Lithuanian language

Lithuanian (<a href="/facts/Endonym/8pyd1nE9">endonym</a>: lietuvių kalba, pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ]) is an <a href="/facts/East_Baltic_languages/Jmj2ckcI">East Baltic language</a> belonging to the <a href="/facts/Baltic_languages/Jmj2ckcI">Baltic branch</a> of the <a href="/facts/Indo-European_language_family/L34TfgSr">Indo-European language family</a>. It is the language of <a href="/facts/Lithuanians/XRBBRqXI">Lithuanians</a> and the <a href="/facts/Official_language/yCH2URym">official language</a> of <a href="/facts/Lithuania/dApVjLWW">Lithuania</a> as well as one of the official languages of the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a>. There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language.
Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring <a href="/facts/Latvian_language/1LRCJorI">Latvian</a>, though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a <a href="/facts/Latin_script/7EWeJjUV">Latin script</a>. In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most <a href="/facts/Conservative_(language)/0R06rgSs">conservative</a> of the existing <a href="/facts/Indo-European_languages/L34TfgSr">Indo-European languages</a>, retaining features of the <a href="/facts/Proto-Indo-European_language/cVLNoM3p">Proto-Indo-European language</a> that had disappeared through development from other <a href="/facts/Descendant_language/2vXmDJ4n">descendant languages</a>.

Lithuanian language open-in-new

Lithuanian language