The year was 2018…
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were celebrating their centenary. On February 16th, the Independence Day of Lithuania, I attended all the celebratory events that day.
I was standing at the very corner of Skapo gatvė, watching the traditional Baltic flag ceremony at the Daukantas square. At some point, I caught myself thinking: what if I learned the other two languages?
So I started out with Latvian. Eventually, it went out of control
It seemed closer, more relatable and – as it usually is with closely related languages – many words cracked me up. I was also just a young adult struggling to find myself, which obviously resulted in frustration and even depression. I would study the language whenever I felt down.
That same year Pope Francis paid a visit to the Baltics. I had already understood some Latvian, but I couldn’t speak it – I didn’t know a single Latvian. I was curious how a Protestant country (Lithuania is Catholic) would greet a guy like it. One article linked it to the many memes and jokes Latvians had been tweeting. I decided to create a Twitter account (which was probably my third).
Eventually, my tweets got traction and it went crazy. I ended up on the Latvian news! I got to translate prose! I got a follow from Egils Levits, the President at the time!
I got overwhelmed and decided it was time for Estonian
In 2019, I joined an Estonian language course organised by the Vilnius University. We were taught by Eve Raeste, an excellent teacher, who brought a little bit of joy to our autumny evenings.
Then, I was offered to participate in a competition for the Three Rectors’ Scholarship. In 2020, the competition was organised by the University of Tartu, University of Vilnius and also University of Latvia to reward students who put in the effort into learning all three official languages of the Baltic states.
I faced the most amazing competitors and felt like I had a little chance, but I did win the scholarship in spite of speaking Estonian at only A2 level.
Then I fell for a Finn, started spending most of my days in Finland…
…and opened my enterprise in Finland. I am open to your offers!
Feel free to contact me in English, German, Swedish and Finnish.