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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)

 

Mar 10, 2008

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?  If you do, we’ll keep the shows coming.

Okay, as we’ve said before, we’re trying hard to get more native Lithuanian speakers on the show.  If we can do it – you’ll be the first to know.

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Hi there, I’m Jack and I’m Aistė Motekaitienė and welcome back to Lithuanian Out Loud where we offer the world the Lithuanian language.

Hey!  We’re in a new month!  In English the month of March is named after the Roman God of War, Mars.  In Lithuanian this month is known as kovas. 

Kovas is the Lithuanian word for rook.  A rook is a bird which is very similar to a crow.  The small black bird’s feathers sometimes appear to have a purple or bluish sheen in bright sunlight.  In the month of kovas, the kovas bird is starting to build nests and mate.
 
According to the Wikipedia page entitled, Columns of Gediminas, one of the oldest symbols of Lithuania are the Columns of Gediminas or Gediminaičių Stulpai.  We’ll place an image of this symbol on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage.  This symbol was used by ancient Lithuanian rulers on coins and personal insignia.

After the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in World War II, the Columns of Gediminas were banned.  The symbol was painted or scratched on walls or fences during the occupation as a form of protest against the communist government by Lithuanian patriots.

Today we have a special guest on the show, Aistė Motekaitienė, I’m sorry if I’m garbling that, from the LCC International University in Klaipėda, Lithuania.  Welcome to the show Aiste!  Thank you, my pleasure.  So, can you tell us a little bit about LCC International University?

Well, it’s a North American University in Lithuania.  It’s North American because it was founded by Canadians and Americans and a majority of our faculty are volunteer faculty from North America, so we teach everything in English and we are an international university because our students come from 21 different countries.

So, all of your classes are taught in English.  You don’t teach any classes in Lithuanian?

We do have a Lithuanian minor for students who want to improve in their Lithuanian language or want to study the Lithuanian language, so there is a minor for that, so that’s basically – yeah, the majority of classes are taught in that minor would be taught in Lithuanian but all other classes are taught in English, yes.

Okay, now just before I called you this evening I was watching the 15 minute video on the school and kind of like the mission goal of the school.  What would you describe the goal of the university?

Well, we are a unique university in this part of the world because we teach from a Christian perspective and our mission is also to reach out to students who want to not necessarily just get at the knowledge, but would also want to become responsible citizens and contribute to the development of their society, of the civil society.  We’ve been in existence for 17 years now and our alumni are kind of the living proof that the mission is an important mission because, the change that they do in their job places and the comments we get back from their employers do show that we’re able to make a difference in people’s lives.  First of all in our alumni and then they can be spreading the change in their environment.

When I was watching the video I got the impression that LCC International University is maybe trying to change the way that people were thinking during the Soviet era to a new era now.

Yes, because when this college…at that time, which was called Lithuania Christian College was established in Lithuania, the location was also chosen strategically because Lithuania gained its independence and the college started the very first year that Lithuania became independent again and the mission of the school at that time continues to be the same, is to provide education for students from the East, from the former Soviet Union countries…because it’s the western style of education, from a very different perspective and with the Christian world, gives a new approach and a new start for young people.

Okay, I see, that’s very interesting…now, how many students do you have normally?

Well, we are a small school, intentionally so.  Currently we have 600 students and every semester we have in addition to the 600 students we have up to 30 study abroad students that come from U.S. colleges and universities.  We have study abroad programs where American students can come and spend a semester at LCC and transfer the credits for the same programs and then European exchange students – the same way.  So, usually about 600, up to 650 students each year.

Ah, okay, and I saw somewhere on your webpage that you have a summer language institute and you have about 350 students during the summer?

Yes, that’s an additional summer program for people who want to advance in English, so, just kind of as you teach Lithuanian over on your blogpage, we do English summer language institute and we have a volunteer staff – volunteer teachers that come for three weeks.  They teach adults and the high school kids English and it’s a fun summer camp, you know, there are lots of activities in the summer in Klaipėda.  We have a nice beach, so there are classes in the morning, then various activities in the afternoon so it’s a fun summertime.

It sounds great.  I’m always jealous when I see a university like this and I think that it’s just too bad that I have to work for a living.  I’d like to just travel and attend university but I just can’t do that right now.

I know.  All of us who have done our share of studies…you see the new generation and you wish you could repeat the same…

Does your university have t-shirts?  I didn’t see anything, any place on your page where anybody can get t-shirts that say the university name, the simbolis and Klaipėda, anything like that.

No, we don’t have that on the website.  We have a bookstore on campus, so if people would want to have something they could send an email to info@lcc.lt and then we would send them a catalog of what we have and then they could get what they would like.

Great, I might have to get one of your t-shirts.

Well, we’ll need to send you something.

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Okay, today we‘ll continue exploring galininkas or the accusative case using the preposition ”į” or “to.”  Of course, if we want to go from a place we use the genitive case or kilmininkas.  So, from Vilnius, would translate as, iš Vilniaus, and, from Kaunas, would translate as, iš Kauno, etcetera.

If you need to review kilmininkas, just listen to episodes 0022, 0030, 0031, 0033, 0037, and 0039. 

Let’s finish off the verb važiuoti in the present tense.  Like we said, važiuoti is the verb, to go. When you use the verb važiuoti, you’re saying, to go, to drive, or to ride, using a car, a bus, a train, a bicycle, etcetera.

prašom pakartoti
please repeat

I go                                                                 
aš važiuoju

you go (familiar)                                               
tu važiuoji

he goes                                                            
jis važiuoja

she goes                                                           
ji važiuoja

we go                                                               
mes važiuojame

you go (formal)                                                 
jūs važiuojate

you all go                                                         
jūs važiuojate

they go (all males or mixed male/female group)  
jie važiuoja

they go (females only)                                      
jos važiuoja

Okay, now in this exercise, we’ll say, for example, from Vilnius to Kaunas, in English and we’ll give you a moment to say it in Lithuanian.  Then we’ll say it in Lithuanian and you’ll have a moment to repeat it. 
Kaip pasakyti lietuviškai?  How do you say it in Lithuanian?

I’m going from Vilnius to Kaunas            
aš važiuoju iš Vilniaus į Kauną

I’m going from Kaunas to Vilnius            
aš važiuoju iš Kauno į Vilnių

you’re going from the avenue to the park  
tu važiuoji iš prospekto į parką

you’re going from the park to the avenue  
tu važiuoji iš parko į prospektą

he’s going from the castle to the church  
jis važiuoja iš pilies į bažnyčią

he’s going from the church to the castle  
jis važiuoja iš bažnyčios į pilį

she’s going from Klaipėda to Palanga     
ji važiuoja iš Klaipėdos į Palangą

she’s going from Palanga to Klaipėda     
ji važiuoja iš Palangos į Klaipėdą

we’re going from London to Amsterdam      
mes važiuojame iš Londono į Amsterdamą

we’re going from Amsterdam to London      
mes važiuojame iš Amsterdamo į Londoną

you’re going from America to Europe           
jūs važiuojate iš Amerikos į Europą

you’re going from Europe to Amerika            
jūs važiuojate iš Europos į Ameriką

you’re all going from Lithuania to Ireland      
jūs važiuojate iš Lietuvos į Airiją

you’re all going from Ireland to Lithuania      
jūs važiuojate iš Airijos į Lietuvą

they’re going from the store to the post office   
jos važiuoja iš parduotuvės į paštą

they’re going from the post office to the store   
jos važiuoja iš pašto į parduotuvę

I’m going from the square to the tower             
aš važiuoju iš aikštės į bokštą

I’m going from the tower to the square             
aš važiuoju iš bokšto į aikštę

you’re going from the street to the coffee shop  
tu važiuoji iš gatvės į kavinę

you’re going from the coffee shop to the street  
tu važiuoji iš kavinės į gatvę

we’re going from the store to the post office      
mes važiuojame iš parduotuvės į paštą

you’re going from the post office to the store    
jūs važiuojate iš pašto į parduotuvę

Sveikinu!  Congratulations for making it through another episode!  Sveikinu!

That’s great.  Thank you so much for helping with the lessons.

You‘re welcome, it was a fun evening for me.

Your English is magnificent.  Where did you learn to speak so well?

Well, I graduated from LCC so, I graduated in ’97 – I was in the second graduating class and now I recruit new students. 

Well, I want to thank you very much for coming on the show today and for sharing your university with us.

Well, thanks for sending us the email and inviting us on, it was really my pleasure and I hope our paths will cross in the future.

Can I ask you two questions in Lithuanian?  Sure. 

Kur jums patinka valgyti Klaipėdoje?
Where do you like to eat in Klaipėda?

Klaipėdoje?  Klaipėdoje yra daug gerų restoranų, kuriuose galima labai skaniai pavalgyti.
In Klaipeda? In Klaipeda there are a lot of good restaurants where you can eat very tasty.

Aš labai mėgstu kinietišką maistą.
I really like Chinese food.

Klaipėdoje dabar labai yra populiaru atidaryti naujus kinietiškus restoranus, tai mes ten ir valgome.
In Klaipėda now it is very popular to open new Chinese restaurants, so we eat there.

O, kur jums patinka gerti kavą?  Kokia kavinė?
Oh, where do you like to drink coffee?  Which coffee shop?

Kokia kavinė.
What cafe.

Kai dirbi universitete ir universitete yra valgykla, tada dažniausiai ten valgai, o mieste...
When you work at the university and in university is a cafeteria so you eat mostly there, in the city...

Mieste dabar nežinau kokia būtų mėgstamiausia kavinė.
In the city now I don‘t know what would be my favorite cafe.

Yra daug kavinių Klaipėdoje ir labai gerų kavinių.
There are a lot of cafes in Klaipėda and very good cafes.

Yra daug?
There are many?

Daug, taip. Tai kad kai atvažiuosi į Klaipėdą galėsi rinktis.
A lot, yes. So, when you will come to Klaipėda you can choose.

Aha, okay (Jack pretending to understand the conversation) .  Alright, well, thank you, it’s been a pleasure, an honor to have you on the show and please get to sleep, I know you need to sleep so you can get to work in the morning.

Yeah, it’s okay, thank you and all the best of your learning Lithuanian and of your teaching others as well.

Okay, thank you very much, gero vakaro ir ačiū labai (good evening and thank you very much).

Jums geros dienos ir iki pasimatymo, viso gero, ate.
You have a good day and until later, have a good day, bye.

LCC International University
http://www.lcc.lt/index.html

LCC International University video
http://www.lcc.lt/partners/video.html

Alright, that’s it for today.

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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.

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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

Skype voicemail:  Lithuanianoutloud
email Raminta and Jack at: lithuanianoutloud@earthlink.net
Thanks to:  CCMixter.org, ditto ditto, and Vieux Farka Touré for allowing us to use the music for this podcast.
http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com/
http://www.ccmixter.org/