Languages of Albania
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Languages of Albania | |
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Official | Albanian |
Minority | Greek, Macedonian, Romani, Aromanian |
Foreign | English, Italian, German and many other European languages |
Signed | Albanian Sign Language |
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Although many ethnic Albanians (from within Albania and the wider Balkans and diaspora) around the world speak more than two languages and have been recognised as polyglots, Albania is the fourth highest nation in Europe in terms of the percentage of monolingual inhabitants, with 59.9% speaking only one language.[1] Italian is widely spoken throughout Albania. Greek, the language of the Greek national minority is focused in southern Albania; however, many Albanian nationals speak the Greek language due to immigration. Nowadays, knowledge of English is growing very rapidly, especially among the youth. Various languages are spoken by ethnic minorities: Greek, Aromanian, Macedonian, etc.
Status of Albanian
The Article 14 of the
Dialects
Standard Albanian is based in the
Minority languages
Greek
Aromanian
There are up to 200,000 Aromanians in Albania, a figure which includes people who do not speak the Aromanian language.[9][10] They mostly live in the southern and central regions of the country. The Aromanians, under the name "Vlachs", are a recognized cultural minority in the Albanian law.[11]
Macedonian
According to the 1989 census, there were approximately 5,000
Romani
About 10,000 Romani people live in Albania today. They have preserved the language, despite the lack of education in that language.[15]
Serbo-Croatian
Foreign languages
The most-widely spoken foreign languages in Albania are English, Italian and Greek.
A study carried out by Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, analyzed the demography of the adult population 25-64 of several european countries as of 2016. The results of the Adult Education Survey, released in May 2018, showed that the 39.9% of the 25–64 years old is able to use at least one foreign language. The main foreign language known is English with 40.0%, followed by Italian with 27.8% and Greek with 22.9%. The English speakers were mostly young people, the knowledge of Italian is stable in every age group, while there is a decrease of the speakers of Greek in the youngest group.[18]
Italian
Italian is by far the best-known foreign language in Albania and used to have official status when the country was a protectorate of Italy.[16] Most Italian-speakers have not learnt the language in classrooms or from books, but rather by watching Italian television.[17] During the late communist regime, Albanians living in the towns along the Adriatic Sea coast had access to Italian television.[19] Many Albanians "grew skilled at rewiring their TVs to overcome [the] Albanian government's attempt to block Italian channels".[20] A large number of middle-aged and younger people grew up with the language and know it very well.[16]
Among the elderly, Italian is also common as the language was used in the educational system in the 1930s, after
Albania also is home to 19,000 ethnic Italians, who have aided the growth of the language in the country.
English
English is mostly popular among the younger generations of Albanians.[22][unreliable source?][23][unreliable source?] As of 2006, more than 65% of Albanian children could speak fluent or semi-fluent English.[24]
The language came to Albania in 1921, when the Albanian Vocational School started to teach English with the sponsorship of the
Although English was taught at schools, it was considered the language of Western imperialism and as a result, elements of its culture and civilization were offered to English learners selectively.[26]
Other
French
After the ideological controversies with the USSR,
Other European languages are also present in Albania and spoken by Albanians. This is primarily due to the large Albanian diaspora that exists in Europe as well as strong emphasis on foreign languages in education.
References
- ^ "Foreign language skills statistics". Eurostat Statistics Explained. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
- ^ "Constitution of the Republic of Albania" (PDF). Republic of Albania Council of Ministers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2012-06-21.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ISBN 9781853593628.
- ISBN 9789810244743.
- ^ Appendix A. History & Diatopy of Greek. The story of pu: The grammaticalisation in space and time of a Modern Greek complementiser. December 1998. University of Melbourne.Nick Nicholas.
- ISBN 0-313-32384-4.
- ^ Contested Spaces and Negotiated Identities in Dhermi/Drimades of Himare/Himara area, Southern Albania. Archived 2011-06-10 at the Wayback Machine Nataša Gregorič Bon. Nova Gorica 2008.
- ^ According to INTEREG - quoted by Eurominority Archived 2006-07-03 at the Wayback Machine: Aromanians in Albania Archived 2014-11-22 at the Portuguese Web Archive, Albania's Aromanians; Reemerging into History
- ISBN 978-952-91-6808-8, p. 218: "In Albania, Vlachs are estimated to number as many as 200,000"
- ^ Schwandner-Sievers, Stephanie. "The Albanian Aromanians´ Awakening: Identity Politics and Conflicts in Post-Communist Albania" (PDF). European Centre for Minority Issues. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ "Local self-government and decentralization: case of Albania. History, reformes and challenges" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
- ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Albania : Macedonians". Unhcr.org. Retrieved 2013-07-26.
- ^ "Results of the 2011 local elections of Albania" (PDF). Central Elections Commission of Albania. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
- ISBN 9783643501448.
- ^ ISBN 9781841622460.
- ^ ISBN 9783643501448.
- ^ "Press release of the Adult Education Survey" (PDF). Albanian Institute of Statistics. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
- ISBN 9781845454562.
- ISBN 9781741047295.
- ^ a b c d Rista-Dema 2006, p. 14.
- ISBN 9781741048544.
- ISBN 9781433069338.)
{{cite book}}
:|author=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Rista-Dema 2006, p. 16.
- ^ Rista-Dema 2006, p. 12.
- ^ Rista-Dema 2006, p. 15.
- Rista-Dema, Mimoza (2006). Inverse-order constructions in Albanian English discourse and prototype effects. [Bloomington, Ind.]: Indiana University. ISBN 9780542847905.