Slovenian: The oldest Slavic language
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10 Facts about Slovenian
Slovenian is only spoken by a little over 2.3 million people in the world.
Slovenian minorities speak Slovenian in the bordering countries of Italy, Croatia, Hungary and Austria.
It is the oldest written Slavic language.
Slovenian, also known as Slovene, is one of the rare Indo-European languages that still uses dual, a grammatical number to express duality in addition to singular and plural.
There are 46 different dialects in Slovenia which classifies the language as the most diverse Slavic language.
Slovene was the 12th language in the world to translate a complete Bible.
The modern Slovene alphabet originated in the 1840s and uses the basic Latin alphabet with the added letters, “Č”, “Š”and “Ž.”
Initially, the language was based on the existing Czech alphabet and contained 25 letters.
The Slovenian language has kept the nation together throughout the centuries, acting as a uniting force.
The use of Slovene was forbidden in schools during World War II due to the occupation of the area by Germans and other nations.
Origin of the language
Slovene emerged in a proto-Slavic group of languages that produced Old Church Slavonic.
History of the language
It is thought standard Slovene originated in the 16th century.
Learning the language
An English speaker may need at least 1100 hours to learn Slovene.
Slovenian language for beginners
Ten basic words to start learning in Slovenian:
Bye=Adijo
Family=družina
Good morning=Dobro jutro
Love=ljubezen
Good night=Lahko noč
Beautiful=lepa
Maybe=mogoče
Thank you=Hvala
Please=prosim
Hello=Živijo
If somebody is strong and showing good performances and perfect in the thing you are doing, there are people who want to disturb you.
Tina Maze
Alpine ski racer
I'm an average guy, skinny, not so tall, I put my sunglasses on, and I blend in.
Goran Dragic
Professional basketball player
Miracles happen, right? ... That's why I want to thank the WTA trainers. I think they've done a miracle right here.
Katarina-Srebotnik
Professional Tennis Player
Fun facts about the Slovenian language
Silly curse words
Slovenian curse words or expressions are far sillier than offensive. For example, the expression Tristo kosmatih medvedov (three hundred hairy bears) does not even contain literal curse words.
Word for “beloved”
Ljubljana in Slovenian means “beloved” and is a popular word for natives but also difficult for non-native speakers to pronounce.
First Written Slavic Language
Did you know that not only Slovenian is the first Slavic language but also the first written language? Its history can only be traced back to the Old Church Slavonic.
No “x” or “y”
The Slovenian alphabet does not use the letters “x” or “y.”
Oldest Slavic language
The first known written documents in the Slovenian language are The Freising manuscripts, believed to date from the 9th century.
Seven dialects
Slovenian dialects fall into seven regional groups: Carinthian, Upper Carniolan, Lower Carniolan, Littoral, Rovte, Styrian and Pannonian.
Slovenian and Croatian
Slovenian does not differ greatly from Serbo-Croatian. These two languages split around the 7th century, after which they became individual languages.
