DEVELOPMENT OF MY LANGUAGE SKILLS

Hello everybody!

Today’s post is about a nice topic, which came in mind today, when Zsofi, Fanny and me were invited yesterday to the Youth Centre here in Tukums to talk with orphans and their mentors about ERASMUS + and EVS in general.

They asked us why and how we finally got here to Tukums. What our task is, how we like it here and the one question that didn’t get off my mind:

How could you learn so fast the latvian language?

One woman was complimenting Fanny’s language skills and that shows me, that the Latvians are really proud when some foreign strangers learn this rarely spoken language. So, I started to reflect this statement a bit and came to the conclusion that we can be so lucky to have this awesome teacher! Ieva, our coordinator is doing such an awesome job! Two times a week we sit together, sometimes still in bed with our minds, but really, I am so thankful for this opportunity. I never expected that I will learn this language so fast! I perfectly remember one situation:

It was my first day here in Latvia. I arrived at the airport and Liene, my mentor, picked me up and we went by car here to Tukums. While the drive, the radio was on and I was so desperated because I couldn’t understand anything except of „dfaaaakeerdlaskjcjfeeldkfjcddfsdslasdlskjxcvclxffdfxfoopsdse“. So, for sure I felt like a stranger who will never understand anything in this country. But then day by day I learned some words. In daily life, at work, with the children while playing, even in the supermarket. But my biggest „Thanks“ goes for sure to Ieva! After one month I was able to present myself in latvian, after two month I knew all the numbers, colours and even how to talk about my family. This feeling was just awesome and I was even more motivated to go on with it! So now, after three and a half months I can have conversations with inhabitants, can communicate with the children at work and even go in a cafe and order my food in latvian language! The fact, that it works makes me really proud and gives me more the feeling that I am not a tourist, but a small part of Latvia now! 🙂

And of course it’s not all about latvian language but also about english! Before I started my EVS I could speak english, this ist for sure. Because I learned english in school for 10 years and even graduated some subjects in english. But I was not used to speak english in every day life. So, I am very glad to see how my language skills develop, even for a language that you are more used to speak. There was a moment when I realized that I start to think and even dream in english. And this feeling is soooo crazy! When you meet so many people from different countries of Europe, the main spoken language is of course english, because everybody learns it somewhere and somehow! So, in one part all of us, the volunteers, are the same! On the same level.

For me it was very important to write about this topic, because it is one of the biggest developments I already experienced during my time here in Latvia. For sure I learn so many things, but this language development is very practical and helpful in daily life. You can really see the difference and how it changes my attitude and my motivation for this language and even the culture!

SO, THANK YOU EVS FOR THIS AWESOME EXPERIENCE! I HOPE THAT I WILL EVEN LEARN MORE IN THE SECOND HALF OF MY EVS!

LIELS PALDIES 🙂