This paper is an attempt to provide some possible reasons why students lack motivation to learn English for Specific Purposes (ESP) at three Lithuanian educational institutions: Vilnius University (VU), Mykolas Romeris University (MRU) and International School of Law and Business (ISLB). 97 full-time students from different study programmes took part in the research: Mathematics, Information Technologies (VU), Tourism and Hotel Administration, Visual Communication (ISLB), Social Work, Communication and Creative Industries, and Psychology (MRU). The questions to determine the level of motivation were compiled based on motivation researcher’s Zoltán Dörnyei’s book Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom (2001). Zoltán Dörnyei groups the factors influencing students’ motivation to learn into three levels: learner level, language level (culture and community) and learning situation level. In this research it was decided to find out how timetable, marks, oral evaluations, difficult tasks, other people, knowledge from school encourage or discourage the respondents to study. Based on the results lecturers can try to alter their behaviour and activities in the classroom so that students do not lose their motivation in the course of studies. The results do not reveal any major differences among the two universities (VU and MRU) and one university of applied sciences (ISLB). Students are less motivated if they do not see clearly how they can apply their knowledge and skills in the future or are discouraged from learning by weaker knowledge brought from school.

One of the ways to deepen one’s understanding of different cultures, peoples and histories is to study proverbs and sayings in various languages. Proverbs and sayings often have an international character and in many cases have equivalents with the same or very similar meaning and structure in different languages. This article examines the semantic and cognitive peculiarities of proverbs and sayings in Kazakh, English and Russian. The authors compare and contrast proverbs and sayings in these three languages, identifying their equivalents in terms of meaning. The analysis is based on Matti Kuusi’s system of classifying proverbs according to thematic principles. These themes largely reflect fundamental aspects of human life and are common to Kazakh, English and Russian paremias. In the article, equivalent proverbs in these three languages are grouped into 13 main themes. The comparison of these fixed expressions shows numerous semantic similarities, which tentatively suggests that, although the languages belong to different families and typological groups, the evolution of human language may go back to a common source.

Business start-ups, small and medium sized companies face financial difficulties to finance their innovative activities, which hinders innovative products from commercialization. This mainly results from the high risks and information asymmetries involved in such projects. Standard debt financers are reluctant to take these risks, besides the young enterprises lack collateral to receive the credit. However, the risk tolerance for investors differs as well. One of the alternatives for bank loans is venture capitalists, who rather become partners than creditors of young, innovative companies with growth potential. Particularly venture capital or the so-called “smart money” is what financially supports such business ventures, provides funding for technological transfer and commercialization. The authors of the present paper have chosen to examine and compare the venture capital attraction possibilities in the Baltic States using Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index (by Groh et al.) data for 2012-2018. Venture capital market development is currently a very topical issue for the Latvian government, taking into consideration the critical importance of venture capital for financing innovation. Becoming the leader in the venture capital sector and No. 1 choice of start-up companies in the Baltics are now the objectives of the government of Latvia. It was therefore relevant and important to compare venture capital attraction possibilities in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to see and analyse in which aspects Latvia lags behind its neighbouring countries and in which it succeeds. The paper compares the six main factors or key drivers which determine the attractiveness of venture capital markets. According to Groh et al. (2016), these factors are: 1) Economic Activity; 2) Depth of Capital Market; 3) Taxation; 4) Investor Protection & Corporate Governance; 5) Human & Social Environment and 6) Entrepreneurial Culture & Deal Opportunities. However, the results of the research reveal that the main problems for international investor attraction in the Baltic States are underdeveloped capital markets and low economic activity. Latvia, unfortunately, is the most unattractive for international venture capital investors. Nevertheless, it has experienced the fastest growth during six years, which means that there is potential for becoming a leader in the venture capital sector. The present paper reveals the aspects to be improved for becoming more attractive for venture capital investments.

The goal of providing early intervention services is to decrease costs to society by decreasing the need for special services in school and beyond (Carpenter, 2007; Jacob, Hartshorne, 2007). Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare the perceived importance of infant mental health services and the perceived performance of these services as provided in the United States and Lithuania. Material and methods. A questionnaire was created by the researcher and comparisons were made for importance and performance as rated by Lithuanian students as compared to that rated by students and practitioners in the United States. Results. Results indicated that both Lithuanian and American respondents rated significant differences between importance and performance of services. When groups were compared, Lithuanian students rated “services provided in the appropriate environment” significantly higher in importance than American respondents. American students and practitioners rated “services being coordinated by a single agency” as being performed signifiantly better than Lithuanian students’ ratings. Conclusion. This study brings awareness to the international differences that exist when providing early intervention services to students.