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Languages in Macedonia

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Macedonian is the official and widely spoken language in the Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonian language was derived from the South Slavic group. This language is related with Standard Bulgarian. The language has similarities with Serbian, Torlakian, and Shop dialects which are spoken mostly in the southern area in Serbia and some places in western Bulgaria.

Implementation of the Standard Macedonian as the official language of the Republic of Macedonia was legalized after the language Socialist Republic of Macedonia codified in the year 1940.

Comprising a large population of the country speak Macedonian. Macedonian was the native language of the people in the Republic of Macedonia.

The Macedonian language was distributed in some of the countries surrounding the Republic of Macedonia. Besides that the people of Macedonia, there are places outside the republic that consider Macedonian as their native tongue. It is because that some of the ethnic minorities live outside the republic. Before the establishment of the standardization of the official language Macedonia, Macedonian communities that reside outside the republic spoke and retained the dialect. Some are emigrants to countries such as Canada, Australia and the United States. According to the 1964 census, nearly 30% of the Republic of Macedonia’s total populations that speak Macedonia live outside the Republic.

Macedonian language is also spoken in some parts of Greece, especially in the northern part where the minority ethnic group reside. This ethnic group can be located in the Greek provinces of Central and Western Macedonia.

In some parts of Macedonia exists dialects that varies region by region. The Macedonian dialect varies from Eastern and Western region of the country.