Analytics, Education and Science, EU – Baltic States, History, Latvia

"Goeuro.com", in collaboration with Christopher Moseley, editor of Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, has created a list of 24 languages that have been deemed severely or critically endangered by UNESCO.

Livonian, which is already practically extinct as it has no native-speakers [ethnic Liivs] anymore, is first on the list.

"Goeuro.com" says that the Livonian language has been dying a long, slow death since the 13th century. Viktors Bertholds, who passed away in February 2009, was said to be the last native speaker.

The media described Bertholds as the last native speaker of the Livonian language, however, this is not true. The last native speaker was Grizelda Kristina, who died at the age of 103, in Canada, 2013. [Wikipedia-Latvian version reports that there are 176 ethnic Liivs in Latvia, but those speaking the language since childhood are no more than 10.]

"Goeuro.com" says that in attempts to revive Livonian, it is taught in a number of universities dotted around Latvia, Estonia, and Finland.

Second on the list of endangered languages is Karaim, which belongs to a group of Western Turkic languages, spoken in various parts of Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine. The portal indicates that though there are only a handful of people still using the language, it stands a fairly strong chance of survival.

Sami languages are third on the list.