L is for Language

When back in the UK I am often asked a common question.
“What do they speak in Lithuania?” Pause “Lithuanian?”

Actually, in the capital Vilnius, about 9% speak Russian and another 10% speak Polish as first languages. But yes, Lithuanian is the official language of Lithuania. Lithuanians love the Lithuanian language. They’ll tell you it’s beautiful, that it’s related to Sanskrit, that it’s one of the most archaic languages in the world.
After a few weeks of living in Lithuania, and attending language class I only had one thought about the language – it’s hard. It’s more complicated than rocket science, it’s impregnable to my English ear and it seems to have no relation to anything I’ve ever seen before. It is in Latin script, so life was a little easier, but beyond that it’s a mixture of vowels, ks, zs, prefixes, declensions and cases that all conspire against the average foreigner to make him or her sound like they’ve got a lump of fried bread stuck in their throat and are in desperate need of the Heimlich manoeuvre.

There are 24 different ways to say the same word, depending on if it is male or female and then one of six possible cases. Let us not go into the intricacies but instead look to some of the novel things to be found about the language.

The first word that brings a smile to British tourists is the word for thank you, Ačiū. The little v over the c gives it a ch sound and thus this word is pronounced almost exactly as if sneezing, though normally on demand. From my experience it takes about 5 minutes before a-choo no longer becomes funny.

Bičas – Despite what it sounds like to English ears, is the word for a good male friend, “mate”. And originally comes from the word bite or bee. Bees were sacred animals in pagan Lithuanian tradition and were highly respected. To kill a bee meant bad news for you. There are plenty of other words in Lithuanian that sound rude or not altogether wholesome in the English language, but I won’t share those with you.

Language is also a great preserver of culture. There are many words and phrases which are based on the agricultural history and culture of Lithuania. Two examples are below.

Man šakas tau! – meaning something like, “I have a pitchfork for you”. This isn’t a friendly gesture from a neighbouring farmer to say, “I’d like to help you move your hay.” Rather it’s a form of abuse.

grybauti – to pick mushrooms. Mushroom picking is an important and common national pastime in the late summer. This verb can also be used about someone who seems to be late, as if to suggest they have been temporarily distracted by some attractive and tasty looking fungus.

Do you fancy your chances learning Lithuanian? Have a go at http://www.oneness.vu.lt