Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

We are no longer producing new episodes of Lithuanian Out Loud. However, if you would like to donate to show your appreciation of our previous episodes, please donate here. Thank you 🙂

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)

 

Apr 23, 2008

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

According to the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Šiauliai is the home to the Hill of Crosses or Kryžių kalnas.  Beginning around 1831 people started leaving crosses on the hill.  During the Soviet Occupation of Lithuania between 1944 and 1990 the Russians bulldozed the hill three times but the crosses, crucifixes, carvings of national heros, effigies and rosaries were rebuilt.  There are no official rules regarding the hill so anyone who wishes can leave an object of their choosing.

Oh, did you know, that we, I think it was 19…1985 when my grandmother, my father and me drove to the Hill Cross of Šiauliai and left a cross and my father was digging and my grandma…and I was playing there and we were kind of…fast, fast, fast, that nobody would see.  Why?  Oh, you had to go fast because of the Soviets.  Right somebody can, you know, you can get into trouble.  Ah, so it was at night or during the day?  At day, at day, people - it was there, like you know, it was destroyed but then again people would do that.  And they really didn’t want that somebody would see and then it would be really bad with their job and everything, you know so you wanted to be fast.  Oh, that’s a cool story, I didn’t know.  Thank you.

In Lithuania, the first day of the week is Monday or pirmadienis.  Lithuanians and the English have very different methods of naming the days of the week.  In English the days of the week are capitalized, in Lithuanian you don’t generally do that unless the day of the week is the first word in a sentence.  Just to demonstrate how different the names of the days of the week are in these two cultures, let’s run through the English system…

Sunday comes from the Germanic Sun-nan-dag – a day to worship the Sun God.
Monday comes from the Germanic Moh-nan-dag – a day to worship the Moon God.
Tuesday comes from the Germanic Tee-wes-dag a day to worship Tyr, the god of combat and heroic glory.
Wednesday is named for wohd-nes-dag or wohd-nes-dye, the day of the Germanic god Woden or Odin.
Thursday is named for thoon-res-dag, the day to worship the thundergod Thor.
Friday is named for free-ye-dag, the day of Frige, the Germanic goddess of beauty,
Saturday is named for the Roman god of Saturn.

In Lithuanian, basically, we say first-day, second-day, third-day, etcetera.  Let’s learn how to say, first, second, third – all days of the week are masculine.

first                         
pirmas

second                     
antras

third                         
trečias

fourth                       
ketvirtas

fifth                         
penktas

sixth                         
šeštas

seventh                     
septintas

eighth                       
aštuntas

ninth                        
devintas

tenth                        
dešimtas

The Lithuanian word for day is, diena, which is feminine.  Of course, we’ve used this in the phrase, laba diena.  Now, let’s go over the days of the week. 

Monday                 
pirmadienis (sunki diena - hard day)

Tuesday                
antradienis

Wednesday            
trečiadienis

Thursday               
ketvirtadienis

Friday                   
penktadienis

Saturday                
šeštadienis

So, Raminta, before we do the last day, Sunday, if it follows this pattern, this day must be called septintadienis, right?  Oh well, what are you going to do?  Okay, so Sunday diverts from this system just a little.

Sunday                  
sekmadienis

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

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.
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 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!

English days of the week
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_the_week

Hill of Crosses
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_of_crosses

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