Romani Language

The Romani language is very old. It is called Romani, Romanes, or Romani Čhib. The language belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It contains loanwords from the languages of the countries through which the Roma traveled on their way to Europe. In the Lithuanian Romani language, one can find words borrowed from Belarusian, Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian.

Currently, there are many dialects of the Romani language worldwide, some of which are difficult to understand between speakers of different dialects. For example, a Lithuanian Romani speaker may not understand German or Hungarian Romani.

In Lithuania, three Romani dialects are widespread: Lithuanian Romani (litóvska romá), Latvian Romani (lotfítka romá), and Kotliar Romani. The Lithuanian Romani dialect is the largest in terms of speakers and is spoken throughout Lithuania and even beyond its borders, in regions near Belarus (e.g., Ashmyany) and Russia (Kaliningrad region). The Latvian Romani (lotfítka romá) dialect is spoken in northern Lithuania, particularly in Šiauliai, Žagarė, and Mažeikiai. This dialect belongs to the Northeastern Romani dialect group and is quite similar to litóvska romá but has historically been heavily influenced by Latvian. The Kotliar dialect belongs to the Northern Vlach Romani dialect group and developed in Romanian-speaking territories. It differs significantly from the other two Lithuanian Romani dialects and is spoken by about 200 Roma people in Vilnius and its surroundings.

However, there are countries where Roma do not speak their ancestral language. For example, in Bulgaria, many Roma speak Bulgarian, Turkish, or Romanian as their native languages. In Spain, due to the prohibition of the Romani language several centuries ago, Roma now speak only Spanish.