Languages Spoken In Kosovo
Languages spoken in Kosovo are:
Albanian (official)
Serbian (official)
Bosnian
Turkish
Roman
English – widely spoken especially by youth
German – widely spoken in general society
With approximately more than 90% of the population of Kosovo being ethnic Albanians, the Albanian language is recognized as an official language along with Serbian. Other languages including Turkish, Romani, and Bosnian are also spoken.
English is widely spoken, especially by youth. English is also taught at schools starting from primary education.
Albanian is an Indo-European language that is spoken by numerous inhabitants of the Albanian culture especially those bordering the Albanian and Kosovo countries. The language is divided into two-main dialects used depending on the geographical area of the inhabitants. The first dialect, Tosk, which derives from southern Albania, is mostly used in Albania, Italy, Greece and Turkey, whereas Gheg, the second, is spoken by the majority of the Kosovar people and in places such as Macedonia and Montenegro and northern Albania.
The language is very distinct to most Indo-European languages and it remains independent of its sub-group. The closest relation towards the language can be the ancient Illyrian language.
The Albanian alphabet is:
A B C Ç D DH E Ë F G GJ H I J K L LL M N NJ O P Q R RR S SH T TH U V X XH Y Z ZH
In lowercase, it is:
a b c ç d dh e ë f g gj h i j k l ll m n nj o p q r rr s sh t th u v x xh y z zh
The second official language of Kosovo is Serbian. The language is a form of Serbo-Croation that is also divided into two main dialects: Shtokavian and Torlakian. The Shtokavian dialect is considered as the standard language whereas Torlakian, mostly spoken in southern Serbia and of no literary tradition, is viewed as a dialect of a lower prestige. Serbian is the only language of Europe that uses both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets making it an active digraphia. It is spoken in many countries like Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and partially in Kosovo.