My huge respect to all foreigners who are learning and trying to speek Lithuanian! I have met Italians, Americans, French, Japanese, British, Irish, Germans speaking Lithuanian with their specific accents. Aren't these times wonderfull times?
As a Canadian born Lithuanian, I can speak/understand it at a pretty basic level (although my cousins are always impressed). I always screw up endings and just add "as" to words I forget, especially in the first few days while visiting. But the language comes flowing back as I immerse myself more. Theyll always appreciate it, even butchered, just because you put the effort in.
I started learning Lithuanian a few weeks ago. It is very difficult. I am sure my R will never sound native. As far as I noticed, Lithuanians are happy when you at least try. But so are most people, when you try to speak a few words when visiting their country. Your videos are great, they helped me a lot to increase my understanding for this wonderful country.
Most people I've met are definitely incredibly encouraging - some of them just interacted with me like it's normal (despite my visible struggling), while others actually helped me along, especially when I asked questions. But yes, I've had a few "I don't have time for this" ones. Regardless, I always insisted on ordering in full Lithuanian....except the one time a waitress caught me speaking Polish with my friend and spoke to us in Polish;) Sounds like I should make a video about my experience as well!
I am really happy, when foreigners learn and try to speak lithuanian and I want to encourage them too. But also if foreigners live in Lithuania for 10 years or more, I expect them to speak in lithuanian in least some. For me as lithuanian this is mater of respect.
I have received mostly positive feedback when speaking Lithuanian to the natives. On my last flight back from Kaunas, Missed the airport bus and had to ask a taxi driver in lithuanian to take us to the airport, he was very happy that i tried.. my broken lithuanian was "mes reika važiuoti į oro uostą, kiek kainuoja?" And he said it was 25 euros and then I said "gerai, važiuoja dabar?" And he said yes and then we went to the airport and i gave him a tip and told him to gave a good day.
@@RichieLarpa I've only said a couple basic sentences, and many people I've interacted with spoke Polish pretty fluently, so most of the Lithuanian responses I've gotten were just out of politeness, like "viso", "ačiū", "sveiki" etc.
@@thatonepole Glad to hear that! Even the basics are admirable, since honestly, Lithuanian is not so global, that is why people might be surprised to know that someone is taking his/her time to learn something. Poles are also surprised, when I speak unexpectedly Polish to them at my work, even though they should not, since our languages are somewhat similar (I am Czech).
To me, it always warms my heart when someone is trying to speak or learn Lithuanian. I don't know why, but it's just something I can't really explain. Maybe it's because it's such a rare thing to see random people online or in person do this, so it feels special. Lithuanian can be pretty hard, and the fact that people are at least trying is what matters. Aš ❤ Lietuvių!
I agree, there were recently pottery markets in a town, where I work and to my surprise, there was also Deividas Jotautis from Kaunas, who makes splendid hand-made products. He was also accommodated in our hotel and luckily, I had few days off, so I came to support his honest work and of course try my Lithuanian. He was very surprised to acknowledge that some random receptionist can speak his language and we chatted a little, which was a pleasure for me. We mostly talked about Lithuanian food and recent basketball achievements, which was vivid enough for both of us.
I did not expect to see Chris Broad here :D On another note, as a lithuanian i feel very happy and proud to see other people try speaking our language. I know the feeling of wanting to give up (and i did. learned german in school for 4 years and only remember how to greet others and introduce myself) and the fact that some people even attempt to try learning lithuanian is very honourable. Thank you for not giving up and trying your best!
Happened the same for me with Russian lol. Wanted to choose German as the third language, but the group didn't end up forming, so Russian it was. I tried to put effort into it, but after some time I just couldn't bring myself to care and the grades slowly worsened before we dropped it altogether in the 11th grade.
i speak with foreigners English even if they speak some Lithuanian, and i think many of us, to not because we want to hurry you but we want to make it easier for you.
Your intentions are nice, but paradoxically, it might do more harm to some people than good, as they might have wasted some time to learn Lithuanian, only to acknowledge that they will not need it, since most people will speak English anyway.
The shoe also fits on the other foot. I have had relatives from Lithuania who have lived in Canada over 20 yeaes, and hadn't learned English well because they only moved in Lithuanian circles. I am acquainted with other internationals whose language skills in English don't indicate how many years they have lived in Canada.
Please please don't be discouraged by those negative comments! You're doing absolutely great! Don't forget that Lithuanian is one of the most difficult languages to learn 💚
I recently obtained Lithuanian citizenship (through ancestry, so dual citizenship) and after a visit earlier this summer, it may very well be the country I choose to move to. This series of videos has been really helpful as I've been studying German for years, and not only is it daunting to completely restart learning a language, but it didn't take long for me to realize just how hard of a language Lithuanian was. I will say, during my visit I was very surprised how encouraging people were in my futile efforts to learn the basics. Kids were teaching me random vocab words (and constantly trying to get me to do the Duolingo course--only to be surprised it doesn't exist), and friends/adults I met were constantly helping me along, teaching what they could in my short time with them. Perhaps that has something to do with my ancestry, as many people were excited to learn I was not only Lithuanian, but regaining citizenship, and even treated me as one of them instead of a guest (and I'm not just basing that off feeling, more than one person straight up told me), or because I was there for scouts and all around the world scouts have been some of the friendliest people I've met. Regardless, that combined with this has been really encouraging as I take steps towards my life in Europe instead of America.
Aš tikiuosi, nes nusprendžiau išmokti kažką iš lietuvių kalbos, dėl mano atostogų Lietuvoje. Jau žinau, kad galiu kalbėti angliškai, bet sąžiningai, ši kalba man patinka. *aš parašau savo komentarą be Google vertėjo, todėl aš jaustis labai gerai ir galiu pasakyti, kad "galbūt" esu pasiruošęs į mano kitą atostogą
@@povilzem Ačiū už palaikymą! Bet žinoma, aš buvau tikras, kad mano kalba nebus nepriekaištinga tik po šešių mėnesių. Kaip visada, aš eisiu toliau, tai dar nėra mokymos pabaiga.
We lithuania's are learning another languages too and it is not easy for us. I wish you best from Lithuania. I speak english 6 years already, but i still make mistakes. I am happy, because i can speak english everywhere. I try to lear ukranian through english. It is not very easy, but very intresting. I don't surrend easily on languages. 😊
Just to add to a fact why locals sometimes respond in English - is to practice their own English skills. I do the same. I have an American friend who's been living in Lithuania for ~13 years. I always talk to him in English for selfish reasons - not to lose my own skills. All in all great content and keep up the good work learning my language (which is hard even to some locals 😁).
I don't know about other Lithuanians, but I appreciate efforts. It just really depends, what do I see as an effort. The real efforts usually give real results after some 10 years.
It's really hard to learn Lithuanian from English. I think the reason is that in English the same letter can have a completely different sound in different words. For example the 'i' in , pig vs pike. In Lithuanian, letters have a consistent sound. If you study the lithuanian alphabet and learn to pronounce each individual letter, you should also be able to pronounce lithuanian words.
I would say Lithuanian becomes a lot easier to learn if you speak a different language, that sounds nothing like English (like Spanish) so you can manipulate pronunciations to be a lot more in line with Lithuanian, to make things less stressful. If you're jumping into Lithuanian straight, you might end up having problems, that's just my experience though.
I think both of you are right about this. If I may put it more abstractly, if you know only one language you may be completely unaware of how differently languages can behave, and you will have a tendency to carry the peculiarities of your own language over into the new one, assuming that all languages do the same. If you know two or more already you simply have an awareness that they work by different rules on all levels and that you should expect the unexpected.
@@troelspeterroland6998 yep, I would agree. My first question when tutoring people my own language to foreigners, is if they speak Latin or even eastern European languages or not. If they do, I teach them to manipulate their other language skills with the proper accent, and it makes pronunciations a lot easier. The hard part about lithuanian, is not confusing spelling with pronunciation, because we have assimilation with letters. Like sč ends up sounding like šč, and then there's punctuation. Pronunciation is the least of your worries, as long as you know what makes it tick.
Well, just about 2/3 of the people are Lithuanians in Vilnius. If you meet a Russian-soeaker, he/she won't be just glad that you speak Lithuanian. Yes, we get irritated if a Russian-speaker in Vilnius does not speak Lithuanian to us after living in Lithuania for 7 or 10 years (or more), because Russian was already pushed on us here by force, like, no, we won't learn Lithuanian, it"s you are gonna learn Russian / have already learned Russian because Lithuanian is useless to us, but Russian is what you need. And we expect that Russian-speakers might try this awful push-on again.
Since our country had a pretty different history, in Lithuania you either speak perfect Lithuanian or you're a russian elder who never learned the language properly despite living there their whole life, so seeing someone actually learning Lithuanian from scratch is mindblowing till very day, we still have really famous videos of african guys speaking Lithuanian, and I may even give you an inside, we are now joking that contrary to ukrainian refugees, at least african refugees are actually speaking Lithuanian)
I am a Lithuanian, but left the country as an infant, and all the Lithuanian i ever have learned is from my parents and family in Lithuania. Never went to any form of formal schooling, and i believe i can comfortably speak it but when it comes to reading and especially writing, i just fall off the wagon. I have started to get in some practice as to write to others in Lithuanian even though it takes 3 times longer to write it down. I can speak what i want to say but encountering difficulties when wanting to write down what i wanted to say. So dont sweat it, progress naturally and you will get there, im sure of it.
Effort is of course the most admirable part about foreigners learning our language and it's fair to point point to make that the expectations go up the more time you spend in the country. But the expectations do vary, I only wish people would manage them better. 😄 The only thing I think is fair is showing no love for people who put no effort in whatsoever while living abroad.
Galėčiau mokėti su kortelė prašau?? This always goes over well in shops, cafes, restaurants. Learning the language for me is so slow but I always receive positive feedback 😁
I am lucky to have several Lithuanians in the hotel, where I work. For some reason, our hotel is called "Litava", that is why it is probably loved by Lithuanians. My most favourite sentence there is "pusryčiai bus nuo šešios trysdešimties iki dešimties pusryčių salėje, kuri yra ten, už kampo".
Lithuanian is not like Japanese, even to the native English-speakers. Lithuania has a Western culture, Latin script, the Indoeuropean language. One needs a well-functioning brain and / or a clever teacher & learning methods, and time, but it is not very complicated to learn some Lithuanian while living among Lithuanians. Lithuanian is even easier to the native speakers of any Slavic language.
As a Slav, I can confirm it, we are "cheating" a bit. There is a similar vocabulary (morka vs. mrkev, galva vs. głowa, žvaigždė vs. gwiazda, siena vs. stěna, geležinkelis vs. železnice...), some similar grammar logic (laukti vs. czekać, palaukti vs. poczekać), letters ž, š & č known to some Slavic speakers and some suffixes and prefixes are almost the same (vaikAMS vs. dětEM, PRIdėti vs. PŘIdat, matyTI vs. viděTI).
it does, because it shows your interest, just like with any other language, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're someone lower, just the fact that someone from a foreigner country is trying to speak a language that sounds like giberish to them is pretty wholesome, just like any other country, language or occasion.
I truly appreciate the effort. A couple simple words are a sign of good will, and conversational fluency is genuinely wonderful to behold. But poorly spoken Lithuanian makes it very hard to understand. Heavy accent mixed with lacking grammar can make your efforts completely unidentifiable to us. If you want to be liked for knowing our language, you have to either say "laba diena" and immediately switch to English, or you have to be proper good at Lithuanian. The pains of growing... As encouragement, I can only say that most people don't actually mean what slips out in the heat of the moment. Regarding the "lived here 10 years and never bothered to learn how to speak", I don't think it's what you're thinking. We don't expect an English speaker to ever learn Lithuanian, no matter how long he lives here. Most of the ire is directed at foreigners of a certain nationality who lived here since the 90s, know and understand Lithuanian, but always respond to you in Russian regardless due to, I suppose, reasons of state.
I felt like customer service in some touristy areas was much better in English than in Lithuanian...so some rare times I don't reveal that I speak Lithuanian. But now my accent is pretty strong...because I haven't been in Lithuania for a while. So idk what reactions would be like now.
Yes! In Šiauliai there are less foreigners. I once ordered at a cafe and the young waitress thought I was retarded because of my accent. She had never really heard a non-Russian speak Lithuanian before.
@@christopherwagstaff9415 Šiauliai is an industrial city, who's primary foreigners are asians or slavs like Ukrainians or Belarusians. A lot of people speak Russian here, compared to people who speak English i would say, hence the shock. Another reason for the shock, is that Slavs tend to straight up refuse learning Lithuanian here, with the exception of Ukrainians, and so people have absolutely no expectation from foreigners to speak Lithuanian. I used to tutor Lithuanians on how to get better at English when i was a tiny bit younger, as a source of extra revenue (just enough to where they can hold at least a basic conversation in English). With Ukrainians it's even worse haha, not that many speak English, so i might end up volunteering to teach their kids once the war is over.
Yesterday i was at VU botanical garden, while buying tickets a woman talked lithuanian but had very hard time understanding me. I got irritated assuming she was local russian who couldn’t be bothered to learn local communication. She apologised and said she was from Ukraine. I felt very bad. :/ her lithuanian was best ive seen and could easily be mistaken for vilnius region russian/polish/belarusian permanent resident’s. Though it took the latter almost three decades to learn basic lithuanian.
English speakers almost never understand how the grammatical cases work. Here where I live , English speakers never learn the language. They fuck up pretty much everything. Articles, grammatical gender, cases, verbs , tenses … 😮 0:32
My huge respect to all foreigners who are learning and trying to speek Lithuanian! I have met Italians, Americans, French, Japanese, British, Irish, Germans speaking Lithuanian with their specific accents. Aren't these times wonderfull times?
Meanwhile there are 100 000s of Russians who have lived in Latvia and Estonia all their lives and still can't speak the national language.
Ah man, great content. Take it easy on yourself, looks like you are doing great with the language.
As a Canadian born Lithuanian, I can speak/understand it at a pretty basic level (although my cousins are always impressed). I always screw up endings and just add "as" to words I forget, especially in the first few days while visiting. But the language comes flowing back as I immerse myself more. Theyll always appreciate it, even butchered, just because you put the effort in.
I started learning Lithuanian a few weeks ago. It is very difficult. I am sure my R will never sound native.
As far as I noticed, Lithuanians are happy when you at least try. But so are most people, when you try to speak a few words when visiting their country.
Your videos are great, they helped me a lot to increase my understanding for this wonderful country.
We lithuania's will understand even if your R is not perfect. Don't stress out 😊. Keep going with lithuanian language. Well done for learning it 👏 👍 😊
@@rutos7 Ačiū 😊 Lithuania's beauty is worth the effort.
Most people I've met are definitely incredibly encouraging - some of them just interacted with me like it's normal (despite my visible struggling), while others actually helped me along, especially when I asked questions. But yes, I've had a few "I don't have time for this" ones. Regardless, I always insisted on ordering in full Lithuanian....except the one time a waitress caught me speaking Polish with my friend and spoke to us in Polish;)
Sounds like I should make a video about my experience as well!
I am really happy, when foreigners learn and try to speak lithuanian and I want to encourage them too. But also if foreigners live in Lithuania for 10 years or more, I expect them to speak in lithuanian in least some. For me as lithuanian this is mater of respect.
I have received mostly positive feedback when speaking Lithuanian to the natives. On my last flight back from Kaunas, Missed the airport bus and had to ask a taxi driver in lithuanian to take us to the airport, he was very happy that i tried.. my broken lithuanian was "mes reika važiuoti į oro uostą, kiek kainuoja?" And he said it was 25 euros and then I said "gerai, važiuoja dabar?" And he said yes and then we went to the airport and i gave him a tip and told him to gave a good day.
Recently I've been to Lithuania and the people I've spoken with seemed pretty happy about me trying to talk in Lithuanian.
If I can ask, how did they respond?
@@RichieLarpa I've only said a couple basic sentences, and many people I've interacted with spoke Polish pretty fluently, so most of the Lithuanian responses I've gotten were just out of politeness, like "viso", "ačiū", "sveiki" etc.
@@thatonepole Glad to hear that! Even the basics are admirable, since honestly, Lithuanian is not so global, that is why people might be surprised to know that someone is taking his/her time to learn something.
Poles are also surprised, when I speak unexpectedly Polish to them at my work, even though they should not, since our languages are somewhat similar (I am Czech).
To me, it always warms my heart when someone is trying to speak or learn Lithuanian. I don't know why, but it's just something I can't really explain. Maybe it's because it's such a rare thing to see random people online or in person do this, so it feels special. Lithuanian can be pretty hard, and the fact that people are at least trying is what matters. Aš ❤ Lietuvių!
I agree, there were recently pottery markets in a town, where I work and to my surprise, there was also Deividas Jotautis from Kaunas, who makes splendid hand-made products.
He was also accommodated in our hotel and luckily, I had few days off, so I came to support his honest work and of course try my Lithuanian. He was very surprised to acknowledge that some random receptionist can speak his language and we chatted a little, which was a pleasure for me.
We mostly talked about Lithuanian food and recent basketball achievements, which was vivid enough for both of us.
Don't worry and don't stress just speak. We will understand you anyway. People might be very happy that you are trying 😊
I did not expect to see Chris Broad here :D On another note, as a lithuanian i feel very happy and proud to see other people try speaking our language. I know the feeling of wanting to give up (and i did. learned german in school for 4 years and only remember how to greet others and introduce myself) and the fact that some people even attempt to try learning lithuanian is very honourable. Thank you for not giving up and trying your best!
Happened the same for me with Russian lol. Wanted to choose German as the third language, but the group didn't end up forming, so Russian it was. I tried to put effort into it, but after some time I just couldn't bring myself to care and the grades slowly worsened before we dropped it altogether in the 11th grade.
i speak with foreigners English even if they speak some Lithuanian, and i think many of us, to not because we want to hurry you but we want to make it easier for you.
Your intentions are nice, but paradoxically, it might do more harm to some people than good, as they might have wasted some time to learn Lithuanian, only to acknowledge that they will not need it, since most people will speak English anyway.
The shoe also fits on the other foot. I have had relatives from Lithuania who have lived in Canada over 20 yeaes, and hadn't learned English well because they only moved in Lithuanian circles. I am acquainted with other internationals whose language skills in English don't indicate how many years they have lived in Canada.
Please please don't be discouraged by those negative comments! You're doing absolutely great! Don't forget that Lithuanian is one of the most difficult languages to learn 💚
I recently obtained Lithuanian citizenship (through ancestry, so dual citizenship) and after a visit earlier this summer, it may very well be the country I choose to move to. This series of videos has been really helpful as I've been studying German for years, and not only is it daunting to completely restart learning a language, but it didn't take long for me to realize just how hard of a language Lithuanian was.
I will say, during my visit I was very surprised how encouraging people were in my futile efforts to learn the basics. Kids were teaching me random vocab words (and constantly trying to get me to do the Duolingo course--only to be surprised it doesn't exist), and friends/adults I met were constantly helping me along, teaching what they could in my short time with them.
Perhaps that has something to do with my ancestry, as many people were excited to learn I was not only Lithuanian, but regaining citizenship, and even treated me as one of them instead of a guest (and I'm not just basing that off feeling, more than one person straight up told me), or because I was there for scouts and all around the world scouts have been some of the friendliest people I've met. Regardless, that combined with this has been really encouraging as I take steps towards my life in Europe instead of America.
Aš tikiuosi, nes nusprendžiau išmokti kažką iš lietuvių kalbos, dėl mano atostogų Lietuvoje. Jau žinau, kad galiu kalbėti angliškai, bet sąžiningai, ši kalba man patinka.
*aš parašau savo komentarą be Google vertėjo, todėl aš jaustis labai gerai ir galiu pasakyti, kad "galbūt" esu pasiruošęs į mano kitą atostogą
Solidus pabandymas, bet dar nemažai vietos tobulėti.
@@povilzem Ačiū už palaikymą! Bet žinoma, aš buvau tikras, kad mano kalba nebus nepriekaištinga tik po šešių mėnesių. Kaip visada, aš eisiu toliau, tai dar nėra mokymos pabaiga.
@@RichieLarpa gerų atostogų ir sėkmės tobulinant jūsų lietuvių kalbos lygį ❤ geriausių jums linkėjimų !
We lithuania's are learning another languages too and it is not easy for us. I wish you best from Lithuania. I speak english 6 years already, but i still make mistakes. I am happy, because i can speak english everywhere. I try to lear ukranian through english. It is not very easy, but very intresting. I don't surrend easily on languages. 😊
Just to add to a fact why locals sometimes respond in English - is to practice their own English skills. I do the same. I have an American friend who's been living in Lithuania for ~13 years. I always talk to him in English for selfish reasons - not to lose my own skills. All in all great content and keep up the good work learning my language (which is hard even to some locals 😁).
I don't know about other Lithuanians, but I appreciate efforts.
It just really depends, what do I see as an effort. The real efforts usually give real results after some 10 years.
It's really hard to learn Lithuanian from English. I think the reason is that in English the same letter can have a completely different sound in different words. For example the 'i' in , pig vs pike.
In Lithuanian, letters have a consistent sound. If you study the lithuanian alphabet and learn to pronounce each individual letter, you should also be able to pronounce lithuanian words.
I would say Lithuanian becomes a lot easier to learn if you speak a different language, that sounds nothing like English (like Spanish) so you can manipulate pronunciations to be a lot more in line with Lithuanian, to make things less stressful.
If you're jumping into Lithuanian straight, you might end up having problems, that's just my experience though.
I think both of you are right about this. If I may put it more abstractly, if you know only one language you may be completely unaware of how differently languages can behave, and you will have a tendency to carry the peculiarities of your own language over into the new one, assuming that all languages do the same. If you know two or more already you simply have an awareness that they work by different rules on all levels and that you should expect the unexpected.
@@troelspeterroland6998 yep, I would agree.
My first question when tutoring people my own language to foreigners, is if they speak Latin or even eastern European languages or not. If they do, I teach them to manipulate their other language skills with the proper accent, and it makes pronunciations a lot easier.
The hard part about lithuanian, is not confusing spelling with pronunciation, because we have assimilation with letters. Like sč ends up sounding like šč, and then there's punctuation. Pronunciation is the least of your worries, as long as you know what makes it tick.
Well, just about 2/3 of the people are Lithuanians in Vilnius. If you meet a Russian-soeaker, he/she won't be just glad that you speak Lithuanian.
Yes, we get irritated if a Russian-speaker in Vilnius does not speak Lithuanian to us after living in Lithuania for 7 or 10 years (or more), because Russian was already pushed on us here by force, like, no, we won't learn Lithuanian, it"s you are gonna learn Russian / have already learned Russian because Lithuanian is useless to us, but Russian is what you need. And we expect that Russian-speakers might try this awful push-on again.
Deja, taip buvo ir 40 metų atgal
Since our country had a pretty different history, in Lithuania you either speak perfect Lithuanian or you're a russian elder who never learned the language properly despite living there their whole life, so seeing someone actually learning Lithuanian from scratch is mindblowing till very day, we still have really famous videos of african guys speaking Lithuanian, and I may even give you an inside, we are now joking that contrary to ukrainian refugees, at least african refugees are actually speaking Lithuanian)
Good one 😂
I am a Lithuanian, but left the country as an infant, and all the Lithuanian i ever have learned is from my parents and family in Lithuania. Never went to any form of formal schooling, and i believe i can comfortably speak it but when it comes to reading and especially writing, i just fall off the wagon. I have started to get in some practice as to write to others in Lithuanian even though it takes 3 times longer to write it down. I can speak what i want to say but encountering difficulties when wanting to write down what i wanted to say. So dont sweat it, progress naturally and you will get there, im sure of it.
Nenuleiskit savo rankų ir nekabinkit savo nosies... Pradėkit skaityti daugiau.. Geriausių linkėjimų jums
@@matikramer9648aciu :)
Just keep chipping away and you'll get there! :)
Would love to hear feedback on that audio book! That's how I learnt English when I was young and I am wondering how well is the Lithuanian option made
Effort is of course the most admirable part about foreigners learning our language and it's fair to point point to make that the expectations go up the more time you spend in the country. But the expectations do vary, I only wish people would manage them better. 😄 The only thing I think is fair is showing no love for people who put no effort in whatsoever while living abroad.
The Lithuanians who are not happy with foreigners trying to speak Lithuanian are just not worth the time.
Galėčiau mokėti su kortelė prašau?? This always goes over well in shops, cafes, restaurants. Learning the language for me is so slow but I always receive positive feedback 😁
I am lucky to have several Lithuanians in the hotel, where I work. For some reason, our hotel is called "Litava", that is why it is probably loved by Lithuanians.
My most favourite sentence there is "pusryčiai bus nuo šešios trysdešimties iki dešimties pusryčių salėje, kuri yra ten, už kampo".
Actually the correct way is - galėčiau mokėti kortele. But even Lithuanians sometimes say that way.
Lithuanian is not like Japanese, even to the native English-speakers. Lithuania has a Western culture, Latin script, the Indoeuropean language. One needs a well-functioning brain and / or a clever teacher & learning methods, and time, but it is not very complicated to learn some Lithuanian while living among Lithuanians.
Lithuanian is even easier to the native speakers of any Slavic language.
As a Slav, I can confirm it, we are "cheating" a bit.
There is a similar vocabulary (morka vs. mrkev, galva vs. głowa, žvaigždė vs. gwiazda, siena vs. stěna, geležinkelis vs. železnice...), some similar grammar logic (laukti vs. czekać, palaukti vs. poczekać), letters ž, š & č known to some Slavic speakers and some suffixes and prefixes are almost the same (vaikAMS vs. dětEM, PRIdėti vs. PŘIdat, matyTI vs. viděTI).
it does, because it shows your interest, just like with any other language, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're someone lower, just the fact that someone from a foreigner country is trying to speak a language that sounds like giberish to them is pretty wholesome, just like any other country, language or occasion.
I truly appreciate the effort. A couple simple words are a sign of good will, and conversational fluency is genuinely wonderful to behold.
But poorly spoken Lithuanian makes it very hard to understand. Heavy accent mixed with lacking grammar can make your efforts completely unidentifiable to us.
If you want to be liked for knowing our language, you have to either say "laba diena" and immediately switch to English, or you have to be proper good at Lithuanian.
The pains of growing... As encouragement, I can only say that most people don't actually mean what slips out in the heat of the moment.
Regarding the "lived here 10 years and never bothered to learn how to speak", I don't think it's what you're thinking. We don't expect an English speaker to ever learn Lithuanian, no matter how long he lives here. Most of the ire is directed at foreigners of a certain nationality who lived here since the 90s, know and understand Lithuanian, but always respond to you in Russian regardless due to, I suppose, reasons of state.
And I do know and saw those who lived from 50ies and even got settled much earlier than that
I felt like customer service in some touristy areas was much better in English than in Lithuanian...so some rare times I don't reveal that I speak Lithuanian. But now my accent is pretty strong...because I haven't been in Lithuania for a while. So idk what reactions would be like now.
As a Šiaulietis, I would say it depends on the region and age group lmao
Yes! In Šiauliai there are less foreigners. I once ordered at a cafe and the young waitress thought I was retarded because of my accent. She had never really heard a non-Russian speak Lithuanian before.
@@christopherwagstaff9415 Šiauliai is an industrial city, who's primary foreigners are asians or slavs like Ukrainians or Belarusians. A lot of people speak Russian here, compared to people who speak English i would say, hence the shock.
Another reason for the shock, is that Slavs tend to straight up refuse learning Lithuanian here, with the exception of Ukrainians, and so people have absolutely no expectation from foreigners to speak Lithuanian.
I used to tutor Lithuanians on how to get better at English when i was a tiny bit younger, as a source of extra revenue (just enough to where they can hold at least a basic conversation in English).
With Ukrainians it's even worse haha, not that many speak English, so i might end up volunteering to teach their kids once the war is over.
As for your skill, I would say you should ignore those comments (considering that you're a westerner and not an eastern European)
here is one for you: do you want comments under your videos be in English ar lietuviškai?
Gal geresne angliškai dėl ne visi žmonių kad pažiuri mano kanalo yra Lietuvo
Yesterday i was at VU botanical garden, while buying tickets a woman talked lithuanian but had very hard time understanding me. I got irritated assuming she was local russian who couldn’t be bothered to learn local communication. She apologised and said she was from Ukraine. I felt very bad. :/ her lithuanian was best ive seen and could easily be mistaken for vilnius region russian/polish/belarusian permanent resident’s. Though it took the latter almost three decades to learn basic lithuanian.
Visko gali atsitikti
🎉 Don't despare ❤ nepraraskite vilties. Rome wasn't built in one day ❤best of lucks
English speakers almost never understand how the grammatical cases work. Here where I live , English speakers never learn the language. They fuck up pretty much everything. Articles, grammatical gender, cases, verbs , tenses … 😮 0:32
And yet they're trying their best.
Was this comment really necessary?
They understand, but not all of them learn it all correctly quickly.
And you are lithuanian... mariel jackman? Jackman is a lithuanian last name? 😂
I really don't care if people try speaking Lithuanian or not. That's a very low bar for judgment and I don't like it.