Roman Kruk, who won the national Estonian language Olympiad, is a Ukrainian who has been learning Estonian for just two years. A student in Türi, Järva County, teachers say he achieved such a good result thanks both to hard work and an exceptional linguistic talent.

On the day, Roman said he found the olympiad easier than expected. "There was that dialect, as I understood, from somewhere in Tartu."

There was also a listening task. Mostly based on listening, but it was easier than I expected," he recalled. "I have been living in Estonia for about two years now, and I started understanding Estonian after about a year, perhaps."

"Plus an important factor here is that I am in an Estonian-speaking environment. I study in an Estonian-language high school, I communicate with my friends in Estonian, so all of this has its effect," Roman added.

Roman repeated 10th grade to improve his Estonian and went on to win the national Olympiad in Estonian as a second language.

His Estonian-language teacher at Türi Joint High School, Averonika Beekmann, credited his success to hard work and a methodical approach to learning. Meanwhile, classmate Kermo Kaljas described him as friendly, talkative, and easy to get along with.

Roman's level now is such that not only are books by Jaan Kross and Mats Traats on his desk, but he also regularly tops the table in Estonian language school tests, despite not being a native speaker.

Undeterred by challenges

Before ending up in Estonia, Roman knew almost nothing about the country, and even when enrolling at his fully Estonian-language high school, he only knew a few words in the language at the time.

"My vocabulary was so limited that it's hard to imagine," he recalled in an appearance on Vikerraadio's "Vikerhommik" on Monday. "I slowly started learning the language, writing down words and memorizing them. That's how it went."

He admitted that the biggest challenge in the Estonian language for him is the partitive plural (mitmuse osastav) case.

"It's such an unpredictable thing — it's so hard to form!" he acknowledged. "If you don't know it, it's practically impossible. There are some rules and principles for forming it, but for the most part, it's unpredictable. There are a lot of exceptions."

Over the past two years, Roman has made time to travel around the country as well. Of the cities he has visited so far, he likes Rakvere and Tallinn the most.

"Rakvere has a very impressive castle," he highlighted. "And Tallinn, of course, is the capital. Everything here is very impressive, and there are a lot of great places to visit — like the Old Town, which also has a church that I really like."

As for the future, Roman wants to remain in Estonia even after finishing high school, and is interested in becoming a doctor.

He does not plan to return to his homeland until after the war in Ukraine is over.

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