Closest language to your language.
Sander enquired about Sorbian. Here is a link. It seems that it is being quite well looked after in the German Federal Republic.
http://www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/sorab/an/i1/i1.html
I think I mentioned elsewhere having read some Sorbian, and finding it odd (quite cute, in fact) because it uses both Polish and (typically) Czech style diacritic marks (accent etc.) I also found a page called Echslonsk or something, which is written in some kind of transcribed version of the Silesian/Slask/Slezko lnaguage/dialect. It wasn't too difficult to follow with a good knowledge of Polish, but it really didn't look very nice at all written down.
The parts of Estonia with most peculiar dialect are Võromaa and Setomaa in SE Estonia. In fact, for centuries there were two separate literary Estonian languages (Northern Estonian or 'Tallinna keel' and Southern Estonian or 'Tarto kiil'; keel, kiil = language) and it was considered that they are so far from each other that it is impossible to unite them. Anyway, at the end of the 19th century the use of Southern Estonian (that had fewer speakers) yielded for the tongue of the capital. When the "singing revolution" began with collapse of Soviet Union, a strong revival of Southern Estonian also began. Now it is taught voluntarily at schools and summer camps, books are published, a newspaper with four pages every second week, radio broadcasting etc. Southern Estonian is so different from Northern Estonian that they could be considered as different languages as it is really hard for a Northern Estonian to understand genuine Southern Estonian.
The dialect of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa differs also rather markedly from the language on the continent, but a linguistic revival is most clearly found on Kihnu, a small island in the Gulf of Riga, that has still more curious dialect than the bigger islands.
I vaguely remeber from my time spent in Estonia that there is an island that was settled by Swedish 'colonists' - what was that called again, and does their dialect have any peculiarities? Or was all Swedish influence lost when the Swedes were expelled ? (afer the Second World War, I seem to recall)
Also, is Estonian spoken in Latvia at all?
And hasn't this rather got off the topic of closest language to your language?!?!?
You are right, we have got rather far from the original topic but this is also interesting, isn´t it?
There were many peculiar Swedish dialects (almost incomprehensible to other Swedish speakers) in Estonia before WWII (when the Estonian Swedes were evacuated to Sweden). The most different dialect was spoken on the island of Ruhnu (Sw. Runö) that is also situated in the Gulf of Riga, like Kihnu. The 200 inhabitants led very isolated life and married traditionally only with each other. You can say that next to all Swedish influence was lost as only a handful of the 8000 Swedes were left in Estonia after WWII. After independence was regained many of their descendants have bought summer cottages in their old residence areas but few have returned wholly. There is a high school in Noarootsi (Nuckö)where they teach Swedish, and the old place names preserve the memory of the centuries of Swedish settlement.
Jonne,
I am sorry I have forgotten to answer your question. Yes, Karelian language is a different thing than the "Karelian" dialects in Finland. What is spoken in Finnish Northern Carelia belongs to "savolaismurteet" (dialects of Savo), and in Finnish South Carelia they speak "kaakkoismurteet" (SE dialects of Finnish).
Stefaniel P Spaniel, I think you mean the Estonian Island Dagö. There is also an other name for that Island, an Estonian one. Almost every Estonian-Swede moved to Sweden during WW2 so almost every kind of Swedish influenced stoped because of the war.
Only some geographical places has still Swedish names, which came from the Swedish influenced time. Estonia was a part of Sweden during the Swedish big power time in the history which was during the 17th century.
Any idea what became of the Swedes from Dago who were evacuated to Sweden? Did they retain a seperate identity and dialect? Abit like the Black sea Greeks after their expulsion from Turkey? I suppose if there were only 8000 of them it might have been difficult.
Yes I see, but as I see it, the thing that makes it a seperate language is the fact that it is spoken in Russia. There's a border that seperates it from us.
Closest to Russian are definitely Ukrainian and Belorussian (but make no mistake, these are not 'dialects', even Belorussian is a separate language, although sadly it's falling out of use fast), whilst Ukrainian is like a bridge between Russian and Polish.
And I don't think Bulgarian is particularly close to Russian for that matter... not much closer than any other Slavic language
<<And I don't think Bulgarian is particularly close to Russian for that matter... not much closer than any other Slavic language >>
Then how come I understand Russian so well without ever studying it?
Guest,
"A language is a dialect with an army and a navy" - Max Weinreich
Earlier "A language is a dialect with an army"
Ed,
Well, how come I can open up a Czech newspage and figure out quite well what it says without ever studying the language?
If you are a native Slav (and not a complete retard), it is not that difficult to understand almost any Slavic languages, particularly the written form.
Drunkie, I understand Russian the best! Not Czech, not Polish, not Serbo-Croatian!
Could it be personal?Or depending on dialect?Education? /:)