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The German language is the third most popular foreign language among Estonians. Today there are very few Germans living in Estonia aside from some temporary residents from Germany.

Their history and presence in the Baltics came to an abrupt end in late 1939 following the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the subsequent Nazi-Soviet population transfers when almost all the Baltic Germans were resettled by the German Government into the Wartheland and Danzig-West Prussia. Some of them also took high positions in the military and civilian life of the Russian Empire, particularly in Saint Petersburg. They formed the social, commercial, political and cultural élite in that region for several centuries. The Baltic German population never made up more than 10% of the total. The Baltic Germans ( German: Deutsch-Balten, or Baltendeutsche) were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia. Setos (setokõsõq) mostly inhabit the area near Estonia's southeastern border with Russia in Setomaa, and are primarily Eastern Orthodox, while Võros (võrokõsõq) are traditionally Lutherans and live in historical Võru County. It is sometimes identified as a dialect of either South Estonian (along with Võro, Tartu and Mulgi) or Võro, some linguists also consider Seto and Võro to be dialects from a common language, Võro-Seto, or Seto to be a language on its own, more similar to Medieval Estonian than the current standardized Estonian, having strong historical traditions, such as the Leelo folk songs. Seto is a language from the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. It used to be considered a dialect of the South Estonian dialect group of the Estonian language, but nowadays it has its own literary standard and is in search of official recognition as an indigenous regional language of Estonia.

Võro is a language from the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages.