section_path: Culture/Languages
section_name: Languages
paragraph_text: Languages
  
  The languages of the three Baltic peoples belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages belong to the Indo-European language family and are the only extant (widely recognized) members of the Baltic language group (or more specifically, Eastern Baltic subgroup of Baltic). Latgalian and Samogitian are considered either separate languages or dialects of Latvian and Lithuanian, respectively.
  
  The Estonian language (including its divergent Võro and Seto dialects) is a Finnic language, together with neighboring Finland's Finnish language. It is also related to the now near-extinct Livonian language spoken as a second language by a few dozen people in Latvia.
  
  Apart from the indigenous languages, Low Saxon was the dominant language in Estonia and Latvia in academics, professional life, and upper society from the 13th century until World War I. Polish served a similar function in Lithuania. Numerous Swedish loanwords have made it into the Estonian language; it was under the Swedish rule that schools were established and education propagated in the 17th century. Swedish remains spoken in Estonia, particularly the Estonian Swedish dialect of the Estonian Swedes of northern Estonia and the islands (though many fled to Sweden as the USSR invaded and re-occupied Estonia in 1944). There is also significant proficiency in Finnish in Estonia owing to its linguistic relationship with Estonian and also widespread exposure to Finnish broadcasts during the Soviet era.
  
  Russian was the most commonly studied foreign language at all levels of schooling during the period of Soviet rule in 1944–1991. Despite schooling available and administration conducted in local languages, Russian-speaking settlers were neither encouraged nor motivated to learn the official local languages, so knowledge of some Russian became a practical necessity in daily life in Russian-dominated urban areas. As a result, even to this day most of the three countries' middle age and senior population can understand and speak some Russian, especially people aged over 50 years who went to school during the Soviet rule. The question of assimilation, or integration, of the Russian-speaking immigrants is a major factor in current social and diplomatic affairs.
  
  Since the decline of Russian influence and integration into the European Union economy, English has become the most popular second language in the Baltic states. Although Russian is more widely spoken among older people the vast majority of young people are learning English instead with as many as 80 percent of young Lithuanians professing English proficiency, and similar trends in the other Baltic states.
  
  Baltic Romani is spoken by the Roma.