Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia, a small country in Central Europe. It is not the capital of Slovakia — that mix-up is very common, because the two country names sit too close in English. The city sits on a river, with a castle on the hill above the old town, and it is where Slovenian government and much of the country’s study and art life gather. In English the name is always a place name, with a capital L. Speakers often stumble on the spelling: the j’s are not the English j in jam; they are closer to a y sound, so the name comes out something like “lyoo-blyah-nah.” People still write Ljubljana in careful work, not a made-up easier spelling.