Your grandparents speak it, your partner’s family switches to it at the dinner table, or you’re simply curious about the language on the signs in Tirana and Prishtina. Here’s what Albanian really is, where it comes from and where it’s spoken today.
Short answer: what language is spoken in Albania?
The official language of Albania is Albanian, called shqip by its speakers. It’s also an official language in Kosovo and North Macedonia. Albanian forms its own branch of the Indo-European language family and has no close living relatives. Around 7 to 8 million people speak it worldwide, in two main dialects: Gheg in the north and Tosk in the south. Minority languages such as Greek, Macedonian and Aromanian are spoken in some regions, and many younger Albanians speak English.
Albanian is one of the most unusual languages in Europe. It sits right in the middle of the Balkans, surrounded by Greek, Slavic languages and Romanian, yet it isn’t closely related to any of them. That makes it fascinating for linguists and a little mysterious for everyone else.
As someone who has spent over 20 years learning languages and has written four books about it, I find languages like Albanian especially interesting: they show how a people can keep their own language alive through centuries of foreign rule. I don’t speak Albanian myself, so this portrait is built on established linguistic sources, not on personal fluency.
What is the Albanian language?
Albanian is an Indo-European language, which puts it in the same large family as English, German, Greek, Russian and Hindi. Within that family, it forms its own branch. Greek is also a branch of its own, and Armenian too. Albanian has no “siblings” among living languages, which is why linguists often describe it as isolated within the Indo-European family.
Albanians call their language shqip and their country Shqipëri (Shqipëria with the definite article). A popular explanation connects the name with shqiponjë, the eagle on the Albanian flag. Many linguists prefer a more down-to-earth origin: a verb meaning “to speak clearly” or “to pronounce”. Either way, the name is a source of pride.
Albanian in a nutshell: key facts
- Name: shqip (the language), Shqipëri (the country)
- Language family: Indo-European, its own branch
- Speakers: around 7 to 8 million worldwide
- Official language in: Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia (co-official), plus regional status in parts of Montenegro
- Main dialects: Gheg (north) and Tosk (south)
- Script: Latin alphabet with 36 letters, fixed in 1908
- Standard language: based mainly on Tosk, codified in 1972
Where is Albanian spoken?
Albanian is spoken far beyond the borders of Albania. In fact, a large share of Albanian speakers live outside the country:
- Albania: the official and majority language of the country.
- Kosovo: official language alongside Serbian, spoken by the large majority of the population.
- North Macedonia: spoken by a large Albanian community in the west and north of the country, with co-official status.
- Montenegro and southern Serbia: Albanian communities around Ulcinj and in the Preševo Valley.
- Italy: the Arbëresh, descendants of Albanians who settled in southern Italy and Sicily from the 15th century onwards, still speak their own old form of Albanian in some villages.
- Greece: the historic Arvanites speak a related variety called Arvanitika, which is now endangered. Greece is also home to many more recent Albanian migrants.
- Diaspora: large communities in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, the US and Scandinavia.
That’s why “What language do they speak in Albania?” is only half of the story. If you have Albanian roots, your family might come from Kosovo, North Macedonia or an Arbëresh village in Calabria, and the Albanian you hear at home will reflect that.
Which other languages are spoken in Albania?
Albania is not monolingual. In the south, especially around Gjirokastër and Saranda, there is a Greek-speaking minority. Macedonian is spoken near Lake Prespa, and Aromanian and Romani communities live in several regions. Almost all of them also speak Albanian.
Where does the Albanian language come from?
This is one of the most debated questions in Balkan linguistics. What’s certain: Albanian descends from a language spoken in the Balkans in antiquity. What’s uncertain: which one.
- The Illyrian theory: The most widespread view links Albanian to the Illyrians, who lived on the western Balkan coast in Roman times. It fits the geography, but Illyrian is known almost only from names of people and places, so a direct connection is hard to prove.
- The Thracian or Daco-Thracian theory: Other scholars point to languages spoken further east. Some shared words with Romanian are part of this argument.
- The honest summary: Albanian clearly has deep roots in the Balkans, but the ancient languages there are too poorly documented for a final answer (Britannica on the Albanian language).
A short history of written Albanian
Albanian was spoken for a very long time before it was written down. The milestones:
- 1462: The oldest known written sentence in Albanian, a baptismal formula recorded by Pal Engjëlli, Archbishop of Durrës.
- 1555: The first known book in Albanian, the Meshari (Missal) by the priest Gjon Buzuku.
- Before 1908: Albanian was written in several scripts, including Latin, Greek and Arabic-based alphabets, depending on region and religion.
- 1908: The Congress of Monastir (today’s Bitola) agreed on a single Latin-based alphabet with 36 letters, the one still used today.
- 1972: The Congress of Orthography in Tirana codified standard Albanian, based mainly on the Tosk dialect.
Is Albanian the oldest language in Europe?
You’ll find claims online that Albanian is “6,000 years old”, “older than Greek” or even “the oldest language in Europe”. I understand the appeal, and the pride behind them. But linguistically, they don’t hold up, and repeating them doesn’t do Albanian any favours.
- All Indo-European languages, from English to Albanian to Greek, go back to the same ancestor. None of them is “older” than the others in that sense. They have simply developed separately for thousands of years.
- What can be compared is when a language was first written. Greek is documented from the second millennium BC, while the first Albanian sentence dates from 1462.
- What’s true and remarkable: Albanian has survived as a separate branch for a very long time and has kept features that no other living language shares. That’s impressive enough without myths.
What language is Albanian similar to?
Short answer: none, at least not closely. A speaker of Italian, Greek, Serbian or Turkish won’t understand Albanian without learning it. But centuries of contact have left clear traces:
- Latin: A large layer of Albanian vocabulary comes from Latin, from the time of the Roman Empire. mik (friend) comes from Latin amicus, qytet (city) from civitas.
- Greek, Slavic and Italian: Neighbouring languages have contributed many everyday words.
- Turkish: Nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule brought words like xhami (mosque) and many expressions you still hear today.
Albanian also shares some grammatical features with its Balkan neighbours, even though they aren’t closely related. The best-known example: the definite article is attached to the end of the noun. Shtëpi means “house”, shtëpia means “the house”, a pattern that also exists in Romanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian. Linguists call this a Balkan language area: languages that grew similar through centuries of living side by side.
Is Albanian Slavic? No. It borrowed Slavic words, but its structure and core vocabulary are not Slavic. Is it similar to Greek? Both are separate Indo-European branches with some shared loanwords, but they’re not mutually intelligible.
Gheg and Tosk: the two main Albanian dialects
The Shkumbin river in central Albania roughly separates the two main dialect groups. Speakers of both can generally understand each other, but the differences are noticeable, especially in pronunciation and in some grammar.
| Gheg | Tosk | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Northern Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro | Southern Albania, Arbëresh in Italy, Arvanites in Greece |
| Status | Everyday speech, widely used in music and media from Kosovo | Main basis of standard Albanian |
| Typical feature | Keeps “n” in words like venë (wine), has nasal vowels | Uses “r” instead: verë (wine) |
In Kosovo and among the diaspora from northern Albania, you’ll mostly hear Gheg in daily life, while schools, newspapers and official documents use standard Albanian. If you’re learning, start with the standard. Every course teaches it, and you’ll adapt to Gheg by listening. My guide on how to learn Albanian explains how to handle both.
The Albanian alphabet at a glance
Albanian uses the Latin alphabet with 36 letters: 7 vowels (a, e, ë, i, o, u, y) and 29 consonants, including 9 letter combinations that count as single letters: dh, gj, ll, nj, rr, sh, th, xh, zh. Spelling is phonetic, so once you know the letters, you can read any Albanian word out loud.
For every letter with its pronunciation, see our complete guide to the Albanian alphabet.
Do people in Albania speak English?
Good news for travellers: in Tirana, along the coast and in tourist areas, many younger Albanians speak good English. Italian is also widely understood, largely thanks to decades of Italian TV, and in the south many people speak Greek. In rural areas and with older people, English is less common.
Even so, a few words of Albanian change the atmosphere instantly. A simple Faleminderit (thank you) or Mirëdita (good day) is appreciated everywhere. You’ll find the most important expressions, with pronunciation, in our Albanian phrases.
Want to speak Albanian yourself?
Duolingo and Babbel don’t offer Albanian. The 17-Minute-Languages course teaches standard Albanian with native speaker audio and the long-term memory method. Test it for two days, free of charge.
Frequently asked questions about the Albanian language
What language is spoken in Albania?
Albanian (shqip) is the official and majority language of Albania. Greek, Macedonian, Aromanian and Romani are spoken by minorities, and many younger people also speak English or Italian.
What language family does Albanian belong to?
Albanian is an Indo-European language and forms its own branch within that family. It has no close living relatives.
Is Albanian a Slavic language?
No. Albanian has borrowed some Slavic words, but it is not a Slavic language. It is a separate branch of the Indo-European family.
Which countries speak Albanian?
Albanian is official in Albania and Kosovo and co-official in North Macedonia. It is also spoken in Montenegro, southern Serbia, by the Arbëresh in Italy and by a large diaspora in Europe and North America.
How many people speak Albanian?
Around 7 to 8 million people speak Albanian worldwide, including the populations of Albania and Kosovo and large communities abroad.
Is Albanian older than Greek?
No. Both are separate branches of the Indo-European family with a common ancestor. Greek is written down much earlier, from the second millennium BC, while the first known Albanian sentence dates from 1462.
What is the difference between Gheg and Tosk?
Gheg is spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia, Tosk in southern Albania. Standard Albanian is based mainly on Tosk. Speakers of both generally understand each other.
Related links
- Learn Albanian: best apps, online courses and free resources
- Common Albanian phrases with pronunciation
- The Albanian alphabet: all 36 letters with pronunciation
- The different ways of learning languages
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About the author
Sven Mancini has published four books on language learning and has over 20 years of hands-on experience learning new languages, from Norwegian (business fluent since 2005) to English, French, Spanish, Danish and Swedish. He writes about the methods behind effective language learning, not about one specific language. Read more about Sven here.
