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Albania

Europe

What language should you translate to localize in Albania?

What we know from our community

The Albanian language, belonging to the Indo-European language family, occupies a distinct branch as a unique language. Within Albanian, there are two main dialects known as Geg and Tosk. Geg is primarily spoken in regions located north of the Shkumbin River, extending into Montenegro and eastward towards Kosovo, North Macedonia, and other neighbouring states. Tosk is predominantly spoken in the southern region of Albania and the southwestern region of North Macedonia and further.

According to the Congress of Orthography of the Albanian Language of 1972, the literary language is a combination of both dialects but is primarily based on the Tosk dialect. Additionally, the literary language is considered the standard Albanian language not only in Albania but also everywhere else, it is the official language in Albania and Kosovo, and is spoken by more than 6 million people in these two countries and beyond.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that different variants of Albanian dialects are spoken today by the Arbëreshë community in Italy, Romania, Croatia, and elsewhere.

Albania, being a crossroads of different civilizations, has been influenced by various cultures, leading to changes and enrichment of the language.

When addressing this audience, you have two approaches to consider:

The first approach is to utilise the standard language, ensuring that your message is universally understood without any difficulties, regardless of the location.

The second approach involves using the Geg dialect for Albanian speakers in Kosovo and other adjacent regions who regularly use this dialect in their daily communication. Simultaneously, you would employ the standard language for audiences in Albania.

Albanian

Gjuha shqipe është një gjuhë unike, e cila i përket një degëzimi të veçantë të familjes së gjuhëve indo-evropiane. Ajo ka dy dialekte kryesore: dialekti Geg dhe Toskë. Gegërishtja flitet kryesisht në zonat në veri të lumit Shkumbin deri në Malin e zi, duke u shtrirë në lindje deri në Kosovë, Maqedoninë e Veriut dhe shtetet e tjera fqinje. Toskërishtja flitet në Shqipërinë e jugut dhe në jugperëndim të Maqedonisë e më tutje.

Gjuha letrare sipas Kongresit të Drejtshkrimit të Gjuhës Shqipe të vitit 1972 është një kombinim i të dy dialekteve, por që bazohet kryesisht në dialektin Toskë. Gjithashtu, gjuha letrare është e konsideruar si gjuha standarde shqipe në Shqipëri dhe kudo tjetër. Ajo është gjuha zyrtare në Shqipëri dhe në Kosovë dhe flitet nga më shumë se 6 milionë njerëz në këto dy shtete e më gjerë. 

Gjithashtu, vlen të përmendet që variante të ndryshme të dialekteve të gjuhës shqipe fliten edhe sot nga arbëreshët e Italisë, Rumanisë, Kroacisë etj.
Shqipëria duke qënë një udhëkalim i disa qytetërimeve, ndikimet e kulturave të ndryshme kanë sjellë ndryshimin dhe pasurimin e gjuhës. 

Kur i drejtoheni audiencës shqiptare, mund të ndiqni dy mënyra: 

E para, të përdorni gjuhën standarde duke u siguruar që mesazhi juaj të kuptohet gjerësisht, pa asnjë vështirësi, pavarësisht vendndodhjes. 

E dyta, të përdorni dialektin Geg për shqipfolësit në Kosovë dhe në rajonet e tjera kufitare që e përdorin këtë dialekt rregullisht në komunikimet e tyre të përditshme, si dhe, njëkohësisht, të përdorni gjuhën standarde për audiencën në Shqipëri.

vis du vil læse H.C. Andersens eventyr med hans egne ord, skal du lære dansk – et sprog, der stammer fra oldnordisk, som var det sprog, der blev talt i Skandinavien i vikingetiden. I dag er danskerne venligere indstillet, og omtales ofte som nogle af de lykkeligste mennesker i verden, men sproget bliver stadig betragtet som et af de sværeste at lære for udlændinge. Og så er vi ikke engang begyndt at tale om dialekterne endnu. På trods af landets beskedne størrelse er nogle dialekter så forskellige, at selv indfødte danskere fra forskellige dele af landet kan have svært ved at forstå hinanden. Det gode er, at dette hovedsageligt gælder for talesprog, og hvis man vælger at lokalisere til det danske marked, følger det danske skriftsprog  den samme standard på tværs af landet.

Et af de mere berømte uoversættelige ord er hygge. Det er en central del af dansk kultur, og ifølge definitionen i Wikipedia er det et ord, der “indebærer noget rart, afslappet, trygt og genkendeligt“. Det er dog ikke et specifikt dansk fænomen. Alle kulturer ved, hvordan man hygger sig, men danskerne (og nordmændene) har bare et ord for det, og selvom de måske har svært ved at beskrive det, ved de alle med det samme, om noget er hyggeligt eller ej.

Ardita,  Language Lead for Airbnb at Translated.

LANGUAGE INSIGHT

Official language

Albanian (97.9%; 2.68 mln)

Actual languages

Albanian (97.9%; 2.68 mln), Greek (1.8%; 49k), Macedonian (0.1%; 2k), other (0.2%; 5k).

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Albanian

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

  • 20/150 localize by translating into Albanian
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into Albanian, Romany and Albanian Sign Language
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into both Russian and Italian
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into Serbian
  • 1/150 localizes by translating into Italian
  • Localization not available 3M
  • Localization not available ABB
  • Localization not available Accenture
  • Localization not available Adidas
  • Localization not available Adobe
  • Localization available Airbnb
  • Localization not available Aldi
  • Localization not available Amazon
  • Localization not available American Airlines
  • Localization available American Express
  • Localization not available Apple
  • Localization available Audi
  • Localization not available Autodesk
  • Localization not available Avis
  • Localization not available Bayer
  • Localization not available BMW
  • Localization not available Booking.com
  • Localization not available Bosch
  • Localization available British Airways
  • Localization not available Bumble
  • Localization not available Burberry
  • Localization not available BYD
  • Localization not available Canon
  • Localization not available Capgemini
  • Localization not available Cartier
  • Localization not available Caterpillar
  • Localization not available Chevrolet
  • Localization not available Cisco Systems
  • Localization not available Citibank
  • Localization available Coca-Cola
  • Localization not available Costco
  • Localization not available Dell
  • Localization not available Deloitte
  • Localization not available Delta
  • Localization not available DHL
  • Localization not available Disney+
  • Localization not available Dyson
  • Localization not available eBay
  • Localization not available Eli Lilly
  • Localization not available Emirates
  • Localization not available Ernst & Young
  • Localization available Facebook
  • Localization not available FedEx
  • Localization available Ford
  • Localization not available Four Seasons
  • Localization not available Fujifilm
  • Localization not available GE
  • Localization not available Gillette
  • Localization not available GoDaddy
  • Localization available Google
  • Localization not available Gucci
  • Localization not available Haier
  • Localization available Heineken
  • Localization not available Hermès
  • Localization not available Hertz
  • Localization not available Hilton
  • Localization not available Hisense
  • Localization not available Hitachi
  • Localization not available Honda
  • Localization not available Hotels.com
  • Localization not available HP
  • Localization not available HP Enterprise
  • Localization not available HSBC
  • Localization not available Huawei
  • Localization not available Hyatt
  • Localization not available Hyundai
  • Localization not available IBM
  • Localization not available IKEA
  • Localization not available Intel
  • Localization available InterContinental Hotels
  • Localization not available J&J
  • Localization not available Jack Daniel's
  • Localization available Jehovah’s Witnesses
  • Localization not available John Deere
  • Localization not available Kellogg's
  • Localization available Kia
  • Localization not available KPMG
  • Localization not available L'Oréal
  • Localization available Land Rover
  • Localization not available LEGO
  • Localization not available Lenovo
  • Localization not available Lexus
  • Localization not available LG
  • Localization not available Louis Vuitton
  • Localization not available Lululemon
  • Localization available LUSH
  • Localization not available Marriott
  • Localization not available MasterCard
  • Localization not available McDonald's
  • Localization available Mercedes-Benz
  • Localization not available Merck
  • Localization not available Microsoft
  • Localization not available Mitsubishi Electric
  • Localization not available Nestlé
  • Localization not available Netflix
  • Localization not available Nike
  • Localization not available Nikon
  • Localization not available Nintendo
  • Localization not available Nio
  • Localization not available Nissan
  • Localization not available NIVEA
  • Localization not available Oracle
  • Localization not available Pampers
  • Localization not available Panasonic
  • Localization not available PayPal
  • Localization not available Pepsi
  • Localization not available Pfizer
  • Localization not available Philips
  • Localization not available Pitney Bowes
  • Localization not available Porsche
  • Localization not available Procter & Gamble
  • Localization not available PWC
  • Localization not available Revolut
  • Localization not available Rolex
  • Localization not available Royal Caribbean
  • Localization not available Salesforce
  • Localization available Samsung
  • Localization not available Sanofi
  • Localization available SAP
  • Localization not available Sephora
  • Localization not available Shopify
  • Localization not available Siemens
  • Localization not available Sony
  • Localization not available Spotify
  • Localization not available Starbucks
  • Localization not available Steelcase
  • Localization not available Stripe
  • Localization not available Subaru
  • Localization not available Tesla
  • Localization available The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Localization not available Tiffany
  • Localization not available Tinder
  • Localization not available Toshiba
  • Localization available Toyota
  • Localization not available TripAdvisor
  • Localization not available Uber
  • Localization not available United Airlines
  • Localization not available UPS
  • Localization not available Visa
  • Localization available Volkswagen
  • Localization available Volvo Cars
  • Localization not available Vrbo
  • Localization not available Walmart
  • Localization available Western Union
  • Localization available Wikipedia
  • Localization not available Wise
  • Localization not available WordPress
  • Localization not available Workday
  • Localization not available Xerox
  • Localization not available Xiaomi (Mi)
  • Localization available Zara
  • Localization not available Zoom
Available in

If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data

Index of content

Overview

Language

Official language
Albanian (97.9%)

T-index
0.025%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
Greek (1.8%), Macedonian (0.1%), other (0.2%).

English
Moderate proficiency (EF) – 47 of 111 countries/regions in the world- 32/35 position in Europe.

Demography

Capital: Tirana
Currency: Lek
Population: 2,74 m
Population density: 104/km2

Economy

GDP: 18.26 billion USD (2020)
GDP per capita: 6,492.9 USD ‎(2020) ‎
Exports: $3.49 billion (2021)

Statistics

Internet users: 80.1 % penetration, 2.27 million
Unemployment rate: 11.8% (2023)
Urbanisation: 62.97% (2020)
Literacy: 98% (2021)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals and comma as decimal separator

Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00355

Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal

Facts and data

Economy

Imports
$7.59 billion (2021).  Refined Petroleum ($602M), Cars ($227M), Packaged Medicaments ($214M), Electricity ($203M), and Raw Iron Bars ($166M), importing mostly from Italy ($1.91B), Greece ($1.62B), Turkey ($790M), China ($586M), and Germany ($359M).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 8% have an account with a financial institution
• 1.1% have a credit card
• 2.4% have a mobile money account
• 7.3% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
It is easy to conduct business (rated 67.7 out of 100) ranked 21st out of 44 European and Central Asian countries ranked 82nd out of 190 countries worldwide (2020, World Bank).

Exports
$3.49 billion (2021). Footwear Parts ($272M), Leather Footwear ($254M), Electricity ($204M), Crude Petroleum ($204M), and Ferroalloys ($157M), exporting mostly to Italy ($1.42B), Greece ($441M), Spain ($211M), Germany ($174M), and China ($149M).

Economic freedom
‘Moderately free’ (rated 65.3 out of 100) ranked 27th out of 44 European countries ranked 49th out of 186 countries worldwide (2023, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal

Service Imports (2018)

Source: OEC

Service Exports (2018)

Source: OEC

Most specialised products by RCA Index

Specialisation is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage, an index that takes the ratio between Albania observed and expected exports in each product

Source: OEC

Most Complex Products by PCI

Product Complexity Index measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters

Source: OEC

Export Opportunities by Relatedness

Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product, the barchart show only products that Albania is not specialized in

Source: OEC

Volume of payments/transfers processed by payment instrument over time
Distribution of payments/transfers volume processed by instrument over time (%)

Source: WorldBank

Growth rate of payments/transfers volume by instruments over time (%)

Source: WorldBank

Total value of credit card payments in Albania from 2008 to 2018 (in million Albanian lek)

Source: WorldBank

Media

Media language
English, Albanian

The press

Shekulli – private daily
Gazeta Shqiptare – private daily
Panorama – private daily
Gazeta Dita – private daily
Gazeta Mapo – private daily
Tirana Times – English-language

Television

Albanian Radio and TV (RTSh) – public, operates two networks
Top Channel – national, private
TV Klan – national, private
Vizion Plus – national, private

Radio

Albanian Radio and TV (RTSh) – public
Top Albania Radio – national, private
Club FM – national, private

News agency

Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) – English-language pages
BalkanWeb – news website
NOA – news website
Albanian Daily News – English-language news site

Media data source: BBC

Internet Data

Internet users
80.1 % penetration, 2.27 million

Share of web traffic by device
86.18% mobile phones, 13.01% computers (laptops and desktops), 0.80% tablet devices and 0.01% other devices

Median speed of mobile Internet connection
44.63 mbps

Median speed of fixed Internet connection
39.29 mbps

Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 122.2%

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 73.4%

Most popular web search engines
Google (98.12%), Bing (0.95%), Yahoo (0.56%), DuckDuckgo (0.17%), Yandex (0.15%), Ecosia (0.03%)

Most used social media
Facebook (94.78%), Instagram (2.99%), Pinterest (0.84%), Twitter (0.82%), YouTube (0.36%), Reddit (0.11%)

Internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter

Social statistics

Life expectancy
76 yrs (2021)

Average age of the population
36.4 yrs (2020)

Current education expenditure
88.6% of total expenditure in public institutions

World Happiness Index
Albania was ranked 90 out of 137 countries, with a score of 5.199

The World Happiness Index measures happiness based on respondent ratings of their own lives, correlated with other life factors.

Privileges: It is obvious that if personal relationships carry excessive weight (e.g. preferred treatment, pay increases, hiring of friends or family) misunderstanding of business or job relations can occur. Usually, such situations do not occur and having family members in the same workplace is not a common thing; you see this only in small, private businesses.

CO2 emissions
1.7 metric tons per capita

Current Health Expenditure
6.66%

Corruption Perception Index
Albania scored 36 out of 100, ranked 101 out of 180 countries

The CPI measures the perception of corruption due to the difficulty of measuring absolute levels of corruption.

Religion
In general, the Albanian person is not religious and at the same time does not judge other people with religious convictions. For them, faith is a personal matter and is not taught at home. It is common to see marriages of people with different religious names or backgrounds. The characteristic element of Albanian history is the peaceful co-existence of different religions. Albanians do not harass people due to their class, origin, or ethnicity. The attitudes regarding gender, religion, class, and ethnicity do not have any impact on the workplace, where endeavor through productivity, teamwork, and respect are the leading values..

Gender
Albanian people regard both men and women equally. It is common to see men and women in all workplaces, but men carry out the hard professions. Men lead the family and the women strive to keep a clean house, and a warm home, and together with their husbands, they look after their children with great attention.

Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF

Tertiary education in Albania

Source: UNESCO

Tertiary education in Albania, by gender

Source: UNESCO

The Data Factbook is a work-in-progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advice at imminent@translated.com

Languages research

Languages spoken in Albania

Legend

  • Albanian

  • Greek

  • Serbian

  • Aromanian

  • Macedonian

The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com

Photo credit: George Kourounis, Unsplash

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