An American Learning (and Speaking!) LITHUANIAN 

The good news is, the emphasis patterns in Lithuanian are *not* random. For verbs, there are two, for adjectives and nouns, there are four. The bad news is, there isn't really much that helps you decide which patterns apply to which words. You basically have to learn through exposure; there isn't much of a system. The good news is, there is a specialized dictionary that lists emphasis patterns for all the common words. Once you know the patterns, you can easily look up any word there and figure it out. The bad news is, most Lithuanian speakers don't actually comply with the patterns in that dictionary. The linguists can tell us it's pronounced "septynì" until their faces are blue, most people will still say "septýni" 80% of the time in fluid speech. The good news is, most Lithuanian speakers will understand you even if you botch the emphasis pattern quite significantly. Of course, they will be immediately able to tell you're a foreigner, but, to be honest, they will be too busy being surprised that you're speaking Lithuanian, to begin with.

Ah, the joys of declensions..... I spent 18 months, once a week learning Lithuanian at the local Lithuanian House where I call home. As a native English speaker, Lithuanian was challenging, but in a good way. The whole world does not speak English, and I would always try, even if badly, to speak the local language...so I look forward to my next visit to Lithuania so that I can practice my really bad Lithuanian.

My foreign friend told me that his biggest motivation to learn Lithuanian was the fact that it's one of the oldest if not the oldest and one of the hardest languages to learn, so you kinda feel special knowing it

The Lithuanian language is one of the oldest languages in the world. “Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant,” stated Antoine Meillet, one of the most influential French linguists a century ago.

Hi Laura. I tried commenting before, but I included a link and for some reason, those comments disappeared into somewhere. Congrats on starting Lithuanian and Šarūnas is great to work with. I've got to warn you, though -- it's a hard language. I've studied 3 western European languages, and Lithuanian was the hardest by far in terms of grammar complexity and unfamiliar vocabulary. Starting out, I found the book "Complete Lithuanian" helpful. There's an audio series with that where the actors speak veeerrrryy sloowwwwly. And that's exactly what you need. It's far from "complete", though. I found it frustrating that it only presented the grammar in small pieces. Eventually, I consulted other texts and make my own noun and adjective declension charts. If I have to climb a mountain, show me the map of the whole mountain! As for emphasis patterns, they're tricky, and they shift from case to case. But even Lithuanians sometimes don't agree with each other where to put the emphasis, so knowing that helped me relax about it. With repeated exposure to words and forms of words, it starts to sink in. Šarūnas' podcast is a great listening practice at the beginner and intermediate level. Once I got to intermediate (B2ish) I made heavy use of LRT -- I like listening to Ryto Garsai and 60 Minučių when I'm walking or even just doing the dishes. Only a few LRT programs have subtitles, and i've found it very helpful to read the lithuanian as I hear it. Beatos Virtuvė is one good option (and the cooking / recipe segments are fun). And sometimes I catch (ne)Emigrantai. I'm nearly 5 years in and feeling more functional in the language. I felt like giving up at various points, but I'm glad I didn't. Good luck!

Seeing your efforts and excitement in learning our language warms my heart, especially knowing you'd probably leave LT in a year or so :) Sometimes you really amaze me as a person. Lucky Luke :)

There is no substitute for having someone teach you the grammar. There are books, but without a person to explain it, you will be lost. I've been learning for over 10 years now and can communicate but it's a constant struggle. I probably own every LT language book ever written. My favorite by far is the 17 minute languages course which you can do on your home computer. It's by far the best way to expand your vocabulary. It's worth the 30 bucks or so to buy it and you can do a free 2 week trial. Other than that, just try not to get discouraged and don't be afraid to open your mouth. The people truly appreciate any effort you make to learn their language.

As a native Lithuanian speaker, I can say that this is one of the hardest languages to learn for foreigners.

You should do a tandem! Find somebody who wants to improve their English and they could teach you Lithuanian! ☺️

You're doing incredibly good! If you see that you're struggling with cases or times or conjugations, then just forget them and speak in infinitives (the basic forms) only - make it easier for yourself and we will still be able to understand you and really appreciate the effort ;) Also watch a lot of LRT TV programmes - it is equivalent of Lithuanian BBC or CNN - they have the best vocabulary and pronunciation out of all channels operating in Lithuania.

So glad you found a good teacher like Šarūnas! Growing up in the US, before the internet, I found it very helpful to have some grammar charts in front of me during lessons. As you already mentioned, there are so many endings to remember, not only for verbs, but for nouns and adjectives too. I learned from a very authoritative textbook that had all that. Good luck to you in this endeavor!

One of the most ancient and preserved languages in the world. You're doing well.

Thanks for the video! I am trying to learn Lithuanian also (my grandparents came from there) and am struggling, but any new language is difficult. I plan to visit there soon, and hopefully will learn enough to get by. I understand that English is spoken in most of the larger cities, but still I've always believed that one should make an effort to speak the native language. I understand that they are extremely proud of their language (and for good reason) and will at least appreciate the effort from a foreigner. I will continue to try to learn. I love the history and culture of the Baltic Countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia!!!!

I didn't have any classes. When I moved over to Lithuania in 95 I had to learn Lithuanian in order to eat😊 Most shops involved asking for something. So, I can be understood but I really have to concentrate to speak well. Luckily I learnt a lot of local dialect in a the North East where the galūnės aren't used. That helps a lot but I have to remember to speak properly when heading to Vilnius etc. It also helps to be married to a Lithuanian and to speak it every day, even though we live in Ireland now.

Well, mine start in English was translating texts. I think it works the same in any language. Work with dictionary helps to learn new words and reading/writing overall. Verbal communication best learned is live discussion, I believe.

My tip would be finding some Lithuanian music artists that you like and signing along. I found that finding the music that you like really helps develop your language skills and pronunciation. I read this book 'The Tongue Set Free' by Elias Canetti - he's a polyglot in languages where he explained that his mom would give him various texts in his youth to learn by heart, and this really helped developing his memory and language skills. Although at the time when you're learning by heart you don't really fully grasp the grammar/rules of the language/why it's spoken that way, it helps your intuition in the long run, and you kind of start "feeling" the language. I found that learning lyrics really helped my English skills (especially, if you really like the music - you listed to it over and over again ). I never learned grammar, always aced the tests by writing everything from intuition.

One of the nicer things with our language, is that you don't have to be worried too much about the order of words :) Like "aš geriu arbatą", "geriu aš arbatą", "arbatą geriu aš", etc are all proper sentences. They have a slightly different mood (in a very nuanced way), some are more used that others, but in general - makes bit easier (maybe? :)

You don't need to worry too much about messing up the pronunciation or the emphasis of words, lithuanian isn't really one of those languages where the wrong emphasis can significantly mess up the meaning (the emphasis can also greatly differ depending on what region you're in and whether you're speaking casually or "properly"). People will generally understand you either way, plus they'll be too delighted by a foreigner attempting to learn and speak our language to care.

Nice, you're doing well. :) Lithuanians themselves sometimes accentuate in different ways, so don't worry about accentuation (emphasis) too much. It will come with time. Of course, when learning a word it's good to learn accentuation from the start. But it changes in different cases of a word, so... :) a lot to learn. There is a system of accentuations, but we really do not learn the system, we aquire accentuations naturally, and use what we acquired from our environment, even if it is not correct from the viewpoint of the common system. But it might be helpful, because in the system there are some rules, which one can use sometimes, to decide how to accentuate different cases of a word. Dialects of Lithuanian differ in accentuations. Learning Lithuanian through Lithuanian songs might be nice, this language is well suited for singing. I'll name some singers and bands to try to listen to: Vytautas Kernagis, Andrius Mamontovas (Foje), Kostas Smoriginas, Žalvarinis, Gyvata. They pronounce in a clear way. Lyrics for the songs can be found online, and then you can translate it with Google translate. When you like the song and understand the meaning, words stick in the memory. I think our language is one of the best assets of our nation, we love it.

I'm Lithuanian . Your very good pronunciation!!!

Great Laura is fun to hear speaking Lithuanian😎😎😎❤️

You can use Memrise for isolated words and phrases. You can also easily immerse yourself in spoken language by listening to radio stations like LRT and Žinių radijas. Finally, try writing a diary in Lithuanian. Start slowly, write your daily activities plus anything that comes to your mind, but do this without any help. Then revisit that passage with your study material and coloured pens and mark the errors and corrections.

Turning on the closed captioning on the tv helped my Slovak cousins learn English pretty quickly -- well, that and they worked as servers in a banquet hall and the cooks taught them how to swear in Spanish, so they knew those words first. Try the cc, it might click with your eyes/brain, worth a try.

Your pronunciation is great! Lithuanians also strugle with emphasis points and barely anyone use them correctly :)

You pronounce words very good, almost like native! :)

I don't normally comment on youtube videos but I'm very proud of you for even attempting to learn the Lithuanian language. My only piece of advice would be to learn as much of the commonly used words and worry about how to put them in coherent sentences later. Most people will understand the gist of what you're trying to say with just that. At least that's how I learned how to speak English, German and Russian. -A Lithuanian living in the US.

You are doing great! Don’t mind the pronounciation as it differs even across regions/cities in Lithuania. Moreover, being a small country, we foremost highly appreciate when someone puts efforts to speak our language. Hence, i would advise to practice natural language through communicating with locals, for example, at farmer’s market - even if you make mistakes, people would try to understand you and help you speak. Also, the commenter below has suggested a great thing: watching Lithuanian TV, especially, i would say, some movies, which you have already watched in English, and know the general context. Keep going, and good luck!

Laura, don't worry about the emphasis right now. Of course it's important but you will learn it with time. Even native Lithuanians make lots of mistakes while emphasizing words. People in different regions of Lithuania put emphasis on different syllables and even official recommendations from the language committee differ often from how people speak in reality. You can check videos of this guy: ru-vid.comvideos I think he does a good job in explaining Lithuanian grammar.

This is so awesome!!! Well done and keep your spirit up :D It's going to be a long long journey, be warned! ha ha ha :D Love your videos and your bubbly personality. Keep posting!

Lithuanian is archaic. Good luck! I find it difficult, I find myself subsituting it to English just to be fast and efficient. And I'm Lithuanian. Don't scold me lol

🕺 ¡sí! Queremos conocer más de ti camino en el idioma ✨

You are doing great! Good luck :)

Your pronunciation is really good! Emphasis in Lithuanian IS complicated, and native speakers make mistakes too, so don't worry about it too much :) Good luck with your classes!

❤️Good luck!

Looking forward to future videos where you're out and about in Lithuania speaking with the locals in their language.

Justo a tiempo ❤️ voy a verlo ✨

I'll also say that maybe the only straightforward thing about Lithuanian is the spelling. Once you get the map of letters to sounds in your head, the spelling is utterly regular, unlike English, which is crazy. I do find, sometimes, that I don't recognize international words or place names in the U.S. when spelled in Lithuanian -- that is, until I say the word or sound it out in my head, and then I realize -- I know that word/place. It just looks very different.

Correct Laura, it is not a common language to learn. My husband as a child spoke Lithuanian with his grandparents and parents but as a teenager he would not speak it, instead he would answer in English which he still does but he understands it fairly well. I am looking forward to hearing him speak it again in Lithuania 👍

Hi Laura. I want to put my 5 cents here. Lithuanian definitely is not a common nor an easy language. What surprised me a lot, nearly shocked back in times was the time of early 2000s when we had lots of Mormons roaming around cities and advertising their believes. They were all young (very young!) adults and they had no significant time to live in Lith due to their age. I got stopped couple of times on a street by them. You should hear their Lithuanian! They were perfect up to emphasys and pronounciation. It was beyond shock. They were 100% Americans from USA. So definitely they know the trick... Thank you for your video. Good luck studying Lithuanian. You actually have pretty clear pronounciation, I mean REALLY good for beginner.

Love the accent

Good luck you will need it

good luck Laura , I promise yuo ,if yuo start speak Lithuanian language , Yuo will get fun gift . :)

Best way to learn language is to just learn vocabulary and speak it. The grammar will come later. Learning grammar beforehand will make the process much much longer. If you do not know vocabulary, conversation will stop immediately. If you don't know sentence grammar, the person listening will still understand you 99%.

Hello Laura, I love your You Tube videos, I have been watching you for years and finally I’m moving to Mexico this June. I’m taking your advice on searching for rentals while walking the streets. I’m starting in Mazatlán and plane to follow how you travel by staying in one place for a month and then moving on. My question is where do you stay while you are looking for an apartment? It could get expensive staying in a hotel for weeks or do you usually move in some place quickly? Thanks Laura, I hope I get to meet you some day 😊

I tried several times to learn Lithuanian and each time I learn, I unlearn because I am not there speaking it, Lithuanian is really hard to learn. I speak very little and I tend to read it and understand better than speaking it. Good luck

Keeping in mind that you are starting to learn one of the oldest still spoken languages on the planet, you are doing very good. ;) Just try to relax your jaw a bit, Lithuanian is more vocal language in pronunciation so just relax... :) Tau puikiai sekasi!

Resources hm... I believe one of the resources could be TV shows with english subtitles. I think there are quite a few Lithuanian movies where they do not have a lot of spoken text, but the language is spoken correctly and there are subtitles in english for those movies as well. Most of those going to be historical. Maybe your teacher might know more of these, I believe they might be using resources like these as well. Here is the short one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xXC3NTKAwo4.html Another resourse I have heard people use are the books that have one page in Lithuanian and another same page in English, these are probably used in schools to teach kids. Although you will have to learn reading instead of talking. Maybe an audio books next to the written text in English? I am not sure if such thing exists :/ Or using translation apps on the phone or even google translate. Our language have a lot of adjectives and verbs to describe things in many different ways, I lack that in English, sometimes I struggle to fully describe things because I feel that there is no accurate enough adjective or verb in english for that specific thing to mention, I open up google translate trying to find the replacement, there is like 10 available words and yet not the one I would need :))

I’m sorry I have to ask! What do you do for a living that allows you to travel? Ty.

In what city are you living at???

Such a hard language! I’m 50 percent Lithuanian….tried to learn. Yikes!

Also you can try looking for Lithuanian youtubers that upload videos with english subtitles, here is an example ru-vid.comvideos

I believe, that main is vocabulary. So, when I wanted learned English, I putted a stickers on a things: Šaldytuvas - friger. Krosnis - Owen. Puodelis - cup. Stalas - table. And try to speak. Make practice. And remember: if, I'correcting emphasis, - it's mean (according, their thinking) your are almost a Lithuanian.

Ismok lietuviskai lolll

I wouldn't worry too much about lithuanian language ,about, 70 per cent residents of Vilnius still don't understand lithuanian, and don't speak, and no matter that they live here 30 or 40 years. So if you struggling with lithuanian language, always think about those people 😉

Tikiuosi kai išmokisi lietuviškai, dings tas šlykštus amerikietiškas būdas maivytis ir "tampytis" šnekant.. feel free to use translator.. Peace

GOOD LUCK!

Please sign petition to make lithuanian language more easy to learn.Please put more english words in it.

Aš geriu arbatą (ą) longer pronounced. Tell me what you don't understand or is hard to you.