Historical Background The Slovenian territory traces all the way back to the Roman Empire in the first century. Brutalized by countless barbarian attacks during the Middle Ages, it is quite noteworthy that the Slavic language of Slovene is still alive and used today, though adapted and modernized like any other surviving Indo-European language. The Proto-Slovene language was spoken in the 6th and 7th centuries, but slowly declined within the medieval period. Of the few remaining texts of early Slovene language in existence, most of them are religious and legal documents that linguists use to study the speech of the time. In fact, the first effort to standardize the Slovene language came with Jurij Dalmatin's translation of the Bible in 1584.
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It was not until the 19th century that Slovene came to be its own primary language, formerly secondary to standard German, Italian, and Hungarian. In time, Slovenia grew to be a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire up until the end of World War 1, and following that, Slovenia united with the European territories of Serbia and Croatia as Yugoslavia, where it struggled to keep its language alive in religion and politics for over eighty years. Tension arose due to Serbia's dominance, which led to the succession of the Republic of Slovenia in 1991, and this newfound independence spurred the first real fostering of the Slovene language. Today, 47 dialects of Slovene exist, but standard Slovene is the most popular.
Like in other Central and Eastern European countries, English didn't become widely popular until after the Second World War and even more so after the Cold War. Today, Slovenia has followed the trend of universal English influence throughout politics, education, and media, but because of their resonating pride in the native language and culture, legislators still go to great lengths to preserve the Slovene tongue. As the youth are interested with the West, mostly because of its association with economic success, tension often arises between the generations.
Like in other Central and Eastern European countries, English didn't become widely popular until after the Second World War and even more so after the Cold War. Today, Slovenia has followed the trend of universal English influence throughout politics, education, and media, but because of their resonating pride in the native language and culture, legislators still go to great lengths to preserve the Slovene tongue. As the youth are interested with the West, mostly because of its association with economic success, tension often arises between the generations.
Population
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Nearly 2 million people occupy the country of Slovenia. The majority of Slovenia's population are native Slovenians, followed by small percentages of Serbs, Croats, and even less Bosnians. Further, the net immigration rate into Slovenia is 0.4 percent, which equates to around 1,000 people. For those reasons, the dominant language is Slovene. However, 57 percent of citizens are fluent in English due to business, educational, and political reasons. Most familiar with English are those in the major, more populated urban cities like the capital Ljubljana, whereas the smaller, rural areas more exclusively speak Slovenian.
Geography
Located in south Central Europe, Slovenia spans just over 20,000 sq km, including both land and water. This is roughly equilivalent to the size of New Jersey, so as you can assess, it is a pretty small country. It is bordered by Austria, Croatia, Hungary, and Italy, and is home to the vast Julian Alps that reach as high as 2,864 m, the highest peak in Slovenia. The climate ranges throughout the regions, having hot summers and cold winters on the plateus and a mediterranean climate on the coast, which is a small southwestern strip along the Adriatic Sea. In respect to langauge, the four aformentioned bordering countires each dominantely speak their own native tongues, but naturally there is a portion of bleeding across all the lines, hence the many formations of dialects near the outskirts of the country.
In regards to English, Slovenia is one of the many central and eastern European countries that is influenced by the western world. Though originally hesitant to adopt English, the countries in that region now encourage the use of English in certain aspects of life such as business and education. Slovenia leads it is neighboring countries in the knowledge of English with 57 percent of the population being fluent, while Austria, Croatia, Hungary, and Italy are only about 20-39% fluent (See map below). Though size and population can affect the spectrum of these statistics, Slovenia takes pride in being ahead of its bordering countries in regards to being an English-friendly nation.
In regards to English, Slovenia is one of the many central and eastern European countries that is influenced by the western world. Though originally hesitant to adopt English, the countries in that region now encourage the use of English in certain aspects of life such as business and education. Slovenia leads it is neighboring countries in the knowledge of English with 57 percent of the population being fluent, while Austria, Croatia, Hungary, and Italy are only about 20-39% fluent (See map below). Though size and population can affect the spectrum of these statistics, Slovenia takes pride in being ahead of its bordering countries in regards to being an English-friendly nation.
Slovene at a Glance The Slovene language has persevered through centuries of various political rulings. Since the mid 16th century, Slovene has used the Latin alphabet along with a few additions. Notable landmarks in the language throughout its course have been the publications of grammar books and dictionaries as early as 1584. The standard grammar in Slovene is called Toprosoc, and is notoriously difficult for native English speakers to learn. Just recently in 2000, a grammatician by the name of Peter Herrity wrote the book "Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar," in English to help simplify the complicated language. Though modernized since its early Indo-European roots, Slovene is still highly inflective.
Slovenian was most directly influenced by German language when it was first developing, then was further molded by Serbo-Croation during its mulitnational state period. Now, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the language has been shaped by universal English in the form of borrowings influenced by media, politics, education, science, etc. |
American diplomats try to learn Slovene (US Embassy in Slovenia, 2016).
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Religion
Up until the 18th century, the main form of preserved Slovenian transcripts were due to religious practices. A few of the reformers who translated the Bible were amongst Primoz Trubar, Jurji Dalmatan, and Istvan Kuzmicks. These translations further standardized the language while also shaping the Roman Catholic community. Today, Slovenia is still predominately Catholic. Statistic wise, it is 57.8 percent Catholic, 2.4 percent Muslim, and 2.3 percent Orthodox. Interestingly, many Churches in Slovenia offer mass services in the traditional language of Latin. Some Slovenian's believe this connects them back to their pure religious roots.