Map of Slovenian language in Slovenia and border regions

Slovenian spoken areas:.

  • Slovenia (white area)

Slovenian spoken in the border regions (dark blue):

Slovenian writing
  • Austria
  • Italy

General

Republika Slovenija (Republic of Slovenia). Before declaring independence, Slovenia was called 'Federal Republic of Slovenia'.

Most of the younger generation speak English fairly well. German and partially Italian are spoken too.

Written Slovenian/Slovene

Slovenian was heavily influenced by German. However, Slovenian was widely reformed during the 20th century and as a result, many German words were replaced with more 'Slavic' words, becoming more Slav again.

Differences between Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian

Many words in Slovenian are closely related to Serbian and Croatian

The Slovenian language has always been an independent language, in contradiction to Serbian and Croatia, which was once, one language called Serbo-Croatian.

Differences between Slovenian, Croatian and Serbian

Slovenian text
Vsi ljudje se rodijo svobodni in imajo enako dostojanstvo in enake pravice. Obdarjeni so z razumom in vestjo in bi morali ravnati drug z drugim kakor bratje.

Croatian text
Sva ljudska bica radaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i sviješcu i trebaju jedna prema drugima postupati u duhu bratstva.

Serbian text (Cyrillic text)
Cвa људскa бићa рaђajу сe слoбoднa и jeднaкa у дoстojaнству и прaвимa. Oнa су oбдaрeнa рaзумoм и свeшћу и трeбa jeдни прeмa другимa дa пoступajу у духу брaтствa.

Slovenian Latin Alphabet

There are 25 letters in the Slovenian alphabet.

It does not use Q, W, X, or Y in their alphabet.

Full Slovenian alphabet

a
   a      A  

b
   b      B  

c
   c      C  

c with hachek
   č      Č  

d
   d      D  

e
   e      E  

f
   f      F  

g
   g      G  

h
   h      H  

i
   i      I  

j
   j      J  

k
   k      K  

l
   l      L  

m
   m      M  

n
   n      N  

o
   o      O  

p
   p      p  

r
   r      R  

s
   s      S  

s with hachek
   š      Š  

t
   t      T  

u
   u      U  

v
   v      V  

z
   z      Z  

z with caron
   ž      Ž  

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Slovenian Translation sample:

Vsi ljudje se rodijo svobodni in imajo enako dostojanstvo in enake pravice. Obdarjeni so z razumom in vestjo in bi morali ravnati drug z drugim kakor bratje.

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)

Slovenian Speaking countries

Slovenia.

Indo-European Language group

European language groups

Indo-European > Slavic > Southern

Slovenian letter writing samples

  • Letter (formal)
  • Letter (informal)