Albanian - Shqip

Some Background on the Albanian Language

Albanian belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. The Indo-European family has 10 living branches. They are: (1) Albanian, (2) Armenian, (3) Baltic, (4) Slavic, (5) Celtic, (6) Germanic, (7) Greek, (8) Indo-Aryan, (9) Iranian, and (10) Romance.  Within the large family of Indo-European languages, all these branches except Albanian, Armenian, and Greek include two or more separate languages.  Albanian is spoken by people whose ancestors are assumed to be among the first inhabitants of the Balkans, yet it somehow preserves an exotic character.  As far as its origin is concerned, most scholars maintain that it derives from Illyrian, but there is still a minority claiming that it derives from Thracian. The former group do not exclude a relationship with Thracian.

Albanians call their language "shqip."  They call themselves "shqiptarë,"  and Albania is called "Shqipëri."

Over 40% of Albanians today live outside Albania. Most of them live in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro.  There are also Albanian minorities in Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, USA, and some regions of the former Soviet Union.  Almost all of the Albanians living outside Albania are bilingual or even trilingual.

There are 36 letters in the Albanian language and each of them represents a single sound.  9 letters are digraphs, which means they are written as a combination of two consonants but are considered to be a single letter.  In the dictionary, digraphs have their own place in the same way as single letter.

The Albanian Alphabet

* This sound does not exist in English. It is similar to the French sound in unne, or the German sound in dünn. To practice making this sound, make the position with your mouth as when you make the English sound in moon and try to make the sound in mean. You can do the same with pool and peel.