Learning Natural Languages

[Tonchi]

Grant, I AM Czech (on my mother's side, Bohemian father) and I can tell you the only reasons for you to learn that language is to train police/guard dogs or because you want to communicate with spies. Czech was the lengua franca of the spy trade in the 60's precisely because so few people knew it or wanted to know it. The only language which sounds worse to speak is Dutch (and I am Dutch on my father's side). A lot of my relatives still live over there, but my uncle is the only one who has visited them so far. My immigrant grandfather had a horrible time learning to write English because there are no vowels when you're writing Czech. I applaud your desire to teach English there, there are several work-abroad websites promising good positions in the CR, but maybe you could go to the American University there instead, once you are already working?

There are two Czech kids in our Thalia fan club, a boy and a girl, but I would have to ask them which language they speak because some of the people speak German. Splitting the country into Slovakia and the Czech Republic also complicated things. If you are serious, PM me and I will contact my kids there

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by Tonchi

Grant, I AM Czech (on my mother's side, Bohemian father) and I can tell you the only reasons for you to learn that language is to train police/guard dogs or because you want to communicate with spies.

There are something like 12 million native Czech speakers in the world. I'm learning Czech so that I can communicate with people in their native language, especially if they don't speak English. An even stronger motive for me is the sense of accomplishment.

Originally Posted by Tonchi

The only language which sounds worse to speak is Dutch (and I am Dutch on my father's side).

Ok, Dutch can sound kind of funny. I listened to Czech news radio for a few hours yesterday and I think it's a beautiful language. Some of the rhythms that emerge in regular speech are absolutely mind blowing.

Originally Posted by Tonchi

A lot of my relatives still live over there, but my uncle is the only one who has visited them so far. My immigrant grandfather had a horrible time learning to write English because there are no vowels when you're writing Czech.

Czech has plenty of vowels...

From locallingo.com/czech:
Long vowels: á, é, í, ó, ú/ů, ý
Softening vowel: ě

Plus some consonants that can function as vowels(actually sonorants I believe).

Originally Posted by Tonchi

I applaud your desire to teach English there, there are several work-abroad websites promising good positions in the CR, but maybe you could go to the American University there instead, once you are already working?

From what I hear it's not very difficult for native English speakers to find teaching jobs. I have thought about persuing a Masters degree part time while there so that I could go after a Uni position.

Originally Posted by Tonchi

Splitting the country into Slovakia and the Czech Republic also complicated things.

At least Slovak and Czech are mutually intelligible. Czechosolvakia was only a country for mid-late chunk of the 20th century so I've been curious to know how much of a change this actually was. I'll have to look into that.

I appreciate all the replies, everyone.