Lithuanian translation

Lithuania can be an excellent foreign trade partner for any company operating in the Baltic and Scandinavian region as well as beyond. Thanks to well maintained infrastructure, including the best roads in the Baltics, goods can easily be transported by land, sea and air, while so-called Free Economic Zones offer businesses various tax incentives and support services. Although prices are lower in Lithuania than in Estonia, for example, the market is bigger and open to innovation. Consequently, having your sales information, product catalogues and websites translated into Lithuanian can prove highly profitable.

Lithuanian translation services can also be useful to Lithuanian companies looking to expand to foreign markets. Transly Translation Agency provides quality Lithuanian translation services, including website, technical, legal, medical and other types of translation, and are happy to assist you with any additional translation-related services.

Both Lithuanian and Latvian (unlike Estonian, which is a Finnic language despite Estonia being a Baltic state) belong to the Baltic language family. While Lithuanian is certainly similar to Latvian, it has been more conservative, meaning that Lithuanian has seen fewer changes over time than Latvian. In fact, Lithuanian is considered the most archaic living Indo-European language.

Lithuanian has about 3 million speakers, and nearly all Lithuanians speak the language to some extent. Lithuanian is also spoken by ethnic minorities in Belarus, Latvia, Poland, the Kaliningrad Oblast and elsewhere in the world. Lithuanian is the mother tongue of almost 90% of the population of Lithuania. In addition to Lithuanians, the country is also home to many Poles (5.6%), Russians (4.8%), Belarussians (1.3%) and Ukrainians (0.7%) along with a few members of other ethnic minorities. All ethnic minorities living in Lithuania can speak Lithuanian. Considering the size of the Lithuanian market, its geographical location and rapid economic development, Lithuania is a very promising export market.

The Lithuanian language is ancient. Nevertheless, some of the many interesting expressions in Lithuanian are quite modern. For example, Lithuanians refer to lying as ‘hanging pasta on someone’s ears’ (kabinti makaronus). People who forget to close the door after themselves are said to be ‘born in a trolleybus’ (troleibuse gimęs). Lecturing others is referred to as explaining ‘where legs grow out from’ (iš kur kojos dygsta). Failure or fruitless activities are referred to as ‘slicing mushrooms’ (grybą pjauna). Instead of ‘quarrelling’, the Lithuanians ‘clarify relationships’ (aiškintis santykius). And in Lithuania, if you consider someone a fool, you can say their ‘face is unharmed by intellect. (intelekto nesužalotu veidu).

Lithuanian belongs to the Indo-European language family, and it is so conservative that it actually retains some shared lexicon and features with Sanskrit to this day. For example, both Sanskrit ‘agnis’ and Lithuanian ‘ugnis’ mean ‘fire’, ‘sūnus’ means ‘son’ in both languages, and Sanskrit ‘viras’ and Lithuanian ‘vyras’ mean ‘man’.

Another frequently noted feature of Lithuanian is that it is often possible to tell if a woman is married or unmarried by the ending of their family name. The last names of unmarried Lithuanian women, for example, end with ‘-aitė’, ‘-iūtė’ or ‘-ytė’, while those of married women who have taken their husband’s family name generally end with ‘-ienė’, though it should be noted that this tradition is slowly fading.

In addition, there are no gender-neutral first names in Lithuanian due to the fact that all names take either a masculine ending (‘-as’, ‘-is’ or ‘-us’) or a feminine ending  (‘-a’ or ‘-ė’).

The word ‘Lithuania’ was first mentioned in Saxon records in the year 1009. In the mid-13th century, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established, which remained an independent state until the 16th century. In the 15th century, Lithuania was the largest state in Europe, spanning Belarus, most of present-day Lithuania and Ukraine as well as parts of Poland, Moldova and Russia. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania only collapsed at the end of the 18th century. In the course of World War I, Lithuania was severely ravaged by the Germans, the Polish and the Russians. After World War II, Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union. On 11 March 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, the Supreme Council of Lithuania declared the country independent – the first of the Baltic states to regain independence. Due to this historical context, the Lithuanians have a very strong sense of national pride. They would rather speak English than Russian and tend to not take jokes made at the expense of their nation lightly.

Lithuania is considered to have an efficient and pleasant business environment. This is due to the fact that the Lithuanian economy is growing, the legislative environment is stable, and political risks are low. Under Lithuanian law, foreign investors may enter the Lithuanian market by establishing a local branch or a private limited company (UAB). Establishing a private limited company in Lithuania requires initial capital of at least 2,500 euros, while the maximum number of permitted shareholders is 250. Establishing a company in Lithuania takes two to four weeks. In Lithuania, corporate income tax is 15%, VAT is 21% and corporate social security contributions are around 31%. Additional information about Lithuanian business environment can be found here.

What should one consider when entering the Lithuanian market?

Lithuanian business culture is similar to that of Western Europe. Lithuanians are generally open communicators, although at the first meeting they may remain rather reserved. To ensure that your business meeting with Lithuanians is a success, it’s best to follow these guidelines:

• Avoid speaking Russian. Lithuanians are strongly nationalistic and they consider themselves more of a Western European nation, so engaging them in conversation is better conducted in English rather than Russian.
• Basketball is a good topic. The Lithuanian national basketball team is one of the best in the world and Lithuanians are very knowledgeable about the world of basketball, so this is always a safe bet.
• Lithuania is a Catholic country. Lithuanians are polite, reserved and respectful and expect the other party to respond in kind. They are proud of their country and nation and generally do not tolerate criticism of Lithuania’s economy or social order.
• Lithuanian management culture leans closer to being authoritarian than liberal. Managers prefer to negotiate and conclude agreements with equal or higher level managers.
• Kissing others on the cheek, patting them on the back or touching them in general is inappropriate between business partners of both the same as well as the opposite sex.
• Lithuanians expect frequent eye-to-eye business meetings and agreements must always be concluded in writing, because oral agreements are not considered binding.

What should one consider when ordering a Lithuanian translation?

We offer English-Lithuanian-English translation. Similar to Latvian translations, translations between Lithuanian and English generally take slightly more time than those between other language pairs, because there simply aren’t too many Lithuanian translators and the best are constantly busy. The price of Lithuanian-English-Lithuanian translations is also similar to that of Latvian-English-Latvian translations. We provide Lithuanian translations of technical, medical and legal texts, user manuals, technical documentation, marketing texts and sales materials as well as websites, programmes, applications and much, much more.

We also offer proofreading of Lithuanian-language texts by an experienced editor who speaks Lithuanian as a native language. Upon request, we also offer additional services related to translation, such as translation layout, design, printing, insertion into websites and many others.

Lithuanian-English and English-Lithuanian translation

We mainly offer Lithuanian-English and English-Lithuanian translations. However, do not hesitate to contact us with requests for other language pairs either – we will always do our best to find a solution to your translation needs.