Hey everyone! I hope you don't mind me bugging you. :wink: I am a high school student in California and have sparked an interest in spending a year abroad with the AFS (an American foreign exchange program). My attention was drawn to the Czech Republic because I thought it would be neat to see where some of my family came from. However, when I did some research on the language, I became a bit discouraged because the grammar appears to be very difficult! I speak German, but I didn't think that it would help because it isn't a Slavic language like Czech. I've have always heard that immersing yourself in a culture will drastically improve learning a language, but I was wondering if any of you might be able to give some input. During my stay there, would it take months before I would be able to communicate effectively? Any advice would be much appreciated...thank you!
Markos, I don't know at what level you speak German, but learning ANY foreign language will make learning a second (third, fourth, ...) easier. For examply, just the mere experience of learning different grammatical structures will teach you that you can't just translate literally from language to another, that there is more involved than that. After four years of high-school Spanish, I tried Russian in college, and found it much easier to pick up a second language, even though there is virtually nothing similar between the two languages. You should find the same going from German to Czech (see the discussion "Is it better to learn German before Czech?" if you haven't already). Of course, this doesn't mean you'll learn Czech overnight. Even with four years of high-school Spanish, two semester's worth of college Russian, and a two-month-long crash course in Czech, it took me about 3 months before I felt fairly confident in conversation. That doesn't mean that I understood everything or that I could say everything that I wanted. Rather it means that when I didn't understand some piece of a phrase, I knew enough to ask what a certain word meant. Or if I didn't know how to say a certain word, I could "get around" it ("circumlocute" is the technical word) by saying something like "the food that you eat in the evening" for "dinner." It may sound funny, but it gets your point across, and typically the Czechs you're speaking with will teach you the word you're looking for in the process (sometimes after they've enjoyed a little chuckle at your expense :lol: ). Now I was also around Americans a lot, whereas if you're going on an exchange program, odds are you will not see many Americans (unless they happen to send you to Prague), so you may pick up Czech faster than I did. Immersing oneself in a culture is HUGELY beneficial to learning a language! Good luck!
omg markos! im soo going with afs to the czech republic 04-05!! hehe, well i havent been accepted all teh way yet...but im workin on it. i just wanted to say hey cuz i thought it was cool that you were interested in it too!!! dont get discouraged! im teaching it to myself pretty much and im slowly making some progress! itll come with time if u just make an effort to practice and study A LOT ok well i guess thats all i wanted to say! have fun! Hayley
Yo, Markos dude and balletchicadee. Don't panic. I' was an ex-change student in the Czech Republic with AFS 2002-2003 and it kicked ass! Of course there was a minor language problem at first but it was amazing how fast that all went away, and in just a few months I was even talking to myself in czech and dreaming in czech at night. And, if you know german you'll find out that many, many, many words are simmilar and some are the same in Czech and German, for example; Taska & flaska. Also some ex-change students found the grammer very easy 'cause they said it was very similar to the grammar in Latin. I wouldn't know since I don't speak Latin, but I belive them. So basicly, don't panic and no worries, you'll learn the language sooner or later. Just try to enjoy your stay and have fun. The Czech Republic is a wonderfull, wonderfull place and I love it very much. I was planing on going there for last christmas but I couldn't but I was there around easter instaid and I allready want to go again. I can picture myself going there 2-3 times a year in the future or even living there. I hope you'll have the same nice and kick ass experience as I did.
