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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
-  
-  

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  
17
44 weeks  
17

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  

How Many People Speak
1,300,000.00  
99+
1,500,000.00  
99+

Dialect 2
Tartu  
Middle Latvian  

Where They Speak
Georgia, South Estonia  
Latvia  

How Many People Speak
1,300,000.00  
99+
2,000,000.00  
99+

Dialect 3
Idamurre  
High Latvian  

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

How Many People Speak
1,300,000.00  
99+
1,500,000.00  
99+

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
0.03 %  
99+
0.07 %  
99+

Native Speakers
0.95 million  
99+
1.75 million  
99+

Second Language Speakers
1.10 million  
99+
2.00 million  
99+

Native Name
eesti keel  
latviešu valoda  

Alternative Names
Eesti keel  
Lettish  

French Name
estonien  
letton  

German Name
Estnisch  
Lettisch  

Pronunciation
[eˈstˑoˑniˑa]  
[ˈlætviən]  

Ethnicity
Estonians  
Latvians or Letts  

History

Origin
13th century  
1530  

Language Family
Uralic Family  
Indo-European Family  

Subgroup
Finno-Ugric  
Baltic  

Branch
Finnic  
-  

Language Forms
  
  

Early Forms
No early forms  
No early forms  

Standard Forms
Estonian  
Latvian  

Language Position
22  
20
9  
9

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
est  
lav  

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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