Uses of the Internet

I'm trying to pick up a little Lithuanian before I go. I'm going to be spending about two and a half weeks on my own, traveling in the region, and 1) I think one should always try to learn whatever one can of a local language and/or vernacular out of respect and to not look like a cocky asshole, and 2) I will be in areas where English may not be widely spoken, it seems.

If I don't learn some Lithuanian, some basics, I'm in trouble. Or at least, I'll be making things much harder on myself than they need to be and I may miss out on something because I can't ask a question.

So away we go, to the wilds of the web, where we find language courses in abundance.
A few free. A few decent (for my purposes). Woo!

I spent a few minutes on a pronunciation chart, going over the alphabet (abecele) and dipthongs. I like knowing how the letters are supposed to sound, so as I struggle to learn the language, sounding out words, at least I know I'm sounding them out correctly. Most of the sounds are what I would guess, so that's lucky.

The example for the "ch" sound? Cikaga (with a carat above the C). Translation: Chicago.
I felt welcome.

One word they used repeatedly for a short "a" sound is nama(s), which sounds like name, but means house. I wonder if home is the same word. If we link name and home, then is it possible to ever leave places of origin? Or maybe it's the opposite - that wherever we find ourselves, our names, that place inherently must become home because we have brought our names there.

Or maybe this is just some fun with false cognates.