It's impossible as fuck. What with all the different declensional cases and other grammatical moonspeak.
Should I just give up and learn Russian instead ? Most Lithuanians speak Russian, yeah ?
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Anonymous2009-10-11 8:40
Yes, is good idea, Comrade.
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Anonymous2009-10-11 8:57
>declensional cases and other grammatical moonspeak.
That's not going to improve drastically amongst Slavic languages.
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Anonymous2009-10-11 11:05
Lithuanian is an interesting language. Apparently, due to conservatism, it's the modern Indo-European language closest to Proto-Indo-European. "If you want an idea of how the Aryans sounded, talk to any Lithuanian peasant", allegedly.
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kuzu(｡◕‿‿◕｡)kuzu2009-10-12 9:43
Can I just use the nominative and genitive case for words and still be understood ? Because even though I've learnt the different declensional cases I can't see myself pausing in converstation to contemplate which case I should be using...
Like will it be perfectly understood if I was to say something like:
"Mama skaito laikraštis" (mum reads the newspaper)
As opposed to the correct:
"Mama skaito laikrašti"
Some slavic person plz HALP. Thanks :3
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Anonymous2009-10-12 9:51
>>5
I don't know about lithuanian, but in most slavic languages like russian a lack of declension sounds very, very awkward. Like a foreigner just learned few words and is trying to mumble something, yet he sounds stupid (not intended to offend you).
Oh really hahah ( ._.)
It's just it seems so hard to determine which case to use (other than nominative and genitive). Regardless of whether it sounds stupid, in most cases will the person still be understood ?
>>8
Well it's just that highly inflected languages typically have an abbreviated style of speech as declensions allow that. Without these in order to avoid ambiguity you'll have to speak in full every sentence, which is not something that is normally done. After all, broken speech is never good.
Ah k, thanks. Can I ask are you a native speaker of a slavic language ? If not, how long did it take you to become competent with which declension case to use (that is, without pausing in conversation to think about which case to use) ?
>>12
Yeah i'm a native speaker, so i'm probably of little help (ironically). I'd just say that if you give up on lithuanian and learn russian, never talk to lithuanians (also latvians and estonians) in it. They really hate this.
I'm lithuanian,it's a hard language even for us,we have so many rules for words..for example we put words in skiemenimis,its like:
po-pie-rius (paper).or we have like wich letter to say longer,and than we sometimes mark over the word like these sinds: ~ / \.
oh..yeah and also we have letters: ą č ę ė į š ų ū ž.
so its prety hard.
and more about lithuanias: we have dificult characters because of our history,but we are good people and we understand when u are in trouble.
p.s. speaking to lithuanians in russian is rough,older people can understand you,but younger can say to piss off.nowadays you can speak english free here and you will be understood.
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Too Lithuanian to be proud2011-04-28 14:21
Yeah, Lithuanian is very hard language and almost impossible for most outsiders. Also, some lithuanians may even hurt you if you will adress them in russian. We, Lithuanians, don't like russians and polish people, if they can't even say hello in lithuanian.
Also, many young, and now, old people know english pretty good.
P.S. Lithuanian is under the Baltic languages family.
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Defiant 2011-07-01 11:37
@Lithuanian to be proud
There's a small amount of old people that talk english in lithuania, most of the old folks speak either russian or polish.
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Anonymous2011-08-04 7:27
SIELOS IR DVASIOS UBAGAI
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native speaker2011-08-07 10:49
Lithuanian is hard but I think once you learn it well you can discover marvelous things. However it's not something impossible, really, don't give up:) Being here, if you try and show at least small knowledge of Lithuanian you'll be appreciated. Well the same in every country.
And nothing wrong with speaking in Russian here! Even young people sometimes know it quite well. I think you'd get by with Russian in Lithuania with no problems. Sometimes I can't understand why some people hate everything that's Russian. Ironicaly, these worship everything that's Western;) But well, to sum up, Lithuanians are really friendly for people who come here and show interest in their life. one of the national characteristics I think is hostility- so wherever you are from you're welcome:)
Generally speaking.
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Anonymous2011-08-10 17:07
TAI UŽ KIEK PARDAVĖT SAVO TĖVYNĘ!? UŽ KIEK PARSIDAVĖT PATYS!? UŽ MILTELIUS? UŽ ŠOKOLADĄ?!
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kuzu(｡◕‿‿◕｡)kuzu2011-09-10 19:28
Holy shit, this thread still exists O_O
Anyway, I've been here for over a year and have so far been able to master an intermediate level conversation.
The grammar is still ludicrously illogical however.
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Anonymous2011-09-12 1:17
im trying to learN to guck some LS GIRLZ
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server2013-08-18 12:50
Well, how to say it... Russian culture is very unpopular in Lithuania. So better always use any of EU official languages when to talking to a Lithuanian.