En letton!

For those who don’t speak Latvian, please look for the translation down below!

**********************

Nesen mana poļu draudzene man atrakstija, „vismaz vienu reizi mēnesī raksti latviski!” Sāku domāt, kamdēļ biju izvēlējusies angliski rakstīt. Tas bija ar cerībām dalīties ar mūsu Francijas piedzīvojumiem ar maksimālu grupu no cilvēkiem. Šis blogs ir domāts, lai ğimeni un draugus informētu par mūsu dzīvi šeit Clermont-Ferrand, un tomēr ir tie draugi kuŗi nesaprot latviski. Zināju, ka lielākā tiesa ğimene un draugi kuŗi saprot vēl arvien lasītu kaut es rakstu angliski. Ar maniem amīšu draugiem tā nebūtu.

Tīmeklī nesen visur pārrunāja Amerikā dzīvojošā ārsta Aivara Sluča aicinājumu sākot ar 1. martu tiem, kuŗi savstarpēji prot runāt latviski, nerunāt krieviski. Ja neesiet to izlasijuši, to var atrast Nacionālisti.lv tīmekļa lapā. Es jau nerunāju krieviski, bet tomēr uzskatiju to par aicinājumu vispār runāt vairāk latviski. Man laimējās apprecēt latvieti, un ar ğimeni arī runāju galvenokārt latviski. Ar draugiem, kā ar kuŗu, bet cenšos. Lielākais mērķis ir izaudzināt Lauri, tā lai tas var tekoši saprast un runāt latviski. Un tagad nācis klāt izaicinājums Laurim iemācīties franciski! Latviešu valoda ir mums svarīga jo tā ir mūsu senču valoda, veids kā mēs varam šeit ārzemēs nodrošināt, ka latvieši un Latvija mūžīgi pastāv. Bet franciski runāt, tā būs priekšrocība Laurim nākotnē, un veidos veselīgas smadzenes tagad. CNN ziņās atkal parādijās raksts par šo tēmatu, „2 languages make your brain buff.” Un kā māte protams vēlos, ka mans dēls būtu ‘buff!’

Pati pašlaik mācos franciski, klasē un arī ikdienas dzīvē. Esmu ļoti tālu no tās dienas kad varēšu tekoši runāt un izteikties, bet katru dienu lēnām ko iemācos. Lauris cerams apgūs daudz ātrāk šo valodu, itsevišķi ja viņš iet uz crèche, franču bērndārzu. Grūtāk nāks to valodu uzturēt reiz kad aizvācamies atpakaļ uz Ameriku, tāpat kā turpināt latviešu valodu. Un tā arī atklāju, ka šis blog ir man vēlviens veids kā uzturēt manu latviešu valodu, ja tik reizi mēnesī, jo valoda ir kā augs; ja to nekopj, neaplej un audzina tumsā, tā novītīs un nomirs.

**********************

Recently my Polish friend wrote to me, “Also, write at least one entry in Latvian per month!” I started thinking about the reasons why I had chosen to write in English; it was with the hopes of reaching the maximum amount of people with these stories of our adventures. This blog is meant to keep family and friends informed about our life here in Clermont-Ferrand and there are quite a few friends who don’t understand Latvian. I knew that most of my Latvian speaking family would continue to read despite my writing in English, which wouldn’t be an option for non-speakers if I wrote in Latvian.

There was an article circulating on the internet recently written by an American doctor, Aivars Slucis. It was a challenge for Latvians in Latvia to not bow to pressure of political correctness, and to speak the national language, which is Latvian, when speaking to other Latvian citizens. Although I live in France, I still took it as an invitation to try to speak more and better Latvian. In marrying another Latvian I truly lucked out, and the majority of my family also speaks Latvian. It varies with friends, but with those that understand I try. The big challenge will be raising Lauris so that he can fluently understand and speak. Now we face the additional challenge of teaching Lauris French! Latvian is important to us because it is the language of our ancestors, as well as a way of maintaining our ethnic heritage in the US and abroad. But French is important for a whole different set of reasons. We hope that speaking French may open doors for him in the future, but more importantly learning additional languages has been proven to improve cognitive function and have other benefits to ones brain. If interested in this topic you may want to read “2 languages make your brain buff” which appeared on the CNN Health site recently.

I’m currently learning French, not only in class but in the course of everyday life. I’m still far from being able to fluently understand and express myself, but with each day I learn a little more. Hopefully Lauris will learn more quickly, especially if he goes to crèche, the French daycare. It will be harder to maintain the language skills once we move back to the US, just like it will always be a challenge to maintain the Latvian language. And so it comes about that I write a few entries here and there in Latvian, I find it to be just one more way for me to practice my Latvian. Hopefully my English-speaking readers will understand.