It is true that a sense of community is determined by several factors, not only language. But lack of language skills is such a great barrier in many ways. One can argue that one’s cultural/intellectual outlook and social interactions are different if one cannot read Estonian newspapers or books. Estonian news is not always covered in the non-Estonian media. Knowing just a few Estonian words from tourist dictionaries allows one to buy ice-cream and not get lost……but it does not usually allow one to have meaningful in-depth conversations with local inhabitants or elderly non-English speaking relatives. Three examples out of many:
1. In Latvia and Estonia, local inhabitants generally have good enough feelings about their Baltic neighbours, but it is well recorded that their personal social interactions tend to be small because of the language barriers. Limited knowledge of each other’s language is reported to discourage collaborative projects. See: “Ei saa me läbi Lätita …” http://www.postimees.ee/?id=27... . Some believe that this can become a security issue in addition to discouraging worthy joint projects (collaborative medical facilities for example).
2. In Toronto, the important historical archives will need managing by the younger generation at some time point. Will there be sufficient local talent who know enough Estonian to read the historical documents in these archives? Or will the archives need to be shipped to Estonia for reading and research?
3. The “Talent Come Home” initiative in Estonia is an admirable one. But overseas Estonian youth often have non-Estonian speaking spouses and children. Has anyone thought about seriously improving Estonian language learning for these overseas adults? Certainly this is a factor in determining whether overseas spouses will be able to find jobs in Estonia and integrate well, if the “talent” does indeed decide to come home (May 15, 2011).