6 ms·

I'm half-Australian, half-Estonian, but don't really speak any Estonian yet still live here (sorry, nationalistic Estonians!). My wife is Estonian, and our niec

by mb_72 7y ago

I'm half-Australian, half-Estonian, but don't really speak any Estonian yet still live here (sorry, nationalistic Estonians!). My wife is Estonian, and our nieces speak English to each other quite a bit when I'm around (and, I suspect, some significant part of the time besides that). People like me are definitely 'part of the problem' with the Estonian language being not as used as it should be, however outside of Estonia the language - as beautiful as it is and as significant a part of my heritage as it is - is almost useless. I've done some courses + read some books, and can understand the language a reasonable amount, but I cannot speak it. Time-wise, I find it hard to justify over learning more skills for my software development trade.

distances 7y ago
Which highlights that multicultural families should keep using their native languages when talking to their kids. It's a big asset later in life! My niece is currently adoption three languages (mom, dad, kindergarten) and I know another kid that is exposed to four. They seem to have no trouble whatsoever switching to the correct language when they've figured out which one each adult is speaking with them.
- mb_72 7y ago
  I 100% agree, but my mother made the decision not to teach myself or my brother any Estonian when we were young as "there was no point as at that time it seemed Estonia would be part of the USSR forever and you'll never go there anyway". My Dad disagreed with this approach, but went along with it; it's one reason they're still married. :)
juhanima 7y ago
Thank you, sir, for your honesty. While mother tongue is surely a big part of a person's identity, any language is also just a means to an end. Some linguistics suggest that entire peoples have switched languages in the past in just a few generations for the utility and convenience. Kalevi Wiik for instance. Not being an avid learner of languages, I have personally always liked the idea of an universal language. English seems to be closest to the spot at the moment. It seems that Esperanto has its most avid supporters in China these days, because they would like the luxury of having to learn just one western language. Still, every language is also a cultural artifact the loss of which would be a bummer. Today we cannot read the writing of Rapa-Nui, the Easter Island, which is sad. The recently deceased Finnish writer Matti Mäkelä once talked about the idea of two languages: the language of the heart and the language of trade. The former you speak to express the deepest thoughts and the latter to make deals with all of the people in the world. Maybe sometimes in the far-away future we will all speak two languages, the heart-language and the trade-language. I don't care if the latter is English or Chinese or anything else as it's just about trade and utility. For poetry and confessing my love I have another language.

by mb_72 7y ago

distances 7y ago

Which highlights that multicultural families should keep using their native languages when talking to their kids. It's a big asset later in life! My niece is currently adoption three languages (mom, dad, kindergarten) and I know another kid that is exposed to four. They seem to have no trouble whatsoever switching to the correct language when they've figured out which one each adult is speaking with them.

mb_72 7y ago
I 100% agree, but my mother made the decision not to teach myself or my brother any Estonian when we were young as "there was no point as at that time it seemed Estonia would be part of the USSR forever and you'll never go there anyway". My Dad disagreed with this approach, but went along with it; it's one reason they're still married. :)

juhanima 7y ago

Thank you, sir, for your honesty. While mother tongue is surely a big part of a person's identity, any language is also just a means to an end. Some linguistics suggest that entire peoples have switched languages in the past in just a few generations for the utility and convenience. Kalevi Wiik for instance. Not being an avid learner of languages, I have personally always liked the idea of an universal language. English seems to be closest to the spot at the moment. It seems that Esperanto has its most avid supporters in China these days, because they would like the luxury of having to learn just one western language. Still, every language is also a cultural artifact the loss of which would be a bummer. Today we cannot read the writing of Rapa-Nui, the Easter Island, which is sad. The recently deceased Finnish writer Matti Mäkelä once talked about the idea of two languages: the language of the heart and the language of trade. The former you speak to express the deepest thoughts and the latter to make deals with all of the people in the world. Maybe sometimes in the far-away future we will all speak two languages, the heart-language and the trade-language. I don't care if the latter is English or Chinese or anything else as it's just about trade and utility. For poetry and confessing my love I have another language.