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I would imagine Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are somewhat in between Slavic and Nordic countries culturally, since they are heavily influenced by both Russia/Poland and Sweden/Finland?
They are generally thought of as being eastern European though I have also seen them classified as Northern European, they seem to prefer being thought of as Nordic rather than as Eastern European though I could be totally wrong.
I would imagine Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are somewhat in between Slavic and Nordic countries culturally, since they are heavily influenced by both Russia/Poland and Sweden/Finland?
They are generally thought of as being eastern European though I have also seen them classified as Northern European, they seem to prefer being thought of as Nordic rather than as Eastern European though I could be totally wrong.
Estonians are more like Finns, Latvia ( and particularly Lithuania) are more reminiscent of Eastern Europe ( well CENTRAL Europe as it's called now.)
What a great question! The Baltic states feel and look much more Western than anything East European, even in Soviet times this was so. North European is probably the best way to classify them.
I never heard the term "Central Europe" until some time after the fall of the Soviet system. More and more, the term Central Europe is being used to designate Germany, Austria, and the westernmost of the former Soviet bloc countries. Eastern Europe now is Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. People from countries formerly designated as "Eastern Europe" are especially keen on this new designation, "Central Europe". Remember, during the Cold War, Europe was discussed mainly in terms of East and West, "Eastern Europe" being synonymous with Soviet bloc. Now that there is no more Soviet bloc, those from that part of Europe want to put behind them anything associating them with "Eastern" or "Soviet" or "Russian sphere of influence", especially since some of those terms tended to denote economic backwardness and underdevelopment.
I don't know where you're from but central europe has always been called central europe, and eastern europe has never been called central europe. :-)
I'm sure many North Americans would still describe Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, etc as Eastern Europe. Likely a Cold War remnant where everything was East vs. West, with not much room for anything in the middle. Austria is probably the only country that would consistently be "Central" in a Western vs. Central vs. Eastern poll.
For starters, you need to understand that the Estonians are as different as they could possibly be from the Lativans and Lithuanians. Their languages don't even stem from the same proto-linguistic group. Estonian is a Ural-Altaic language, that came through Finland, and Latvian and Lithuanian share Indo-European roots with most of the rest of Europe and southwest Asia.
Language is by far the best clue we have, for classifying cultures and their common origins.
For starters, you need to understand that the Estonians are as different as they could possibly be from the Lativans and Lithuanians. Their languages don't even stem from the same proto-linguistic group. Estonian is a Ural-Altaic language, that came through Finland, and Latvian and Lithuanian share Indo-European roots with most of the rest of Europe and southwest Asia.
Language is by far the best clue we have, for classifying cultures and their common origins.
Interestingly enough, Latvian and Lithuanian are unrelated languages as well.
( How odd - I mean all three of them are located so close to each other))))
Latvian and Lithuanian are actually related languages. Estonian is as Cowan states akin to Finnish.
Culterally and geoplotically, Estonia looks to Scandanavia. Lithuania looks more to Eastern / Central Europe (though with a very complex relationship with Poland), and Latvia is sort of between the two, also with a lot of Germanic cultural affinity. It is also worth mentioning that Estonia and especially Latvia have very numerous Russian minoroties, and Lithuania to a much lesser extent.
It is true that the Baltic states have a fairly Western feel to them now. I travel to Lithuania every couple of years, and it changes a bit in that direction each time. The biggest obstacle (at least in Lithuania and Latvia; I don't really know about Estonia) to further westernization is the relative lack of a civil society and an overwhelming lack of social trust. Understandable given their experiences; rebuilding them will be the work of generations.
Latvian and Lithuanian are actually related languages.
That was news for me, so I had to look it up.
I've heard them ( Balts from all three countries) talking on numerous occasions and Latvian and Lithuanian didn't sound ( or look) anything alike, so I didn't look any further. I knew for sure they couldn't understand each other as well, even living in such proximity ( so it was definitely not a case like say between Russian-Ukrainian.)
I see now that they are related approximately as German and English, so that would explain why these languages are not "mutually intelligible," - I mean why these people wouldn't be able to understand each other.
Would it make more sense to say Finland is a Baltic country as opposed to a Nordic one?
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