Slovak or Slovakian is one of the official languages of the European Union since 2004. It belongs to the West Slavic group of languages, which includes Czech, Polish, Silesian, Slovincian and Sorbian. Due to geographical reasons, these neighbouring countries have influenced each other and shared a great part of their history.
Slovak is spoken mainly in the Slovak Republic by about 7 million people. In 1993, when Czechoslovakia split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the Slovak language became the official language of Slovakia.
Slovak dialects can be divided into four main groups: Eastern Slovak, Central Slovak, Western Slovak and Lowland. The standard language is the Central dialect because it is taught in schools and commonly used for official purposes.
