Belarus Languages

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Belarus

Languages

Description[edit | edit source]

Belarus's two official languages are Russian and Belarusian. Minorities also speak Polish, Ukrainian and Eastern Yiddish. Belarusian, although not as widely used as Russian, is the mother tongue of 53.2% of the population, whereas Russian is the mother tongue of only 41.5%. ^[1]

Belarusian - one of the two official languages in the Republic of Belarus under the current Constitution and spoken at home by 23%.

Russian - the most common language used at home, used by 70% of the population.

Russian is commonly spoken and is the language of the genealogical sources. Belorussian is written in Cyrillic and is closely related to both Ukrainian and Russian.^[2]

Word List(s)[edit | edit source]

Russian Genealogical Word List

Andrey Taranov, Phrasebook Belarusian : the most important phrases : phrasebook + 3000-word dictionary, Hong Kong : T & P Books Publishing, 2016 - Available at WorldCat

Alphabet and Pronunciation[edit | edit source]

The Belarusian alphabet is a variant of the Cyrillic script. The modern Belarusian form was defined in 1918, and consists of thirty-two letters. Belarusian had also been written in the Belarusian Latin alphabet and the Hebrew alphabet.

Belarusian alphabet - Wikipedia

Language Aids and Dictionaries[edit | edit source]

Dictionaries

Valentyna Pashkevich & Si︠a︡rheĭ Shupa, English-Belarusian dictionary, Kolas = Kolas Publisher, 2006 - Available at WorldCat

Online Dictionaries

Language Aids

Additional Resources[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

↑ Wikipedia contributors, "Belarus," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus#Religion_and_languages#:~:text=Religion%20and%20languages, accessed 4 Aug 2021.
↑ The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Belarus,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 2002.

For word list and help researching in Belorussian records, see:

Russian Genealogical Word List

[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Belarus," in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus#Religion_and_languages#:~:text=Religion%20and%20languages, accessed 4 Aug 2021.

[profile-2] The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Family History Record Profile: Belarus,” Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 2002.

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