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Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
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evan
Diglot
Newbie
United States
evanosborn.tripod.co
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Speaks: English*, Spanish

 
 Message 1 of 12
23 March 2006 at 12:00pm | IP Logged 
Hello!

I'm taking a trip to the Baltic states a month from now and am looking to do some study for Lithuanian and Latvian, and Estonian. I hear that Russian is also spoken but since it is identified as the language of the former oppressor the indiginous languages are preferred. I also hear that Lithuanian is perhaps the oldest of the Indo-European languages with a close resemblence to Sanscrit. Latvian is related to Lithuanian but the two languages are not mutually intelligable. Estonian is a completely different branch and closely related to Finnish.

Does anyone have any tips for travel to these countries. Any other insights on the languages? Currently I have the Pimsleur Lithuanian Short series.

I did a search for these languages but didn't come up with much concentrated info and would appreciate any advice from this forum.

I know that each language deserves its own thread, but perhaps a single thread for all three Baltic languages would be a good start!


Best Regards

Edited by evan on 23 March 2006 at 6:35pm

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Sir Nigel
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 Message 2 of 12
23 March 2006 at 3:44pm | IP Logged 
It seems you've done your research as to which languages share relations. I know a couple who returned from Latvia and they didn't need to speak much Latvian, mostly Russian, so you should be able to get by without learning Latvian. If I remember, only some towns had more people speaking Latvian, but still there were Russian speakers.

Probably Lithuanian, of all the indigenous language, would be of most use when you visit. Otherwise I'd recommended studying some Russian to get by there. As far as Estonian, due to the fact that it's not an Indo-European language, I wouldn't expect to reach much proficiency in a short time.
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evan
Diglot
Newbie
United States
evanosborn.tripod.co
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20 posts - 20 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish

 
 Message 3 of 12
24 March 2006 at 3:37pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for the tip Sir Nigel. This is exactly the information I was looking for. I will focus my efforts on Lithuanian and Russian for this trip.
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patuco
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 Message 4 of 12
25 March 2006 at 4:36am | IP Logged 
Evan, why don't you PM Linas who might be able to offer the most help to you.
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Linas
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Senior Member
Lithuania
Joined 6672 days ago

253 posts - 279 votes 
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Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish
Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese

 
 Message 5 of 12
25 March 2006 at 1:40pm | IP Logged 
patuco wrote:
Evan, why don't you PM Linas who might be able to offer the most help to you.


What Evan writes about Baltic languages is correct, except about the similarity between Lithuanian and Sanskrit. In fact there is very little ressemblance. For example verbal system is very different in both language. There is more resemblance in nominal declension. Number of shared vocabulary is very insignificant.

If Evan has some more concret questions about Lithuanian, but also about Latvian, Estonian or even Finnish, I would try to answer    
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Bhashavid
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Newbie
Netherlands
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15 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: Dutch*, Hindi, Sanskrit, German, Bengali, French
Studies: English, Tamil

 
 Message 6 of 12
25 March 2006 at 5:23pm | IP Logged 
I agree with Linas. Once I saw a Lituahanian text and I didn't recognize any Sanskrit word. I regognized some words which are almost the same in Polish.
The resemblace of Lituahanian and Sanskrit is often too much exeggerated. Some people believe that a Sanskrit speaker could talk to Lithuanian farmers in their language.
This is of course not true.
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eirne
Diglot
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United States
Joined 6563 days ago

1 posts - 3 votes
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Romanian

 
 Message 7 of 12
10 April 2006 at 4:24pm | IP Logged 
I spent a total of 8 weeks in Latvia during the past 3 years, and I got
along fine with English. Most people between age 18 and 30 seemed to
know English quite well, and I was never stuck in a place where there
was nobody who spoke enough English to help me. However, it's good
to know a few Latvian phrases because that is their official language.
It's used on all signage and public announcements, not to mention the
fact that if you want uncarbonated water and there is no one who
speaks English to help you, it is very handy if you know that the
Latvian word for water is "udens" and that the absence of carbonation
is shown by the word "negazets" (literally, "no gas").

As far as Russian goes, all the older people know it, and many of the
younger people as well, but sometimes the ethnic Latvians don't want
to use Russian because they associate it with the Communist days. I
have heard people get scolded for using Russian with an older Latvian
person. The younger people don't seem to be offended by Russian,
but they don't necessarily speak it very well if they are not ethnic
Russians.
3 persons have voted this message useful



Miegamice
Bilingual Pentaglot
Newbie
Latvia
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Speaks: Polish*, Latvian*, English, German, Danish
Studies: Norwegian, Swedish

 
 Message 8 of 12
24 April 2011 at 2:43pm | IP Logged 
Lithuanian wont't help at all.

Edited by Miegamice on 24 April 2011 at 2:43pm



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