Global Estonian Insights: Liisa Orav of Little Miss Squirrel

VINCENT TEETSOV

In the pursuit of learning Estonian as an English speaker, it’s possible that you’ll come across a series of videos on YouTube, from the channel “Little Miss Squirrel,” created by Liisa Orav, whose last name means “squirrel” in Estonian.

She’s made a series of introductory videos on YouTube covering language fundamentals from the alphabet all the way to conjugating the verb olema (“to be”). Since their first appearance in 2012, the videos have become something of a fixture on YouTube.

Behind the videos is an avid teacher and student of languages, many hours of video production, and a journey to South Korea. How did she end up there, and what might it mean for relations between the people of South Korea and Estonia in the years to come?

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Photo used with permission from Liisa Orav