Livonian poet Valts Ernstreits

Tisdag, 5 April 2011 10:43

Do you know how the Livonian language sounds like? Soon you will have the 
chance to hear that beautiful language in the Poetry Ride, when Livonian poet Valts
 Ernštreits reads his poems. Actually you could even call Livonian language an
 exclusive language, in that sense that only few people have the chance to hear 
it and even fewer use it. So it is a rare luxury to be among the chosen few!

Valts has visited Finland quite often, as Livonians has an active friendship 
society in there. Livonian is a Finno-ugrian language, as are Estonian and
 Finnish. There are only about 30 speakers of the language, but the amount of 
people who are learning Livonian is rising. It really is a luxury to be able to 
speak a language that only few can understand, as language is not merely a tool of communication, it carries a certain way of thinking in itself. When you learn a 
new language, you widen your horizon and gain a new perspective to the world. 
When I learned to speak Estonian, which is the nearest linguistical relative of
 my mother tongue Finnish, I started to see interesting connections between and 
within the languages. It felt like an adventure. Now I have decided to learn at 
least a couple of words of Livonian before the Poetry Ride. So, tienū for
 reading this blog entry! If you wish to know more about the Livonian culture,
please visit livones.lv (you might find some interesting texts by Valts there! ).