Dovilė Gudzinevičiūtė is a Lithuanian language teacher who specializes in teaching Lithuanian as a second language for foreigners. She has graduated Lithuanian and Spanish Philology and has been working as a teacher for over 8 years.

In our todays podcast, I and Dovilė sat down to talk about the Lithuanian language and how we as teachers can help our students to learn it. We also talked about how Old Lithuanian differs from its modern counterpart, what we expect will happen with the language in the future, the state of the Lithuanian education system and much more.

Connect with Dovilė here: https://www.instagram.com/lithuanian_with_dovile/

Want to learn Lithuanian with me? Book a lesson via Italki: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/3882151

Timeline:

00:00 - Intro

04:38 - Is Lithuanian truly a difficult language?

07:40 - What should a beginner Lithuanian student focus on?

10:16 - Should one focus on grammar or vocabulary?

13:58 - Studying Lithuanian at university vs at school

17:12 - Deconstructing the Lithuanian-Sanskrit connection and the Proto-Indo-European language

18:52 - Old Lithuanian vs Modern Lithuanian

22:08 - How was Lithuanian standardized?

24:02 - The Samogitian language/dialect

25:58 - The dialect of Suvalkija (Suvalkiečių kalba)

28:51 - Standard Lithuanian versus the Suvalkija dialect

33:20 - Dovilė's favorite Lithuanian words

37:24 - Literary Lithuanian vs the modern-spoken one

42:02 - What is happening with the Lithuanian education system and why are teachers on strike?

49:47 - The perks and drawbacks of distance learning

54:18 - Dovilė's and Paulius's plans for the future

59:29 - Are there any apps and additional material to learn Lithuanian?

1:03:48 - The language of the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania
(Ruthenian)

1:06:13 - Why is the Lithuanian language so conservative?

1:09:47 - Why do people decide to learn Lithuanian?

1:11:38 - The Future of Lithuanian language. Will it disappear?

If you have enjoyed our conversation, be sure to leave a
comment, like and subscribe. Doing so you will support the channel and keep the project going.

Want to get in touch? Contact me via a letter or my socials:
https://linktr.ee/pauliusjuodis