Estonian Language is a language of the Uralic family, a Finno-Baltic language, spoken mainly in Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Russia. In fact, it is the official language of Estonia. Although its main geographical location makes it geographically close to the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian, it is familiar with the Finnic group, especially Finnish

The beginnings of this language date back to the 12th and 13th centuries. It arose from the mixing of other languages that had split off from Finno-Baltic dialects. Germanic, Slavic and Baltic languages have influenced the language over the centuries.

The first grammars and dictionaries were written in the early 17th century. In 1884, Karl August Hermann published the first Estonian grammar, which contributed to the standardisation of the language.

LINGUISTIC ASPECTS

It has 32 letters and is written in the Latin alphabet. It is an agglutinative and inflectional language in which grammatical indicators and endings are added to the root of the word. Words do not have gender or articles. However, there is an indicator for the female gender. In addition,  there are 14 grammatical cases based on the change of suffixes.

There are only two verb tenses, the present and the past, and four verb modes: the indicative, the conditional, the citational and the imperative. The future tense is constructed with the present tense or by means of analytical forms added to the auxiliary verb.

It has two dialects: the northern dialect, based on the dialect of Estonia’s capital Tallinn, and the southern dialect, based on the dialect of Estonia’s second largest city, Tartul. Both dialects are mutually intelligible.

ECONOMY, CULTURE. AND ESTONIAN

Estonia, the main Estonian-speaking country, has a modern market economy. This economy benefits from the electronics and telecommunications sectors. Electrical machinery and equipment, mineral fuels, chemicals and, to a lesser extent, foodstuffs, plastics and textiles are imported from this country.

Estonia also exports machinery, electronic equipment, wood and textiles, mainly to Sweden, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Germany and Lithuania. Some of these countries, such as Finland and Russia, share an Estonian-speaking population.

Estonia is a country that provides raw materials with the help of its official language. For this very reason, given the importance of commodities for the development of more advanced technology, Estonian plays an important role in the economy.

Culturally, Estonia has been influenced by the traditions of adjacent areas, as well as Sweden and Russia, which is reflected in its language. Traditionally, the country has been seen as an area of rivalry between Western and Eastern Europe. It is worth mentioning that certain Christian traditions are recognised at the national level: the Protestant Church and the Orthodox Church.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ESTONIAN

Dado que se habla principalmente en Estonia y Finlandia, países de la Unión Europea, es un idioma muy importante en lo que relaciones internacionales respecta. As it is mainly spoken in Estonia and Finland, countries of the European Union, it is a very important language in international relations. Although Estonian is not an official language of the European Union, it is an important language, since Estonia is part of the Schengen area, a European area in which both individuals and companies are allowed to move and operate without border controls.

The influential transport sector combined with Estonia’s ideal geographical location makes Estonian important, as if you are exporting something by land from a southern European country to a northern European country, you will need to pass through the main Estonian-speaking country.