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Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| bob_26782 Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5572 days ago 7 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Turkish Studies: Finnish, German, French | Message 9 of 12 25 April 2011 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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Some great answers here, but thought I'd give my own personal perspective on this - sorry if what I say duplicates anything above!
I visit Lithuania very frequently and would say that learning some Lithuanian before you go there would be very useful. Many young people do speak English but a few words and phrases will definitely be useful in emergencies. Most older people do speak Russian but it has always seemed to me that 'ethnic' Lithuanians now prefer to use Lithuanian almost exclusively. The language is difficult in terms of grammar and lexical similarities to Western European languages, but if you've ever studied a language with cases it shouldn't trouble you too much as the case system is pretty regular. The main problem I've always found with Lithuanian is the stress/accent system - words are hardly EVER marked with this, it's hard even to find a dictionary (even in the country!) that has the stress marked on words.... When ever we've been to Latvia we've always been able to use Russian almost everywhere. My girlfriend (who speaks both Lithuanian and Russian as native languages) was amazed when we first went there that we didn't need to use English or try any Latvian at all. Can't really comment on previous posters' experiences of people resisting the use of Russian, I've only been to Latvia a couple of times! I speak a bit of Estonian, and know Finnish pretty well, so on trips to Estonia have managed with that. However Estonian friends (especially those over the age of c. 30) have always said they can still remember and use Russian but they simply have no need to any more. English is quite widely spoken among young people there, and certainly in tourist spots you will be able to always find someone who speaks it. Have a great trip - it's a wonderful part of the world! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Miegamice Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie Latvia Joined 4775 days ago 32 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Polish*, Latvian*, English, German, Danish Studies: Norwegian, Swedish | Message 10 of 12 26 April 2011 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I have lived in Latvia all my life and am so sorry not to know our dearest neighbours Estonian and Lithuanian language..Russian was forced for many decades, so I feel allergy to it.
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 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6168 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 12 26 April 2011 at 10:54am | IP Logged | ||
A little late. Evan's trip was over five years ago! The rest of your post was interesting though. 8^) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| bob_26782 Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5572 days ago 7 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Turkish Studies: Finnish, German, French | Message 12 of 12 26 April 2011 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Haha, missed the date completely!
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