Together with Finnish, Sami, and Hungarian, Estonian belongs to the Finnish-Ugrian language family. With its 1 million speakers, it is one of the smallest European languages. Estonian uses the Latin alphabet, supplemented with Š, Ž, Ä, Ö, Ü and the typically Estonian letter Õ.

Dutch words in Estonian

Estonian has been influenced by almost all of its surrounding languages, including Dutch. This was due to the wood and grain trade between the two countries in the 16th and 17th century. The Dutch words for card, crown, and monastery are the same in Estonian. These days, English has a greater influence. Just like in the Netherlands, many English words are adopted in Estonia. The largest foreign ethnic group in Estonia are Russians (25% of the population), the result of Soviet immigration waves. In addition to Estonian, in parts with a large concentration of Russians, official documents are also translated into Russian.

14 cases

Estonian – with its 14 cases and unrecognisable words – is no simple language to learn for speakers of languages from other language groups. The long compounds – in which prepositions and conjugations are combined with nouns and verbs – don’t make this any easier.

In-country translators

To ensure an optimal Estonian translation, we work with in-country translators. In this case, Estonian translators who live and work in Estonia. A truly good translation needs to connect to the language and culture of the target group. That is why we prefer this method and work with a large number of translators.

Quality

Translation Agency is in possession of the highest European achievable quality standards for translation agencies: ISO 9001 and ISO 17100. These standards impose very strict requirements on us as a translation agency and on the translators we work with. If you want to know more about our quality, you can visit this independent website where you can find reviews from our clients there. We also always offer a lowest price guarantee and a 100% satisfaction guarantee with all our translations.