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EESTI ELU reedel, 4. detsembril 2020 — Friday, December 4, 2020
Nr. 48
Celebrating 30 years
English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publications Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca Digital: www.eestielu.ca
Internet and the survival of the Estonian language at home and abroad (II) The survival of the languages of small nations is dependent not only on the relatively new exigencies of the internet and cyber environment, but also the influence of political, eco nomic and cultural forces. There is some evidence that a surviving living language population must have at least 100,000 native speakers. But this must be accompanied by having their own territory where they are in control of their language rights, and this right must be recognized. Globally, the human rights doctrine does not include the right of having a language of your own. The European Union, with its 24 officially recognized languages (including Estonian) adopted the Erasmus+program in 2013. The smaller member states expected funding assis tance for language training for its minorities, but the support was allocated for languages more popular for its potential students – English, French, German, Spanish, Italian. What harm accrues to the communities that have lost their native language? It’s universally agreed among scholars that upon the death of a language, the wherewithal and capacity to understand a culture who spoke it is severely eroded because the oral traditions, teachings, cus toms are no longer passed on to native speakers. (I remember my first anthro pology professor at the very first lecture asking his very first question, “What is culture?” None of the seemingly appro priate answers were accepted by him. He finally said, “Culture is language.” And the rest of his lectures proceeded from this premise. Seemed to make sense. Numerous scholarly observa tions have reiterated this notion, not all with such finality.) It’s observed that minority languages in particular coun tries suffer when first ge neration immigrant parents – more specifically, Estonian war refugees – deliberately avoid teaching children their native language and prefer that they learn a language that is tied to their economic or career success. It’s commonplace for North American TV programs to de pict immigrant families with
parents conversing in English with accent-free children with themselves brandishing its bro ken but “cute” version. The viewer may conclude that it was the parents’ own initiative to abandon their mother tongue and not necessarily the dangers of a linguistic melting pot, especially in Canada and the USA, which works against native language retention. What puts a language on the danger list of becoming extinct? Probably the most crucial is parents not teaching their native tongue to most of the children in the community. The language is seen as belonging to the older generation and dying as the older generation passes on. While Estonian as a native language is not currently, or for the foreseeable future, headed to extinction in Estonia, the survival of the language for Estonians abroad faces an uncertain destiny. Three generations ago the following was the scenario for youngsters learning and using the Estonian language. Likely the same process exists for new arrivals from Estonia during the past 30 years. The native tongue was acquired by its speakers at home as children of Estonian war refugees and supplemented by Estonian night schools where they existed. During the second generation, in most families, the language never completely bloomed, because of insufficient use at home and in the surrounding, dominant (multi)-cultural environment. Young Estonian speakers be came more competent in using the dominant, majority lan guage of their social surround ings. The stark reality today is the increasing use of the language of the dominant culture at Estonian meetings and most other gatherings because mem bers of the audience lack the fluency (often by their own as sessment) to speak with suffi cient ability. For Estonians in Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the lingua franca would be English. Estonians abroad are strugg ling to sustain the vitality of their far-flung communities in the world. Various programs financed by Estonia – Estonian Institute, Ministries of Culture
EERO is a registered Cana dian charity with the mission of supporting health, educa tion and communities in Estonia. Fundraising activities over the past 30 years include Kuldsüdamete ball (with AKEN), Baltic Walkathon (with Latvians and Lithua nians), EEROpakk and Ran na kohvik (with AKEN and EERK), Movie night – Elavad pildid, and ESTOstyle fashion show (with VEMU) at the ROM and Tartu College. The most successful fundraising activity was EEROpakk. The Canadian government funded several programs through EERO: the Medical Doctor exchange, the Teacher exchange, Dental exchange and the first multi-discliplinary conference on stress, which resulted in the printing of stress guides in both Estonian and Russian. The do nation of a fully equipped am bulance from the province of Ontario was facilitated by a legacy donation and directed to Hiiumaa, the donation of a mammogram to Pärnu was co ordinated with the Pärnumaa laste Selts, and donations of other specialized equipment were purchased in Estonia for institutions specified by donors, such as drugs for Häädemeeste clinic, antibiotics to several hos pitals in Tallinn, a photocopier for Saaremaa gümnaasium, a walking robot to enable children at Tallinn Children’s hospital, mechanical tools and equipment for trade schools, psychology and anatomy texts, and many other items. By 1994 the shipment of goods was discontinued, as Estonian supply chains were
and Education, Compatriots Program, Global Estonians, National Co-operation and others – have been instituted to bolster supplementary Estonian education and culture abroad. In fact, just recently an Estonian foundation meant to assist Esto nian citizen grass roots groups abroad, allotted financial sup port to many diaspora newspa pers and related web sites to save them from financial col lapse. Despite the fact that most of our third/fourth generation descendants of original war refugees are offspring of mixed marriages, many of us still claim Estonian ancestry and share some common charac teristics. Our youngest relate some how to an ancestral homeland – some maintaining contact with distant relatives. The ones who are better informed retain a historic, collective memory of Estonia – its precarious geo- political location, history, achievements, sufferings etc. The level of our commitment to the maintenance of the indepen dence and prosperity of Estonia varies between generations, but is still evident to a greater or
e stablished, thereafter cash donations enabled the local purchase of equipment or ser vices, ensuring training of staff and warranties applied when needed. Excluding Canadian and Ontario government sup port, EERO has supported health, education and communi ties in Estonia for a total of 2.2 million dollars, and about half of this has gone to the Tallinn Children’s Hospital. As Estonia progressed, EERO adjusted to the changing needs in Estonia. In the early years, only 3 agreements were needed to operate in Estonia: the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Community and Social Ser vices. Today EERO has numerous agreements with or ganizations in Estonia: Tallinn Children’s Hospital Foundation, Tartu Children’s Fund, Patarei, Tallinn Technical University, Haapsalu Orphanage, Kihnu Church, Cancer Treatment Fund-Gift of Life, Estonian Women’s League, Rotalia Fund and many others. Donations vary from year to year, and during the past 2–3 years donations have dropped for most charities by about 40%. This year is a unique year and many of us face challenges. Several organizations were forced to cancel or postpone anniversaries, families have postponed celebrations and
lesser degree. The youngest also feel some sense of kinship with other Estonian communities scattered worldwide – witness the formation of the Worldwide Network of Estonian Youth at the 2019 Estonian World Festival in Tallinn. But our communities pro ceed to dwindle in size. If we accept the fact that the Estonian language is the primary glue that binds an individual to our singular culture and our com munity, then the erosion or sheer absence of it should seal our fate as a viable group. Except perhaps in Finland, people of Estonian heritage simply do not have the critical mass in numbers that groups such as the Italians, East Indians, Latin Americans and others enjoy to be a self-sus taining community abroad for generations to come. In Canada, at least, these groups command their own regular radio and TV broadcasts, numerous newspa pers, etc. The well-meaning sugges tion, “Speak only Estonian with the kids”, is a non-starter. It ob viously didn’t have sufficient takers even in the past when it was much easier to practice.
Kristo Toots
Foto: EERO
everyday activities have become more complicated with social distancing, masks and limits to social gatherings. In 2020 EERO initiated a Children’s Fund to support children in dire need of support, and forged an agreement with the Estonian Women’s League to act as their agent in Estonia. This meant that the Women’s League would identify children in need of support and recom mend how to support them. At Küünlapäev in February, mem bers of sororities donated a total of $200 to the Children’s Fund. Due to the pandemic, many things were delayed in Estonia, as they were in Canada. However finally by September EERO approved the Women’s League request to support women and children transition ing from shelters to independent living in Pärnu and Tartu, as many were living in poverty and had several children to support. Donations to date have been transferred to Estonia and have already helped 9 women (2 from Saaremaa and 7 from Pärnumaa) and 21 children. Items purchased include: fire wood for heating, winter boots (Continued on page 13)
This writer is convinced that spending extended periods in Estonia for the young, who self-identify as having Estonian roots, would have significant positive impact in language re tention, in cultural assimilation. The week or two that the Toronto Supplementary School choir has several times spent in Estonia has had visible impact and boosted the participants’ understanding of the reality of being Estonian. The program would have to be on a massive scale and the length of work/ study activities should last months, not weeks, to result in new friendships and close relationships. In the meantime, reversing the diminishing numbers in community activities and mem bership must be a priority. What would give new members sufficient incentive to join or return to our community is the most obvious question to be answered. Even though lan guage is crucial in our identity and continuity, language cannot be the determining factor in deciding who fits and who doesn’t. This is the dilemma that we haven’t yet been able to resolve. LAAS LEIVAT
