Atkurtai Lietuvai - 100!

  

[official-lithuania]

Hey! Do you know the best way to learn lithuanian? Due to a complicated family life I've forgotten my native language, and I'd appreciate advice on re-learning it.

There are some language resources on our blog, and I am sure that you will be able to find some yourself as well. I think am in a similar situation as well, where I am separated from my countrymen and use English in most areas of my life, and I am trying very hard not to forget my native language.

The best advice I can give you is to try to immerse yourself as much as possible - set your phone language to Lithuanian, read news articles or listen to the radio, find TV shows or movies (for language learning, I like Disney movies and other children’s programs that are easy to understand,but somewhat complex and not for babies either) and try to use the language as much as possible in everyday life. Find and talk to fluent speakers (I am sure they would be glad to help you. I know it may be awkward at first and it takes time to build up confidence!)

Lastly, try to set your “internal monologue” to Lithuanian. When I look around at my surroundings, I try to identify objects and say the name for them in my head. I have internal conversations with myself, such as thinking about a conversation or debate I had with someone else and restating my points in my target language. At the beginning of the day, I recite my agenda for the day to myself, and at the end of the day, I review what I had done.

I hope this helps, and I wish you luck on your language learning journey.

[official-lithuania]

"Vilnius - the G spot of Europe" is back

[archaeologicalnews]

Lithuania's 'Great Synagogue' Fell to the Nazis, But Archaeologists Have Uncovered It

Parts of a Nazi-destroyed Jewish synagogue in Lithuania are seeing the light of day again after archaeologists unearthed the religious center’s buried bimah, or central prayer platform, in a recent excavation.

The find is the culmination of a three-year project to excavate the former site of what was known as the “Great Synagogue of Vilna,” a title that comes from an old name for the city of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

While the Nazis destroyed many Jewish synagogues during World War II, the Great Synagogue of Vilna was a tremendous loss, as it had served as the spiritual center of the Jewish community in Vilnius for hundreds of years, from the 1600s until the 1940s, said Jon Seligman, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority who is leading the international team of archaeologists carrying out the excavations. Read more.

[official-lithuania]

Recommendations for folk music fans here - band Obelija

[official-lithuania]

Quick question about Lithuanian - what is the difference between saying ‘geras vyras’ and ‘gerasis vyras’? Lithuanian adjectives are confusing :(

“gerasis vyras” is like saying “the good man” while “geras vyras” is simply “good man”; same goes for feminine adjectives, e.g. gera > geroji

[official-lithuania]

hey anon who learnt nothing new from our last “conversation”

[official-lithuania]

Massive deportations left an everlasting mark of suffering to Lithuania. It is an unhealing wound that still hurts. And it hurts not only those who experienced exile in their childhood or early youth but also those who hear and read the memories, see the pictures and think about what you endured.

Dalia Grybauskaitė, president of Lithuania, to the exiles of massive deportations (via official-lithuania)

[official-lithuania]

A restored grave of Lithuanian family who died in exile in Siberia

[official-lithuania]

“Kančia” (Suffering) -  a bronze sculpture by Juozas Genevičius built to commemorate political exiles of Lithuania.

[official-lithuania]

History cannot be changed or forgotten. Especially when witnesses of those crimes are still alive. These people who were taken to Siberia, who were scattered around the territories of now former Soviet Union, who lived through unimaginable physical and emotional torture, they deserve to be remembered, they deserve justice and our active condemnation of the crimes committed against them.

The Ministers of Justice of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine (via official-lithuania)

[official-lithuania]

Misija Sibiras (Mission Siberia) is a project that started in Lithuania in 2005. Lithuanian youth travels to the places of exile where they meet deported Lithuanians that were not able to return home. Over 100 cemeteries of deportees were fixed and tidied up during the project.

[official-lithuania]

A cross built for Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians who died in exile. Misija Sibiras’15 (Mission Siberia’15)

[official-lithuania]

“Tarp pilkų debesų” (Between the Shades of Gray”) is a book by Rūta Šepetys based on the massive deportations of Lithuanians to Siberia which started on the 14th of June in 1941. The same titled movie based on the book is scheduled to premiere in 2017.

[official-lithuania]

Map showing the places where Lithuanians were taken during massive deportations which started on the 14th of June, 1941

[official-lithuania]

On the 14th of June 1941 massive deportations in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were started at the same time - 03:00 (3pm). Overfull wagons with over 40 000 Baltic citizens were taken to Siberia. More than 70% of deportees were women and children.

[unofficial-estonia]

On 14th June 1941, 10 000 Estonians, 16 500 Latvians and 18 500 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia in animal wagons by Soviet authorities. More than half of them never returned to their homeland.

[official-lithuania]

@aws-deserved-better buvo labai daug lietuvių ir didelė dalis jų kaip ir aš buvo tiesiog palaikantys. Pvz.: viena mergina iš Lietuvos atvyko su mama, kuri ją labai palaiko. O bežygiuojant teko šaligatviuose matyti ir opozicijos su savo plakatais (ir gramatinėm klaidom plakatuose lol). Tame tarpe buvo ir rimtai nusiteikusių religingų žmonių, kurie žegnojosi mums praeinant bei žiniasklaidai pasakojo, kad seniau Latvijoj tokių nebuvo.... yeah right. Kai kurie tiesiog stovėjo nepatenkintais veidais ir laikė nykščius žemyn nuleidę. Buvo ir vienas vaikas su Lenkijos vėliava, kuris jau po parado pribėgo prie mūsų ir rėkė "vaikinas ir mergina, o ne vaikinas ir vaikinas", paskui visus triskart išvadino p****** (sulaukė vien tik linksmų "taip") ir galiausiai jį pradėjo vytis viena mergina, apsigobus vaivorykšte, ko jis labai išsigando ir dėjo į kojas. Tai tokie homofobiniai momentai, visa kita buvo pozityvu, daug žmonių mojavo su šypsenom, šoko savo balkonuose (kai kurie irgi su vaivorykštėm). Kadangi man tai buvo pirmos eitynės (ir esu straight), tai sunku įvertinti, ar pas mus tikrai blogiau, bet, mano akimis, esam panašiam lygmenyj:)