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Lithuanian Out Loud is a podcast series designed for fans of the Lithuanian language. Come along with native Lithuanian author/lawyer Raminta and her North-American husband, Jack. They'll teach you Lithuanian along with tidbits about the history and culture of Raminta's homeland - Lietuva!

Music: Vieux Farka Toure - Ana {Pocket Remix} by pocketproductions (c) copyright 2007 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/pocketproductions/8916 Ft: Pocket (Richard Jankovich)

 

May 4, 2008

Hi there, I’m Raminta – Oh, you’re not Raminta.  Hi there, I’m Raminta and I’m Jack and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.

Hey!  We’re in a new month.  In English this month is called May, after the Greek goddess Maia.  The Romans associated Maia with their own goddess Bona Dea, the “good goddess."  She’s the goddess of fertility, virginity, and women. Bona Dea had festivals in this month.  In Lithuanian this month is called Gegužė.  Gegužė is derived from gegutė, the cuckoo bird. The call of the cuckoo tells everyone spring has arrived.  Woohoo!  Good news.  I’m ready for spring.

France and Lithuania are the two most nuclear power dependant nations in the world.  In 2004, 80% of Lithuania’s electrical power came from nuclear power according to the Wikipedia page entitled, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

As a condition of joining the European Union, Lithuania agreed to close Ignalinos atominė elektrinė.  Why is Lithuania required to close it down?  Safety.  Unfortunately, the nuclear power plant at Ignalina is of the same design as the Chernobyl reactor which exploded in 1986, spraying Europe with airborne radioactive waste.  Not only that, but the reactor is built on a tectonic fault and the United States Department of Energy has named Ignalina one of the most dangerous nuclear installations in the world.  There’s a lively debate today in Lithuania as to when a new nuclear power plant should be built to replace the plant at Ignalina.

pradėkime, let’s get started.  labai gerai.

Previously we studied the verb kalbėti, to speak.  Today we’ll learn to conjugate suprasti - to understand.  Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai?  How do you say it in Lithuanian?

I understand                                         
aš suprantu

you understand (familiar)                       
tu supranti

he understands                                      
jis supranta

she understands                                    
ji supranta

we understand                                      
mes suprantame

you understand (formal)                         
jūs suprantate

you all understand                                 
jūs suprantate

they understand (male / female group)    
jie supranta

they understand (females only)              
jos supranta

Now, we’ll go over some sentences but first we’ll introduce the word, tik – only.

only                                                         
tik

merely                                                       
tik

I understand English                                   
aš suprantu angliškai

I don’t understand English                           
aš nesuprantu angliškai

I understand Lithuanian                                
aš suprantu lietuviškai

I don’t understand Lithuanian                        
aš nesuprantu lietuviškai

I understand Lithuanian well                        
aš labai gerai suprantu lietuviškai

I don’t understand Lithuanian well                
aš nelabai gerai suprantu lietuviškai

I understand Chinese                                   
aš suprantu kiniškai

I understand Indonesian                               
aš suprantu indoneziškai

I don‘t understand Indonesian                      
aš nesuprantu indoneziškai

I don‘t understand                                       
aš nesuprantu

I understand only English                            
aš suprantu tik angliškai

I only understand Lithuanian                        
aš suprantu tik lietuviškai

he understands only Spanish and French       
jis supranta tik ispaniškai ir prancūziškai

he understands only Italian and German        
jis supranta tik itališkai ir vokiškai

he understands Chinese                               
jis supranta kiniškai

he doesn‘t understand Chinese                     
jis nesupranta kiniškai

he understands Chinese well                       
jis labai gerai supranta kiniškai

he doesn‘t understand Chinese well             
jis nelabai gerai supranta kiniškai

do you understand Dutch?                          
ar tu supranti olandiškai?

do you understand Indonesian?                   
ar tu supranti indoneziškai?

no, I understand only Russian and German  
ne, aš suprantu tik rusiškai ir vokiškai

do you understand Latvian?                         
ar tu supranti latviškai?

yes, I understand Latvian and Japanese        
taip, aš suprantu latviškai ir japoniškai

does she understand Lithuanian?                 
ar ji supranta lietuviškai?

no, she understands only Spanish                
ne, ji supranta tik ispaniškai

do you all understand Polish?                     
ar jūs suprantate lenkiškai?

yes, we understand Polish                           
taip, mes suprantame lenkiškai

no, we don’t understand Polish                  
ne, mes nesuprantame lenkiškai

do you understand Chinese?                        
ar jūs suprantate kiniškai?

do you understand Spanish?                        
ar jūs suprantate ispaniškai?

no, we understand only Lithuanian               
ne, mes suprantame tik lietuviškai

you understand German, right? (formal)       
jūs suprantate vokiškai, ar ne?

yes, I understand German well                    
taip, aš gerai suprantu vokiškai

do they understand French?                        
ar jie supranta prancūziškai?

yes, they understand French well                 
taip, jie gerai supranta prancūziškai

do they understand Italian?                          
ar jie supranta itališkai?

yes, they well understand Italian                   
taip, jie gerai supranta itališkai

no, they don’t understand Italian well           
ne, jie nelabai gerai supranta itališkai

do they understand Chinese? (females only) 
ar jos supranta kiniškai?

do they understand Indonesian?                   
ar jos supranta indoneziškai?

do they understand Swahili?                        
ar jos supranta svahiliškai?

no, they understand only Arabic & Turkish  
ne, jos supranta tik arabiškai ir turkiškai

do they understand Portuguese?                  
ar jos supranta portugališkai?

yes, they well understand only Portuguese    
taip, jos gerai supranta tik portugališkai

do you all understand Lithuanian?                
ar jūs suprantat lietuviškai?

no, we understand only Croatian & Russian  
ne, mes suprantam tik kroatiškai ir rusiškai

she’s from Brazil & she speaks Portuguese   
ji yra iš Brazilijos ir ji kalba portugališkai

Šaunu!  Great!  You made it to the end of another episode!  Nuostabu!  Wonderful!

Alright!  That’s it for today!  Thanks for the download!  If you got anything out of this lesson please leave us a review on our iTunes page.
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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 episodes 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 episodes, 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!

Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignalina_Nuclear_Power_Plant

http://www.Lithuanian.Libsyn.com
Skype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloud
email Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net 
http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/
http://www.ccmixter.org/