American living in Estonia

[Moving Forward]

Greetings everyone. I'm an American ex-pat living in the nation of Estonia. I came here five years ago to marry my wife, and do not regret it I've been a believer in Jesus Christ since I was in high school. He is my Lord and Savior. That's all I have to say at this point. God bless.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Welcome

 

[Moving Forward]

Thank you Quest Driven.

 

[Eugene]

I look forward to the rest of the story as Paul Harvey used to say. May God bless our time together in Jesus' name and welcome. :waving

 

[Atonement]

Moving Forward -

Welcome to the forums :waving

 

[farouk]

Greetings everyone. I'm an American ex-pat living in the nation of Estonia. I came here five years ago to marry my wife, and do not regret it I've been a believer in Jesus Christ since I was in high school. He is my Lord and Savior. That's all I have to say at this point. God bless.

Hi, how are you doing? say hi as well to the folks in Eesti.
God bless His Word to you. Good to see you here.

 

[Moving Forward]

Hi, how are you doing? say hi as well to the folks in Eesti.
God bless His Word to you. Good to see you here.

Thank you Farouk!

"Ma tervitan Sinu poolt." Roughly translated, that means "I will greet them on your behalf".

One more thing I will add about myself, I work in Estonia as an English teacher.

 

[farouk]

Thank you Farouk!

"Ma tervitan Sinu poolt." Roughly translated, that means "I will greet them on your behalf".

One more thing I will add about myself, I work in Estonia as an English teacher.

Oh okay, Moving Forward!

Do they find it easier to learn English than you did to learn Estonian? (though maybe this is not a fair question.)

Blessings.

 

[Moving Forward]

Hi Farouk,

It's a hard question to answer. I think that both languages are difficult to learn. But English has far more exposure, due to international communications often being made in English, Hollywood, etc.

A difficulty for me in learning Estonian is the fact that there are very few resources for studying it which are written in the English language. There is a grammar textbook written by a man named Juhan Tuldava, but not much to speak of beyond that. My Tuldava textbook is almost like a Bible ... I mean, with respect to how it is valuable to me for understanding Estonian grammar.

Anyway, thank you for asking. I am curious, how did you know that the Estonian word for Estonia is "Eesti"? Do you know any Estonians?

 

[farouk]

Hi Farouk,

It's a hard question to answer. I think that both languages are difficult to learn. But English has far more exposure, due to international communications often being made in English, Hollywood, etc.

A difficulty for me in learning Estonian is the fact that there are very few resources for studying it which are written in the English language. There is a grammar textbook written by a man named Juhan Tuldava, but not much to speak of beyond that. My Tuldava textbook is almost like a Bible ... I mean, with respect to how it is valuable to me for understanding Estonian grammar.

Anyway, thank you for asking. I am curious, how did you know that the Estonian word for Estonia is "Eesti"? Do you know any Estonians?

Hey there, Moving Forward:

To answer your question directly, I'm not quite sure how or when I learned this.

More indirectly and generally, here in Ontario there are many Estonians. There is an Estonian and Latvian Lutheran church in Downtown Toronto. On cars locally you often see the familiar black, blue and white stripes, indicating the car owner's connection in some way with Estonia. In fact, there's a chapter of a book about Toronto's communities which relates to Estonians.

I think the inflections and postpositions are even more complex in Estonian than in Finnish, aren't they? and I seem to remember seeing diacritical signs in Estonian which indicate nasalization of some vowels, particularly 'o' (which feature Finnish, otherwise related, doesn't have).

So what's the Bible translation in Estonian like, that you have? assuming you do. I think it's of Lutheran origin, right?

Blessings.

 

[Moving Forward]

Hello again Farouk, it's nice to talk to you.

Yes, I'm aware of that Estonian community in Toronto!

I was wondering actually, if that might be the reason you knew the word "Eesti".

Yes, Estonian uses a lot of postpositions. Whether or not it's more complicated than Finnish, I'm not sure, as I haven't studied Finnish.

Estonian has these vowels with diacritical marks: ä, õ, ü, ö.

I won't comment on their pronunciation, because it's one of my biggest weaknesses in speaking the language. I know how they are pronounced, and I can master it in private fairly well, but then in conversation I usually end up saying them incorrectly and it sometimes causes a misunderstanding.

Estonians are a beautiful people. They are often very quiet and hard to get to know, and there are some big cultural differences between me as an American and them, but once you get to know them, then you understand that God has made every people group in a special and unique way. It's an awesome thing, once you see it.

I feel very fortunate to be living here.

Oh, as to the Bible. Well, Lutheranism is the most prevalent Christian "denomination" here; there are also some Russian Orthodox, some Catholics, some Baptists, some charismatics and pentecostals. But in Estonia if you go to church, it's most likely you are a Lutheran, yes.

At the same time, most Estonians (according to surveys) do not go to church and profess not to believe in God.

I go to a Baptist church in Estonia, where Estonian is the language of worship and of the services. They share their building with a Russian Protestant congregation. The people in my church are kind and loving, but mostly either very old or very young. Not many from age groups in the middle. It's a good church and I hope I can contribute more.

But as to the Estonian Bible, you're probably right about it being Lutheran in origin, but to be honest I don't know the specifics much. I own a copy and read it from time to time. But normally I read the Bible in English.

Here is John 3:16 in Estonian:

Sest nõnda on Jumal maailma armastanud, et ta oma ainusündinud Poja on andnud, et ükski, kes temasse usub, ei hukkuks, vaid et tal oleks igavene elu.​

My post is a little long winded, but I just needed someone to talk to. Thanks for listening.