Coffee Helps

Having made the decision to stay in Estonia for  while, the time has come for me to learn the language for real. The CD thing was - let’s be honest - a complete disaster, as it taught me random words that were of absolutely no use whatsoever when it came to trying to get by in real life. And so, after some searching online (do you realise how few teaching/learning aids there are for the Estonian language? Funny, that. It’s not like it’s ridiculously, ludicrously, impossibly difficult to pick up or anything), I found a recommended textbook with lessons and practice exercises. It’s like being at school again, only this time I’m conjugating verbs of my own free will, and not because Le Prof will make me write them out fifty times if I don’t.

Riho is giving it a go too, although his version of learning seems to involve complaining that it doesn’t make sense and then suggesting that I just teach him as well as myself. So far I have refused on the grounds that we would undoubtedly kill each other if I attempted such a thing. I am, however, fairly impressed that after just two days of fairly intensive study, I have a much better grasp of how the language works than I did after two whole months of trying to pick it up in a more casual, haphazard way. I can write sentences and everything! I exclaimed in some surprise as I finished today’s grammar exercises. Riho just muttered something from behind his computer screen. Apparently not everyone learns in the same way; Riho’s problem, sadly, is that he doesn’t actually know what his “way” might be.

It was decided that we would unwind and destress by going for another brisk evening walk - this time, however, we went through the Old Town. Partly to avoid the sheer terror that comes with walking at night in an unlit area, but also in the hope of seeing posters and signs in Estonian and attempting to identify the verbs. Look, I never said we were cool people.

Sina oled siin! said Riho enthusiastically, pointing at the map on the first sign we encountered. You… are… here! we chanted like schoolchildren. It was happening. We were applying our newfound skills to Real Life. Hurrah! Of course, we both knew that we were there before we read the sign, but what if we hadn’t? That could’ve been a real lifesaver, and one that would not have been available to us had we not learned how to conjugate the verb to be. I’m telling you. Practical advantages all over the place.

My proudest moment, however, came when I stopped to study a homemade, text-filled poster. Not only was it possible to identify the verbs, but I even knew what most of them meant! We spent about ten minutes standing there in the bitterly cold wind, staring intently at this poster on the wall as others hurried past and turned their heads to see what was so fascinating about it. My excitement at being able to form a loose translation of every single sentence was perhaps a little over the top, but honestly - you’ve no idea how utterly bizarre and alien this language has seemed to me since I first encountered it. It’s genuinely amazing when the words all start to mean something, right in front of my very eyes, rather than just being incomprehensible gibberish.

Plus, if I end up actually finding the lost dog and claiming the reward, Estonian will be well on its way to being the most lucrative language I have ever studied…