Many languages are spoken in Europe. Some of them are very well known and have millions of native speakers. Think of English, German, French, etc. But did you know that there are also "small" languages with sometimes only a few thousand speakers? In this blog article you will read more about 7 European languages you probably never heard of.
Although a translation into Elvish may not work, we can certainly help you with translations into all major and some smaller European languages. Feel free to contact us for the possibilities or request a free quote.
Ruthenian is an East Slavic language spoken by about 60,000 people (some linguists assume a larger number) in parts of Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Regional variation is wide - with, for example, different rules for spelling and grammar.
Sorbian is also a Slavic language, but a West Slavic one. There are 2 variants: Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. Sorbian is spoken by a Slavic minority, the Sorbs, in eastern Germany (Saxony and Brandenburg). 50,000 to 60,000 people speak Sorbian, today always as a second language.
This language with its poetic-sounding name is spoken exclusively by 3,000 people in the municipality of Älvdalen in central Sweden. Linguists have been arguing for years about whether it really is an independent language and not a Swedish dialect. But for the latter, the differences from Swedish are actually just too great.
Picard is a Romance language. You will find its speakers in the northern French region of Hauts-de-France and in parts of Wallonia. Picard is very similar to French and Walloon, but the differences are great enough to consider it a separate language. With some 700,000 daily speakers, you can safely call Picard a great little language.
As its name suggests, Aramaic is closely related to Romanian. It is spoken in villages scattered throughout the Balkans by more than 250,000 people. The large distribution area is related to the lifestyle of the original speakers of Aramaic. Namely, these were nomadic shepherds.
Manx is a Celtic language spoken on the Isle of Man. The last native speaker died in 1974, but since then Manx has seen a revival as a second language. Many children also master it, and the island government actively encourages its learning. Still, it remains to be seen whether Manx will survive in the long run - the fate of many small languages.
The 30,000 speakers of Karelian live in southern Finland and in the Russian republic of Karelia, north of St. Petersburg. Karelian is a primal language. It is very similar to pre-nineteenth century Finnish, but mixed with many loan words from Russian. Although clearly a separate language, Karelian has no official status.
It is unlikely that you will need a translation from Picard to Ruthenian. And we may even have to sell no then. But for a translation to, say, French, German or Polish - and lots of other European languages - you've come to the right place at Scriptware Translations! Feel free to contact us
