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Great personalities are born and leave
exactly at the right time.

I Mati Hint's case, he departed

on the very day the Year
of Estonian Language concluded.

How symbolically he managed to leave.

The Year of Estonian Language ended,
as well as a man's life.

We haven't given enough merit
to our great people.

In history, in their time,
and later.

What characterizes Mati,

is that would be understatement to say
he had no pink glasses,

he had definitely black ones.

And that was an inseparable
feature of his character.

So for him,
a glass was not only half empty,

it was almost completely empty.

And even if there was something in the
glass, it would become empty very soon.

It is inevitable, the glass will be
empty, no way to avoid it.

His phrase was:
"Lose any hope."

LANGUAGE REBEL
MATI HINT

When a change of paradigm
takes place in science,

but the theory of phonology
is a change of paradigm,

you can't go on with old terminology,
you have to set it aside.

It's like with the flat Earth theory.
I have explained that.

If you go for a theory
of spherical Earth,

you can no more describe the dome of sky
coming so close to the Earth

that at the edge of the world, people
can only crawl or be tiny as bottles.

You can not imagine yourself sitting on
the edge of the world with your beloved

and kick your heels over the edge.

If you embrace
the spherical Earth theory,

then you must give up the notion

of the edge of the world
and the dome of sky.

But it doesn't happen
in Estonian language studies.

They seem to say they understand
that the paradigm has changed,

but in fact, they do not.

I was a member of a workgroup

raising the new generation
of Estonian linguistics.

It was the group of Generative Grammar
in Tartu University in 60's and 70's.

Mati had already graduated by then,
a post graduate researcher,

and he was one of the great
and wise I met there.

He was a very independent thinker

and engaged in a field nobody knew much,

so we listened very carefully.

He was already kind of stubborn
and prone to big speeches,

sometimes exaggerating, too,
so we used to say,

Don't believe what Hint says,
Hint has crazy ideas.

That's how it was indeed.

In the end of the 70's
and the beginning of the 80's.

It really was.

Some one came up with the idea

that in Estonian language,
all the vowels and consonants

have four phonological durations.

And vowels have tones, too.

Like in Chinese.

And it was a completely crazy time.

Estonian Papers in Phonetics.

The whole yearbook dedicated
to this kind of theories.

"Uncompromising" is the word
that applies to Mati Hint.

Because if he was convinced
in something,

then he was convinced dead seriously.

And one of these things
was our system of durations,

so when in the 70's, there
an attempt to introduce 4th duration,

and it was even discussed

whether, if something grows to become
a tree (kasvab puuks),

is any different from simple flatulence
(puuks).

It goes like this.

Let's say that we have
long cores of syllables.

"Kooli" and "kooli".

Just like the two different o-s
are phonemes.

Similarly, two different diphthong
durations are also phonemes.

It is, in fact, very simple.

Jakob Hurt has it in a completely
contemporary form and examples.

What Mati Hint has promoted for decades,
is a syllable duration.

Meaning that when we are talking about
long or extra long syllables,

then the syllable carries the duration,

so we can also talk about light
or strong stress,

but the stress is carried by syllable.

Yet it was clear for Elmar Muuk as early
as in 1938, how it should be done.

But spitefully, we don't do
as Elmar Muuk did.

We know better than Elmar Muuk.
But we are not! At all!

It adds up to nothing.
In the end, it's like...

The Language Act of the year,
the big Dictionary of Standard Estonian,

marks the durations of syllables
using its own system.

And in the end, recommends to use it all
as per Tiiu Erelt's standardization

that has nothing to do with this matter.

Absolutely nothing!
It's beside the point.

As if...

As if, growing potatoes,
you would study.

Moon rays' impact to the growth
of telephone poles.

They have no connection!

Mati's theory was certainly new
at the time and developed phonology

and it helped a lot,

but it was not a theory that would
overturn all others,

rather a part of the process.

I'd like it if in humanities,
it would be as in building bridges.

The engineer who has designed a bridge

has to stand under the bridge
during the first stress test.

He knows that he has to do it.

He doesn't steal materials
from the bridge

so that it would crumble upon him.

I'd like it if it would be the same way
in humanities.

You have to pass certain checks
against some criteria.

Is it possible? It's all there.

But it's so much more convenient
to sit in a comfort zone

and apply for grants with your friends.

In 1976, Mati Hint published
a programmatic article,

"Language as a Giant System".

There he summarizes his achievements

in his research process
of a very young person.

He describes language as a giant
and complicated system.

How it is a great achievement of mankind
to create such a system.

He has developed the idea of a giant
system in his later works, too.

Thanks to Uno Rätsep, Ülo Kaasik
and Ivar Kull,

an idea appeared,

as it was fashionable
in the Western world,

to merge mathematics and linguistics.

I went with this wave.

As I quickly learnt German,

I read a book that profoundly
changed my world view,

Saussure in German translation

that should have been destroyed.

For according to Soviet ideology,

linguistic structuralism was
a bourgeois pseudo science.

But the German translation of Saussure

turned out to be in the famous
Seminarka library.

I made a perfectly good summary of it.

I could use it today.

And this changed
my world view profoundly.

So he showed how language is
in constant change

and it also means that language
is naturally redundant

and standardised written language
also has variants.

That was not acceptable for many

as they found that if you learn
the rules of the written language,

and know all the exceptions by heart,
than that's it.

Some even thought
that not everyone is capable

of knowing and speak
correct Estonian language,

because Estonians
can't speak Estonian anyway.

Most of my papers are
about Estonian sounds system,

prosody and morphophonology.

When talking to Finnish professors,

we understand each other instantly.

But not in Estonia.

Just as if I were a deviant.

If that's my truth, if that is
how I understand things,

I can't lie just to please some people.

The grammar of Estonian language
by Ahrens,

is the foundation
of our becoming a cultural nation,

of our becoming Estonians
and a literate nation.

Rauna homestead Saaremaa.

As they say, he was rigorous but fair.

And he didn't have an easy character.

After all, he was very...

He was abrupt.

As his students said, he didn't hold
anything for himself,

always said what he thought
and saw right.

It was the same at home.

But he was indeed fair.

When he was wrong,
he made it right.

Estonian language is our only
life insurance.

I think Mati Hint has been compared
to a canary in a mine.

Things may not be very wrong,

but when Mati Hint wrote
or spoke about something,

then he could represent it

with a certain amount of drama

that meant that it's not fun and games

but has to be addressed very seriously.

He became a very important, significant
person during the Perestroika.

Because he was a philologist
known to the general public,

he was outspoken,
straightforward, sharp.

When Vikerkaar magazine appeared
during the Perestroika,

they published Mati Hint's article
'Bilingualism Without Pink Glasses'

And I remember that we waited for
the next issue to read a new part of it.

It was read in all the Soviet republics

and I think that for many people

it became a spark or launching power

of the national movement against
Soviet language policy.

It was a powerful article.

Vikerkaar had appeared for six months

and I met Mati Hint
at the office of the magazine

on Toompuiestee street.

An issue bothered him,
namely of bilingualism,

rooting, of course, from the
russification campaign of 1970's.

One of the manifestations against it
was the Letter of 40,

with Mati Hint among the signatories.

Then we really stood shoulder to
shoulder

and the phosphorite movement
was about to begin, then IME,

then the Popular Front.

And for Mati Hint,
the Popular Front became

one of the manifestations
of his political life.

At the Song Festival Grounds
in 11. September of 1988,

Mati hint delivered one
of the most powerful speeches.

Alongside Heinz Valk.

And the proudest moment for Mati Hint
was in 1989,

when he wrote his famous manifesto
'The Baltic Way'

that he also delivered
at the Town Hall Square.

The history of the Baltic states is one
of co-operation of East an West,

but also one of the fight for power.

For many years, this fight has forced
the Baltic states under foreign powers

that had always denied the
right of the indigenous nations

to shape their own history.

But even under the foreign rule,
the Baltic nations,

Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians,
have maintained their national identity.

The Baltic way is the European way,

linguistically, culturally and
nationally diverse Europe

is the only way to maintain and develop
the rich cultural heritage of Europe.

My speech at the Baltic assembly,
at the Town Hall Square...

I made it to the cover of Time.

Heinz, me...

The correspondent of Time understood

that the popular fronts have taken the
course of full political independence.

It was very important for him that
the Baltic states could act in unison.

Who did we have to rely on?

We relied on our neighbours,

Latvians and Lithuanians,

on progressive minded Russians,

naturally, on Denmark and Iceland,

and some other small countries
that backed us, but...

And indeed, he went
to the White House, to USA,

and appeared on CNN or
some other leading channel.

In America, they asked me, how much
independence do we really want.

As if it were a matter
of some percentages.

I answered with the words of Endel
Lippmaa: "As much as possible!"

It was during the Baltic Chain

and due to this, he could comment it
straightforwardly

and tell about it and explain.

But not only.

He has been something like our foreign
minister in many places in the world.

Like Jaan Poska of our time.

In the 80's, during the Perestroika,

Mati Hint was one of the first people
who started to talk about Language Act.

And requirements
for Estonian language skills.

About the need to speak the language,

even if you had lived here for decades
without.

Mati Hint saw language
as a developing entity

and got the opportunity to contribute
to the Language Act.

He worked on it
together with Enn Põldroos.

And he was the one who saw through
the attempt to bend the act

to give Russian language
a special position in Estonia.

The history of making the Language Act

is a very fine example

how counter actions to regaining
independence for Estonia

started immediately
and in every possible aspect.

A secret commission was formed
behind the back of Language Commission.

There were two vice
chairmen of the commission,

Henn Saari and Vladimir Beekman

Endel Veskimäe, the lawyer of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

and Maia Leosk, the secretary of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

They took and co-ordinated

the Moscow minded version of the
Language Act

with none the less than Vladimir
Jarovoy, the director of Dvigatel

and the leader and ideologists
of the Internazis.

There was the Internazi version
of the Language Act

that they deceptively wanted
to set up for voting.

I squeezed myself into that meeting.
Literally squeezed myself in.

I was given a chair so that I could sit
there beside the wall.

Saari just read this text aloud,
and even Ristlaan mumbled.

Even Ristlaan mumbled:
"What in the world is this?"

At one point I decided that I have
to pull my courage together.

I have to stand up and tell that it is
not the text the commission has made.

That it is something
completely different.

Then there was big argument

and Saari said that while
doing these amendments,

he hadn't kept in mind the best interest
of his home republic.

What did he keep in mind?
The general interest!

Mostly to avoid criticism from Moscow.

That was on 13. January.

When the Language Act was voted
on 18. January 1989,

then there was the text

prepared by the rightful
Language Act commission.

There were very few changes
to our latest version.

He was honest, with great conscience
and in fact, very powerful.

He was a powerful character

who was able to deliver
matters of language

as well as of importance for Estonia
to the general public very well.

He wrote much, spoke much,
was excellent speaker,

very influential.

He played very important role in
passing the Language Act.

If you ask what did I
achieve in the parliament,

what's the positive balance...

Making Estonia and Tallinn
a prostitution country,

turning it to Nordic Bangkok,
I made this idea to fail.

I think I was one of the main players,

I dealt with it as my personal matter.

To some extent, it was personal,

meaning that all sorts of companies
targeted my female students.

The ideology itself didn't change.

It's still there.
It has impact today, too.

But at least it is not legal.

But if you sum up three years
of frantic work...

For the three years in the parliament...

A bit too little.

We all could have kept on.

I, too, left in 1995, with Mati.

We didn't take another round
and went back.

It was easier for Mati, as he had been
respected in linguistics all along.

I saw that you can't do anything.
That was the reason.

You can't do anything.

You are lucky if you get some allies
when you want to push something back.

When you want to pull something through,
then it's even more difficult.

Meaning of Estonian is like meaning of
life, you can't live without searching.

This is my so-called exit file.

In fact, exitlessness file.

There are tens of reports

about me advocating leaving the Soviet
Union, restoring the bourgeois republic.

Representing nationalist views
and whatnot.

A special department has followed
my personal intimate relationships.

These are also all here.

But I have nothing to be ashamed of,
I did marry this girl.

We have been married for over 60 years.

But they have followed even that.

Just as it's done today.
And I find it completely unacceptable.

He was let out briefly
in the end of the 60's,

to a phonetics conference in Prague.

There he established his first contacts
with western linguists.

Later on, he was not let to go anywhere,
but the contacts remained.

Here's the list of my correspondents.

KGB knew them.

Although I myself didn't get out.

But this is... 1972.

They already had the list
of my foreign correspondents.

With whom I exchanged letters, books.

There are outstanding linguists
of the world.

In 1988, Mati finally managed
to go abroad,

because he had not hidden
his attitude towards Soviet Union

and he was in the non-exit list.

He arrived a little late, because his
exit permit was delayed,

and people applauded when Mati Hint
finally got to go abroad.

But his work was already
internationally known.

As an intellectual, he used softer
methods for being a dissident,

so that it would be possible
to actually do something.

He wasn't the type who would
smash head on to the wall

and be imprisoned afterwards
to be unbreakable there.

He would rather keep
undermining quietly.

After the deliberation,

he is constantly criticising the
government and its mistakes.

He was not disappointed
in Estonian Republic,

but kept pointing out the problems.

It was unthinkable for Mati Hint
to join the communist party.

He is a classic tragic hero.

His family had undergone
horrible injustice

and restoring of justice
was the mission of Mati Hint.

It rose from the suffering of his
family, close people,

and, of course, the whole Estonian
society.

At first, I was afraid to read my file

I was afraid to meet people there,
people I know.

What would I do with them then?

But luckily, there was almost none.

And those who I think I'm recognising by
their writing,

their reports to the agency
do not really say anything.

'He is wearing clean clothes,
is shaving...'

'Probably not beating his wife.'

'Behaving correctly,
saying hello in the staircase.'

Things like that.

Ülpre homestead Rõngu.

Mati's father was arrested

in his home, in Ülpre,

and based on false, made up accusations

sentenced to deportation to Siberia
after long trial.

His wife, along with two
underage children,

was evicted from their home in late
autumn with just the clothes they had.

It was always combined with
confiscation of all property.

But the final verdict did not state it.

So Ülpre homestead seemingly
still belonged to Mati's father.

Based on this, Mati's father
argued in court.

Against Soviet powers.

In order to get back his homestead
that has not been confiscated from him.

Then the same repeated
after the deliberation.

Because the homestead had went
from a sovkhoz to kolkhoz

as a property without owner.

So it was sold to bona fide purchaser.

When it became possible to apply
for returning the property,

then Mati reclaimed hos father's home.

And he did not get it back.

But my father's file...
That was horrible reading.

How acquaintances, neighbours
have lied about my father,

testified things that did not happen.

And I think it's very widespread
in Estonian society.

The split in the society
is so deeply rooted.

That's what sometimes causes
the feeling of despair.

Johannes and Emilie Retsnik.

Emilie was my father's
grandmother's sister.

Johannes had a cottager's plot.

He was not a rich man.

He married Emilie,
knowing that she will die shortly.

Not because of that,
but knowing that it will happen.

And indeed, Emilie died
in two week's time.

She had lung tuberculosis.

But nevertheless, Johannes took
Emilie's sister's children,

her sister's daughter, my grandmother,

and her children, my father and aunt,

to his place after they were
evicted from their home.

It was supposed to be for a moment,
but it lasted 32 years.

So for me, my grandparents' home
is at Johannes' house,

or Juku's, we always called him Juku.

His home is my grandparents' home,
I know no other place.

I have spent nine summers
of my childhood there,

before they moved to Tartu.

There were three rooms in that house.

In the big beautiful house it is now.

Three rooms, and it was the same way
after the war when they came here.

My father as a little child, his sister
a couple of years older, and their mom.

From their home, they took with them a
farm hand who had nowhere to go,

and a female servant, also
without options to go somewhere.

Eventually, Juku returned
from Vasalemma prison,

so there were five adults
and two children living in that house.

And one room was not heated
during the winter.

That's how they lived here.

It was tense.

Father always told

how someone just reading a book
was scorned a bit.

Like 'Why don't you do
something useful?'

But mom bought him books from Tartu
when she managed to save some money.

And he read, in very poor light.
That ruined his eyes, I suppose.

Mati started to long for Tartu
very much,

and Ülpre,
when he was already of age,

when we had already
bought the house in Saaremaa.

We have spent our summers there
for 40 years by now.

And near the end of his life,
he began to...

He was just sorry
until the end of his days

for what he had missed here in his
childhood home and his family's home.

Southern Estonia may be mentally
the strongest Estonian speaking area.

Pauline Klavina, the musical leader
of one Livonian ensemble,

is writing that she's spending
some time in the summer

in Vaide, at her birthplace.

That's one thing
that is rare in this world.

A correspondence in Livonian like this.

When the international Association
of Friends of Livonia was founded,

then Mati Hint took part actively there

and joined the associations'
summer trips to Livonia.

The first time was in 1959.

Every student of Finno-Ugric languages
had to specialise on a small language.

First, I thought that the language
can't be related to Estonian.

I can understand nothing.

It's maybe because Vääri speaks Latvian
that I didn't at the time.

But in fact, it's very closely related,
once you get the ties.

I started to understand it in two weeks
and started to write in it, too.

In 1960's, Livonian was spoken
quite widely in Livonian villages.

And up to 1990's, even.

And on the first trips some 20 years ago

that we did with Mati, we always found
some last native speakers.

I can say it in Estonian now

that the language of the shore
sounds beautiful.

And when I'm thinking that in Canada,
the last real native Livonian speaker

who died about six years now,

when he was interviewed
and asked to speak Livonian,

it was so pure that he had to speak it
by himself, at least in his mind.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been
preserved, he had no one.

And I want to keep my Livonian,
as long as I live,

in shape, so sometimes during car rides,
I tell to my wife what I see.

It's mostly about the road being winding
as if drawn by a foxes' tail.

End of story.

I remember particularly
well his last trip,

it was in 2017.

Then he said that he is visiting
the Livonians for 20th time

and this will be the last trip.

But in the bus and everywhere,

he told very much about his
memories related to Livonians.

He had photo albums with him that he
showed,

and I think that one
very important role of his

is documenting Livonian
language and culture

in 1960's and 70's.

They took me into their hearts, too.

Some elderly people took me
into their heart so much

that they wanted me to inherit their
house or homestead.

I said that I don't need any trouble
with your family and relatives.

For that to rise.

Some gave me shirts, and so on,

that were very dear to
me until they wore out.

Getting attention
was very important for them.

But when the end was close,

I remember a situation

when we were at the Mazirbe school
courtyard with another tour bus,

then some Latvian boys said: 'So you
came to see your dead relatives!'

Children!

He saw demise of a nation
in front of his eyes.

It naturally had its impact on him.

For me, Livonian language
was mostly just love.

Southern Estonia is different.

As I'm Southern Estonian,

it's very important for me
what's going on in South Estonia.

I'm deeply disturbed by this.

The fact that Southern Estonian language
is considered a dialect today,

is an insult for me.

Mati was especially concerned about
Tartu language.

And the fate of written Tartu language.

Through centuries, we had two written
languages, of Tallinn and Tartu.

Southern Estonian children,
around the birthplace of Mati Hint,

have learnt to read and write in Tartu
language.

As the Soviet rule was crackling,

and an independence started to loom,

everyone awoke,
including Southern Estonians.

And their sole objective was that
their language would not disappear.

Mati Hint was one to strengthen
their faith in that not happening.

And his word
was very valuable support

to his colleagues as well as,
even more, to Southern Estonians.

My sense for danger
for Estonian language

is surely greater
because I've seen how it can end.

There's no point in coming
to the sincerity to yawn.

When he taught us,
it was deep Soviet time.

And from the very beginning,
he showed us clearly,

straightforwardly, his utter despise
towards the Soviet regime,

the Party and everything
that surrounded us.

For us, Hint was something like Panso
for theatre students.

In dialect practise trips,
he promoted his ideas.

His pro-Estonian ideas.

The trips were often to Southern Estonia
to his childhood parts

and he used to tell how it was there
before the war

and what came later during the
deportations and after the war.

I also remember a moment
after our practise trip

and finalised our dialect slips

and some girls who had studied longer
than us forgot phonetic transcription.

Evidently they had turned in
very faulty slips.

Hint started to analyse the slips.

And one of the girls did something

that caused a piece of chalk
shattering against a table.

I recall that it was a sunny winter day,
sun shone in through auditorium window

and chalk dust floated in a dead silent
auditorium, dissolving slowly.

Then we experienced the thunder,
the Hint thunder.

It was memorable
and in a way, very powerful.

Very warm, very understanding.

Sometimes very unpredictable.

His moods could vary
quite often and quickly.

Extremely considerate
towards other people.

It was in fact quite clear that
without good command of Estonian

you will not graduate
from this university.

And that was why students
were afraid of Hint.

At the same time, in an examination,
when he saw that you had studied,

understood things,
then he was extremely supportive.

In that sense, he always
respected a student.

There are famous stories
about his entrances

and tests of general knowledge

where meaningful
answers were seldom.

How many Estonians are there?
How many Russians? Estonian speakers?

This sort of things.

The point of these questions was to show
that we do not grasp the proportions

and do not, for instance, the ratio of
Estonian speakers to Russian speakers.

His first class was
The Basics of Linguistics

and this is when I understood how
interesting subject linguistics is.

Up to that point, I had thought
that it was nothing but commas,

subjects, objects, predicates
and quotation marks.

That was an eye opening experience

and I became his fan almost immediately.

It was an interesting class

in the sense that in the course of that,

a textbook for high school formed
and was published in 1983.

It caused a serious storm
in Estonian school circles

because it was the first textbook that
tried to approach language semiotically.

It was also the first textbook
containing wrong forms

and explaining why they were wrong.

The classes he taught

and his approach to
linguistics was superb.

I suppose he left Tartu
for personal reasons,

because he did his PhD thesis in the
Institute of Language and Literature.

He worked there.

But he didn't like the atmosphere there,
Endel Sõgel in particular,

and he found more liberal atmosphere
in Pedagogical Institute.

And he stayed there.

It's probably thanks to him, too,
that it has become a serious university.

So it's not coincidence or miracle

that Tallinn University chose Mati Hint
its first honorary member.

But when I started to work there,

Mati invited me to apply
and I took his place there in 2000.

I have revisited my examination
transcripts afterwards

and noticed that see,
that student has become a journalist,

that one is a notable player in culture
or a writer and so on,

so there are many people who have given
or giving much to Estonian culture.

The generation now in their forties

that carries on everything
that Mati spoke for back then.

When man stays himself,
he gets much.

There was an accident
worse than one can imagine.

When you have to bury your child.

And it so happened that our son,

on 21. November 2001,

having built with his own hands
and help from his wife Astrid

an apartment on the top floor
of a house in Kadriorg,

in the attic as we called it,

where another young man
had built an apartment too,

was clearing roof tiles.

Actually, the neighbour did,
as they were on his side

and they were lying there.
Madis took the tiles from him

under the hatch there.

It was cold as always.

Madis was wearing only his shirt,
anxiously waiting for next handful.

And he went out to the roof, too.

But it's a very steep roof.

They had been to the roof before
and no one knows why he fell.

Although it's not difficult
to slip there.

So that sad anniversary is approaching,
20 years.

So journalists of his age probably
remember him as a journalist.

He would have been 51 in autumn,
recently, on 27. October.

When our son Madis was killed,

after being a war correspondent

in hot spots all over the world,

without anything happening to him,
except for...

We have a photo,

where a wall is full of bullet holes
around him.

He stood at the wall
and bullet holes were around him.

In Chechnya, where he was
a war correspondent, too,

there was order in effect.

Wherever he slept, a gunman
slept at the door of his room.

Nothing happened there, but as soon
as he came home, he was killed.

As Astrid couldn't think of any
other place where he could be buried

but in Saaremaa, our tie to Saaremaa
is now inevitable.

Although we are going to Rõngu cemetery.

Pick up the candles.

Place one here, one for grandpa.

And one for the second child.

If we can light them,
then there's one for every child.

Among philologists, he was one of the
best known, if not the best known.

A philologist who the society knew,
people from other fields.

He knew how to promote language
to make it more understandable.

But also to fight for righteousness and
justice, that's important for me.

Mati's contribution to Estonian language
is indisputable and vast

as a researcher
as well as a political figure.

And young Estonian Republic truly needed
the work he did

to secure the status of Estonian
language.

I'd like to discuss things with him,

and think of current developments

and hear his statement
"Leave every hope you have".

He has very good, very unconventional
sense of humour.

So to mutter in the dark of the night,

that would be cool,
that's what I'd like.

His call was to teach the teachers,
as he has said.

And there is no one in Estonian culture
to compare to him.

He was truly a phenomenon.

Not only my friend,
but a friend of all of us.

It was very important for him
that Estonian people would do well.

Like many great men of the past,

Mati Hint is a symbol of
not only a linguist,

but a serious Estonian man

who keeps on having an effect.

Students of Mati Hint.
- We are his first class.

Graduated in 1980, right?
- Yeah.

One of the classes he supervised,
the favourite class.

One of these, there was another one
ten years later.

They are accidentally here.
- Completely.

Very accidentally!
- It wasn't agreed at all.

We set out to come and see
where Mati is resting.

And see who we met.
- It's the anniversary of his burial.

We buried the urn exactly one year ago.

Me and Karin can recall
that after the first year,

we were the ones who had
to go and wish Mati a happy birthday.

Because on 28. August,
we were in Tallinn.

We went to Trummi street to greet him.

Mati got very old, 40.

At the Trummi store,
our hearts started to race

and it lasted
until we reached his house.

Later, with our graduation paper,
it was the same.

Every time we went there, our hearts
started to race at the Trummi store.

You were afraid?
- Out of respect.

Afraid, too, because Mati always
said what he thought.

I don't meet my classmates like that.

I don't have this kind of relationship
with my students.

They haven't had this kind
of student life.

Mati was effectively our class teacher,
he knew everything.

Told off when needed,
protected if necessary.