Sun, 27 January 2008 Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud and the month of January which in Lithuanian is…sausis. Today is the 63rd anniversary of the Battle of Memel. Lithuania’s only seaport is on the Baltic Coast. This city has had two names. Its German name was Memel and its Lithuanian name is Klaipėda. In 1938 the Nazi party won 26 of 29 seats in elections of the local assembly or Landtag. You see, for hundreds of years Klaipėda or Memel was populated mostly by Germans. They were the descendants of the German Crusaders we’ve mentioned in previous episodes. In 1939 the Klaipėda area was at least 80% German and this German population was caught up in the nationalistic fever that swept over German populations in Europe when Adolph Hitler came to power. Nazi Germany pressured the Lithuanian government to hand the city and the surrounding area over to the Third Reich so as to include it in “Greater Germany." Seeing that neither France nor England were willing to stop the Nazi demands and since the population was pro-unification, the Lithuanian government was forced to give up the area. This capitulation disappointed Geman generals and admirals who had drawn up amphibious invasion plans for the area. Lithuania could not have possibly defeated the combined German army and navy. Adolph Hitler himself sailed to Klaipėda in 1939 on a warship and was greeted by jubilant crowds of the city. Today you can still see the balcony where he addressed the populace in a downtown square. Click on the link on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage to see a youtube video of the crowd greeting Hitler in the city. In this video you’ll see a man enthusiastically painting over Lithuanian words on a sign in deference to German words. Later, as Germany was losing the war on the Eastern Front to the communist Russian forces, Hitler ordered the evacuation of all Germans to the west. The German army stayed behind to defend the city but at the Battle of Memel, 28 January 1945, the city fell to the Soviets. The story of the German people retreating from the Russians is a sad one. Many boarded German transport ships, others joined wagon-trains for the oveland trip. It was winter and bitterly cold. To stay was to face cruelty, murder and rape at the hands of the Russian troops looking for revenge on a German population. The few Germans who stayed behind were expelled by the communists. Tens of thousands of people lost their homes, their belongings, their communities and their lives. Many Germans who had lived in Klaipėda for untold generations tried to return after the end of World War II to the only home they’d ever known - but were denied. Today only some 1,000 Germans live in Klaipėda. -- When I’m in Lithuania taxis are essential, but, of course, we’ve got to be able to communicate with the driver. Here are some words and phrases we can’t live without when you’re in the back seat of a taxi. Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai? How do you say it in Lithuanian? The word for taxi is – taksi now, we need to be able to tell our taxi driver where we’d like to go. tiesiai straight štai and čia both translate as, here į kairę to the left now, if you’re really feeling up to a challenge, here’s an entire sentence for you to learn… palaukite manęs čia penkias minutes, prašau wait for me here five minutes, please alright, we’re at our destination, time to say goodbye to our taxi driver. geros dienos! have a good day! Yeah, it’s kind of funny, I think the taxi driver would look at you like…what are you thinking about? Gero vėjo! Right! What do you think? Do you ever hear gero vėjo? Yeah, around friends maybe, it’s kind of – joke, you know, a little bit of a joke, but it’s cute, it’s cute you know, gero vėjo, oh that would be interesting to hear with the accent… you may have guessed correctly this is an old nautical term for goodbye, but you don’t have to be on a boat to use it. gero vėjo! gero vėjo! good wind! goodbye! labos nakties! good night! Now, could you really, would you say this maybe to a taxi driver, or not? Yeah, sure. Oh, okay. of course, you can use these expressions with anyone you like, not just a taxi driver. If we’re being dropped off at the airport our driver might say… gero skrydžio! have a good flight! If the driver is dropping you off at the bus station, train station or airport he might or she might say, have a good trip! geros kelionės! have a good trip! į kairę and į dešinę are examples of a declension we haven’t discussed yet. This is the accusative case or the accusative declension also known as galininkas in Lithuanian. On the next episode we’ll start working on this common declension. Congratulations for getting through another lesson. Šaunuoliai – Congratulations! --- Alright, that’s it for today, we’d like to thank you very much for listening, we appreciate it. To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there. If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com. If you’d like to get these lessons every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe. It’s completely free. But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet. And feel free to make copies of our lessons, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends. Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music. Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud. I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like. Viso gero! Sudie! Hitler arrives in Klaipėda, Lithuania, 1939, youtube video, one minute 15 seconds long http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.com Comments[0] |
Sun, 20 January 2008 Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where the lessons are free and we offer a 100% money back guarantee. Of course, this is the month of January, or in Lithuanian it would be…sausis. On today’s episode we’ll be going over some new phrases for chatting in a conversation and just so you know, on the next lesson we’ll learn some fun ways to say goodbye. After that we’ll start to tackle the accusative case and after that, the locative case. We’re also working on bringing you some more intermediate lessons since we’ve had some good feedback on them and evidently, you want some more. One of our listeners named Autumn was nice enough to tell us about Oneness City. It’s a free online Lithuanian web site with 10 interactive lessons including voice recordings. This looks like a great place to study and it’s put together by 16 staff members of the Vilnius University. I wish I had a staff! I haven’t had a chance to look at the lessons in depth yet, but initially, it looks great. Please take the time to click on the link on the Lithuanian Out Loud web page. Now, Raminta, would you tell us a little about Lithuanian culture? Okay, so, piliakalnis is the Lithuanian word for Hillfort. It comes from pilis, or castle and kalnas, mountain or hill. The remains of at least 800 piliakalniai dot the landscape of Lithuania and the single most famous hillfort was named Pilėnai. In February of 1336 over 4,000 Lithuanians were trapped inside this fortress by the invading German Teutonic Knights. Seeing the situation as hopeless and not wanting to be sold into slavery, the Lithuanians committed mass suicide. They burned everything in the castle, set the wooden castle itself on fire, and then every man, woman and child took their own lives. If you want to visit the ruins of Pilėnai that might be difficult. Nobody seems to know for certain where it’s located. However, the legend of this defiance of invaders remains strong in Lithuanian culture. The story lives on in the history, poetry and music of Lithuania. The last time we learned a new greeting was in episode...don’t worry about that. If you’re practicing Lithuanian with some friends, by now you’re probably a bit bored with saying kaip gyveni? or kaip sekasi? again and again. We need some variety! Let’s learn some new ways to say, Hi, how ya doin? prašom pakartoti lietuviškai…please repeat in Lithuanian… kaip sekasi? how are you? prašom pakartoti…please repeat… kaip sekasi? how are you? you can drop the word, ir sveikas gyvas! healthy and alive! (male) So, do you use these very much, dear? Sveika gyva, sveikas ir…sveika gyva…yeah, I use sveika, yeah, that’s…I use, but not a lot of people to tell the truth, but it’s kind of like a…a bit of a joke. Ahh, a bit of a joke, okay, I like it…yeah, I think it’s cute. but, maybe you’re healthy but not much alive, this is a bit of a joke sveikas, bet nelabai gyvas healthy, but not very alive (male) sveikas gyvas can also be used as a greeting sveikas gyvas! Hi! (to a male) if you’re having a bad day, week or month (I hope not years) you could say... vos gyvas hardly alive (male) vos is the Lithuanian word for hardly. Okay, so, on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud, you will be listening to Lithuanian Out Loud…enjoy, have fun. On the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud, we’ll go over some new ways to say goodbye! Congratulations for getting through another lesson. Šaunuoliai – Congratulations! --- To leave us comments call our voicemail number that’s in the title of every show or call our Skype voicemail at Lithuanianoutloud – that’s one word, and leave us a message there. If you’d like to see the Lithuanian spelling of any word in this series just go to WWW dot Lithuanian dot L I B S Y N dot com. If you’d like to get these lessons every time a new one is available just go to iTunes and do a search for Lithuanian Out Loud and click subscribe. It’s completely free. But, if you don’t want to subscribe on iTunes, just send us an email asking us to alert you every time a new episode hits the internet. And feel free to make copies of our lessons, put them on cds and pass them out to your friends. Oneness City online interactive Lithuanian lessons from Vilnius University Thanks to CCMixter.org, Ditto Ditto and Vieux Farka Toure for the podcast music. Thanks for tuning in, tell your friends about us, we’ll see you on the next episode of Lithuanian Out Loud. I’m Jack and I’ve never met a Lithuanian I didn’t like. Viso gero! Sudie! http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.com
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Sun, 13 January 2008 Hi there, this is Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where the month of January is sausis and the lessons are on the house! And now, here’s my beautiful wife Raminta and she’s going to share with us some more Lithuanian culture. Welcome back Raminta. Oh, thank you dear, I’m so happy to be back on Lithuanian Out Loud. By now, we’re familiar with Perkūnas, the Lithuanian Thundergod. One of his daughters was named Jūratė. Her name comes from the word jūra which translates as, the sea. Jūratė is the goddess of the sea, she rules the ocean, all sea life and she lived in an amber palace at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. A fisherman named Kastytis was causing havoc. He was tossing his nets into the sea and Jūratė went to demand he stop. Once Jūratė saw Kastytis throwing his nets she fell in love with him and brought him back to her amber palace. This made her father Perkūnas very angry. He was angry because Jūratė was promised to marry Patrimpas, the God of Water. Perkūnas destroyed the amber palace with a single bolt of lightning and killed her lover. The palace was smashed and Jūratė was chained to the ruins forever. When storms in the Baltic stir up the waters, pieces of the amber palace wash up on Lithuania’s shore. If you find fragments in the shape of tears they are from the grieving goddess as she mourns for Kastytis. It’s said you can hear Jūratė crying during Baltic Sea storms. How sad! Poor Jūratė! Before we get to today’s lesson here’s a message from Nik in California in the United States. Hello Jack and Raminta, my name is Nik, I’m from Orange County, California and I’m taking your podcast lessons. I am 50% Lithuanian and I’ve been wanting to learn Lithuanian because my family speaks it and I cannot understand a single word they’re saying to me. I’ve only known a couple words because of me growing up I call my grandmother močiutė and my grandfather senelis it’s just a little weird when I hear them speak I think, “oh my gosh I can’t hear what they’re saying." I have really no experience with Lithuania. I’ve been wanting to go for a long, long, long time, ever since my Lithuanian family members was in Luxembourg and my family was irking me to go over there but I never got the chance to and I’m hoping to go there for the big, huge thousand year celebration in 2009. I just discovered your podcast on iTunes and I thought ooh maybe it’s something I should take a shot at because I’ve never seen Lithuanian on the internet before and it is a great resource. I’ve been trying to learn the language my grandma has said it’s really, really hard and it’s one of the oldest living Indo-European languages, I can find that very, very true from what you’re saying on this podcast. It is a very great resource and I’ve been recommending it to all my friends, even to some of my professors, and they like it. They’ve been doing little Lithuanian words of the day on the board, and everything, I sent an email to you guys just earlier and I have all these books on Introduction to Modern Lithuanian that are not helping because there’s no native speaker there present because of that so what you’re doing is a great job, just keep up the good work and keep adding more episodes, I just really want to learn, I’m on episode 17 right now, but I’m getting up there. My grandma, I’m already talking to her in Lithuanian a little bit and she’s like, good job, just keep on learning and maybe we can have a full conversation. Feel free to use my comments, just thank you very much, bye. Thanks Nik! Say hi to your grandparents from Raminta and I, again, thanks for your input, we’ll try to keep the episodes coming. --- This is our second love talk lesson. The first was episode 0038. Let’s say it’s early in the morning and it’s time to get up. Let’s start the day off right! Good morning sweetheart, time to get up! Labas rytas mylimoji, laikas keltis! laikas is vardininkas for time Labas rytas mylimoji, laikas keltis! Good morning sweetheart, time to get up! To a male we’d say… Labas rytas mylimasis, laikas keltis! Good morning sweetheart, time to get up! pabučiuoti is the verb to kiss or to give a kiss pabučiuok mane prašau kiss me please Oh, that’s so nice! apkabink mane prašau hug me please Well, no matter how much we love each other, sometimes we have to say goodbye… geros dienos, bučkis, ate! ate! have a good day, kisses, bye bye! or we could say… geros dienos, bučiuoju, ate! have a good day, kisses, bye! bučiuoju basically translates the same as bučkis Another way to say, kisses! as in a way to say goodbye is, bučinys. Alright, the day is over, time to go to bed. Let’s say, sweet dreams, love, goodnight. saldus is the Lithuanian word in vardininkas for sweet We say the same phrase to a male or female, please repeat, prašom pakartoti… saldžių sapnų meile, labanakt sweet dreams love, goodnight we’ve got five or six episodes planned for love talk so expect another lesson on this subject soon! You made it through another lesson! Sveikinu! Congratulations! Comments[0] |
Wed, 9 January 2008 Hi there! This is Jack and welcome back to another episode of Lithuanian Out Loud. So, what month is it? Do you remember? I’ll give you a moment…it’s Sausis or the dry month, also known as January. Before we get to the lesson that Raminta and I recorded a couple months ago, I wanted to get you caught up on some things. First off, Raminta and I recorded some episodes today and I think we’ve finally hit on a system that will really improve the audio quality of the shows. So, as soon as we get through the next couple of episodes, you can expect the fuzzy audio or buzzing sounds to disappear. That’s such a relief! Donna, a listener in Longmont, Colorado, a town 30 miles north of Denver, Colorado in the United States, is looking for a native Lithuanian speaker with whom she can practice. If anyone who’s listening knows of a candidate, please let Raminta and I know and we’ll forward the information to Donna. Of course, Donna is willing to pay for your time. As a matter of fact, if anyone around the world is in a similar situation, just let us know and we’ll be happy to announce it on an upcoming episode. Now here’s something that’s really exciting! Have you noticed that you can download daily podcasts of Lithuanian radio and television on iTunes? Just download the free program iTunes at iTunes.com, it’s completely free. Open iTunes on your computer and in the search window type “lietuvos" or l,i,e,t,u,v,o,s. Then in the blue window that pops up, click on podcasts. On the screen that comes up you’ll see 30 different programs. Now, go to the bottom of the page and in the lower right hand corner you’ll see a button that’s labeled, “more results." Click on that and you’ll see 30 more shows. After a quick glance I count 128 audio radio shows and television video shows. It’s amazing! There are news programs, detective mysteries, children’s television shows, music, and much, much more. Of course, being a beginner, I don’t understand much of it but I love to listen to a show while I’m studying. I’m a big believer in learning through passive listening as well as active study. Remember, you don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts, you can download it all on iTunes for free and listen on your computer! You have to check this stuff out, it’s awesome! Those of you who listen to Lithuanian Out Loud on an iPod know very well the problems we’ve had trying to put Lithuanian alphabet characters in the lyrics or text section of the podcast. We’ve tried many different approaches to fixing it but nothing worked. So, sadly, we’ll just forgo embedding the episode text in the podcast until iPod is able to support Lithuanian alphabet characters. Sorry about that, but if the software can’t handle it, it seems like a waste of time to do it. Okay, I think that’s it. On with the show we recorded a few weeks ago… --- Hi everybody! This is Jack and I’m Raminta and you’re listening to Lithuanian Out Loud, the world’s first Lithuanian language lessons in a podcast series! --- Today we’ll go over a couple of very useful words. In Lithuanian there’s a word that galima? may I? galima can be used whenever you want to ask to do something and your intent is clear to the person with whom you’re speaking. For example… you want to take somebody’s photo, you hold up the camera and say… galima? may I? you want to look at a book on a coffee table, you reach for it and say… galima? can I? you’re eating with a good friend and you think her french fries look tasty. You meekly reach towards them and say… galima? can one? but, hey, what if the answer’s no? Then the response might be… negalima no, you can’t take my photo your dog is barking and you yell at it and say, negalima! or, you try walking in the wrong door at the theater and the doorman yells at you… negalima! Hey, Lithuanian is easy! Comments[0] |
Sun, 6 January 2008 Happy New Year! Raminta and I hope that Sausis 2008 is starting off good for you. Sausis is the Lithuanian word for the first month of the year. In English we call this month January. January comes from the ancient Roman God Janus. Janus was the god of the doorway, so January is the door to the rest of the year. Since Lithuania was never conquered by Rome and Lithuanian isn’t a Latin based language it makes sense Lithuanians have an entirely different system for naming months. From now on, at the beginning of every episode we’ll try to remind you which month we’re in so you can learn the months of the year without even studying. Sausas or sausa is an adjective that means, dry. From a Lithuanian perspective, in winter the land is covered by snow, but it’s not wet, it’s frozen and very dry, so the first month in Lithuanian is called Sausis or the dry month. In November of 2007, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus was announced as the European of the Year for 2007 at a black tie dinner in Brussels. The award went to President Adamkus from a list of 50 nominees of European political leaders, business leaders and other professions. President Valdas Adamkus is the first leader of the countries that have recently joined the 27 nation European Union to receive the award. In other news, on 21 December 2007, Lithuania was included in the European Union’s Schengen Zone where border and passport controls of the member nations have been eliminated. Lithuanians can now travel visa free throughout almost all of Europe. There are still border controls at airports but they’ll be eliminated in March of 2008. This puts increased pressure on Lithuania to control its borders with Russia and Belarus who, of course, do not belong to the European Union. On this episode we’ll do a subject that’s long overdue and it’s an intermediate lesson, so, for beginners like me, we’re going to see elements that haven’t really been covered in this series yet such as the locative case, the instrumental case, masculine and feminine adjectives and the past tense of verbs. If you’re not at an intermediate level don’t worry about understanding everything. Many weeks ago I asked Raminta to tell me about her first trip to Moscow without a script and with a natural flow of Lithuanian off the top of her head. Don’t be intimidated by her story. When she was speaking to me I understood only about .000001 percent, so if you don’t understand it, we’re in the same club. After studying this a lot, I’ve certainly picked up some new Lithuanian. So, here we go, enjoy! -- Į Maskvą vykome traukiniu. Kelionė buvo ilga, bet idomi ir atvykę į Maskvą pamatėme daug įdomių dalykų. Didelis kontrastas tarp skurdo ir žmonių, kurie gyvena pasiturinčiai. Now Raminta will say the sentences in Lithuanian and I’ll repeat the English translation: Į Maskvą vykome traukiniu. Now let’s translate a few words from Raminta’s story. Again, even if you’re a beginner like me, you’ll find a lot of interesting stuff here. Prašom pakartoti lietuviškai, please repeat in Lithuanian… Į Maskvą to Moscow now let’s go over some variations on stuff that Raminta said in her story. If you can, say the word or phrase in Lithuanian Out Loud before and after Raminta gives the translation. To Moscow we went by train į Maskvą vykome traukiniu Well, we hope you enjoyed this challenging lesson. Comments[2] |
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LITHUANIAN OUT LOUD Lithuanian Out Loud is a podcast series designed for students of the Lithuanian language.
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