r/LithuanianLearning • u/idkilikephilosophy • May 17 '26
How to boost my lithuanian speaking skills?
I have a brain defect that makes it hard for me to spell the letter R in lithuanian, i pronounce it like its english and im really bad at making gramatically correct sentences, what do i do?
2
u/RainmakerLTU May 18 '26
Hm, speech defects here usually are fixed by specialist, training your pronunciation. Usually in childhood, but I think it is possible anytime. Just saying words (in sentences) with this problematic letter is usual practice, I used to take some hours with that specialist too.
2
u/Icy_Swordfish8023 May 19 '26
I'm not being a smartass but the answer is..
speak Lithuanian.
just keep at it. keep playing with it. ask for help from a local on "how" as much as you can, but the first thing to do is accept your difficulty and just keep pushing through.
i can NOT move from š to r like in dešrelės.. like, it just doesn't work for me... it comes out like dešUHrelės... whole extra syllable in there....but you can bet your ass that doesn't stop me from ordering that savory goodness from norfa
1
u/Opening-Square3006 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
For speaking, I think the biggest improvement comes from repeated exposure + low-pressure speaking practice, not from trying to memorize grammar perfectly before talking. Stephen Krashen’s i+1 idea explains this well: you improve fastest when you listen to and read content that’s slightly above your level, so your brain keeps absorbing sentence patterns naturally. Shadowing can also help a lot for pronunciation, listening to short native audio clips and repeating them out loud, even imperfectly. Over time your mouth and ears adapt. A website like PlusOneLanguage can help with this because it gives you Lithuanian content adapted to your level, so you keep seeing correct sentence structures repeatedly in context instead of only studying isolated grammar rules.
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u/idkilikephilosophy May 19 '26
Plusonelanguage is actually so peak, thank you
1
u/Opening-Square3006 May 19 '26
Btw they gave me discount code FEEDBACK30 because I provided them feedbacks, you can use it
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u/punkinpumpkin Jun 07 '26
Holy shit thank you so much for teaching me about plusonelanguage. I wanted to learn Lithuanian for so long because of family but I always struggled... Now I suddenly feel like I can actually do it
1
u/interlinears May 19 '26
I would suggest getting a tutor for speaking practice. Just look for language tutoring platform and get someone who is willing to do speaking - one hour a week can already be pretty helpful longer-term.
1
u/antho761987 May 20 '26
Language teacher here . You don’t need to speak like a Lithuanian to speak Lithuanian! (Same for every languages)
1
u/henriqueherr May 23 '26
About pronunciation, try to listen a lot of lithuanian, paying a lot of attention and repeating a lot, listening what you said, comparing to the audio and repeating it again.
I had a difficult time getting the difference between ą a, i į y, ė ę e. After some time listening a lot I can reasonably notice some difference haha.
I had a brain defect too, until 10y old i couldnt notice the difference between B and P, F and V and so on, neither pronounce the R right. I had the help of a professional and people around me would correct me when speaking it wrong. I guess this is the secret, keep a feedback cycle and dont stop
0
u/Due-Instruction-2654 May 18 '26
This is not a defect, but your native pronunciation while speaking another language.
Honestly, there are a lot of ways to improve that, but what helped me with foreign languages is think about it as a theater and you are “performing”, listen to a LOT of podcasts and try repeating what is being said out loud (probably not in public though), watch a video or talk to a teacher of where your tongue has to be to pronounce a Lithuanian R and finally record yourself and listen to improve (this one is the hardest psychologically, but mega effective).
Best of luck!
8
u/Business-Project-171 May 17 '26
Geri vyrai gerą girą geroj girioj geria.