One of the blogs I love to read is Czechmate Diary, by Tanja, a Czech immigrant to the United States. Tanja is in love with all things Czecho and is so proud to be Czech! Her wonderful subtitle to her blog is "Small Bohemian Steps to World Domination."Someone in power must have recognized this because she was recently invited to a party in Washington D. C. to meet Czech President Vaclav Klaus. Tanja's enthusiasm on her blog for preparing for this party and getting to this party are a delight to read. Every woman will identify with her plaintive cry "what shall I wear???"
On her last post, she featured a link to her husband's take on the event. I enjoyed reading it so much I decided I had to link to here. Tanja's husband also got me to watch the nine minute interview Vaclav Klaus did with Glen Beck (sorry Mr. Beck can't pronounce 'Vaclav' properly, Mr. President) . It was the first interview I've seen in English with the Czech President. He made me think. And as a librarian, I couldn't help but agree with his contention that the marketplace of ideas needs all voices.
I'm also always struck by how good the President's English is each time I hear him (well actually, the only other time I've heard him was when he started the Prague Half Marathon race). The hardest thing for Czech learners of English is to understand native speakers using normal native speed when they talk. The President followed Glen Beck's English perfectly. Usually someone of his age in the Czech Republic has perfect Russian as a second language, not English. He has really invested the time in his English language. I want to give President Klaus his props for that.
Click on my title to read Tanja's husband's blog post about their visit to Washington D. C.
4 comments:
wow, go Tanja! a honor for bloggers everywhere :-)
Well, that's interesting alright. In India generally, educated people know English but there are some who just won't speak it at all out of a sort of protest of India's colonial past. I must up my efforts to get to know Hindi better.
Hi Karen - Whilst I disagree with President Klaus regarding his views on climate change and his attitude to the EU, like you, I do admire him for the way he has learned to speak English so well. As you rightly say, he is part of the generation in the Czech Republic who were forced to learn Russian and were usually forbidden to study English. I heard him speak in English at the diplomatic reception I attended at the British Embassy in Prague back in June. His speech was quite humourous with the odd joke at the Ambassadors expense. I always contend that if you can understand and use humour in a language that is not your own, then you really have learned to speak that language. I long for day when my Czech becomes as good as President Klaus's English!
Hi Guys! Thank you so much! And thanks so much Karen for writing about me - what an honor!
Now it's back to poopy diapers :)))
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