Written Slovak Language
Slovenský
Slovakian Language.
Common Slovakian (white area)
Hungarian speaking areas (dark blue areas)
- On souther fringes of Slovakia
- 500,000 Hungarian speakers, also bilingual
General
Slovenská Republika (Slovakian Republic), or just Slovensko.
The old Czechoslovakia split in 1993 into the Czech Republic and Slovakian Republic.
Spoken Slovakian
In the past, within Czechoslovakia, Czech was widely used - especially in documents - and so the Slovakian language moved closer to Czech. Both languages are very similar and mutually intelligible.
Despite the similarity with Czech, Slovakian has a lot of Hungarian loan words with a large Hungarian population (500,000) living on the Southern fringes of Slovakia.
There is also a small degree of language influence from German, English and Latin.
Polish can be understood (most words sound similar).
Differences between Czech and Slovakian
The old Czechoslavakia was dissolved in 1993. Czech and Slovakian speakers understand both languages in their written and spoken form.
People born after 1993 will not have heard Slovakian so much, so will find this hard to understand and vice versa with the Young Slovakians.
Similarity between Slovakian and Czech
Slovakian text
Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a sebe rovní,
čo sa týka ich dôstojnosti a práv. Sú
obdarení rozumom a majú navzájom jednať
v bratskom duchu.
Slovakian text
Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a sebe rovní,
čo sa týka ich dôstojnosti a práv. Sú
obdarení rozumom a majú navzájom jednať
v bratskom duchu.
English translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Slovakian Latin Alphabet
There are 46 letters in the Slovak alphabet.It does use dipthongs: ia, ie and iu,
It does use accents, see below:
Additions to Latin Alphabet (accents)
To type accents with ALT codes, hold down the ALT key, then on the numeric keypad type the three or four digits listed here. However not with laptops, ALT codes only work with the numeric keypad, NOT the row of numbers across the top of your keyboard, as on laptops.
a with acute accent
á Á
a with umlaut
ä Ä
c with hachek
č Č
d with hachek
ď Ď
e with acute accent
é É
i with acute accent
í Í
l with acute
ĺ Ĺ
l with hachek
ľ Ľ
n with hachek
ň Ň
o with acute accent
ó Ó
o with circumflex
ô Ô
r with hachek
Ŕ ŕ
s with hachek
š Š
t with hachek
ť Ť
u with acute accent
ú Ú
u with ring
ů Ů
y with acute accent
ý Ý
z with caron
ž Ž
Full Slovakian Alphabet
a
a A
a with acute accent
á Á
a with umlaut
ä Ä
b
b B
c
c C
c with hachek
č Č
d
d D
d with hachek
ď Ď
dz
dz Dz
dž
dž Dž
e with acute accent
é É
e
e E
e with hachek
ě Ě
f
f F
g
g G
h
h H
ch
ch Ch
i
i I
i with acute accent
í Í
j
j J
k
k K
l
l L
l with acute
ĺ Ĺ
l with hachek
ľ Ľ
m
m M
n
n N
n with hachek
ň Ň
o
o O
o with acute accent
ó Ó
o with circumflex
ô Ô
p
p P
q
q Q
r
r R
r with hachek
Ŕ ŕ
s
s S
s with hachek
š Š
t
t T
t with hachek
ť Ť
u
u U
u with acute accent
ú Ú
v
v V
w
w W
x
x X
y
y Y
y with acute accent
ý Ý
z
z Z
z with caron
ž Ž
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Slovakian Translation sample:
Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a sebe rovní, čo sa týka ich dôstojnosti a práv. Sú obdarení rozumom a majú navzájom jednať v bratskom duchu.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Slovakian Speaking countries
Czech Republic, Slovakia.
Indo-European Language group
Indo-European > Slavic > Western
Difficulty in learning Slovakian as a native English speaker
The Defense Language Institute categorizes Slovakian as difficult (level 3, of 4 levels)
Slovakian letter writing samples
- Letter (formal)
- Letter (informal)