Tallinn Summerschool Today
On July 12th, people from countries like Japan, Serbia, Turkey, Russia, butalso France, Sweden, USA, Romania and Italy started their Estonian coursethat takes place on four different levels. According to Edith, who hasorganized Tallinn Summer School for five years, it is always interesting tosee why young people would spend three weeks of their summer in Estonia. Ofcourse, there are people who have friends or family ties in Estonia. At thesame time, there are so many people who have absolutely no connection toEstonia, she adds. For her, people who come to Tallinn for the second orthe third year, are very special. “To me it is like saying ‘thankyou’ for the year before!” she smiles.
Tallinn Summer School spoke to some of the participants – and found out
that there is a story behind of almost all the reasons to study
Estonian!21-year old Martin Berg, for example, who has just graduated from
architecture in Stockholm, Sweden, reasons for learning Estonian is
connected to the fact that his grandparents escaped to Sweden during the
Second World War.“My father’s parents are Estonians. My father used to
speak to me in Estonian, and I used to reply in Swedish, this seemed the
most natural way to do it. Then, three years ago, I decided that I want to
talk myself as well,” he says using perfect Estonian! “I do it because
the courses until now have been wonderful. Through the Estonian language I
find so many wonderful people! The language is so unical, so special. I do
not do it in order to do something with it but because I enjoy it so
much.”Alessio Basile, 21, who is studying law in Taranto, Italy, says
that on the Italian local level people do not know much about Estonia.
“There is no contact,” he admits.” On the other hand, it is becoming
popular in Italy to do Erasmus in Eastern Europe, many of my friends have
done Erasmus in Riga – or also in Tartu.”There are also other cases.
Arminas Šileikis, 22, who is studying journalism in Vilnius, Lithunia,
came to Estonia because he wanted to learn Finnish! During hitch-hiking in
Estonia, locals told him that if one knows Estonian he can learn Finnish
quite easily. Those people did not speak any Finnish themselves, he admits
now. “But you’ll never know what you can need it for,” he adds.
“For example I often go to delfi.ee to look for Estonian news and
translate them with Google. I think it’s very interesting because Estonia
and Lithuania often have similar problems and it is interesting to compare
the news.”“Estonia is so close, it is our neighbour, it is better to
know the neighbours,” he says happily.The young journalist-to-be is
already acquinted with some Estonian literature that he knew before in
Lithuanian and is planning to bring back home also in the Estonian
language: “”Pokuraamat” by Edgar Valter is one of the best
translations of a children’s book that I know!”. He is also happy with
his Estonian teacher. “She has many interesting ways to explain the
language and she knows different kinds of games. This is the way how one
should learn a language quickly!”“Ma olen poolakas. Tema on Anna, tema
elab Novosibirskis, Venemaal,” Tomasz Kotarski, 24, from Poland says when
asked about why he came to Tallinn Summer School. “We just learned
this sentence today,” he laughs. Tomasz has graduated from public
administration in Szczecin in Poland, and will graduate from political
sciences this autumn. His thesis is about Estonian and Latvian policy
towards Russian minorities.“I did Erasmus in Estonia for one year, I
became interested in the country itself, but also in the huge minority of
Russian speakers. I also did an internship at the Polish embassy in
Tallinn.” Doing a course at the Tallinn Summer School is Tomasz’s third
time in Tallinn: “I got a scholarship, I can talk with people, improve my
master thesis,” he announces gladly. “I only have one dream for the
future – to come back one day again!”We also spoke to one of the
Estonian teachers, Katrin Tääker, who is teaching at the Tallinn Summer
School already for the forth year in a row, and is very happy about the
high number of different countries where the participants come from.“It
is fascinating, how people come here from the other end of the world, like
from Thailand and Vietnam, to learn a language that is spoken by a maximum
of one million people!” she says. “All the students are very motivated
– most of them come here with their own money and know exactly that they
want to learn the language.” At the same time it is very important that
people can apply for scholarships – many of them are still students and
otherwise would not be able to afford it, she adds.According to her it is
not only young people who come to learn the Estonian language, and she is
still in touch with many of ther former students.“Once I had a lady from
New York, over 50, who came here all the way from America to learn Estonian
– because her daughter in law was Estonian! Or else, there was a boy from
Island who heard a piece by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt when he was
15. He said this changed his whole world! At the moment he is actually
studying at the Music Academy in Estonia!”Fallow the news about Tallinn
Summer School: http://summerschool.tlu.ee/ or Facebook.
that there is a story behind of almost all the reasons to study
Estonian!21-year old Martin Berg, for example, who has just graduated from
architecture in Stockholm, Sweden, reasons for learning Estonian is
connected to the fact that his grandparents escaped to Sweden during the
Second World War.“My father’s parents are Estonians. My father used to
speak to me in Estonian, and I used to reply in Swedish, this seemed the
most natural way to do it. Then, three years ago, I decided that I want to
talk myself as well,” he says using perfect Estonian! “I do it because
the courses until now have been wonderful. Through the Estonian language I
find so many wonderful people! The language is so unical, so special. I do
not do it in order to do something with it but because I enjoy it so
much.”Alessio Basile, 21, who is studying law in Taranto, Italy, says
that on the Italian local level people do not know much about Estonia.
“There is no contact,” he admits.” On the other hand, it is becoming
popular in Italy to do Erasmus in Eastern Europe, many of my friends have
done Erasmus in Riga – or also in Tartu.”There are also other cases.
Arminas Šileikis, 22, who is studying journalism in Vilnius, Lithunia,
came to Estonia because he wanted to learn Finnish! During hitch-hiking in
Estonia, locals told him that if one knows Estonian he can learn Finnish
quite easily. Those people did not speak any Finnish themselves, he admits
now. “But you’ll never know what you can need it for,” he adds.
“For example I often go to delfi.ee to look for Estonian news and
translate them with Google. I think it’s very interesting because Estonia
and Lithuania often have similar problems and it is interesting to compare
the news.”“Estonia is so close, it is our neighbour, it is better to
know the neighbours,” he says happily.The young journalist-to-be is
already acquinted with some Estonian literature that he knew before in
Lithuanian and is planning to bring back home also in the Estonian
language: “”Pokuraamat” by Edgar Valter is one of the best
translations of a children’s book that I know!”. He is also happy with
his Estonian teacher. “She has many interesting ways to explain the
language and she knows different kinds of games. This is the way how one
should learn a language quickly!”“Ma olen poolakas. Tema on Anna, tema
elab Novosibirskis, Venemaal,” Tomasz Kotarski, 24, from Poland says when
asked about why he came to Tallinn Summer School. “We just learned
this sentence today,” he laughs. Tomasz has graduated from public
administration in Szczecin in Poland, and will graduate from political
sciences this autumn. His thesis is about Estonian and Latvian policy
towards Russian minorities.“I did Erasmus in Estonia for one year, I
became interested in the country itself, but also in the huge minority of
Russian speakers. I also did an internship at the Polish embassy in
Tallinn.” Doing a course at the Tallinn Summer School is Tomasz’s third
time in Tallinn: “I got a scholarship, I can talk with people, improve my
master thesis,” he announces gladly. “I only have one dream for the
future – to come back one day again!”We also spoke to one of the
Estonian teachers, Katrin Tääker, who is teaching at the Tallinn Summer
School already for the forth year in a row, and is very happy about the
high number of different countries where the participants come from.“It
is fascinating, how people come here from the other end of the world, like
from Thailand and Vietnam, to learn a language that is spoken by a maximum
of one million people!” she says. “All the students are very motivated
– most of them come here with their own money and know exactly that they
want to learn the language.” At the same time it is very important that
people can apply for scholarships – many of them are still students and
otherwise would not be able to afford it, she adds.According to her it is
not only young people who come to learn the Estonian language, and she is
still in touch with many of ther former students.“Once I had a lady from
New York, over 50, who came here all the way from America to learn Estonian
– because her daughter in law was Estonian! Or else, there was a boy from
Island who heard a piece by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt when he was
15. He said this changed his whole world! At the moment he is actually
studying at the Music Academy in Estonia!”Fallow the news about Tallinn
Summer School: http://summerschool.tlu.ee/ or Facebook.