Languages of Albania

Languages of Albania
Sign in Dollna Goricë in Albanian and Macedonian, with graffiti in Albanian
OfficialAlbanian
MinorityGreek, Macedonian, Romani, Aromanian
ForeignEnglish, Italian, German and many other European languages
SignedAlbanian Sign Language
Keyboard layout

Albania is an ethnically homogeneous country, where the overwhelming majority of the population speaks Albanian, which is also the official language. It has two distinct dialects: Tosk, spoken in the south, and Gheg, spoken in the north. However, many Albanians can also speak foreign languages as Italian, Greek, French, German, and English, amongst others, due to the high numbers of Albanian diaspora and Albanian communities throughout the Balkans.

Although many ethnic Albanians (from within Albania and the wider Balkans and diaspora) around the world speak more than two languages and have been recognised as polyglots, Albania is the fourth highest nation in Europe in terms of the percentage of monolingual inhabitants, with 59.9% speaking only one language.[1] Italian is widely spoken throughout Albania. Greek, the language of the Greek national minority, is focused in southern Albania; however, many Albanian nationals speak the Greek language due to immigration. Nowadays, knowledge of English is growing very rapidly, especially among the youth. Various languages are spoken by ethnic minorities: Greek, Aromanian, Macedonian, etc.

  1. ^ "Foreign language skills statistics". Eurostat Statistics Explained. Retrieved 2022-01-13.