Learning Czech: one man’s journey (part I) / Hodina cestiny: jak to vidi Michal (1.cast)

Here is a guest post of a gentleman named Michael whose enthusiasm for learning the Czech language is quite inspirational. See for yourself…

CZ: Je na case predstavit meho mileho hosta Michala. Je zakem druheho rocniku ceskeho jazyka na mistni universite a jeho nadseni k uceni tohoto sloziteho jazyka je proste nakazlive. Posudte sami:

“IF I HAD TO CHOOSE MY FAVORITE CZECH WORD…”

If I had to choose my favorite Czech word, “pokoj” comes to mind immediately. With its double meaning of ‘room’ and ‘peace of mind’, it is, to me, the perfect example of why one should learn the language to know the culture.

I have been asked to write about my experiences as a student of the Czech language. That I might have a somewhat ‘new’ perspective on being a student, there is no doubt; it has been 31 and a half years since I last sat at a desk in front of an instructor. I have taught but not been taught in all that intervening time. What an experience it is to again stand at a blackboard with a piece of chalk in hand trying desperately to think of the right (or, indeed, any) Czech words with the instructor and other students watching me struggle! It is an ‘americanism’ to say you love a thing (if I understand correctly – not a very Czech-like thing to say) but I love this class. I am always disappointed that my hour is up and I must leave; definitely not my memory of previous classes in any other discipline. Though I probably catch and understand about one in three words, I still want more. I get so excited to have understood one spoken Czech word (with fireworks going off in my head) that I lose the next two.

Learning case endings (koncovky jsou moc tezky!) is a daunting task, depressing almost but you then come across a gem of a word, like ‘pokoj’ and you again realize how wonderful it is to learn this language and what a window into the culture it gives you.

But I digress; I should introduce myself and my background, if only to allow any reader to understand my viewpoints. I am 55 years old (so have a corresponding depletion of gray matter in my brain) which makes memorization tasks akin to Atlas lifting the world on his back. I have a full-time business so time is at a premium. Though I have not a drop of Czech blood in me, my wife does (her mother was Czech). She does not speak a word of Czech however, so can only be my inspiration, not a direct help with the language. For the past year and a half, I have been teaching myself Czech through CD sets, grammar books and online resources. I even contacted a Czech graduate student to help as a tutor). Still, I found a need for structure (translate that as being graded with a chance of failing) so here I sit in Czech 402, second level Czech at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. I am so fortunate to have a Slavic language department of a major university available to me. I am one of seven students and I am the ‘starý muž’ of the class. The class has already listened to the song ‘starý muž’ and talked about pan Louka, the ‘starý muž’ of the film ‘Kolya’. I may be getting a complex about being ‘starý’ but I’ll get over it.

Our instructor is ceška graduate student in linguistics and education. This is her first language teaching assignment. She is so sweet and nice, she could melt ice cream at the North Pole. Her enthusiasm for teaching us is infectious and I think she will go on to great things.

So, if my moderator, the 2007 website of the year award winner for her quote ‚small bohemian steps to world domination‘ (at least, in my opinion) allows me to continue, I’ll report again on this voyage into this ocean of mental delight – the Czech language.

The End.

– Do you have an interesting story regarding the Czech culture that you would like to share? Contact me! –

CZ: Kdybych is mel vybrat me nejoblibenejsi ceske slovo, tak by to urcite bylo slovo “pokoj” a to proto, ze to znamena nejen “klid v dusi”, ale take “jizba”. Tato slovni ricka je je jednim z duvodu, proc je vyhodnejsi naucit se cesky jazyk pred tim, nez se clovek ponori do jeho kultury.

Byl jsem pozadan, abych napsal o mych zkusenostech, co se tyce studovani ceskeho jazyka. To, ze mam jaksi “novejsi” nahled na zivot studentsky, o tom neni pochyby: uz tomu bylo 31 a 1/2 roku co jsem naposledy sedel ve skolni lavici. Ucil jsem behem techto let, ale ne naopak – tedy nikdo neucil me. A jaka je to zkusenost! Zase jednou stojite pred tabuli, v ruce se vam poti krida a snazite si vymyslet nejake – v mnoha pripadech – jakekoliv ceske slovo, ktere vam prijde do hlavy, zatimco se na vas cela trida dychtive kouka. Je to dosti “poamerictele” rikat, ze neco milujete, ale ja opravdu tento predmet miluji. Vzdycky je mi hrozne lito, kdyz je tech 60 minut u konce a ucitel me vyhani ze tridy. Tuto “zapalenost” si opravdu nepamatuji ze zadnych jinych predmetu, ktere jsem v minulosti studoval. I kdyz pravdepodobne pochytim a rozeznam pouze 1 ze 3 ceskych slov, chci se jich naucit mnohem vic! Vetsinou jsem z toho vzrusenim tak vedle – ze jsem tedy nejake to ceske slovo poznal – ze mi ty dalsi dve slovicka proste uniknou.

Ucit se koncovky je to nejhorsi, skoro bych to i nazval zkusenosti deprimujici. Pak ale prejdete na slovo jako je “pokoj”, a zase si vzpomenete jak prekrasny je tento jazyk cesky, a jak se vam timto zpusobem otevre okno do kultury ceskeho naroda.

Ale ja odbocuji; mel bych se nejdrive asi predstavit, a to aby lide alespon trosku porozumneli, o cem to vlastne mluvim. Je mi 55 let, coz znamena, ze cast mozku uz mi nepracuje, a tedy ucit se neco nazpamet je dosti obtizne. Jsem podnikatel, tudiz nemam moc casu. A i kdyz v sobe nemam ani trosku ceske krve, ma zena mi to nahrazuje – jeji matka byla Ceska. Bohuzel se jazyk nikdy nenaucila a tedy mi nemuze byt napomocna s mymi domacimi ukoly. To ale vubec nevadi, protoze je moji stalou inspiraci. Uz tomu bude 1 a 1/2 roku, co jsem se zacal ucit cesky a to skrze ucebnice gramatiky, ruzna CDcka a take informace na internetu. Dokonce jsem i zkontaktoval ceskeho studenta, aby me doucoval. Stale jsem ale touzil po drsnejsi studijni strukture. No, a dnes tu sedim v Cestine 402, druhy rocnik Ceskeho jazyka na universite v Severni Karoline, “Chapel Hill”. Mam velke stesti, ze mam tuto svelou universitu s oborem slovanskych jazyku tak blizko. Jsem jednim ze 7mi studentu, a mezi nimi jsem “stary muz”, jako ten “stary muz” z filmu Kolja, o kterem jsme ve tride jiz nekolikrat diskutovali. Mozna, ze to tu s tim starim trosku prehanim, ale nebojte se, me to prejde.

Nase pani ucitelka je ceskou absolventkou v linguistice a pedagogiky a my jsme jeji prvni tridou, kterou kdy ucila. Je vam tak mila, ze by mohla roztat i snehulaka. Jeji nadseni pro vyuku ceskeho jazyka je dosti nakazlive a jsem si jisty, ze to v zivote dotahne velmi daleko.

A jestli mi to moderator – a podle meho nazoru vitez webstranky roku 2007 ( a to diky svemu podtitulu “small bohemian steps to world domination”) – dovoli, ja se vam z me “lahodne poute za ceskym jazykem” zase nekdy ozvu.

– Jestlize mate podobnou prihodu, kterou byste rad/a sdilela svetu, zkontaktujte me! –