Language Features

If you are not immersed in a Portuguese-speaking environment, it will be undoubtedly useful to expose yourself to Portuguese media to enhance your language skills. Watching movies, series or videos not only exposes you to authentic conversations and cultural nuances but also makes language learning enjoyable. Here are Brazilian films, series, channels and videos I've watched on Netflix and Youtube and found helpful for language immersion.

My encounters with the Portuguese language have been particularly enchanting, each step of the way revealing new facets of its linguistic richness. From humble beginnings in a university classroom to immersive experiences in Portuguese-speaking countries, my journey with Portuguese has been a testament to the transformative power of language learning.

Here are a few basic things I wrote in Lithuanian for the summer language class in 2018.

In this lesson, we’re taking one step closer to making sense out of that familiar -요 (yo) ending.

Are you in for a bumpy ride? You may think you got the hang of speaking Lithuanian but wait ‘till you get to the end of this module. It’s about to get more exciting! In this module, we will talk about numbers, how to ask for and indicate age and months in Lithuanian.

The Korean Alphabet, known as Hangeul (한글), can seem intimidating at first. Don’t be fooled! It’s quite easy to learn! In this module, get acquainted with the 24 consonants and vowels of the Korean language.

The safest topic to initiate small talk is weather. It’s impersonal yet relatable. In this module, we will talk about weather, seasons and the days of the week.

My Korean journey is a story that dates back to 2004.

Lithuanian is one of the, if not the the most, archaic Indo-European languages. According to French linguist, Antoine Meillet,” if you want to listen to how the ancient Indo-Europeans spoke, then you should visit a Lithuanian village and listen to the language of Lithuanian peasants”.

With this lesson on the Lithuanian alphabet (lietuvų abėcėlė), I hope you become a more independent learner, being more informed on how to better pronounce words constructed from the 32 Lithuanian letters.

Open-ended questions are questions that leave more options for the respondents while closed questions have limited answers: yes and no (or maybe). In this module, we will tackle Lithuanian expressions that entail closed questions. We will also introduce another information that can be a topic of conversation: languages.

In the previous lesson, we’ve seen some basic greetings followed by expressions on introducing yourself with your name. In this module, we will take your small talk in Lithuanian further by engaging in a conversation where you can talk about where you’re from.

One of the essential things to remember when visiting a foreign country is that their way of life or how they operate certain aspects in their lives might not be similar to that of yours so it is best to keep an open mind and to do a bit of research. Here’s an effort to help bridge those gaps in the Lithuanian language. Check back frequently for more progressive lessons on basic Lithuanian expressions.

Outside of these classes and organized trips and activities, I also practiced my Lithuanian with my encounters and everyday personal exchanges and activities in the supermarkets, cinemas, restaurants, shops and even in the streets, really, which obviously helped tremendously in my progress.

Are the Lithuanian modules free? Until when? Why study Lithuanian? And other FAQs answered in this post.

What I do remember from this trip is meeting Martinas. Martinas is a solo Lithuanian traveler from our group. At one point, Martinas was standing right beside me and so I took the courage and talked to him in Lithuanian. He looked stunned and confused, later, amused, that an Asian like me was speaking to him in his native tongue. We found ourselves having our own little bubble as we moved along the tour.