The
Estonian language, which is the national language of Estonia, bears a close resemblance to the Finnish, a language spoken in Finland. Just like Finnish, the
Estonian language has also been influenced by the languages of several language families. Some of these are:
- Finno-Ugric
- Baltic-Finnic
- Uralic
- Finno-Lappic
The current Estonian language has also been influenced by the languages of Denmark, Sweden and Germany as these countries had ruled the country for several years. The invasion of the country by the Soviet Union during the 1940s also affected the character of the language of Estonia. This influence of the Russian language on the Estonian reached its zenith during the 1970s with the demand of ‘Russification’ of language. This gave rise to a situation in which, both Russian and Estonian were used as the main languages of the country.
The language of Estonia is the main mode of communication between the people of this European country. It is spoken by almost 1.1 million people across the globe. The language of Estonia is regulated by the Institute of Estonian Language. The language of Estonia is spoken in several dialects round the country. Some of the popular dialects of Estonian language are:
- Laane
- Ida
- Saarte
- Seto
- Tartu
- Voro
- Mulgi
