Some are easier than others

At the moment, I'm struggling to learn Czech.  I know how to say please and thank you.  I'd even be able to order beer in a restaurant if I wanted to.  The language blends consonants together in weird ways: p gets run together with k, m with l.  Some sounds are best described as throat-based sneezing. In addition to prepositions, there are weird little endings on nouns called inflections which give information on how words are used.  However, this language is easier to learn than Chinese.

English and Czech are related, though they're only third or fourth cousins.  Both are thought to be descended from an Indo-European language in use around 3700 B.C. Today, 3 billion people speak Indo-European languages, making it the largest language group of any on earth. Because English and Czech are related, there are words and word roots in common. Chinese and English have none to speak of, and Chinese does not have an alphabet. Czech does, though it's pretty different from ours (see below).     

Language Learning

Here's a joke about learning languages:

What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
Answer: A bilingual
What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
Answer: A trilingual
What do you call someone who speaks only one language?
Answer: An American.

 I apologize if you have heard it before. Monolingualism is rooted in the American psyche.  Because our nation is an amalgam of people from all over the world, the maintenance and early acquisition of languages other than English was been historically discouraged in the U.S. As a result, lots of  otherwise well educated Americans believe it takes special mental ability to acquire a second language. What it actually takes is patience, exposure, and humility... LOTS of humility.

The point is relevant to any native speaker going overseas to teach English. Ours is the international language. All over the world, people speak this language, and welcome us to come to their countries and teach them, whether we know theirs or not.  But it seems to me that it's much better manners to make the attempt to learn theirs.

I used to think people who walked around with earbuds attached to their heads looked silly. Six weeks ago, I purchased an Ipod shuffle, and since then I've been walking to the university mumbling statements like prosim to opakovat pomaleji. (Please repeat that slowly.)  I thought I'd look pretty eccentric doing this, but so many people use Ipods these days that it's nothing unusual.

Czech is a minority language with only 12 million native speakers. Rosetta Stone does not have a Czech edition-- they would not make enough money. Instead, I purchased the Pimsleur program. Based on the "audiolingual" method, it involves listening and repetition.  When I tried to work with it at my desk, I found it unutterably boring, but when I'm walking around it isn't bad, and it's good for promoting quick recall.

The adventure begins

A couple of years ago, Michelle and I were having coffee at the Oasis on State of Franklin. At the time, she was pastor of Cherokee United Methodist Church in Johnson City.  She mentioned she'd like to work overseas and asked about locating international projects. Wanted to know how I get picked for so many. Said she envied me.

I mentioned some websites, but advised her the best way is asking around.  Once they realize what is involved, most people don't want to work overseas.  Besides, our lives don't always permit it. "Trust me, Michelle. If people know you're up for working abroad, the opportunities find you."

 I doubt she really believed me.  But she talked to Randy Frye, our District Superintendent and in less than two weeks, Michelle was picked for a long-term gig in Prague. She and her husband Gary work with Czechs and English speaking ex-pats. They've been in the Czech Republic about a year.

Prague! Now, it was my turn to be envious. I've done projects in China, Turkey, and Mexico, but never in Europe. For the past several summers, I've worked in China, but this year, I'm free to do something else. Could I be useful to Michelle and her husband Gary, a fellow English teacher and church musician?

We discussed it on SKYPE.  Michelle asked how my husband and I would  feel about doing a series of English camps.  Joe is a United Methodist pastor, experienced at teaching conversational English. Our students would be pastors, youth, church workers, and locals in Prague.

So we're going.  We've purchased our air tickets,  and now that the ETSU semester is over, we're getting ready.

I'd blogged about our Chinese travels (www.rozchina.blogspot.com).  It seems to me this adventure calls for a blog of its own.  These days, some people live on Facebook,  I'm not one of them, but in deference to the times, I am posting some of this blog material on a public Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/czeching

Trust me, this blog will be better than the Facebook page.


Above: Michelle McKinnon-Young
Below: Map of the Czech Republic