My Love for Europe's most Endangered Language, Livonian!
After the video about Listenbourg from last summer I decided to look further into the story of the Livonians and what I found was so fascinating that I felt like I had to share its story.
Livonian is one of the most endangered languages in Europe yet with the support from several language organizations it manages to not only survive but also thrive.
This small language located in Latvia has many tricks up its sleeve and I hope that in the future it will be spoken in public again.
I love Livonian and want to help it succeed further, this will not be the last you hear from it!
If you want to learn more about Livonian I would suggest you visit the Livones.net/en website.
And if you want to learn Livonian itself I believe you will be able to do that on Livonian.tech/en/
Have a good day!
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The source that I hope is true but it sounds too extreme to believe (bottom paragraph under the "Russian Rule" section): virtuallivonia.info/?page_id=130
Not nearly as endangered as the curonian language that 4 people still speak in the curonian spit in lithuania
it's spoken by just over 30 people actually.
@olisomething Wow I did not know that, thank you.
wymysorys is also a very endangered language in Europe.
That is not Curonian! People stop spreading false information and educate yourself beforehand. You are talking about Kursenieki language, not Curonian. Curonian was a West Baltic language, that is extinct for couple of hundred years already, while Kursenieki is quite similar to Latgalian - a sociodialect. It’s a version of Latvian dialect from Courland with a strong Curonian, Lithuanian and Polish influences.
Stupid ass pfp
as a finnish person i notice the words look very similar to finnish, i can even understand some sentences
It is part of the finno-ugric language family in which this very language is also in close proximity with estonian so it should make sense that you can understand basic phrases.
@@rasimovungernsternberg300 yep
I am a Estonian speaker and wanted to write the same comment as you 😂😂❤❤
Livonian and Finnish are both part of the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Uralic family
Latvian here: We are descended from the tribes you mentioned, the nuance however is that in the Baltic crusade, most of us were Pagans except for the Orthodox Christian Latgalians. The crusade was a bloody affair involving many massacres (chiefly made by the Germans), which depopulated the other tribes (except Latgalian) severely. After the crusades conclusion and the joining of all "Latvian" lands in one country under the Crusaders the Latgalians having a superior demography and social standing as Christians were established at the top of the Baltic social hierarchy which lead these local tribes to mix into and assimilate into them. For reference these Latgalians are "Old Latgalians", and the modern Latgalian dialect is descended from an already unified early form of Latvian from around 1500. Furthermore, the areas where the Livonians live tend to speak their own Livonian subgroup of Latvian which has its own words and generally simplified grammar (as result of ignorance as they adopted the Language).
Some more lesser known unknown and endangered languages in Europe: - Vilamovian (Vilamovians), a West Germanic language based in Poland - Shelta (Irish Travellers), an West Germanic-Irish language based in Ireland - Karaim (Crimean Karaites), a Jewish Turkic language based in Lithuania
Not only in Lithuania, it's also spoken in Ukraine and Poland Karaims are from Crimea
In my area they speak Aalsmeers, a rarely undocumented retrodutch hidden dialect could you promote it with your channel so it gets more reach?
@@ronanbakker where do you love?
Eww Karaim that rodent Khazarian language, the real Bolsheviks were Khazars and slaughtered Slavs en masse after 1917
Recently here in Latvia government implemented new policies for historical cultural regions. For example, they are adding town and city name road signs under original ones to specific cultural region. I.e. in municipal areas where Livonians used to live, they are adding road signs in Livonian language under original Latvian ones, like Tālsa mōgõn (Talsi municipality). Also, like Livonian flag, other historic cultural Latvian tribes now officially have their own respective flag.
this was REALLY good :D personally appreciate how the video flows, it kept me both entertained and engaged throughout shur up and take my like and subscription
Hi, new to this channel. Is the similarity to Blue's video style from OSP intentional? That's what made me click on the video
It is indeed inspired from his work!
@@Driesipops That's really neat, I love OSP, and their artsyle, and it certainly attracted me to your video. However, currently it looks identical to Blue's content. Inspiration is good, but ripping the artsyle off 1-to-1 is a bit discouraging for all parties involved. Please don't take this comment negatively, more like a node to improvement to avoid plagiarism accusation. My advice is: • Carry on with Blue's exact style for a video or two to maximise attraction to an audience like me. However gradually change it a bit, you want to attract the fans, not make them angry or report to Blue for plagiarism. • Once you have completed those two video, start changing it up a slight bit. Maybe stay loyal to Blue's style, but switch the background to a different water texture, or the maps to another colour, or at the very least have a similar font or at least one that is not identical. Begin the switch as a gradual now-and-then, to make sure that all OSP fans you could have attracted you have done so successfully, but gradually start doing it more and more till all your videos are similar but slightly different. • Slowly make it more unique. Experiment with different techniques, aesthetics and styles in the same "every now-and-again" fashion from earlier. Prune away the features you dislike or are too similar to Blue's, and keep features you enjoy.
actually entertaining, you earned my like! ^^ keep going :3
Thank you!
Looking forward to more videos like this! Maybe Cornish? Manx? Or maybe Sorbian which you already mentioned?
One minor criticism I have is that you just compared it to Latvian, instead of also comparing it to its relatives (Finnish or Estonian)
Sorbian will definitely be a future video! Cornish sounds fun as well. And for the criticism, It did not occur to me to include Finnish and Estonian comparisons but I should definitely do that if I make another video about Livonian in the future (which is probably going to happen at some point)
@@Zapadoslavist "Min izāmō" ("My Fatherland"; Latvian: Mana tēvzeme) is the ethnic anthem of the Livonians. The song was written by Kōrli Stalte (1870-1947), a poet and spiritual leader of Livonians, to a melody composed by Fredrik Pacius (the same melody used for the anthems of Finland and Estonia). līvõ kēļ 🇫🇮 🇪🇪 Min izāmō, min sindimō, ūod ārmaz rānda sa, Mun isänmaa, mun synnyinmaa*, oot armas ranta sä, Mu isamaa, mu sünnimaa*, oled armas rand sa, kus lāinõd mierstõ vīerõbõd ja rāndan sūdõ āndabõd. miss’ laineet merest’ vierivät ja rannall’ suuta antavat. kus lained merest veerevad ja rannal suud annavad. Min ārmaz īlmas* ūod set sa, min tõurõz* izāmō! Mun armas ainut oot tääll’ sä, mun kallis isänmaa! Mu armas ainus oled siin sa, mu kallis isamaa! Min izāmō, min sindimō, ūod ārmaz rānda sa, Mun isänmaa, mun synnyinmaa, olet armas ranta sä, Mu isamaa, mu sünnimaa, oled armas rand sa, kus rāndanaigās kazābõd vel vanād, vizād piedāgõd. miss’ rannan ääress’ kasvavat viel wanhat, viisaat petäiköt*. kus rannaääres kasvavad veel vanad, viisas* petäjed*. Min ārmaz īlmas ūod set sa, min tõurõz izāmō! Mun armas ainut oot tääll’ sä, mun kallis isänmaa! Mu armas ainus oled siin sa, mu kallis isamaa! Min izāmō, min sindimō, ūod ārmaz rānda sa, Mun isänmaa, mun synnyinmaa, oot armas ranta sä, Mu isamaa, mu sünnimaa, oled armas rand sa, kus jelābõd īd kalāmīed, kis mīer pǟl ātõ pǟvad īed. miss’ elävät kalamiehet, jotk’ merellä ovat päivät, yöt. kus elavad kalamehed, kes merel on päevad, ööd. Min ārmaz īlmas ūod set sa, min tõurõz* izāmō! Mun armas ainut olet tääll’ sä, mun tyyris* isänmaa! Mu armas ainus oled siin sa, mu kallis isamaa! Min izāmō, min sindimō, ūod ārmaz rānda sa, Minun isänmaa, minun synnyinmaa, oot armas ranta sä, Mu isamaa, mu sünnimaa, oled armas rand sa, kus kūltõb um vel pivā kēļ - min amā tõurõz rāndakēļ. miss’ kuuluu vielä pyhä kiel’ - mun oma kallis liivinkiel’.(līvõ kēļ) kus kuulda veel püha keelt - min oma kallis Liivi keel. (rāndakēļ) Min ārmaz īlmas ūod set sa, min tõurõz izāmō! Mun armas ainut olet tääll’ sä, mun tyyris isänmaa! Mu armas ainus oled siin sa, mu kallis isamaa! *synnyinmaa native country (the country where one was born) *kodumaa / kotimaa homeland *Proto-Finnic/ilma, ilm, Livonian: īlma air sky weather From Proto-Finno-Ugric *ilma. The old religious sense "heaven" was mainly lost (save for the theonym *Ilmari) Derived terms *maailma * tõurõz *tiüris dear, precious Borrowed from Proto-Germanic *diurijaz. Finnish: tyyris, (dialectal) tiyris, tiuris * mänty pine (tree of the genus Pinus) From Proto-Finnic *mäntü, derived from mäntä (“archaic: mixing utensil made of the top of a young pine”); cognate of Estonian mänd; originally the word meant a young pine, and now relatively rare words petäjä and honka were used of the older trees. *(dialectal) tark *(dialectal) pedajas Proto-Finnic/*petägä, harilik mänd (Pinus sylvestris) pine tree
I would also love to see a video on the galician language
I agree
Thank you for making such a wonderful video about the Livonian language! This actually means a lot for someone like me who comes from Latvia
Good video my friend.
Thank you for making me learn what "Ulzõ kuts politsijõ" means! I better be careful letting people in my basement roam free sometimes...
I am learning Estonian. This is interestingly similar!
Very well done! I'm loving the traction this video is getting.
Finally a worthy and informative video with insights on the history of the Livonian Language (which I kinda knew through eu4) that really deserves to have a lot of views.
Very nice video! Keep up the amazing work!
this was so entertaining, looking for more vids like this!!
You might see more of them pop up towards the end of the year :)
As a latvian I appreciate this
Congratulations on a fascinating video. I had tried to find out about Livonian and had absorbed the pessimistic view that the language would die out soon. So glad that enthusiasts are keeping it alive.
I actually got in contact with someone from one of the Livonian preservation unions and there are some things they are doing that I didn't even mention in the video. There is a yearly Livonian summerschool where about 50 kids learn about the history and culture of Livonian and the basics of the language. This same union is also currently working on pdf documents to learn Livonian so it's easier to learn the language too! Also a pdf file with a compilation of Livonian songs with sheet music. I did not speak lightly when I said that the reviving is still in full swing! :) (there are still some more things I could mention but I think you get the gist)
Northern Sámi is also a very interesting language! About 25k speakers for Northern Sámi, sadly, the other Sámi languages have less than a thousand :(
Maybe you'll find a video about Sami from me later in the year too!
I deadass thought you were gonna pull a "I am the last of my kind" thing lol. Would've been epic though. Also, Livonian is actually a language? Thats neat. I've always thought it was just the name of the baltic crusader state of the Livonian Order. The more you learn I guess!
Well it would be logical that they would pick the name Livonian order when they had Livonian lands but afaik the actual Livonians didnt get much representation or rights aside from the name
Great video about livonian! A video about Gagauz would be amusing
As some one with an extremely limited amount of exposure to Estonian and a little more to Finish, I see how Latgalian is related. (it's mostly the spelling and Minä meaning you)
Minä means you, except it doesn't.
@@PutteErareika Oops. I told you I didn't knew anything lol. It means I, does it?
Tēriņtš! Dutchman living in one of those former fishing villages on the Livonian coast here! Very interesting video, thanks for helping share the story of the Livonians. One more factor contributing to the decline of the population speaking Livonian in the 20th century is the policies, actions and inactions of the first independent Latvian state in 1918-1940 where the aim of building a unified nation was prioritised over the interests of (linguistic) minorities. However in these years, the Livonian Union was formed and with aid from abroad it was quite successful in initiating events, education etc and building a community until the Soviet occupation took place. Later in the second half of the century much of this work slowly started to be picked up again and the same Livonian Union is very active along with other bodies such as the Livonian Institute of the University of Latvia. The resilience of the Livonian people is incredibly admirable!
I only knew it threw the northern crusades but I didn't know much about it this helps allot
I don't recall why, but I recently went down the rabbithole of how the Koskullskulle district in Gällivare got its name. The short version everyone there knows is that it was named after the statesman Koskull. But looking into it further I found his lineage to be from Livonia (though the livonian nobility were generally of german descent), and I suspect that's where the name originated - "kull" seems to be the germanised version of what in finnish/estonian would be "kylä"/"küla" (sorry, couldn't find the Livonian equivalent). All in all we have a lot of languages here to begin with, but it's always fun to see others make small appearances like this. Or see ours make similar appearances abroad.
See also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uexk%C3%BCll
and the Livonian word for village is "kilā"
pretty damn based video. Thought my guy must have at least 150k+ subs with the quality of editing and jokes, but I guess I'm just early.
my step grangarnfather was one of the seven prueblooded livonians, also i want to corect that latvian merged from five languages, the for baltic and livoinian (in latvian language there are 3 main dialects, and one of them is the livonian which is infuenced strongly by the livonian language)
there are people that idetify as Livonians - so if people are alive - language can be revived too.
As a Hungarian (from the finno-ugric subfamily, same as Livonian), there is not as much similarities compared to the northern languages, but the pronunciation does somewhat feel similar, almost even recognizable. Though if I were to learn the language, it may be harder to learn how to write, speech sounds very much possible to quickly pick up on. Even so, the video is extremely captivating! I love the style you have, the way you share information, how your jokes are extremely well-timed... Keep up the great quality, you def deserve more recognition :D
Hermoso video... yo mismo quisiera aprende Livonio... suena tan bello ese extraño idioma. Gracias por difundir... ¡tota cultura, toda lengua y todas las etnias deben ser respetadas!!! ❤ Saludos desde ARG. 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷
Coole video! Sowieso gaat ze viraal :D
0:15 He showed turkey a small language on the map
osaker
As a (wannabe) language nerd and another person that loves languages and livonian this video was c r a z i l y underrated. How did you get the translations for words in livonian? And what languages are you actually just learning rn?(id hope not french aswell lmao). The livonian language is also just super underrated especially with its history and im so happy theres more content for it now, like seriously you deserve alot more subscribers
There are a few websites that offer some basic Livonian words with English translations next to them and I used google translate for the Latvian words. I also contacted someone from one of the Livonian preservation unions and they looked over the list of words to make sure all of them were correct! Currently I'm surface level on Livonian but I do indeed have to learn French too ._.
you should keep making videos about those other smaller languages
There are a couple planned for later in the year
Out of curiosity, is there anywhere an English speaker, like me, could go to learn Livonian? I’d at least like to see how it operates somewhat. Great video, thank you for teaching me something new!
There are a few links in the description that go to livonian union websites one of which seems to be quite solid for learning!
@@Driesipops why thank you!
In the middle of the video i was heartbroken. At the end I was elated
I always appreciate a good Monty Python reference 2:44
I actually own a "Learn Livonian" discord server with quite a bit of resources and speakers
oh wow, could you send its link here?
I actually knew about this, lol. I just knew about it because of an EU4 mod though...
I knew about it before but i also played a eu4 mod where livonian was a thing.
@@Mattis06 Was it Ante Bellum?
@@TheSourOnionwhile I have played ante bellum I found it in the mod “Finno-Ugric World”
Looking for the reasons why Livonian vanished, the crucial moment happened with the Reformation. The ruling Baltic Germans decided, that only Latvian and Estonian should be the church languages, thus banning Livonian. As Lutheran church demanded everyone knowing the main principles of the faith, people couldn't even marry without knowing Latvian. WWI was actually even more devastating, than WWII. In the beginning of WWI, Germany managed to occupy Courland quickly, but the people were evacuated first to Eastern Latvia or further to the territories remaining under Russian control for longer. It took at least 3 years, before they were able to return. Since then, they rarely passed the language to the next generation as L1 (though many were still learning it as L2). Reviving the language is not just as easy as that. That child has never heard any native speaker, and likely the parents have strong accent and they tend to replace the correct syntax with Latvian one. I've seen that with the attempts of keeping another language, Votic alive, even when there are a very few native speakers left. And, even the Modern Hebrew, though revived from a living cult language, has very strong influence from Yiddish, including using Germanic syntax.
As an Estonian, who knows a bit about Livonian, it did seem to me that your pronounciation was a bit off. Vowels with a line on top are long vowels. In Estonian they would be "aa", "ee", "ii", "oo" etc. Keep in mind that Livonians also use letter õ, that is not double "o", but a different sound (eventhough this letter õ looks similar to ō) and that letter (õ) can also have a line on top (ȭ).
its great to hear livonian being revived but there are also other uralic languages like votic, enets and nganasan that need help in preserving their languages
Yukhagir isn't actually a uralic language
@@a.v.j5664 thanks ill correct my comment
This was such a good video and still you only have 360 Subs let me change that
Min izāmō, min sindimō, ūod ārmaz rānda sa, kus rāndanaigās kazābõd vel vanād, vizād piedāgõd. Min ārmaz īlmas ūod set sa, min tõurõz izāmō!
one more comment for the algorithm 💪
I wonder if youtube automatically removes the value of any comments that include the word algorythm just to spite people that want to give a boost to a video
There's quite a few finno-uralic languages & cultures around the baltics that are in a similar state as Livonian. Some of them more wide spread in south-east Estonia/Russia border like Seto - other's almost forgotten & less than 100 speakers like Ingrian around the St.Peterburg area.
I have definitely been thinking about some of those languages too, Veps is one I'm probably making a video about it at some point but I'd have to learn more about it first
how do you rate the language that the cigáni speak or even the rench that they speak in Montreuil
Please do a video about the lezgin language
As a history guy, when I hear “Livonian” the first thing that pops to mind is the “Livonian Order”. which was a military catholic knightly order operating in the baltics at the beginning of the Northern crusades before it was broken and the teutonic order came to replace and absorb it. Though I remember the area being rather christianized by the 1200’s since it was largely under teutonic power, so the info about it being suppressed under religious grounds seems a bit odd for the early modern period. Could it be that they where more catholic (or lutheran) as opposed to the more eastern orthodox russians later on?
Iirc they were lutheran
Livonian order was one of branches of German Teutonic order's of Livonian confederation. Livonian order and Livonian tribe have nothing in common except historic interaction. Livonian language was also called "Rānda kēļ" (Coast language), because it was language spoken at Baltic shore, in result Finnic tribe, that lived at Baltic shore were called "Līvi" (by Latvian tribes) or "Liven" (by Germans), which means Sand folk. Livonian order probably picked up "Liiv" word and established their order based on Finnic tribe, that lived by Baltic shore.
This feels inspired by Nativlang
0:06 why the kiwi shooting laser with his eyes
Here is the wiki if you want to learn about it en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Kiwi_flag
Livonian is very similar to Estonian (almost twin languages), by the fact Estonians made efforts to revive Livonian language. In the past there was a great reluctance for that from Latvians who saw that as some "separatist movement", long time Livonian was prohibited in Latvian educational system. I hope now the attitude is changing, but as always people are discovering the charm of the some small nation only when they became extinct.
Livonian looks pretty Uralic (reminds me of Finnish and Karelian; my actual native language and language which should be native to me), and Latvian seems pretty Polish. Or something like that. They do seem very different.
not even close to polish
400th sub
where'd you get the scrolling flags animation in the intro from? or did you make it
I fully made it myself!
@@Driesipops nice :D i wrote down all the languages represented by the flags i could identify: Galician, Sámi, Māori, Kurdish, Crimean Tatar, Maltese, Karakalpak, Greenlandic, Inuktitut, Uyghur, Basque, Berber, Iroquoian, Amami Ōshima, Luxembourgish, Rapa Nui, Esperanto, Navajo, Kashubian, Bashkir, Ainu, Armenian, Saterland Frisian, North Frisian, Ladin, Spanish, Cornish, Quebec French, German, West Frisian, Welsh, Livonian, Gagauz, Aromanian, Karelian
Speaking of Uralic languages, a dive into Mansi and Khanti would be appreciated.
MY HOVERCRAFT IS FULL OF EELS🎉
NOT AGAIN
Yo do a video about Manx language 🇮🇲
Is ot just me or are you using the blue osp map technique
The marble map is indeed inspired by his style
Yippie
Livonian isn't a dying language, it was just that little speakers.
what about sorbs?
they are cool, would sorb again!
i mean sorbs in lusatia (germany) forgotten slavs@@Driesipops
Salaca is a river in the area - the c is Cz not K. Easter Livonians suffered Heavily from Black death in 17th centuary. Latvians have intermaried with Livonians so much that latvian language has stressed first silible like in Livonian and not fluid stress like in other baltic languages.
i only know about livonia or livonian because of arma 3 lol
I first learned of the Livonians from eu4 lol
Almost sounds like Robonia
3:02 Not Sala[k]a Livonian, but Sala[ts]a Livonian,
This mistake will haunt me for the rest of my life
B
hating french (language) is pretty based.
comment boost W
You could have said at least the last sentences correctly :D
The terrible demographics in Latvia will not allow the language to grow. is there any data on the demography of the Livonian speakers?
Learn Livonian then
Definitely working on it
change the font you use it reminds me too much of overly sarcastic production, on top of the fact that you got a similar style of editing which i love but both of those and my first though was "overly sarcatic productions rippof" otherwise this channel is a fuckin gem
It is a good font. Osp uses it as it is a good and striking font without looking too crazy. Also a channel hasn't got a claim on any font and i don't think they would even want to enforce that claim. So pretty much, they use the same font cause it is a good font.
@@joonashaav6531 yeah but just saying it can send the wrong message and ts their signature font other than that im all for it
Hating English is overrated
☝️🤓
i love how this implies hating french is not lmao
Don't like English post a video in English can't wait for your French video next lol.
Now THAT would be silly! (*crosses french video from the list*)
It sickens me why some Americans defend the soviets just because how horrible Hitler was "in comparison".
the term "soviet occupation" cannot be appleid to Latvia. Only to Estonia.
what do you have against english and french, aside from them just being incredibly ugly languages?
I don't think either of them are any less beautiful than any other language, my issues with them are more on a level of personal experience
@@Driesipops such as what?
The fake laughter is annoying.
It's cool seeing some kind of representation from these languages so people can be awared of their existence. What wraps my mind is the fact there's a whole bunch of hundreds of languages that fit in the endangered category and are simply bound to be forgotten.
From what I've read around 9 languages fully go extinct each year, it is sad to know how many cultures and stories are going to be forgotten due to that