Lithuanian Out Loud

Today we‘ve got a mini-lesson on a simple subject.  First, however, I have a question for you.  Last year we stopped producing the Exam Episodes.  We were afraid we might be boring people with them.  Steve in the United States wrote in saying he really liked them because they got straight to business.  He‘s got a point, the exam episodes had no history or culture lessons and banter going on. We‘d like to know, what do you think?  Did you like the exams or not?  Should we bring them back?  Please post something on the blogpage and tell us yay or nay, yes or no.  Should we bring back the exam episodes? Well, we hope you enjoy today‘s episode.  This is the first time Raminta and I had a few moments to spare and we whipped out an episode without a script of any kind.  This one is just off the top of Raminta‘s head. Kas is a question word that means who or what.  Kas yra?  What is?  Kas yra?  Who is? In episode 0052 we introduced the word, tai.  The word “tai” translates as, this, that, these, or those. What is th

Hi There, this is Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud.  Just a few notes before we get to the episode Raminta and I recorded a few weeks ago.  This is the last episode in this series for a while focusing on how kilmininkas and galininkas interact with the prepositions “iš” and “į.”  Just so you know, the next few episodes of Lithuanian Out Loud will be focused on the locative case or vietininkas, how to use the diminutive in Lithuanian and some new verbs including how to negate verbs.  We’ll roll them out as soon as they’re ready.  I didn’t know it until somebody made me aware, our email spamblocker was working too well and we were missing some emails.  We never got them.  So, if you sent us an email and never got a response, send us another one and we’ll get back to you.  Since March 1st Lithuanians have been able to travel to Canada visa-free.  Last Friday, 14 March 2008, Estonia and Latvia joined the United States’ Visa Waiver Program, meaning that soon their citizens can travel to the U.S. withou

Okay, well, we’ve got a lot to do so we should get started.  Okay, no blah, blah, blah, blah.  Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.  We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can. Do remember the word for the month of March in Lithuanian? …kovas. How cute!  Do you like this little bird kovas?  Oh, I love kovas, I’m waiting for kovas so bad in Lithuania. According to the Wikipedia page entitled, The Hill of Witches or Raganų Kalnas is an outdoor sculpture gallery in Juodkrantė, Lithuania.  The Hill of Witches is on a forested sand dune on the Curonian Spit near the town of Neringa.  On the hill you can find about 80 wood sculptures and a series of trails.  The artists are following a tradition of woodcarving from the Samogitian culture.  The artwork depicts characters from Lithuanian folklore and the traditional Lithuanian religion.  This is a must-see part of Lithuania and admission is free.  We’ll paste a link to a photo

Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud.  Just a quick note before we get to today’s show, so far we’ve had listeners from the nations of Lithuania, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Croatia, Ireland, Russia, Egypt, Botswana, Nigeria, Brazil, United States, Australia, Angola, and Indonesia.  This week we got some messages from new listeners and we’d like to welcome Malaysia and Belgium!  Welcome aboard guys! Also, thanks to the hundreds of you who’ve downloaded our shows, already we’ve had over 15,000 downloads of Lithuanian Out Loud episodes, that’s super.  Now, if you are one of the seven listeners who’ve left us a review on iTunes, then I’d like to personally thank all seven of you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. For the rest of you, if you are getting anything at all out of these programs, if you’d like to show your appreciation for everything you get for free – please, please go to iTunes and leave us a review.  Will you do that for us?

Hi there, I’m Jack.  Hi there I’m  Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.  We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can. What do you think about that?  It’s good to try to do the best, I think! Recently, we talked about Saulė, the Lithuanian sun goddess of life, nature and fertility.  You might be surprised to know her most sacred animal is žaltys, a small harmless green grass snake.  The Lithuanian word for green is žalias.  So, žalias – green, žaltys – green grass snake. The žaltys spirit lives by the stove but to ensure fertility and wealth for the family a living žaltys snake was kept in a special corner of the home and at times the entire family would not only recite prayers to it, they would invite the green grass snake to share a meal at the dinner table. That would be a lot of fun! Elena Bradūnas has written a wonderful story for the magazine Lituanus named, If You Kill A Snake – The Sun Will Cry.  You can find a link to the article on the Li

Hi there, I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud.  Today I’m cleaning out my computer.  I found an episode that Raminta and I recorded months ago but never got around to putting it out on the internet.  It’s not a significant lesson – it’s just for fun but I thought I’d put it out there just as a bonus lesson for you.  Now, I apologize, the audio quality isn’t perfect, it’s got a little bit of a hiss in the background but you should be able to understand it just fine.  Enjoy! Hi everybody, this is Jack, and I’m Raminta and you’re listening to Lithuanian Out Loud!  The world’s only, the world’s first…the first, the only one…Lithuanian language lessons in a podcast series!  One day a few years ago, my wife Raminta and I were visiting a family in Klaipėda.  Klaipėda is a port city on the west coast of Lithuania.  At one point Raminta was playing with some children and I heard her say the phrase, tuoj pat a couple of times.  So I asked her, hey honey, what does tuoj pat mean?  She brushed me off and sai

Do you have time for this short lesson now, on žinoma?  Sure!  Žinoma! Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.  We’re not teachers, but we do the best we can.  Don’t we dear?  We do.  We do… Dangus is the Lithuanian word for the sky or heaven.  Dievas is the word for a god.  According to the article, “Lithuanian Mythology” written by Gintaras Beresnevičius of the Lithuanian Institute of Culture and Arts, the Lithuanian God of the sky was Dangaus Dievas. Long ago Dangaus Dievas gave Perkūnas his powers of thunder and lightning and afterwards Dangaus Dievas fades into the background and becomes an inactive deity.  Perkūnas is pictured as a middle-aged man.  He has a large axe and arrows.  Perkūnas rides on a two-wheeled chariot pulled by a team of goats, similar to the Norwegian God Thor. Very nice, nicely done, very good!  Well done! --- In lesson 0046 we learned, galima and negalima, one can or one cannot.  Another word that

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.  Here we are still in the month of February which in Lithuanian is…vasaris. According to the Wikipedia pages entitled, Vilnius TV Tower, and the page, January Events, the tallest building in Lithuania is the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center or Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos centras.  Sadly, it was also the location of the Vilnius Massacre during the events of January 1991.  Lithuania was the first nation to declare independence from the Soviet Union.  The Russians had occupied Lithuania since 1945, so even though World War II had ended for most of the world, the war didn’t end for Lithuania until 1991.  Soviet troops, tanks, planes and ships still controlled Lithuania. On 11 March 1990 Lithuania declared independence but going from a declaration to full independence wasn’t going to be easy.  Russia had other ideas.  By January 1991 the Speaker of the Lithuanian Supreme Council Vyt

Ready Freddy, Man tai patinka! Okay!  Finally!  It’s been so long, where have you been dear? Maybe you’ve been skiing? I’ve been skiing!!!  Like the wind!  From the mountains – down – fast! Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Raminta and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.  Here we are still in the month of February which in Lithuanian is…vasaris. One of our listeners named Autumn sent me an email alerting us to something interesting.  The prime minister of Lithuania is leading a commission that is considering a proposal to change Lithuania’s name in English.  Of course, Lithuania’s name wouldn’t be affected in Chinese, German, French, Lithuanian, etcetera. The commission feels that English speakers not only confuse Lithuania and Latvia, they have trouble locating the Baltic nations on a map .  The Lithuanian government is very interested in promoting investments and tourism and they think a name change might just do the trick.  Thanks for the email and the interesting

Hi there, I’m Jack.  Just so you know, the staff here at Lithuanian Out Loud, also known simply as, Raminta, Jack and a computer, we’re always trying to bring you something better, something that improves the Lithuanian lessons.  Right now we’re focused on trying to improve the audio quality.  You’ll probably notice an improvement on this very episode, and we want to bring you more interesting shows including native speakers who might want to co-host a few shows and interject their own unique speech patterns and experiences for you.  If you know of any native speakers who’d like to do a show, or if you are a native speaker and you’d like to be part of a show – please let us know.  It’s easy to co-host a show because every episode is scripted so you won’t have to worry about thinking up things to say.  So, we’ll try to bring some Lithuanians on the show, and if we’re successful – you’ll be the first to know… La- Labas vakarėlis! (Good evening – diminutive) Kaip sekasi? (How are you?) Gerai, ačiū, o tau? (Well,

Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Romas and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud.  Here we are in a new month!  In English this month is called February.  In English we capitalize the first letter of the month, in Lithuanian you generally don’t.  The word February comes from the ancient Roman culture and the fact that in this month they held a purification ceremony or a februa.  The Lithuanian word for this month is vasaris, it comes from the word for summer or vasara.  In the month of vasaris the weather is starting to improve.  The days are longer, the nights are shorter, and people are starting to think forward to summer. The next time the sun warms your face imagine you’re being blessed by the Lithuanian sun goddess Saulė.  Saulė is the Lithuanian word for the Sun.  According to Britannica Online and Wikipedia, Saulė is also one of the most powerful and well known gods in the old Lithuanian religion.  She’s the goddess of life, nature and fertility.  Saulė is the protector of all who have had misfortune, especial

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

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 tak

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 pa

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

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

Hi there, I’m Jack, welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where I’m just learning the language but my wife, well, she’s 100% natural Lithuanian.  Thanks so much to those of you who answered our request for reviews on iTunes.  If you haven’t given us a review on iTunes and if you have a few extra minutes please consider writing one for us.  We’d love to get some more.  Today we’ll learn numbers greater than ten but first, here’s my brilliant wife Raminta via Skype, what do you have for us honey? Today we’ll take another page out of Wikipedia.  In episode 0029 we introduced you to Perkūnas, the Lithuanian god of thunder and the sky.  Perkūnas has a daughter named Aušrinė.  In English we call the planet Venus the Morning Star or the Evening Star depending on the time of day.  So, the Morning Star isn’t actually a star, it’s a planet. Aušrinė is the goddess Morning Star.  Her father is Perkūnas and her mother is Saulė, the Sun Goddess.  Aušrinė is the female goddess of beauty, youth and health.  Aušrinė shows the s

Hello there, welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud, I’m Jack, who’s just learning the language but my wife Raminta is 100% Natural Lithuanian.  Just so you know, as of today we’ve had a little over 6,500 downloads of Lithuanian Out Loud episodes and that number just gets bigger and grows faster all the time.  We’re thrilled so many people are interested in the shows and we’re happy to give them to you for free.  So, if you’re enjoying the lessons and you’d like to give something back, please go to our page on iTunes and give us a review.  We don’t have any yet and we’d love to have some.  It’s the only present we want under our tree.  Will you do that for us? Have you seen the Lithuanian Language Lessons from the Sydney Lithuanian Information Centre or SLIC?  These are fun on-line lessons in the Lithuanian language created by Australian-Lithuanians and they’re free.  There are a total of 24 lessons and there are many audio clips you can access by clicking on a small piece of amber.  The lessons are also availab

Hello there, welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud, I’m Jack, who’s just learning the language and my wife Raminta is 100% Natural Lithuanian.  In 2005 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko presented Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus with three beehives and bees.  Why?  Because in Lithuanian culture the honeybee is a symbol of friendship.  According to the Wikipedia page entitled, “Lithuanian Museum of Ancient Beekeeping," the museum was established in 1984 and it displays the history of beekeeping in Lithuania. As of 2006, the museum consisted of six buildings, about 500 displays, and 25 sculptures. In addition to illustrating the history of beekeeping in the Baltic nation, some of the museum's wooden sculptures themselves contain beehives. The sculptures pay homage to the honeybee's place in worldwide mythology and folklore, including Egyptian and Native American figures as well as the Lithuanian bee goddess Austėja.  The Lithuanian Veterinary Academy claims that Lithuanian bees are especially peaceful. The

Hey! Hey! Hey!  This is Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where Raminta is the native speaker and I’m the beginner.  Today we’ll learn numbers one through ten.  On the episode after this we’ll learn some more ways of saying thank you for things and on the episode after that we’ll start working on numbers from eleven on up.  But before we get to any of that, here’s a message from Eglė in the port city of Klaipėda, Lithuania. Hello everybody, this is Eglė from Klaipėda, you’re listening to Lithuanian Out Loud with Raminta and Jack, enjoy! Thank you very much Eglė, that was very sweet of you to say that for the show.  Ačiū labai!  In case you weren’t aware of it, eglė is the Lithuanian word for “fir tree." Now, here’s a lesson that Raminta and I recorded a few weeks ago.  Enjoy! --- Hello 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!  According to the World Health Organization, of the ten nations