Lithuanian language

The Lithuanian Tatar community is the oldest ethnic group living in Lithuania, having settled in the country when it was the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th century. They have had a profound influence on Lithuania’s history, language and food.

Lithuania is a uniquely spectacular country and its biggest problem is that the world does not know how great it is. Below are the top 10 things we think you should know about Lithuania that you were probably not aware of.

Lithuania has a long history of being home to ethnic minority communities, from as early as 1323 when Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas invited foreign artisans and merchants to come to Lithuania and settle there without interference in their customs and culture.

For parents who wish to give their children original Lithuanian names, there is plenty to choose from. Not all Lithuanian-sounding names, however, have Baltic provenance or come from time immemorial, linguists say.

One month after Valentine’s Day comes the news that Lithuanians were found to be the nationality that cared most about Valentine’s Day, based on an analysis of tweets in the run up to the day by a digital marketing agency.

Crisis in primary school education that reaches across Lithuania has been ignored for years

Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs is to translate the Koran into the Lithuanian language. The Muslim Holy book was first translated to Lithuanian language in 2008 by poet Sigitas Geda.

The Lithuanian language is in threat of decline as competition from foreign languages, exclusion from scientific fields and lower literacy levels threaten its well-being.

The Consulate of Lithuania and the Lithuanian community in St. Petersburg are already preparing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Lithuanian state, in 2018.

Many immigrants to Lithuania are happy with their lives here and are not planning to move back to their homelands. A number of immigrants shared their stories on LRT programme Ryto garsai (morning sounds).

The Lithuanian parliament should adopt a new law, allowing Lithuanian nationals to spell their names using non-Lithuanian characters in ID documents such as passports, in its spring plenary, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius said.

The Bank of Lithuania has released a new euro coin which is a tribute to the Lithuanian language. While some of the one million new coins will be reserved for collectors, most will be put into circulation, according to Miglė Mockutė-Zaleckienė, a representative of the Bank of Lithuania.

We meet Japanese Ambassador Toyoei Shigeeda in his office. On the little table next to him, there are first-day stamp souvenirs of Lithuania's most famous Japanese, Chiune Sugihara. The Embassy is located on Čiurlionio Street in Vilnius, named after the famous Lithuanian composer and painter. Mikalo...

A group in Lithuania collected 69,000 signatures under a petition which obligates parliament to consider a proposed bill on name spelling in personal identification documents. The initiative, calling itself "Talka - for Lithuania's State Language", seeks to pass a law saying that only Lithuanian cha...

Many a travelling Lithuanian at one time or another had the following conversation: "Where are you from?" - "Lithuania." - "Where? Ukrainia?" - "No, Lithuania. It's a Baltic state, next to Latvia and Estonia." - "(somewhat unconvinced) All right..."

Social Security and Labour Minister Algimanta Pabedinskienė on Wednesday met with representatives of employers and investors and discussed the best ways to integrate refugees in Lithuania's labour market. The minister was interested in the employers' needs and capabilities.

Lithuania may start bringing the first group of 40-50 refugees from war-struck Middle Eastern and African countries this year, with the first groups arriving in November, an interinstitutional commission said at a meeting on Tuesday.

Lithuania has not passed any amendments to worsen the conditions for ethnic minorities to study in their native language, Lithuania's Education and Science Minister Audronė Pitrėnienė has said in a letter to her Polish counterpart.

Refugee integration centres will be opened in Lithuania's largest cities of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, the Ministry of Welfare and Labour said.

The Migration Board of Vilnius County Central Police Commissariat has refused to issue a passport with a letter w in the last name of a Lithuanian woman who married a Belgian and received a marriage certificate with the new last name.