10 October 2017

Why language is more important than other things


When I was living in Germany back in the 1990's, I happened to participate in a discussion concerning minorities. Minorities are one of the most sacrosanct things and a popular discussion topic in Germany.

It rather rubbed me the wrong way how the German participants were treating all the minorities the same way – as if ethnic, religious, cultural, lifestyle and whatever minorites had essentially the same needs and required essentially the same kind and level of protection. I tried to explain that linguistic minorities were completely different from any other type of minorities. The Germans argued that it was not the case – when a person is not allowed to practice his religion, he can feel just as bad as when he isn't allowed to use his language, they said.

It was perfectly clear to me how that argument was mistaken, but unfortunately my knowledge of German was nowhere near sufficient to make it clear to the other participants, which is why I had to stop arguing, leaving the Germans believing they had convinced me. Which ironically proves exactly my point.

Religion is not a necessity. Not to deny that many people are ready to kill and die for their religion, it is an undeniable fact that there are many people in the world who do survive perfectly well without believing in any supernatural beings whatsoever.

Language is a necessity. No human being can lead an even remotely normal human being's life among other human beings without being proficient in at least one human language. (With the obvious exception of infants whose needs are being taken care of by adults.)

Discrimination by religion, political views, sexual orientation, clothing – that is all a matter of choice. Psychologically hard as it may be to some, every person has the ability to treat people of different religions, origins, social backgrounds etc. equally or unequally.

Discrimination by language is something that occurs automatically. When you are not proficient in the official language, you lose arguments, you can't defend your rights in government institutions, you might not understand a disaster warning. The people of the ruling ethnic group may not intend to discriminate against you. Indeed they may be enthusiastic supporters of minority rights. When you are feeling ill, they might be eager to help you. Unfortunately, they just won't know what you need, because they can't communicate with you, BECAUSE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER'S LANGUAGES.

I don't know if homosexuality is hereditary or acquired. But even if we assume that one is born homosexual, one still has the choice to have sex or not, just as heterosexual people do. It may often require more willpower than one has, but in principle, one has the choice. With the language, you don't have any choice whatsoever. When you have to fill out an official form in Urdu and you don't know Urdu, no willpower in the world will enable you to understand where you have to write what. If the official doesn't speak anything but Urdu, no love and compassion in the world will enable him to explain to you where you have to write what – nor give you the ability to write in Urdu.

Justin McCarthy's extremely interesting book "The Ottoman Peoples and the End of Empire" presents the best (I've seen so far) case against nationalism and the concept of ethnicity-based sovereign states. His argumentation on this topic is logical and convincing – as well as utterly wrong because he has clearly no idea what he is talking about.

Indulging himself in theoretizing, Mr. McCarthy tells us how the claim that the people belonging to one ethnic group share common ancestors is more often than not a myth, and thoroughly trashes the idea that people who pray to the same god, wear similar dresses and celebrate the same holidays must separate themselves by a barbed-wire fence from the people who pray to a different god, wear different dresses and celebrate different holidays. An imperialist to the core, Justin McCarthy insists that the Serbs, Romanians, Bulgarians and Greeks were living more or less happily in the Ottoman Empire, and praises the ethnic nihilism of the USA, where everyone's right to love their native language is fully honoured, no matter which one it is.

Justin MacCarthy misses completely the main point – language and its role in the human life. He has clearly no idea what it's like to get a bad grade, not because you don't know the right answer, but because you are unable to express it in the language of instruction. He has clearly no idea what it feels like to have to explain your health problem to a doctor who does not understand your language. He has clearly no idea what it feels like to have to, day after day, year after year, buy your food at a shop where all signs are in a language you can't read.

Indeed, love for one's native language is all that countries like the USA, UK, France or Germany would grant to their ethnic minorities, as virtually all speaking and writing has to be conducted in the official language. (That is with the exception of occasional multilingual signs they put up to show how tolerant and open-minded they are.)

Have you ever tried to buy a train ticket in China? Visualize a huge hall with a dozen windows, tens of people in the line at each. Every single sign is written in Chinese. The huge electronic message board is filled with information from which you can understand only numbers, all the text being written with Chinese characters. Without knowledge of Chinese, how will you find out which line you need to get into? How will you explain to the ticket vendor what it is you want? Should she ask something, what will you answer?

Mr. McCarthy's arguments about common ancestry and national dresses are convincing, yet completely off the point. It won't help you any if all the people in the station practiced the same religion as you, wore the same national dress as you, ate the same tradional foods as you do, or, for that matter, had the common great-great-grandfather with you. You may be a woman so pretty that all the men at the station would be ready to die for you, but they won't be able to help you buy a train ticket to the place you want. But as soon as you'll find one person who can speak English, your problem will be solved. For that matter, he can be a space alien or an android. The only thing that matters is that the two of you are able to communicate in a language you both understand. Race, religion, cultural traditions or common ancestry haven't got anything to do with it.

That's what the people like Justin McCarthy who have the fortune to belong to the empire-ruling ethnic groups fail to understand. It is easy for them to think that ethnicity is meaningless, because they are used to everyone else having to learn their native language, and never the other way around.

The imperialist countries cynically refer to the ban on minority-language schools as "equal rights for everyone", while in reality they divide people into two castes – those who are allowed to get education in their native language, and those who have to do it in a foreign language. Obviously, that's the opposite of equality. It's like fish, birds and dogs having to "equally" live in an aquarium. The reason why imperialist governments twist the meaning of equality in such a blatantly perverse way is not hard to figure out. The imperialist nations' historical way of life is to fare war against weaker nations, to devour other peoples' lands and to assimilate their inhabitants. The emergence of nation-states reversed that process. (Of course, Germany and Italy were no nation-states. They were empires that simply emerged later than the British, Russian or French empires.) The concept of ethnic groups' self-determination is a deadly threat to the remaining empires. It negates the very justification for their existence. That is why imperialist nations do all they can to trivialise ethnicity and indeed obscure the very term.

As an example of the latter, the German-language Wikipedia consistently refers to Bulgarians living in Bessarabia as "Bessarabische Bulgaren", as if they were somehow different from the Bulgarians who live in Bulgaria. Whenever they bring information about the ethnic composition of one or another location or region in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it's always so-and-so many "Bosnische Serben" – as if Serbs whose homes happen to be on the Bosnian side of a line arbitrarily drawn on the map as a result of an Austrian-Turkish war in the past weren't exactly the same Serbs as the ones who live 10 or 100 kilometres further on the territory of Serbia.

Back in the 1990's, during the war in Artsah (Mountain Karabah), I don't think I ever saw German newspapers write just about "Armenians" or just about "Azerbaijanis". It was always "Christian Armenians" and "Muslim Azerbaijanis". Similarly, during the Abhazian war of independence, the word "Georgians" was always preceded by the word "Christian" and the word "Abhazians" by the word "Muslim" (which isn't even true, but that's a different story). The media felt they just had to constantly tell the people that it was not an ethnic but a religious war. Of course, the Germans of today need ethnic nihilism for a completely different reason than the French or English – any suggestion that state borders should correspond to ethnic borders might bring the peoples' thoughts to the unspeakable idea that the Germans and Austrians might have something in common.

A yet different reason for ethnic nihilism can be found in Latin America, where the break-up of the Spanish empire gave birth to a number of predominantly Spanish-speaking countries that obviously bear no connection to ethnicity. It is common in their offical statistics to refer to race as "ethnicity". The government doesn't care how many people are native Spanish speakers, how many are native Quechuan speakers, and so on. You can see detailed information on the numbers of Spanish, Quechuan, Aymara etc. speaking people in Quechuan-language Wikipedia, but the authors of the corresponding pages in Spanish apparently find that information irrelevant. Human beings speak Spanish and that's the end of it. Needless to say, the same nonsense about ethnic groups "White", "Mestizo", "Mulatto" etc. can be seen in English-language Wikipedia.

Admittedly, language and ethnicity are not entirely the same thing. There are anomalies such as the Serbs and Croats who speak the same language but hate each other's guts, and the British Isles where groups of people speaking the same language have separate ethnic identitites. Although, mind you, after gaining their independence, Croatians were quick to declare the Zagreb literary standard a separate Croatian language and indeed to strive to melt the Čakavian and Kajkavian "dialects" into the standard (Štakavian) language to build a truly Croatian language as different from Serbian as possible. Similarly, the Bosniaks and even Montenegrins declared their regional versions of Serbocroatian into separate languages in order to strengthen their ethnic identity. And I hardly need to tell you how desperately the Irish cling to their all-but-dead language, because the water between two islands and a different religion just don't seem enough to separate them from the British they hate. (Not that they actually want to speak Irish, but they so need it for the show.) But I'm digressing. I am not trying to write a comprehensive treatise on national identity here. I am merely saying that to suggest that race and ethnicity are the same thing is utterly mistaken, and although language and ethnicity are not the same thing, they have very much in common. For the imperialist nations, the insistence that ethnicity is meaningless and nationalism is evil, is a means to force the members of the subjugated ethnic groups to speak the ruling language, which is the surest and quickest way for them to lose their ethnic identity and to become members of the ruling nation after a few generations.

When the Germans, French, Russians and English insist that all people are equal regardless of ethnicity, what they really mean is: "You are our beloved brother as long as you speak our language, because we're not going to learn yours." When everyone in France is required by law to conduct all their official business in French, it's easy for the French to embrace their "particularité régionale", and they just don't understand what the Basques and the Corsicans are not satisfied with. In the overwhelming majority of cases it's not even hypocrisy. They honestly don't understand what the problem is, because they have never had to explain to their children why they have to read schoolbooks in a language they don't understand. When the members of the ruling ethnic group are stopped by the police, they get their rights explained in their native language. When they get sick, they are brought to a doctor who speaks their native language. When they ask something from the authorities, they can fill out the official forms in their native language. So they spend their lives never realising what a privilege it is that you can take care of all your necessities in a language you are able to understand without any effort. The French or the English can't even begin to imagine what it's like to live at your home, in the country of your ancestors, surrounded by people like you, speaking your language, but having to read street signs in a foreign language, watch television in a foreign language, and being expected to switch to the language of the ruling ethnic group whenever one of them happens to be in the earshot.

The Russians don't understand it either. They keep sneering at Estonians for not "wanting" to speak Russian. I have the impression that many Russians honestly believe that the Estonians' enmity towards the Soviet Union was (largely) due to their groundless stubborn aversion to speaking Russian. Just as the English, French and, to a lesser extent, Germans, they are used to living their lives without (almost) ever having to speak a language other than their native one, and are thus incapable of realising that the failure to truly master a foreign language has much more to do with inborn talent than with wanting. Which brings me back to the point I started this article with.

When you have never lived in a foreign-language environment, it is difficult for you to realise how it is not just a minor inconvenience, but a major impediment affecting virtually all areas of life. Having to use a language you are not proficient in at school, shop, court, hospital etc. is a burden of an entirely different scope than discrimination based on religion, cultural habits or sexual preferences. Forcing the ruling language on linguistic minorities, the negation, trivialization and obscuration of ethnicity practiced in numerous countries, is really a form of genocide.












08 October 2017

Первые глаголы



Это введение в спряжение для начинающих, которые только недавно начали заниматься эстонским языком.



ela + ma = elama
ela + da = elada         ela(da) + nud = elanud
ela + n = elan             ela + si + n = elasin

живу:                                           жил:
mina elan                        mina elasin
sina elad                         sina elasid
tema elab                        tema elas
meie elame                     meie elasime
teie elate                         teie elasite
nemad elavad                 nemad elasid

ei ela                               ei elanud

«Elama» – глагол, который часто используется в книгах как пример спряжения, потому что он совершенно регулярен во всех формах.

Kas te elate Leedus? – Вы живёте в Литве?
Minu vanemad elavad Venemaal. – Мои родители живут в России.
Nils elab Taanis. – Нилс живёт в Дании.
Varem elasime me Saksamaal. – Раньше мы жили в Германии.
Praegu elan ma Poolas. – Сейчас я живу в Польше.

Попробуйте самостоятельно написать по-эстонски:
Раньше я жил в Литве.



tule + ma = tulema
tule + da = tulla           tul(la) + nud = tulnud
tule + n = tulen            tule + (s)i + n = tulin

приду:                                            пришёл:
mina tulen                         mina tulin
sina tuled                          sina tulid
tema tuleb                         tema tuli
meie tuleme                      meie tulime
teie tulete                          teie tulite
nemad tulevad                  nemad tulid

ei tule                                ei tulnud

Tulge sööma! – (при)Идите поесть!
Tule palun siia! – Иди сюда, пожалуйста!
Isa tuli koju. – Папа пришёл домой.
Kas sa saad homme tulla? – Ты можешь прийти завтра?
Nad ei saa praegu tulla. – Они сейчас не могут прийти.

Попробуйте самостоятельно написать по-эстонски:
Мы пришли поесть.



ole + ma = olema
ole + da = olla            ol(la) + nud = olnud
ole + n = olen             ole + (s)i + n = olin

есть:                                             был:
mina olen                         mina olin
sina oled                          sina olid
tema on                            tema oli
meie oleme                      meie olime
teie olete                          teie olite
nemad on                         nemad olid

ei ole                                ei olnud

Кажется, в более или менее всех языках глагол «быть» является нерегулярным, и эстонский язык не исключение. Но эта нерегулярность небольшая – «on» вместо «oleb» в третьем лице ед.ч. и «on» вместо «olevad» в третьем лице мн.ч.

Kas te olete praegu Venemaal? – Вы сейчас в России?
Soomes on hea elada. – В Финляндии хорошо жить. (живётся хорошо)
Lätis ei ole halb elada. – В Латвии не плохо жить.
Kas Leedus on halb elada. – В Литве плохо жить?
Varem oli Eestis halb elada. – Раньше в Эстонии было плохо жить.

Попробуйте самостоятельно написать по-эстонски:
В Эстонии не хорошо жить?



tege + ma = tegema
tege + da = teha          te(ha) + nud = teinud
tege + n = teen            tege + (s)i + n = tegin

делаю:                                           делал:
mina teen                          mina tegin
sina teed                           sina tegid
tema teeb                          tema tegi
meie teeme                       meie tegime
teie teete                           teie tegite
nemad teevad                   nemad tegid

ei tee                                 ei teinud

Глаголы, которыми пользуются часто, склонны к нерегулярности. Я не знаю, как говорили эстонцы 500 или 1000 лет назад, но возможно, что когда-то этот глагол выглядел чем-то вроде tehema, teheda, tehen, и в течение столетий «tehema» превратилось в «tegema», «teheda» превратилось в «teha» и «tehen» превратилось в «teen».

Ema teeb õhtusööki. – Мама готовит ужин.
Me teeme tööd. – Мы работаем. (прямо сейчас заняты работой)
Kas sa tegid õhtusöögi valmis? – Ты приготовил ужин?
Miks nad tööd teevad? – Почему они работают?
Kas sa oled kunagi tööd teinud? – Ты когда-нибудь работал?

Попробуйте самостоятельно написать по-эстонски:
Почему вы не работаете?



tead + ma = teadma
tead + da = teada         teada + nud = teadnud
tead + n = tean             tead + si + n = teadsin

знаю:                                               знал:
mina tean                           mina teadsin
sina tead                            sina teadsid
tema teab                           tema teadis
meie teame                        meie teadsime
teie teate                            teie teadsite
nemad teavad                    nemad teadsid

ei tea                                  ei teadnud

Ma teadsin, et sa tuled. – Я знал, что ты придёшь.
Ta ei tea, et me siin oleme. – Он не знает, что мы здесь.
Nad teadsid, kus sa elad. – Они знали, где ты живёшь.
Kas sa tead, kes see on? – Ты знаешь, кто это?
Miks sa ei tea, kus ma elan? – Почему ты не знаешь, где я живу?

Попробуйте самостоятельно написать по-эстонски:
Он знает, где вы живёте?
 


 


Если Вы найдёте на этой странице ошибки по русскому языку или если у Вас есть идеи, как сформулировать что-то иначе, так чтобы это было понятнее для учащихся, напишите, пожалуйста, комментарий.


 
 
 
 


04 October 2017

Представляемся на эстонском языке



Tere! Minu nimi on Jan. Ma olen kolmekümne kahe aastane. Olen pärit Soomest. Rahvuselt olen rootslane. Ma elan Taanis Kopenhaagenis.

Здравствуйте! Меня зовут Ян. Мне 32 года. Я из Финляндии. По национальности я швед. Я живу в Дании, в Копенгагене.


Некоторые важные выражения

Tere! – Здравствуй(те)!
Tere hommikust! – Доброе утро!
Tere päevast! – Добрый день!
Tere õhtust! – Добрый вечер!
Tervist! – Привет!

Head aega! – До свидания!
Nägemist! – До свидания! Пока!

Aitäh! – Спасибо!

Vabandust! Vabandage! – Извините! Прошу прощения!

Palun! – Пожалуйста! Прошу!

Jah. = Jaa. – Да.

Ei. – Нет.


Как сказать свой возраст?

            именительный                      родительный
0          null                                      nulli
1          üks                                      ühe
2          kaks                                    kahe
3          kolm                                    kolme
4          neli                                      nelja
5          viis                                       viie
6          kuus                                    kuue
7          seitse                                  seitsme
8          kaheksa                               kaheksa
9          üheksa                                 üheksa
10        kümme                                 kümne
11        üksteist                                üheteistkümne
12        kaksteist                              kaheteistkümne
13        kolmteist                              kolmeteistkümne
19        üheksateist                           üheksateistkümne
20        kakskümmend                      kahekümne     
21        kakskümmend üks                kahekümne ühe
30        kolmkümmend                      kolmekümne
40        nelikümmend                        neljakümne
90        üheksakümmend                  üheksakümne
100      sada                                    saja
101      sada üks                              saja ühe
123      sada kakskümmend kolm      saja kahekümne kolme

Мне 10 лет. – Ma olen kümneaastane. = Ma olen kümme aastat vana. («десять лет стар»)
Мне 21 год. – Ma olen kahekümne ühe aastane. = Ma olen kakskümmend üks aastat vana.
Ребёнку 3 месяца. – Laps on kolmekuune. = Laps on kolm kuud vana.


Спряжение

elama – жить, проживать
mina elan – я живу
sina elad – ты живёшь
tema elab – он/она/оно живёт
meie elame – мы живём
teie elate – вы живёте
nemad elavad – они живут

глагол «olema» (есть) – нерегулярный
mina olen
sina oled
tema on (не oleb)
meie oleme
teie olete
nemad on (не olevad)

pärit olema (...st) – быть родом (из ...)
mina olen pärit
sina oled pärit
tema on pärit
meie oleme pärit
teie olete pärit
nemad on pärit


В эстонском языке нет разницы между словами «он», «она» и «оно».

Личное местоимение можно упустить, когда и без него понятно, о ком идёт речь:
Ma olen rootslane. = Olen rootslane.
В разговорном языке личное местоимение обычно всё-таки оставляют. Людям просто нравится так говорить. Но в письменном языке оно часто упускается.

Нельзя упускать глагол «есть».
Я турист. – Ma olen turist.
Мы рады. – Me oleme rõõmsad.
Это гостиница. – See on hotell.
Аэропорт там. – Lennujaam on seal.


У личных местоимений имеются длинные и короткие формы:
mina = ma
sina = sa
tema = ta
meie = me
teie = te
nemad = nad
Длинная форма используется, когда на местоимении ударение.
Mis su nimi on? – Mari. Mis sinu nimi on? – Minu nimi on Peeter.
Как тебя зовут? – Мари. А тебя как зовут? – Меня зовут Пеэтер.


Названия стран и национальностей


страна
национальность (м, ж)
национальность (ж)
язык
я родом из...
я живу в...
Эстония
Eesti
eestlane
eestlanna
eesti keel
Eestist
Eestis
Латвия
Läti
lätlane
lätlanna
läti keel
Lätist
Lätis
Литва
Leedu
leedulane
leedulanna
leedu keel
Leedust
Leedus
Россия
Venemaa
venelane
venelanna
vene keel
Venemaalt
Venemaal
Финляндия
Soome
soomlane
soomlanna
soome keel
Soomest
Soomes
Швеция
Rootsi
rootslane
rootslanna
rootsi keel
Rootsist
Rootsis
Дания
Taani
taanlane
taanlanna
taani keel
Taanist
Taanis
Норвегия
Norra
norralane
norralanna
norra keel
Norrast
Norras
Германия
Saksamaa
sakslane
sakslanna
saksa keel
Saksamaalt
Saksamaal
Франция
Prantsusmaa
prantslane
prantslanna
prantsuse keel
Prantsusmaalt
Prantsusmaal
Англия
Inglismaa
inglane
inglanna
inglise keel
Inglismaalt
Inglismaal

Учтите, что «в России» будет не «Venemaas», a «Venemaal». Именно поэтому эстонцы на русском языке часто ошибочно говорят «на России».

Мужская форма национальности подходит и женщинам. «Inglane» может означать либо «англичанин», либо «англичанка». «Inglanna» говорят только тогда, когда хотят подчеркнуть, что речь идёт о женщине.


Названия стран и языков легко узнать, открыв соответствующую страницу в русской Википедии и нажав на «Eesti» в списке языков. (Если у Вас настройки, в которых часть языков скрыты, нажмите сначала на «English» и после «Eesti».)

Из названия языка нельзя упустить слово «язык».
Я знаю английский и немецкий. = Ma oskan inglise ja saksa keelt. (NB! Также, как на русском языке, здесь не именительный падеж, а винительный.)

Эстонские названия некоторых населённых пунктов по традиции отличаются от международных. Например:
RiiaRīga (Рига)
HelsingiHelsinki (Хельсинки)
Pihkva – Псков
Peterburi – Санкт-Петербург
VarssaviWarszawa (Варшава)
LüübekLübeck (Любек)
BerliinBerlin (Берлин)
ViinWien (Вена)
PariisParis (Париж)
RoomaRoma (Рим)

Опять, Википедия поможет выяснить, какое название обычно используется.

В названии «Moskva» ударение на «o»: [мОсква].
Также Leningrad – [лЭнинградь].


Вопросы

Mis su nimi on? – Как тебя зовут?
Kui vana sa oled? – Сколько тебе лет?
Mis rahvusest sa oled? – Кто ты по национальности?
Kust sa pärit oled? – Откуда ты родом?
Kus sa elad? – Где ты живёшь?

И соответственно:
Mis teie nimi on?
Kui vana te olete?
Mis rahvusest te olete?
Kust te pärit olete?
Kus te elate?

К чужим людям обращаются на «Вы». Эстония – не Финляндия. Однако, эстонцы значительно легче, чем русские, переходят на «ты». (подробнее)
 


 


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