More than 30,000 people have started learning Estonian with a free online course, launched with help from the country’s government in March 2018.
Offered on app platform, Speakly, the program was begun by the Estonian government in the year of the country’s centenary, to help people learn the language for free.
“Estonian speakers are all keepers of the culture of our tiny beloved Estonia”
“Estonian is a specialised course, that is free and directed to all foreigners, including… the local Russian minorities, who really want to learn the language but who previously didn’t have great solutions,” said Speakly co-founder Ott Ojamets.
“We have seen a pretty nice on flow of users joining the free course,” he added.
Notoriously difficult to learn, developers have attempted to create a science-based solution, including statistical analysis, to simplify the study process. According to Ojamets, this makes learning the language up to five times easier to learn that traditional options.
“Estonia has always been a frontrunner in innovative technology and a modern learning platform for Estonian studies was sorely needed,” he told The PIE News, explaining the methodology had been created over a five-year period by leading language learning experts and teachers.
“Because of the science-based solution, we can literally guarantee a needed level and this kind of a transparency is super important for somebody who is learning a new language,” he noted.
According to the government, the 200,000 Estonian citizens living abroad were asking how best to teach their friends and children the command of the language.
Using a study code – EV100 – students can access the Estonian language course for free as a “little gift”, Baltic country’s minister of culture, Indrek Saar, said when the course was launched in 2018
“All those people who speak Estonian are all keepers and carriers of the culture of our tiny beloved Estonia and the more there are of such people, the happier we are,” Saar noted.
