Standard Albanian language and other Albania Local Custom Tips

The Indo-European group of languages is usually divided into 9 sub-groups. One puts together the Romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, etc…) that derivate from Latin. Another one, the Germanic languages (German, English, Dutch, Scandinavian languages, etc…). Another again the Balto-Slavic sub group of languages divided itself between the Baltic sub-sub group (Latvian, Lithuanian, etc…) and the Slavic sub-sub group (Russian, /…/, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, etc…). Modern Greek derivates from Ancient Greek and is the only language of its sub group.

Albanian (shqip in Albanian) belongs to the Thrace (or Daco-Thrace) subgroup and derivates from the ancient Illyrian. The only other living language of the Thrace group is Armenian, though not closely related. No other language derivates from the ancient Illyrian.

Albanian has burrowed a lot of words to its neighbors (Latin and Italian, Slavic languages, Greek). It has also words also found in Rumanian and in Armenian.

Albanian has two main dialects.
Gheg, in Gheg gegnisht, in standard Albanian gegėrishte, is spoken in the Northern part of Albania, in Kosovo, in Eastern Montenegro and in Western Macedonia.

Tosk,, in Albanian toskėrishte, has 3 millions speakers in the south of Albania, in Epire (Ēamėria in Albanian) and in southern Macedonia.
The Albanian that emigrated in the 15th century in Southern Italy speak Arbėresh, a variety of Tosk

In Albania, the limit between Gheg and Tosk is drawn by river Shkumbin.

Standard Albanian is mainly based on Tosk.

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I will not give here a class of Albanian, which I would be unable to do anyway! All guidebooks give basic sentences useful when you visit the country. However, visitors must know that Albanian is a language with declinations.

Moreover, in most languages the definite and indefinite form of words are given by an article: in English, “the” for definite and “a” for indefinite. In Albanian it is also a declination that identifies definite and indefinite. Visitors would not pay attention if that did not apply also to place names. Thus the name of each place can be written in two different ways. I will give in the following respectively the definite and the indefinite form for a dozen Albanian cities. When speaking in a foreign language, Albanians use the definite form. Guide books do not always follow this rule!

Berati/Berat, Berat in English
Butrinti/Butrint, Buthrot in Greek, Butrint in Italian and in English
Durrėsi/Durrės, Durrazzo in Italian, Dyrrachion in Greek, Durrės in English
Dhėrmiu/Dhėrmi, Dhėrmi in English
Elbasani/Elbasan, Elbasan in English
Fieri/Fier, Fier in English
Gjirokastra/Gjirokastėr, Argirokastro in Greek, Gjirokastėr in English
Korēa/Korcė, Koritsa in Greek, Korēa in English
Kruja/Krujė, Kruja in English
Ksamili/Ksamil, Haxamilion in Greek, Ksamil in English
Lezha/Lezhė, Alessio in Italian, Lezha in English
Saranda/Saranda, Santi Quaranti in Italian, Aya Saranda in Greek, Saranda in English
Shkodra/Shkodėr, Scutari in Italian, Shkodra in English
Tirana/Tiranė, Tirana in Italian and in Greek, Tirana in English
Vlora/Vlorė, Valona in Italian, Avlon in Greek, Vlora in English

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In the 50s, Albania was more and more isolated. Enver Hoxha feared an invasion either (or both) by its neighbors and by the Allies. He initiated the building of hundred of thousands of small bunkers, growing like mushrooms everywhere in the country, built by the people of each village on almost the same plan. They are estimated between 100,000 and 600,000.
Most of them are remaining today and are either just staying in the landscape or used as a shelter for animals, when they are close to a farm. The photos show various aspects and various situations.

Photos 1 to 4 were taken in 1988, the last one in 2005.

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In 1988, the communist red star was everywhere.

The first photo shows it built on the soil with pebbles, framed by hammers. In the center, this is not the little red book but its Albanian equivalent, the works of Comrade Enver.

The second and third photo shows a 8 meters high standing star that commemorates the liberation of the country in 1944. There was a celebration for May 1st and I shot the photo from our bus.

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Field writing was in 1988 widely practiced.

First photo :
6-Dershor Kongresi 10 BGSH
In the foreground, an older inscription is hardly visible. The stones must have been used for the new one.

Second and third photo (enlargement) :
populi

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As in many places in the Balkans, Turkish coffee is traditionally done in pots of the shape shown on the photo. I do not know if in Albania it is still called Turkish coffee or if it has been renamed in the same way then the Greek that call it "Greek coffee"! Finely ground coffee is added with water and sugar, brought to the boil for a few minutes and poured delicately in a glass or a cup. You must then wait a few minutes to allow the powder to settle at the bottom. You can also add some cold water that will sediment faster. Anyway, never drink the bottom or you would not "drink" but "eat"!

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Both in the city or in the country, there are often vine rooted in front of the houses and growing on top of the roof. In 1988, our Albanian guide explained us that the people could not own privately more than 100 m2 of land, including the house and that, like that, even with a 1m strip of land around the house, they could make their own "raki" anyway!

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The money of Albania is the lek. The international abbreviation is ALL, for ALbanian Lek.

One Euro is worth around 140 lek
One US Dollar is worth around 120 lek

There are certainly other banknotes but I have in 2005 seen notes of 100, 500 and 1000 lek.

The 100 lek bears the figure of Fan S. Noli, 1882-1965.

The 500 lek bears the figure of Naim Frasheri, 1846-1900.

The 1000 lek bears the figure of Pjeter Bogdani, 1625-1689.

The 100 and 1000 lek are of the same set while the 500 is of an older issue. This is even more evident when looking at the other side of the notes (second photo)

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In 2005, from what I have seen in Shkodėr (limited experience!) cafes sell Tirana beer, a local beer and Niksicko beer, coming from Montenegro. We have tried Tirana beer. It is a light beer, not unpleasant to drink when it is hot outside but I preferred the Niksicko that has more flavor.

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