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Alla and Jelena are from Ukraine. Both women studied Lithuanian for three months at Vilnius University. When asked about their motivation, they say they studied out of gratitude and respect for Lithuania and its people.

Alla is currently working at the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department, where she is researching and cataloguing the sermons of 18th-century Catholic priests. The woman, who has worked as a librarian all her life, says that this position is new to her, but very interesting. "This job is like a gift to me," says Alla. Alla also speaks of her colleagues with great gratitude and affection: they are true professionals, extremely tolerant, always ready to help, "I feel accepted at work", "the care of my colleagues warms my heart".

"On the one hand, I am learning Lithuanian because our future is uncertain, we don't know when it will all end. On the other hand, we live among such people, in such a compassionate country, that I am learning Lithuanian out of gratitude: I want to be able to speak the language of the people in whose homes I live. This is very important to me, because now I have no other way of saying thank you", says Alla.

Jelena has also found a job that matches her education - she works as an accountant for a small private company. Although she has studied Lithuanian several times, Jelena's knowledge of the language was not enough for her everyday work: "I know a lot of words, but I'm still afraid to speak. She is happy that thanks to her understanding colleagues and the director, all the tricky situations are solved in a positive, joking way, but she felt that she had to learn.

"Alla is right, we don't know where we will be living in a month or a year, but at the moment we are in a country that has welcomed us with an open heart, provided us with a home and a job - Lithuanians are very tolerant, good people. So I think it is necessary to learn the language. It is just the right thing to do: to speak the language of the country you live in. I do it out of respect for Lithuania. Wherever we are - in Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Hungary - we have to learn the language in order to integrate into the life of the country",  explains Jelena.

These free Lithuanian language courses are part of the project titled "Lithuanian Language Course for People Who Have Fled Ukraine due to Russia's War of Aggression Against Ukraine". The project is funded funded by the Fund for Bilateral Relations under the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021.

"Unsplash" photo

The Lithuanian language has been largely inaccessible in many of our daily technologies for a long time. Why can't we communicate with our smart devices in Lithuanian? Why doesn't a robot vacuum respond to commands given in Lithuanian? Why are voice assistants in our native language so limited? Researchers at Vilnius University (VU) have worked for over ten years to make technology more accessible in Lithuania.

The "Creation of the Great Lithuanian Language Listserv" (LIEPA-3) project represents a significant milestone in Lithuanian language technology. LIEPA-3 seeks to create new opportunities for our language to adapt to modern intelligent systems, ensuring that Lithuania plays an integral role in technology, on par with major languages like English and German.

"We live in a world where language technology is becoming increasingly essential daily. If Lithuania does not flourish in this domain, we risk falling behind. LIEPA-3 presents us with the opportunity to preserve and promote the Lithuanian language within modern technology," remarks Gediminas Navickas, a researcher at VU's Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics and one of the project's initiators.

According to G. Navickas from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics at Vilnius University, this project not only fosters the development of new technologies but also preserves the distinctive sound and character of the Lithuanian language for future generations. This endeavour holds particular significance for advancing language technologies and the study of the language itself.

The Future of the Lithuanian Language in Technology

LIEPA-3 is an ongoing initiative to ensure the survival and adaptation of the Lithuanian language in today's digital landscape by enhancing the country's digitisation capabilities. It builds upon the achievements of the previous LIEPA and LIEPA-2 projects, broadening the scope of Lithuanian language technology.

Researchers from the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics and the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University also conducted the LIEPA and LIEPA-2 projects. Both projects centred on two primary objectives: developing information technology solutions to provide innovative services to the public and establishing infrastructural solutions related to the Lithuanian spoken language, including lexicons, speech synthesisers, and speech recognition systems.

A large team of scientists is currently working on the new LIEPA-3 project. Unlike its predecessors, this project focuses on a single primary objective: creating a comprehensive, Large, Annotated Lithuanian Language Linguistic Listserv. An annotated lexicon is a structured collection of sound recordings that provide examples of Lithuanian speech, accompanied by corresponding time-stamped texts. This new dictionary will be ten times larger than the largest existing Lithuanian dictionary, encompassing 10,000 hours of recordings.

With a vocabulary of this magnitude, we can develop Lithuanian speech recognition systems that allow computers and other devices to understand spoken Lithuanian accurately, meeting modern quality standards.

When asked about the three most important factors that determine the value of a property, real estate professionals often answer: location, location, and location. To rephrase that question: what are the three most crucial elements that contribute to the value of language technology? There needs to be a comprehensive and extensive linguistic corpus of the Lithuanian language.

The 1000-hour vocabulary produced by the LIEPA-2 project is relatively small compared to the vocabularies of more technologically advanced languages. Besides its size, developing a linguistic corpus is crucial because computer scientists collaborate with philologists and linguists in speech technology.

"This is a beautiful and meaningful example of collaboration and interdisciplinarity that has been present since the beginning of the LIEPA-1 project. The large-scale audio library is significant for speech technology and is an excellent foundation for a wide range of linguistic research. Notably, half of the linguistic repertoire will consist of spontaneous speech, providing valuable insights into the state of contemporary spoken Lithuanian. Unfortunately, this area has been somewhat fragmented due to insufficient comprehensive and extensive data. The dictionary is not only vital in the context of speech technology and linguistic research, but it may not be overly bold to compare it to the great Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, which preserves not only the words of our language but also the essence of our identity—expressed not in written form, but through the living word," said Vytautas Kardelis, a Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the Vilnius University of Technology.

The big team leads the project – the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics at Vilnius University, collaborating with the Faculty of Philology and partners Vytautas Magnus University and the Lithuanian Language Institute. Dr Gražina Korvel, the project leader of the LIEPA-3 project and a researcher at VU MIF, notes that "the timeframe for the project is very short—just over a year and a half—whereas usually such work would take at least three years. A strong consortium of experts in the field, consisting of experienced organisations, is carrying out this project, and we are confident they will complete it successfully.

What results can we expect?

"The main goal of the LIEPA-3 project is to create an annotated dictionary of 10,000 hours of spoken Lithuanian. Dr. Korvel emphasises the significance of this work for both science and society, explaining that the team will compile this dictionary based on the criteria of age, gender, and dialect region of the speakers. They will develop an audio library to showcase the spoken content's phonetic, morphological, syntactic, stylistic, and dialectal diversity while capturing variations in the acoustic background influenced by the recording equipment and environment.

Creating the soundtrack involves a considerable amount of work, including collecting, processing, and assessing the accuracy of sound data. Once the team completes this, they will upload the data to open-access platforms, making the project results available to all interested parties. Once the team completes this, they will upload the data to open-access platforms, making the project results available to all interested parties. According to the project leader, having a publicly accessible and comprehensive sound library will enable researchers to develop advanced speech recognition, synthesis, and natural language processing techniques. This project will create opportunities for the advancement of artificial intelligence in Lithuania. Furthermore, this toolkit will be extremely valuable for research focused on social inclusion, helping us to better respond to the needs of individuals with disabilities and to develop technologies that are intuitive and accessible to everyone.

The project will create numerous opportunities for the practical application of its results. Specifically, Lithuanian researchers and technology developers will have the chance to advance language technologies and innovative e-services in Lithuania. Additionally, the publicly accessible resources from the Lithuanian language repository will encourage researchers in other countries to incorporate the Lithuanian language into their studies in language technologies. The results will enhance the visibility of the Lithuanian language in the digital space and facilitate international collaboration.

According to Navickas, the project aims to support the implementation of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation's State Digitisation Development Programme. Its goals include increasing the accessibility of language technologies in the Lithuanian language and helping to modernise digital skills within society. "Over the next couple of years, the research team will create a dictionary and make it publicly available for research and the development of digital solutions. This resource will support the development of higher-quality e-services and advance the overall digitisation process in Lithuania."

Anna Sedláčková holds a specialised Bachelor’s degree in Eastern European Studies from Charles University in Prague and is among the last cohort of students to graduate with a Master’s degree in Baltic Studies. ‘The Baltic Studies programme at this university has been discontinued. Students can still learn Lithuanian and Latvian as a second language, but now there is no separate dedicated programme,’ remarked Anna.

‘Every language is worth learning, but Lithuanian stands out as a unique linguistic gem. Lithuania has always been a remarkable example of how to preserve and cherish language and culture. We Czechs seem to have forgotten these things. So, if we want to learn something about ourselves, we should start following such great examples,’ she said.

‘First, I fell in love with the country, and then with its language’

After graduating from high school, Anna spent a month in Latvia and Lithuania: ‘First, I fell in love with the country, and then with its language. Having returned to Czechia, I started reading Lithuanian and Latvian literature translated into Czech. I soon realised I wanted to delve into these books in their original languages, which led me to study Latvian at university and, later, Lithuanian.

During her Bachelor studies, Anna was also learning Chinese, but the COVID-19 pandemic altered her life plans. As she could not pursue her opportunities in China, Anna redirected her focus to Baltic studies.

‘I love the fact that studying the Baltic languages allows us to observe how they have remained almost unchanged over time. The history of both Latvia and Lithuania is complicated, but they have managed to preserve the greatest treasures – their languages,’ noted Anna.

Anna translates literature from Latvian and Lithuanian into the Czech language: ‘Together with my colleague Inese Pintane, I translated Dalia Grinkevičiūtė’s book ‘Lietuviai prie Laptevų jūros’ (‘Lithuanians by the Laptev Sea’). I hope it will be published next year. It is important that not only Lithuanians but also the rest of the world knows what happened in Lithuania and what Lithuanians were forced to endure.’

Other works translated by Anna and published this year in the Czech Republic are ‘Mano tėtis rašo knygą’ (‘My Dad is Writing a Book’) by Tomas Dirgėla and ‘Akmenėlis’ (‘The Pebble’) by Marius Marcinkevičius. The children’s book ‘Laimė yra lapė’ (‘The Fox on the Swing’) by Evelina Daciūtė will be a new release next year. Anna is passionate about bringing Lithuanian literature to Czech readers. This year also saw the publication of an anthology of contemporary Latvian literature, edited and translated by Anna. Similar anthologies of Estonian and Lithuanian literature that Anna is already working on are expected to be published in the next two years.

However, according to the linguist, we still lack translations from Lithuanian into Czech. ‘In Czechia, there was a very strong tradition of translating Lithuanian works. Between World War I and 1989, over 60 Lithuanian books were translated. However, the interest waned after 1989. We translators would like to change this. For instance, Věra Kociánová, translator and director of the publishing house ‘Venkovské dílo’, translates books from Lithuanian into Czech and publishes them, e.g. ‘Tūla’ by Jurgis Kunčinas, children’s books by Kęstutis Kasparavičius, and some poems by Tomas Venclova. Most publishing houses are usually hesitant to translate books from Lithuanian, favouring major languages such as French or German. But we have managed to prove that Lithuanian and Latvian literature is equally valuable, so hopefully, there will be more and more translations published,’ she said.

Anna Sedláčková is delighted to see translations from the Baltic languages gaining growing recognition in the Czech Republic. ‘I translated Nora Ikstena’s book ‘Mātes piens’ (‘Soviet Milk’). In my country, this was the first translation from the Latvian language in 15 years. It received multiple nominations, proving that Baltic literature can attract both readers and publishers.’ Anna plans to continue translating Lithuanian and Latvian books.

Exploring the vitality of the Baltic languages

Currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the University of Helsinki, Anna is researching the vitality of the Baltic languages. ‘I’m comparing the Karaim language in Lithuania, the Livonian language in Latvia, and the Võro language in Estonia. I want to know how official policies toward minority languages differ in the Baltic States and examine how people feel about these languages: what challenges do Karaim, Livonian, and Võro speakers face? What changes do they believe are necessary for the country’s language policy, such as the status of the language or attitudes towards it? Do they need more language courses, additional resources, or books in these languages? What do they feel is missing to help them improve their proficiency in these languages? Are Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia doing enough to protect these languages, or could they do more? I learnt a lot from the interviews and I believe that the relevance of my research stretches beyond the Baltic context,’ asserted Anna, who intends to continue to develop this topic during her doctoral studies.

Anna Sedláčková has also taught Lithuanian and Czech in Helsinki: ‘These courses were aimed at Finns and other Finnish speakers. In Helsinki, there are plenty of opportunities to study languages and other subjects during your free time. In my opinion, my students performed very well. Although I was a bit worried about their ability to pronounce consonants like č, š, and ž, as well as grasp Lithuanian grammar, they exceeded my expectations.’

She is happy with her students, as they are all eager to continue their Lithuanian studies. Currently, Anna works as a researcher at the Livonian Institute, where she applies her knowledge of the Livonian language and collaborates with a team of experts on documenting and promoting this Finno-Ugric language.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology continues its series of articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

This article is part of the project ‘Information and Coordination Portal of Baltic Studies Centres’ (No. 1.78 Mr SU-1006) implemented by the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic and supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania.

Prepared by Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies of the Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic of Vilnius University

Dr. Ernesta Kazakėnaitė, a researcher at the Department of Baltic Studies at the Faculty of Philology, says that her recent article on a Sami manuscript, co-authored with her colleague from Uppsala University Prof. Rogier Blokland, is only "a little bit special," but the manuscript's watermarks suggest that it is from the end of the sixteenth century or the first part of the seventeenth century, which means that she has found the oldest surviving Sami manuscript.

"A manuscript booklet in the collections of the National Library of Sweden entitled "Pater noſter: Varijs Linguis" came to my attention when I was working on a book about Latvian prayer in the 16th century and its spread around the world, because it contains 20 prayers, including a Latvian one described by H. Biezais in 1955. The last page of the manuscript is very defective and difficult to read, but I did not want to leave a sentence in the book saying that the text was illegible, so I tried to read it with the methods and technologies I knew. It was not easy because the spelling was very different and I was already losing the use of my hands. When I identified it as Sami, I could not find anything earlier. It was hard to believe that it could be the oldest, so I contacted several Finno-Ugric scholars and they all confirmed it. Together with a specialist in the Sami language, Professor Rogier Blokland from Uppsala University, we then began almost a year of research. Its existence in the collection is very unexpected and puzzling, and raises many new scientific questions for both Finougrists and historians of the region, which will hopefully be answered in the future." - said researcher Ernesta Kazakėnaitė.

Akira Takaki in Vilnius. Photo from personal archive.

Akira Takaki has spent nine years studying the Lithuanian language at the University of Helsinki. ‘I embarked on my Lithuanian language studies back in 2015, and three years ago, I graduated with a Master’s degree in General Linguistics; my thesis focused on Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian onomatopoeia. This summer, I earned my second Master’s degree in Slavic and Baltic Studies, so now I am a double Master,’ he smiled

When asked how he discovered the Lithuanian language, Akira explains that his passion was ignited by Eurovision, adding that he has been listening to Lithuanian music daily for a decade now.

‘I wanted to understand the lyrics’

Akira’s interest in Eurovision was sparked by Finland’s victory in 2006 with ‘Lordi’: ‘I started following national selections in different countries and participating in discussion forums. There was an international forum that used to host various song competitions. Every month, in the ‘New Releases Game’, each participant had to submit a song from one country released within the past month, while others could vote for their favourite, and the song that scored the most points would win. I chose Lithuania and uploaded a song by a musician who had once competed in Eurovision selections. That marked the start of my regular involvement in such contests.’

Akira discovered a little-known Lithuanian artist named ‘GeraiGerai’: ‘This music fuelled my interest in the Lithuanian language, as I wanted to understand what the songs were about,’ he noted. He feels strongly that Lithuania should exclusively send Lithuanian songs to Eurovision, and even better – Samogitian or Prussian ones: ‘All countries should perform songs in their mother tongue. I believe that it’s ridiculous to sing in a language that is not your native one.’

When asked about his favourite Lithuanian Eurovision song, Akira mentioned Aistė Smilgevičiūtė’s ‘Strazdas’ (1999) as his long-time favourite. However, he believes that Silvester Belt’s ‘Luktelk’ from this year was the best entry in Lithuania’s Eurovision history.

Having been listening to Lithuanian bands and artists for already a decade, Akira likes different songs and is particularly drawn to folk or electronic and psychedelic folk music.

‘Perhaps my favourite Lithuanian artists are the avant-garde band ‘Driezhas’, blending elements of ethno, electro, ambient, darkwave, and synthpop music. The style of ‘Drumbacilos’ is also remarkable – dreamy and melancholic melodies combined with frenetic rhythms. I would like to mention the singer ‘Monikaze’, too – I love her inventive style of experimental pop music. I also listen to lesser-known bands and artists, such as ‘Romowe Rikoito’, a neofolk music group singing in Prussian. Other bands, such as ‘Golden Parazyth’, perform alternative pop music, while ‘Vėjopatis’ combines contemporary electronic music with Lithuanian folklore elements,’ explained Akira.

He went on to list other Lithuanian artists that he is familiar with who make music in a variety of genres: ‘Saulius Petreikis is a well-known folk musician and multi-instrumentalist, and ‘Solo ansamblis’ is an experimental post-punk band worth mentioning. The electronic ethno-dub project known as ‘Girių dvasios’ plays Lithuanian polyphonic songs, while you can hear the electronic and ambient music influences in the songs of ‘Kamanių šilelis’. ‘Vilniaus energija’ is a psychedelic rap band, while ‘Fume’ represents a combination of electronic ambient and classical music.’ Akira also listed other groups that piqued his interest: ‘Palmės žiedas’ plays alternative electronic music. There’s even a Latin American pop-funk band, ‘Planeta Polar’, which sings in Spanish. Rūta MUR performs retro synthwave with deep vocals. Vitalijus Špokaitis plays electronic music with satirical-intellectual elements.’

Among Akira’s top picks is ‘Fanera’, a band that creates open and humorous dance music. Another favourite is Gabrielė Vilkickytė, who performs atmospheric indie music with touching and multi-layered lyrics. In his opinion, ‘Garbanotas’ is Lithuania’s best psychedelic rock band. Alina Orlova is one of the best-known alternative folk musicians in the country. When asked about the most important aspect of a song, Akira believes that the melody is key.

Lithuanian language studies

When he was still at gymnasium, Akira was not sure which university to choose: ‘A friend of mine suggested General Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, as I already spoke several languages at that time. I studied Latin in high school and, later, at my gymnasium. Our high school class was the only one in Finland where you could advance your knowledge of Latin. Naturally, I was raised in a bilingual family: my mum speaks Finnish, and my dad speaks Japanese. I am also fluent in English and Swedish, as learning the latter is mandatory in Finnish schools. I studied Russian at gymnasium and later at university; I also have some basic skills in Hungarian, Georgian, Estonian, and Bulgarian. Moreover, I took a course in Sumerian at university and can speak Okinawan. While living in Hokkaido, I studied Ainu – an isolated language that used to be spoken in Japan, but I don’t think there are any native speakers left anymore.’

Akira learnt Lithuanian at the University of Helsinki. After spending a year in Japan, he continued his Lithuanian studies remotely at Vilnius University (VU) and once attended a summer course in Kaunas.

‘Kaunas is such a beautiful, clean, and compact city – I could live there,’ remarked Akira. ‘I’ve also attended camps near Panevėžys and in Samogitia. In 2016, after a year of studying Lithuanian, I tried to speak with locals in Vilnius, but it didn’t go too well. I was slightly disappointed because I felt confident in my skills, but I couldn’t understand what others were saying.’

Today, Akira confidently speaks Lithuanian and has no difficulties keeping up a fluent conversation.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology continues its series of articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

Baltic Studies at the University of Helsinki were introduced upon the restoration of Lithuanian and Latvian independence. Currently, the University of Helsinki offers a Bachelor’s degree programme in the Lithuanian and Latvian languages and a Master’s degree programme in Baltic Philology. The Baltic Studies Centre teaches the Lithuanian and Latvian languages, literature, and cultural studies, as well as offers introductory Baltic studies and various special courses. For more information on the Baltic studies available at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki, please visit the Baltnexus website.

This article is part of the project ‘Information and Coordination Portal of Baltic Studies Centres’ (No. 1.78 Mr SU-1006) implemented by the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic and supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania.

Prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic.

Anna Krawczyk and her translations. Photo of personal archive.

Anna Krawczyk, a graduate of the Department of Baltic Studies at the University of Warsaw, spent part of her studies in Lithuania learning the Lithuanian language. According to her, ‘People in Lithuania tend to take care of each other, and Vilnius is a wonderful city to live in’. For Anna, translating poetry has become a bridge connecting the two nations.

Lithuanian language studies in Warsaw and Lithuania

Encouraged by her boyfriend to learn Lithuanian, Anna started studying the new language in 2017 at the University of Warsaw. Although the relationship ended, her interest in the Lithuanian language has not waned.

‘Love for a man turned into love for a language,’ she smiled.

She is proud of her decision and emphasises the inherent beauty of the Lithuanian language. Later, Anna advanced her skills through summer schools in Klaipėda under various study programmes. She remarks that the focus of such summer courses was not solely on language learning, as you simply cannot gain enough knowledge in just a month; instead, the focus was on building a sense of community. In Klaipėda, she met people from all over the world who shared an interest in the Lithuanian language and culture.

For one semester, Anna had the opportunity to study at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University (VU), where she enhanced her skills and knowledge.

‘I particularly appreciate the fact that Lithuanian grammar, culture, and communication were taught separately – in my opinion, it is an excellent approach. The major challenge was mastering participles, half-participles, and adverbial participles. Some of these forms coincide with those in Polish grammar, but others seem very archaic and complex. Participles felt like a different universe to me! I also developed an interest in Lithuanian slang. I distinctly remember the word moralkė (moral hangover), which also exists in Polish. It perfectly describes those inner moral dilemmas after a night of binge drinking when you feel embarrassed about your actions the morning after. That is when we say that we ‘have moralkė’,’ fondly noted Anna.

During her studies, Anna found it challenging to make Lithuanian friends because of the international environment she was part of and her limited language proficiency. However, everything changed after the event ‘The Seimelis of Literature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’ organised by the Lithuanian Writers Union. The Seimelis brings together Lithuanian authors and Polish translators to work together for a week. The participating poets involved Anna in their translation activities and gradually became her close friends.

Anna has heard the stereotype that Lithuanians are unfriendly and reserved but completely disagrees with it: ‘I was welcomed very warmly in Vilnius, perhaps because I spoke Lithuanian. I always felt part of the community and never like a foreigner. In this country, people seem to genuinely care about each other. For instance, bus and trolleybus drivers often wait a bit for late passengers, and if someone loses their wallet, at least ten people immediately step in to help. All this truly warms my heart – local people are attentive and care for each other.’

 ‘It’s true that the first impression might be the opposite, but even if Lithuanians seem unfriendly, they are still incredibly kind! For example, once in Klaipėda, I said viso gero (goodbye) to a cashier, and she replied, somewhat bitterly, with viso geriausio (all the best). I wondered if she was angry because I didn’t wish her the same,’ Anna laughed.

Poetry as a bridge between two nations

Anna spent two years as a project coordinator at the Polish Institute in Vilnius, where her responsibilities included teaching Polish language courses, organising educational activities for children attending Polish schools in Lithuania, hosting events like the Poetry Spring Festival, managing social media, and translating texts from Lithuanian to Polish. Anna started translating during her study years, and this activity became integral to her professional path.

At the Department of Baltic Studies of the University of Warsaw, a particular focus is devoted to translation skills – all the lecturers are professional translators. Over the course of four semesters, students work on different types of texts.

‘Students translate film scripts in the first semester, poetry in the second, short stories in the third, and official documents during the final semester,’ listed Anna.

After completing her studies, she started translating content for social networks and event descriptions; she was even asked by a publishing house to translate the introduction to a bilingual anthology about Zbigniew Herbert. However, as Anna admits, the key challenge in translation lies in bridging cultural differences.

‘For example, I struggled with the Lithuanian word profsąjunga (trade union). While I perfectly grasped its meaning in Lithuanian, the Polish equivalent, związek zawodowy, felt too lengthy and formal. I even asked my parents for help but realised there wasn’t a shorter alternative. It even made me question my poor Polish language skills!’ joked Anna.

Currently, Anna is working on the translation of a theatre website and a book, though she is keeping the latter project under wraps for now.

From 20 to 21 May 2023, the University of Warsaw hosted the Poetry Spring Festival, which brought together renowned Lithuanian poets Antanas A. Jonynas, Gytis Norvilas, and Indrė Valantinaitė. For the students and alumni of the Department of Baltic Studies, this event is not only a literary festival but also serves as a valuable platform for beginning their acquaintance with the Lithuanian language through translating texts for the Poetry Spring almanacs. It is a great opportunity to try one’s hand as a translator.

‘Poetry is like a bridge that connects us. We are neighbours, yet so few works have been translated,’ remarked Anna.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology is launching a series of five articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

The University of Warsaw introduced Lithuanian Language Studies in 1990 when the Department of Baltic Philology was established at the Faculty of Polish Studies under the leadership of Prof. Dr (HP) Wojciech Smoczyński. Later, the department was restructured into the Subdepartment of Baltic Studies, which has been headed by Dr Joanna Tabor since 2014. Currently, the University of Warsaw offers Bachelor, Master, and doctoral study programmes that include courses on the Lithuanian and Latvian languages, grammar, and literature, alongside an introduction to the history and contemporary realities of the Baltic States. Students also have the opportunity to learn the art of translation.

The Baltic studies community in Warsaw actively organises various events, such as meetings with Lithuanian poets during the Poetry Spring Festival and translation workshops. Moreover, in collaboration with colleagues from VU and Tartu University, they host the international conference ‘Bridges in the Baltics’. For more information about the Baltic Studies programme at the University of Warsaw, please visit the Baltnexus website.

This article is part of the project ‘Information and Coordination Portal of Baltic Studies Centres’ (No. 1.78 Mr SU-1006) implemented by the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic and supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania.

Prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic.

The majority of the academic literature on non-motherhood is dominated by a clear distinction between voluntary and involuntary childlessness. Recently, the prestigious Palgrave Macmillan publishing house has published a collection of articles entitled 'Negotiating Non-Motherhood: Representations, Perceptions, and Experiences', which seeks to break down this distinction and to look at what the experiences of childlessness have in common and to see childlessness as a complex sociocultural phenomenon. The collection contains articles by researchers from different disciplines within the international Mothernet project, who examine childlessness in different cultural and national contexts. The volume is edited by Jenny Björklund (Uppsala University, Sweden), Dovilė Kuzminskaitė (Vilnius University, Lithuania) and Julie Rodgers (Meinut University, Ireland),

The Mothernet project is launched in 2020 with funding from EU Horizon 2020 TWINNING. The project brought together the Thinking Motherhood group at Vilnius University, Mother Anyway at Uppsala University and Motherhood at the University of Meignut. The MotherNet project was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Eglė Kačkutė-Hagan, a researcher at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University, who is also the leader of the group Thinking Motherhood. One of the authors of the publication Negotiating Non-motherhood: Representations, Perceptions and Experiences is Dovilė Kuzminskaitė, PhD, Associate Professor at the Institute of Literature, Culture and Translation Studies, Faculty of Philology, and belongs to the VU group  Thinking Motherhood.

For more information, see the link below:

Please find the List of Open Electives for the 2024/2025 Spring semester here. These subjects can be chosen by MA students with the individual study plan instead of the electives suggested in your study programme.

3rd year BA students who wish to create an individual study plan can choose subjects from the list of subjects offered by the Faculty of Philology in the Individual Studies list.

More information can be found here>