24 Aug /16

Slovene Language Facts by a Slovene Translation Expert

Slovene language
Slovene language facts – EVS Translations

Dangerously geographically close to the Romance and Germanic language regions, Slovene is a Slavic language, and, as with other Slavic languages, it can trace its roots to Old Church Slavonic and proto-Slavonic languages.

The actual written basis for Slovene can be found in the Freising manuscripts. Named due to their discovery in Freising, Bavaria, these parchment leaves were found bound in a Latin manuscript book. These church documents were most likely written between 950 and 1000AD, in the oldest Slovene dialect, and represent not only the first written Slovene, but are also among the first of any documents written in a Slavic language.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Slovene language is its use of “dual” in grammatical numbering. Dual bridges the gap between singular and plural objects by specifying 2 objects, allowing a speaker/writer to differentiate between one, two, or several of a particular thing.

Slovene can be confusing, for foreigners as well as for native speakers. Considering that there are 56 dialects and sub-dialects, no definite or indefinite articles, multiple vowel pronunciation determinants, and contextually determined words, trying to communicate can depend as much on where you are as what you are attempting to say.

The first book purely printed in Slovene was a Christian Katekizem (Catechism), written by a protestant priest, Primož Trubar, in 1550. His choice of the Ljubljana vernacular with additional components of the Dolenjska and Gorenjska dialects became the foundation of the Slovenian literary language.

Following up on Trubar’s religious work, Jurij Dalmatin fully translated the bible into Slovene approximately 33 years later, in 1583, using the Bohorič alphabet. This single work of translation had such an impact on the Slovene language that it set the standards for more than 2 centuries.

Perhaps the greatest and most influential of Slovene writers is France Prešeren, known as “the Shakespeare of Slovene literature.” Writing the the early 1800’s, he penned the first Slovene epic and first ballad. And his work has become Slovene literary canon and inspired virtually all future Slovene writers, even adding a stanza to the national anthem.

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