This year, 1,007 language learners and 951 volunteer mentors took part in the Language Friends programme, organised by the Integration Foundation for the seventh consecutive year, forming 1,078 conversation pairs.
To practice conversational language skills, the pairs discussed a wide range of topics for at least one hour per week online, by phone, or face-to-face. Over the course of the three-month Language Friends programme, nearly 13,000 hours of Estonian were spoken.
‘These meetings held as part of the programme – where participants speak with a stranger they have never met before and whom they would probably never approach in everyday life with a proposal to practice Estonian together – also help understand each other as people. This, in turn, facilitates everyday interaction in society. The courage to communicate and the opportunity to solve problems together rather than alone, as well as to share the joy – these are certainly among the benefits of participating in the programme,’ said Ave Landrat, Head of the Language Friends Programme at the Integration Foundation.
This season once again confirmed that the Language Friends programme brings together people with very different backgrounds and experiences. The age of the mentors ranged from 18 to 90, while the language learners were between 18 and 74 years old. More than half of the mentors and nearly three-quarters of the language learners participated in the programme for the first time.
Among the mentors and learners were teachers, doctors, lawyers, IT specialists, customer service representatives, artists, engineers, entrepreneurs, pensioners, university students, and representatives of many other professions.
‘The Language Friends programme is built on the goodwill of people and their desire to support one another. Every hour that a mentor and a language learner spend speaking Estonian together helps build confidence, trust, and the habit of using the language in everyday communication. Many thanks to all the volunteer mentors and language learners who have dedicated their time and attention to the Language Friends programme. Thanks to you, the Estonian language is being heard in more homes, workplaces, and communities,’ said Dmitri Moskovtsev, Director of the Integration Foundation.
The eighth season of the Language Friends programme will begin in early 2027: registration for volunteer mentors will open in January, registration for language learners in February, and on Valentine’s Day, 14 February, the first conversation partners will already begin their meetings together. The programme can be joined both individually or, for example, together with a work collective or a group of friends.
The Integration Foundation launched the Language Friends programme in 2020 to offer language learners an opportunity to continue practising their language online, as they were unable to participate in conversational language practice events due to the state of emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, over 9,000 language learners have taken part in the programme.
The Language Friends programme is implemented with the resources of the European Union’s Cohesion and Internal Security Funds for 2021–2027 and within the framework of project No. 2021-2027.4.07.23-0006 under Order No. 80 of the Minister of Culture of 15 March 2023 ‘Conditions for granting support for the implementation of activities supporting integration, including adaptation, in Estonian society’.