Estonian

Estonian is spoken by 1.1 million people, mostly in the Republic of Estonia with small pockets of speakers in Australia, Canada, Finland, Latvia, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, and USA (Ethnologue). It is the official language of the Republic of Estonia.

Estonian is closely related to Finnish, spoken on the other side of the Bay of Finland, and more distantly to Hungarian, spoken in central Europe. Finnish and Estonian are mutually intelligible and share over 80% of their vocabulary.

The oldest recorded Estonian word dates from the 8th century AD. The first complete texts in Estonian, the Kullamaa prayers, appeared in the 1520s, followed by other religious texts. The first grammars appeared in the early 17th century during Swedish rule. Folk songs and oral poetry were first recorded in the 18th century.

The modern written form of the language began to take shape in the first half of the 19th century. The first Estonian newspapers appeared in the second half of the 19th century. Russia, which ruled Estonia at the time, declared Russian the official language of instruction. Estonian endured another period of russification from 1940 until independence in 1990, when it became the national language.

Estonian has two major dialects, North Estonian, based on the dialect of Tallin, the capital of Estonia, and South Estonian, based on the dialect of Tartu, the second-largest city in Estonia.

At present, Standard Estonian is used and accepted at all levels of society. Under Soviet rule, however, Russian was declared the official language, and systematic, albeit unsuccessful attempts were made to suppress the Estonian language and culture. After the dissolution of the USSR, Estonia became an independent republic. While Russian is still a widely used second language, Estonian is taught in schools, and competency in it is required for citizenship.

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