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Estonian vs Latvian


Latvian vs Estonian


Countries

Countries
Estonia, European Union   
European Union, Latvia   

Total No. Of Countries
2   
13
2   
13

National Language
Estonia, Gambia   
Latvia   

Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Speaking Continents
Europe   
Europe   

Minority Language
Denmark, Russia, Sweden   
Not spoken in any of the countries   

Regulated By
Institute of the Estonian Language   
Latvian State Language Center   

Interesting Facts
  • Estonian language is considered to be powerful symbol of Estonian identity and culture.
  • Estonian language has adopted many words with Finnish language.
  
  • The first written form of Latvian dates from 16th century was found in religious texts.
  • The old latvian language was based on the a Gothic script.
  

Similar To
Finnish   
Lithuanian Language   

Derived From
Not Available   
Not Available   

Alphabets

Alphabets in
Estonian-Alphabets.jpg#200   
Latvian-Alphabets.jpg#200   

Alphabets
27   
9
33   
15

Phonology
  
  

How Many Vowels
9   
6
9   
6

How Many Consonants
18   
8
24   
14

Scripts
Latin   
Latin   

Writing Direction
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   
Left-To-Right, Horizontal   

Hard to Learn
  
  

Language Levels
2   
1
6   
5

Time Taken to Learn
44 weeks   
11
44 weeks   
11

Greetings

Hello
Tere   
Sveiki   

Thank You
aitäh   
Paldies   

How Are You?
kuidas sul läheb   
Kā jums klājas?   

Good Night
Head ööd   
Ar labunakti   

Good Evening
Tere õhtust   
Labvakar   

Good Afternoon
Tere päevast   
Labdien   

Good Morning
Tere hommikust   
Labrīt   

Please
Palun   
lūdzu   

Sorry
Vabandust   
Piedodiet!   

Bye
Head aega   
Uz redzēšanos   

I Love You
ma armastan sind   
Es tevi mīlu   

Excuse Me
Vabandage   
Piedodiet!   

Dialects

Dialect 1
Keskmurre   
Livonian   

Where They Speak
Gabon, Northeastern coast of Estonia   
Latvia   

Dialect 2
Tartu   
Middle Latvian   

Where They Speak
Georgia, South Estonia   
Latvia   

Dialect 3
Idamurre   
High Latvian   

Where They Speak
France, Northwestern shore of Lake Peipsi.   
France, Latvia   

Total No. Of Dialects
8   
8
3   
3

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?
1.10 million   
99+
1.75 million   
99+

Speaking Population
Not Available   
Not Available   

Native Speakers
0.95 million   
99+
1.75 million   
99+

Native Name
eesti keel   
latviešu valoda   

Alternative Names
Eesti keel   
Lettish   

French Name
estonien   
letton   

German Name
Estnisch   
Lettisch   

Pronunciation
Not Available   
Not Available   

Ethnicity
Estonians   
Latvians or Letts   

History

Origin
13th century   
1530   

Language Family
Uralic Family   
Indo-European Family   

Subgroup
Finno-Ugric   
Baltic   

Branch
Finnic   
Not Available   

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms   
No early forms   

Standard Forms
Estonian   
Latvian   

Signed Forms
Estonian Sign Language   
Latvian Sign Language   

Scope
Macrolanguage   
Macrolanguage   

Code

ISO 639 1
et   
lv   

ISO 639 2
  
  

ISO 639 2/T
est   
lav   

ISO 639 2/B
est   
lav   

ISO 639 3
est   
lav   

ISO 639 6
Not Available   
not Available   

Glottocode
esto1258   
latv1249   

Linguasphere
No data available   
54-AAB-a   

Types of Language
  
  

Language Type
Living   
Living   

Language Linguistic Typology
Subject-Verb-Object   
Subject-Verb-Object   

Language Morphological Typology
Agglutinative   
Synthetic   

Countries >>
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Estonian and Latvian Language History

Comparison of Estonian vs Latvian language history gives us differences between origin of Estonian and Latvian language. History of Estonian language states that this language originated in 13th century whereas history of Latvian language states that this language originated in 1530. Family of the language also forms a part of history of that language. More on language families of these languages can be found out on Estonian and Latvian Language History.

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Estonian and Latvian Greetings

People around the world use different languages to interact with each other. Even if we cannot communicate fluently in any language, it will always be beneficial to know about some of the common greetings or phrases from that language. This is where Estonian and Latvian greetings helps you to understand basic phrases in Estonian and Latvian language. Estonian word for "Hello" is Tere or Latvian word for "Thank You" is Paldies. Find more of such common Estonian Greetings and Latvian Greetings. These greetings will help you to be more confident when conversing with natives that speak these languages.

Estonian vs Latvian Difficulty

The Estonian vs Latvian difficulty level basically depends on the number of Estonian Alphabets and Latvian Alphabets. Also the number of vowels and consonants in the language plays an important role in deciding the difficulty level of that language. The important points to be considered when we compare Estonian and Latvian are the origin, speaking countries, language family, different greetings, speaking population of these languages. Want to know in Estonian and Latvian, which language is harder to learn? Time required to learn Estonian is 44 weeks while to learn Latvian time required is 44 weeks.

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