ Sudievu |
| See you soon |
Iki |
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Did
you know? |
| Lithuanian
surnames reflect gender and marital status. For example, if the father
of a family is Jonas Kuprevičius, his wife's last name would be Kuprevičiené,
and his unmarried daughter's last name would be Kuprevičiūité. |
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