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ESTONIAN • LATVIAN • LITHUANIAN

ESTONIAN • LATVIAN • LITHUANIAN

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BalticPHRASEBOOK

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AcknowledgmentsAssociate Publisher Mina PatriaManaging Editor Angela TinsonEditor Branislava VladisavljevicSeries Designer Mark AdamsManaging Layout Designer Chris GirdlerLayout Designer Carol JacksonCover Image Researcher Naomi Parker

Thanks Ruth Cosgrove

Published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty LtdABN 36 005 607 983

8th Edition – March 2012ISBN 978 1 74220 811 4Text © Lonely Planet 2012Cover Image xxx – xxxPrinted in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contact lonelyplanet.com/contact

Published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty LtdABN 36 005 607 983

3rd Edition – Sep 2013ISBN 978 1 74104 014 2Text © Lonely Planet 2013

Cover Image Līvu laukums, Rīga, Latvia, Brent Winebrenner/Getty Images ©Printed in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Paper in this book is certifi ed against the Forest Stewardship Council™ standards. FSC™ promotes environmentally responsible, socially benefi cial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.

Although the authors and Lonely Planet try to make the in for ma tion as accurate as possible, we accept no responsibility for any loss, in ju ry or inconvenience sus tained by anyone us ing this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be re pro duced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, ex cept brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the written per mis sion of the publisher. Lonely Planet and the Lonely Planet logo are trade marks of Lone ly Planet and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offi ce and in other countries. Lonely Planet does not allow its name or logo to be appropriated by commercial establishments, such as retailers, restaurants or hotels. Please let us know of any misuses: www.lonelyplanet.com/ip

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Acknowledgements

About the AuthorsThis revised edition of the Estonian chapter with transliterationswas prepared by Alan Trei, a marketing consultant and literarytranslator of Estonian origin living in Northampton,Massachusetts, working with Inna Feldbach. The Estonian sectionin the first edition was written by Lisa Trei, then a correspondentfor the Wall Street Journal and a Fulbright Scholar at TartuUniversity in Estonia, assisted by Inna Feldbach, a governmentaland literary translator.

Jana Teteris, author of the Latvian chapter, was born andbrought up as a Latvian in the UK. She lived and worked in Latviafrom the late 1980s to 1992 and then again from 1994 to 1998,when she returned to London. She now works at the Institute ofLinguists and continues to do some translating and interpretingon a freelance basis.

Eva Aras updated the Lithuanian section based on the the firstedition written by Paul Jokubaitis. Originally a teacher of Frenchand German, then a university librarian, Eva now teachesLithuanian at the Victorian School of Languages in Melbourne.She also translates between Lithuanian and English and doeson-site and telephone interpreting for various agencies andgovernment bodies. All these activities help to keep her well intouch with the language of her birth, despite spending most ofher life in an English-speaking environment.

From the AuthorsJana Teteris would like to thank her mother and friends in Latviafor their assistance in re-writing the Latvian chapter. She is especiallyindebted to Judith Gill who managed to find the time in therun-up to her wedding to proofread the transliterations.

Eva Aras would like to thank her son Danielius for his technicalassistance and also for some helpful language suggestions.

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Acknowledgements

From the PublisherThis book was coordinated by Peter DOnghia and Ingrid Seebus.Karin Vidstrup Monk and Karina Coates supervised. The bookwas edited with flair by Emma Koch and meticulously proofreadby Lou Callan. The splendiferous illustrations were done byPatrick Marris, who also laid out the book, and Fabrice Rochersupervised layout. Natasha Velleley drew the map.

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CONTENTS

LATVIAN ................................................................ 99

INTRODUCTION...................................................... 7

ESTONIAN............................................................. 13Quick Reference ................ 14Introduction ........................ 15Pronunciation ..................... 16Grammar .......................... 19Greetings & Civilities .......... 27Small Talk .......................... 30Body Language .................. 35Breaking the

Language Barrier ............ 36Getting Around .................. 39Accommodation ................. 45Around Town ...................... 49Paperwork ......................... 56

In the Country ...................... 57Food ................................... 61Menu Decoder ..................... 63Market, At the ...................... 66Shopping ............................. 70Health ................................. 78Specific Needs ..................... 83Time & Dates ....................... 85Festivals &

Holidays ........................... 89Numbers & Amounts ............ 93Abbreviations ....................... 96Emergencies ........................ 97

Transliterations ..................... 7Abbreviations ....................... 8

Map ...................................... 9How to Use This Phrasebook.... 10

Quick Reference .............. 100Introduction ...................... 101Pronunciation ................... 102Grammar ........................ 105Greetings & Civilities ........ 111Small Talk ........................ 113Body Language ................ 120Breaking the

Language Barrier .......... 120Getting Around ................ 123Accommodation ............... 129Around Town .................... 133Paperwork ....................... 140

In the Country .................... 141Food ................................. 144Menu Decoder ................... 146Market, At the .................... 152Shopping ........................... 158Health ............................... 166Specific Needs ................... 170Time & Dates ..................... 171Festivals &

Holidays ......................... 176Numbers & Amounts .......... 180Abbreviations ..................... 182Emergencies ...................... 183

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Contents

Quick Reference .............. 186Introduction ...................... 187Pronunciation ................... 188Grammar ........................ 190Greetings & Civilities ........ 198Small Talk ........................ 200Body Language ................ 207Breaking the

Language Barrier .......... 208Getting Around ................ 211Accommodation ............... 220Around Town .................... 225Paperwork ....................... 233

In the Country .................... 236Food ................................. 241Menu Decoder ................... 244Market, At the .................... 250Shopping ........................... 255Health ............................... 262Specific Needs ................... 266Time & Dates ..................... 267Festivals &

Holidays ......................... 270Numbers & Amounts .......... 274Abbreviations ..................... 276Emergencies ...................... 277

LITHUANIAN ....................................................... 185

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INTRODUCTION

The three Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, havebeen occupied by various powers throughout the centuries.During this time, and especially during Soviet occupation afterWorld War II, when Russian was the official language of each ofthe three countries, language played a key role in maintainingnational identity.

After their successful and remarkably peaceful individual bidsfor independence in 1991, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia havebecome inextricably linked in many peoples minds. However,you may be surprised to learn that the Latvian, Lithuanian andEstonian languages are not all related to one other. Estonian is aFinno-Ugric language, closely related to Finnish and moredistantly to Hungarian. Estonian and Finnish are mutuallyintelligible and share a large proportion of their respectivevocabularies. Latvian and Lithuanian belong to the Baltic branchof the Indo-European language tree and are the only survivingspoken Baltic languages. However, in spite of their closerelationship, the two are not mutually intelligible.

This book will enable you to make the most of these excitingand dynamic countries. English is spoken in the cities, but if youlearn at least a few phrases in the local language youll find thatyoure more than rewarded for your efforts.

TRANSLITERATIONSSimplified transliterations have been provided in pink throughoutthis book. Italic is used to indicate where to place stress in a word.

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Polite Forms

POLITE FORMSWhen a language has polite and informal forms of the singularpronoun you, the polite form has been used in most cases.However, you will come across the informal form of you in somephrases, such as those for talking with children.

ARTHUR OR MARTHA?When there are both feminine and masculine forms of a word, itsindicated in either of two ways, with the feminine form alwaysappearing first:

with a slash separating the feminine and masculine endingsof a word:

eg, hungry ish-ahl-k-usi/-as ialkusi/¹s (f/m)

when the distinction between masculine and feminine ismore complex, each word is given in full, separated with a slash:

eg, married ish-tak-eh-yu-si/vad-as itek¢jus/ved¹s (f/m)

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS BOOKf feminine n nouninf informal pl plurallit literally pol politem masculine sg singular

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Map

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HOW TO USE THIS PHRASEBOOKYou Can Speak Another LanguageAnyone can speak another language. Dont worry if you haventstudied languages before, or that you studied a language at schoolfor years and cant remember any of it. It doesnt even matter ifyou failed English grammar. After all, thats never affected yourability to speak English! And this is the key to picking up a languagein another country. You dont need to sit down and memoriseendless grammatical details and you dont need to memorise longlists of vocabulary. You just need to start speaking.

Once you start, youll be amazed how many prompts youllget to help you build on those first words. Youll hear people speak-ing, pick up sounds from TV, catch a word or two that you thinkyou know from the local radio, see something on a billboard allthese things help to build your understanding.

Plunge InTheres just one thing you need to start speaking another language courage. Your biggest hurdle is overcoming the fear of sayingaloud what may seem to you to be just a bunch of sounds. Thereare a number of ways to do this.

The best way to start overcoming your fear is to memorise afew key words. These are the words you know youll be sayingagain and again, such as hello, thank you and How much?.Heres an important hint though: right from the beginning, learnat least one phrase that will be useful but not essential. Such asSee you later or even a conversational piece like Its nice today,isnt it? (people everywhere love to talk about the weather). Hav-ing this extra phrase (just start with one, if you like, and learn tosay it really well) will enable you to move away from the basics,and when you get a reply and a smile, itll also boost your confi-dence. Youll find that people you speak to will like it too, astheyll understand that at least youve tried to learn more of thelanguage than just the usual essential words.

How to Use this Phrasebook

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Ways to RememberThere are several ways to learn a language. Most people find theylearn from a variety of these, although people usually have a pre-ferred way to remember. Some like to see the written word andremember the sound from what they see. Some like to just hear itspoken in context (if this is you, try talking to yourself in theforeign language, but do it at home or somewhere private, to giveyourself confidence, and so others dont wonder about your san-ity!). Others, especially the more mathematically inclined, like toanalyse the grammar of a language, and piece together words ac-cording to the rules of grammar. The very visually inclined like toassociate the written word and even sounds with some visualstimulus such as illustrations, TV and general things they see inthe street. As you learn, youll discover what works best for you be aware of what made you really remember a particular word,and if it sticks in your mind, keep using that method.

Kicking OffChances are youll want to learn some of the language before yougo. The first thing to do is to memorise those essential phrasesand words. Check out the basics and dont forget that extra phrase.Try the sections on making conversation or greeting people for aphrase youd like to use. Write some of these words and phrasesdown on a piece of paper and stick them up around the place: onthe fridge, by the bed, on your computer, as a bookmark somewhere where youll see them often. Try putting somewords in context the How much is it? note, for instance, couldgo in your wallet.

Any Questions?Try to learn the main question words. Each language chapter con-tains a box with the most common ones. As you read throughdifferent situations, youll see these words used in the examplesentences, and this will help you remember them. So if you wantto take a bus, turn to the Bus section in each chapter (use theIndex pages to find it quickly). Youve already tried to memorise

How to Use this Phrasebook

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the word for which and youll see the word for bus. When youcome across the sentence Which bus goes to ...?, youll recognisethe key words and this will help you remember the whole phrase.

I Have a Flat TyreDoesnt seem like the phrase youre going to need? Well, in fact itcould be very useful. As are all the phrases in this book, providedyou have the courage to mix and match them. We have givenspecific examples within each section. But the key words remainthe same even when the situation changes. So while you may notbe planning on any driving during your trip, the first part of thephrase I have ... could refer to anything else, and there are plentyof words in the other phrases that, we hope, will fit your needs.So whether its a ticket or a visa, youll be able to put the wordstogether to convey your meaning.

FinallyDont be concerned if you feel you cant memorise words. Youllfind the most essential words and phrases on the Quick Referencepage at the start of each chapter. You could also try tagging a fewpages for other key phrases, or use the notes pages at the back ofthe book to write your own reminders.

How to Use this Phrasebook

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