Albanian

Albanian is an Indo-European language. It forms its own unique branch in the Indo-European family and has no close relatives. There are two main dialects of Albanian: Tosk, which is spoken by about 3 million people mainly in southern Albania, Turkey, Greece, Italy (in the last three countries the language is spoken by immigrants) ; and Gheg, which is spoken by about 2.8 million people in Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, northern Albania and Bulgaria. These dialects are more or less mutually intelligible. Tosk is the official language of Albania, and one of the official languages of Kosovo and Macedonia. Originally the Tosk dialect was written with the Greek alphabet, while the Gheg dialect was written with the Latin alphabet. The Latin alphabet for Albanian was standardised in 1909, and a unified literary version of Albanian, based on the Tosk dialect, was established in 1972.

Map of Albanian language speakers.
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Map of Albanian language speakers.
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Basic stats

Total speakers: almost 6 million

Main Countries: Albania, Servia and Montenegro, Kosovo

Alternate names: Tosk, Arnaut, Shkip, Shqip, Skchip, Shqiperë, Zhgabe

ISO 639-3 Code: sqi


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Language Sample

Të gjithë njerëzit lindin të lirë dhe të barabartë në dinjitet dhe në të drejta. Ata kanë arsye dhe ndërgjegje dhe duhet të sillen ndaj njëri tjetrit me frymë vëllazërimi.

(Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1)


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Some proverbs in Albanian:

Cdo njeri është mbret në shtëpinë e tij
Every person is king in his own home.

Dembeli është nëna e të gjithë veseve
Lazyness is the mother of all bad habits

Dielli, edhe kur ka re, ndrit
The sun shines even when it is cloudy

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Product Availability

The following products are currently available in Albanian:

  • For Consumers

(Coming soon)

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Sources

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