The Sorbian languages (Upper Sorbian: serbska rěč, Lower Sorbian: serbska rěc) are two closely related and partially mutually intelligible languages spoken by the Sorbs, a West Slavic minority in the Lusatia region of eastern Germany. They are classified under the West Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages and are therefore closely related to the other two West Slavic subgroups: Lechitic and Czech–Slovak. Historically, the languages have also been known as Wendish (named after the Wends, the earliest Slavic people in modern Poland and Germany) or Lusatian.
The two Sorbian languages, each having its own literary standard, are Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbsce), spoken by about 20.000–25.000 people in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski), spoken by about 7.000 people in Brandenburg. The area where the two languages are spoken is known as Lusatia or Lausitz in German.
