Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
Lithuanian
By Dick Oakes
A a, Ą ą, B b, C c, Č č, D d, E e, Ę ę, Ė ė, F f, G g,
H h, I i, Į į, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p,
R r, S s, Š š, T t, U u, Ų ų, Ū ū, V v,
Y y, Z z, Ž ž
Lithuanian, the official language of Lithuania since 1918, has 32 letters, and belongs to the Baltic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. Lithuanian is spoken by approximately 3 million people in Lithuania and by an additional half-million in other parts of the world, mostly in the Western Hemisphere.
Letters and dipthongs not listed below are pronounced approximately as in English.
A, a - a as in father or a as in car (ah, aw) Ą, ą - a as in above (uh) E, e - ya as in yak, or a as in apple, or ye as in yellow, or e as in bed Ę, ę - e as in ketchup - the alternate pronunciation (same as a in man) Ė, ė - e as in parquet (ey) I, i - i as in pin (ih) Į, į - i as in machine (ee) O, o - o as in note U, u - u as in put Ų, ų - u as in duke (oo) Ū, ū - u as in duke (oo) C, c - c as in dance (ts) Č, č - c as in cello (ch) Y, y - c as in cello (ch) J, j - y as in yes R, r - rr as in arroyo (but the Spanish trilled r) Š, š - s as in sugar (sh) Y, y - y as in city (ee) Ž, ž - z as in azure (zh) DIGRAPHS: ch - ch as in loch (gutteral kh) dz - dz as in adze dž - dg as in edge (dzh) DIPTHONGS: ai - ai as in kaiser au - au as in sauerkraut ei - ei as in seine (ay) ie - ea as in year ou - oa as in koala ui - ui as in ruin