Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Ma olen õliopilane. (I am a university student.)

This semester at Tallinn University I have started to take Estonian courses. That brings the total Estonian speaking population in the world to 1.5 million + 1.

Here's a cool thing that I learned yesterday: If you want to ask someone how they are doing (which is not done often because - in the words of my professor - Estonians are not very polite) you would say, "Kuidas läheb?" To which one would respond, "Aitäh, hästi" (Thank you, fine).

Or, you could ask, "Kuidas käsi käib?" literally "How is your hand going?"

If you want to wish someone "Bon Appetit!" you would say "Head Isu!" The old-fashioned way is to say, "Jätku leiba!" which means, "Let there be bread on your table!" to which a typical Estonian response is, "Jätku tarvis" which means, "There should be bread on my table."

Another old-fashioned Estonian greeting is, "Jõudu tööle!" which is said upon seeing someone working in the field and means "Let you have the energy/power to do the work!" The response to this is, "Jõudu tarvis!" or "I should have the power!"

Ah, Estonians. I still have trouble pronouncing everything, but practice makes perfect I guess. :)

End note: I'm at my university, so I'm able to put the appropriate dots/squiggles in the words!! :)

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