When the sustaining power of language as a tool to understand one's roots, culture and history begins to be questioned, then not long after that irrelevancy and lack of perspective set in. Estonia is too small a culture and language group to expect its empowerment via English, as is suggested in the above article. All sorts of methods of logic can be applied to defy this tendency, but as other Estonian communities have shown, the trend continues to be ever downwards. I think there is a slightly better opportunity for Estonian culture to survive in a broader European context (via languages such as Finnish or Hungarian, due to our common ancestry) but the seed of multiculturalism invariably seek different solutions to cultural problems. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em....move to Estonia...it's the only solution!

sorri, aga selles keeles kirjutamist jätkates pole teie "Estonian community"-l mingit tulevikku.

Sorri, aga selles kohmakalises ja kummalises keeles kirjutamist jätkates pole tsivilisatsioonil mingit tulevikku.

"... move to Estonia......it's the only solution!"
Thanks for the advice, Maxim, but you forgot to identify the problem -- if there is one -- that such a move will solve.

The problem to be addressed at Metsaülikool is to find a convincing proof that Canadians with an Estonian heritage are genuinely Estonian without regard to their faulty command of the language.

The problem is, do you want to be a Canadian, or do you want to be and Estonian. Those who left Estonia after WW2 had some claim to being both, but with all due respect, this is not the case anymore...You can have a remote interest in things Estonian, but that doesn't necessarily make you one....you need to take certain steps to qualify to be a Estonian....like moving here!

The case has been fought and won....many times already. We are too small an ethnic group, and the "hardwired products" that make up the essence of our cultural values which we take with us into the future are firmly rooted in language. That doesn't seem to be the case with larger ethnic groups, such as Italians, who seem happy enough with pizza and red wine. but a typical "Estonian restlessness" pervades in our psyche-the need to leave something permanent..it's the flip-side of our fear that we will become extinct at some point in the future. Talk is twaddle...it may be a good pasttime if you just want to touch base with things going down Estonian, but it's not a significant contribution to sustaining the culture. Estonia is the only place where these types of sustaining values are produced. And it's a lot easier to do something about it now that the country is freer than it's possibly ever been in its history.

Of course they speak the language, but it's what they've done through the language that makes or breaks certain intangible elements that, when grouped together, form the basis of a culture. Put simply, in the past 50 or so years, the tradition of the Estonian communities abroad have only really left their fundamental staying power in the evident material that's survived in print; literature in particular. It's too much to ask of people who live so far away...as in Canada....in spite of their Estonian background, to keep on being Estonian. Whoever has powerful stirrings of being Estonian in heart and mind, has more than likely moved here. Who has not, and nevertheless feels Estonian, can share that passion with others...that's wonderful...but I doubt that in the long run it contributes greatly to the enhancement of Estonian culture, with it biggest movers and shakers living right here on the fault line of events, as it were.

If you feel so strongly that you have been able to retain your roots and your place in Canada...then for God's sake stay there! I just got fed up with the declining community and figured there's got to be more to this than seeing it all shut down within the next few years. Good luck finding solutions...as you can see, the choices you can make about your role in Estonian affairs still remain fairly limited...

The article is written in English for a very good reason-namely our (the target audience) command of Estonian language isn't that great yet the discussions are going to be in Estonian. Should be interesting for some participants to attempt to express complicated and abstract concepts in a language that for most is not one that they were educated in and for many is rusty with a child's vocabulary. Either bite the bullet on the language issue and adapt completely or continue to restrict the articles and attendance to Estonian only with all this means to attendance.
The most important thing to come out of the census is the number of the offspring of mixed marriages. I suspect that the age of those of "single Estonian extraction" persons is significantly higher with all this entails for the future.
I'm reminded of what Henry Kissinger said about the noisy and nasty confrontations and arguments that university professors have which in the end don't matter much to the real world.
Good luck to your upcoming discussions in the Estonian language. I may even try to wade through the article that one of the "recently arrived" newspaper reporters reporters who proably has never been to Kotkajarv is sure to wirte.

The question of Estonian language and identity of individuals of estonian descent who live outside estonia is THE issue for our generation. I would suggest that the majority of those under 40 years of age (and many over that age as well) have only basic estonian language skills and typically little or none. The minority are who we tend to see as active regular members of the estonian community. The question then becomes, what to do. Does a small and shrinking community insist on language knowledge as a prerequisite to membership and participation as the "hard-liners" suggest. Or does it water down the ideal of estonian culture and become "club" or interest group? Are the majority of those of estonian descent who do not speak estonian well and exist at the margins of estonian society even interested enough to increase their participation in estonian events to be worth courting?
Well, in my opinion, one never knows until one tries. Adaptation to changing times is the only way to long term survival as a cultural entity. This does not mean giving up promotion and teaching of the estonian language. But it does acknowlege the need for at least some bi-lingual events and activities to try to at least partially re-integrate those who would otherwise not participate at all. This is already happening to some extent and will hopefully continue. If this means some "watering down" of the ideal. Adapt or slowly fade are the only options. I personally suggest the former.

Oleme seda vaipa juba kaua, kaua peksnud aga ikka tolmune ja vist ei saagi puhtaks!
Saame kokku. Sööme koos sülti, hapukapsaid ja rosoljet ja paar vorstikest ja arutame seda asja nagu Eestlased ikka, väikese märjukesega.
Küll siis saame teine-teisest aru.

Kes on see Maxim anyway???

Miks on küsimused alati keele taga kinni? Kas on nii raske aru saada et PALJUD meist räägivad, lugevad ja kirjutavad eesti JA inglise keelt puhtalt. Minu inglise keel on ikka selge, kuigi loen, kirjutan ja räägin eesti keelt.
SO.. if I sometimes express myself in English, that does not make me any less of an Estonian, and futhermore, I did not instantly forget how to speak, read or write Estonian. I have a passion and conviction to retain my Estonian language and no amount of english will change that.

See arutlus mis toimub laupäeval, 14. augustil, MÜs kostab väga huvitav ja VÄGA vajalik.
Isegi kui ei saa ülejäänud ajaks Kotkajärvele minna, peaksime ühiskonnana, nii palju kui võimalik kohale sõitma selleks arutluseks.
Eriti noored!

Our heritage is not by choice... we are born with it. To deny a child their heritage is to deny them something that is rightfully theirs. I believe it is every parents duty to teach their children the languages that they speak, the customs of their childhoods and the history of their ancestors. They are failures if they don't. No excuses.

Eesti Elu should send Peeter Bush to report on the discussions at MÜ.

Mis rebastepidu????