After another successful year and with growing popularity, the University of Toronto is again offering an Estonian language course as part of its curriculum. Students from all Toronto area universities (Toronto, York and Ryerson) have the opportunity to take the course for credit. If the course just sounds interesting and too good to pass up, you can also consider auditing the course for personal fulfillment.
This year the course will be offered at either the advanced or the introductory levels. The course offered will depend on the number of students enrolled, and the language proficiency of those enrolled. The course which has sufficient enrolment will be the one offered. The course will focus on essential Estonian vocabulary, basic grammar and develop elementary conversational competence. Popular songs, poetry, and structured dialogue are among the various tools for achieving these objectives. This will evolve to themed sessions using language for travel in Estonia, savouring the language of Estonian cuisine, and the lyrics of popular, folk and classical Estonian music.
If you have ties to the Estonian heritage and culture and have wanted to strengthen these bonds, this is a great opportunity to get a better appreciation of all things Estonian by enhancing your knowledge of the Estonian language. If you know of people who are held back from a stronger bond with their Estonian heritage by their language skills, why not recommend this course to them?
Estonian is an interesting language for its own sake. Estonian is different from most spoken languages in Europe. It belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family, which also includes Finnish and Hungarian. The role of vowels in Estonian is among the greatest in any European language, whereby a string of vowels can form meaningful words around the frame of few consonants. It also has the additional vowels õ, ä, ö, ü. If you have trouble with the following tongue twisters, then this course is for you. Jäääär (edge of the ice), Õueala (courtyard), Kõueöö (night of the thunder), Puuõõnsus (hollow of the tree), Töö-öö (working night).
If you are interested in taking this course please call or email Marju at 416 979 5000 x 4196, (mtoomsal@ryerson.english.ca ) or look the courses up in the University of Toronto’s course calendar, EST100/EST101 and EST200/201. Lectures will take place at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus. EST 100 or 200 will be offered Mondays and Thursday 7-9 p.m. , Sept. 12- Dec.6. The course offered in the 2017 Winter termwill be a continuation of the one offered in the 2016 Fall term, at an increased level of language proficiency.
This course is a key part of the Estonian Studies Program at the University Of Toronto. It is made possible through the generous financial support of Tartu College in recognition of the importance of the Estonian Studies Program to the Estonian community.