Over the weekend, participants began arriving in Brno for the Summer School of Slavonic (Czech) Studies, traditionally organised by the Department of Czech for Foreigners at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University.
Why do foreigners learn a language spoken by a nation of just ten million people? This is the question Eva Rusínová, the summer school’s director, has been asking participants for 35 years. “An American student once told me that the language of love is not French, but Czech. You really have to love Czech because it is a very complicated and difficult language. I realised that in my first year of teaching foreigners, and I am still grateful to everyone who wants to speak Czech with me and learn Czech,” she says. She first worked at the summer school as a lecturer, then as an organiser, and has been its director since 1995. “The summer school and the people who study with us have become very dear to me,” she adds.
Opening ceremony
The 59th edition of the prestigious event, which this year attracted 100 students from 32 countries, opened on 20 July in the Faculty of Arts auditorium. “I wish you all plenty of strength, energy and enthusiasm for learning Czech, as well as the joy that comes from discovering new things and especially from learning a new language, which, as we get to grips with it, opens up new worlds and reveals horizons that were previously hidden,” said Vice-Rector for Internationalisation and External Relations of MU Petr Suchý in his opening address.
“When I worked as a guide at the summer school and later taught there for several years, I was surprised by how quickly students can, if they want to, get to grips with and master Czech and even pass the government-certified Czech language exam,” says Suchý. “I have always been delighted not only by people studying Czech or other Slavonic languages, but also by seeing people at the summer schools who learned Czech simply because they were interested in it. And many of them were older, too – a good reminder that it is never too late to learn a language and that it is worth giving it a try at any age.” he recalls.
“Don’t give up. Even for native speakers, our mother tongue can sometimes be challenging and difficult, but that should encourage us to keep moving forward and continue developing and improving,” Suchý told the students, adding that the summer school is a wonderful place where lifelong friendships are often formed.
Roman Klepetko from the House of International Cooperation greeted the students and wished success to students of Czech from universities abroad whose studies are supported by the Czech Republic through scholarships. Other summer school participants include people of Czech descent and those with family ties to the Czech Republic or former Czechoslovakia. Some learn Czech because they need it for their profession, including translators and interpreters, while others are enthusiasts fulfilling a long-held dream by studying the language. The foreign students also span a very wide age range – this year’s oldest participant was born in 1953 and the youngest in 2008.
“This is the fifth time I have had the honour of opening this gathering. I recognise some of you from previous years, and I am very pleased that you enjoy returning to Brno. I also see new faces, and I am very glad that the Summer School of Slavonic (Czech) Studies continues to attract new participants. It is a great honour that the number of students at this event remains high and that interest in Czech is not declining,” said Petr Dytrt, Vice-Dean for Internationalisation and Information Technologies at the Faculty of Arts.
Interest in Czech culture
Foreigners are often drawn to learning Czech by their love of Czech music and literature. “When Japanese people come to us, the first names they mention are Leoš Janáček and Antonín Dvořák. They often know much more about these composers than we do. They love these Czech titans of classical music,” notes Eva Rusínová. “Italians, meanwhile, can list works by Karel Čapek, and they know Bohumil Hrabal’s prose and Hašek’s Švejk.”
Among Italians in particular, interest in Czech culture was sparked by Angelo Maria Ripellino’s novel Magic Prague. “Ripellino described Prague to Italians in such a way that they fell in love with it and became interested in the Czech language too. Professor Sergio Corduas was Ripellino’s student and helped build Czech literature’s reputation in Italy by translating it. His students later founded Poldi libri, a publishing house that publishes Czech literature in Italian. If you can hear a foreigner speaking perfect Czech, they are very likely Italian,” she explains.
The work of Milan Kundera, the famous Brno-born writer, has also led many foreign students to study Czech. This year, the course includes a specialist lecture on his Czech and French novels, entitled The Language of Thought (?).
What awaits summer school participants?
Students are divided into nine courses according to their level of proficiency. They study Czech for five hours a day from Monday to Saturday. The courses focus on pronunciation, conversation and stylistics. After the morning classes, the programme includes a variety of lectures, discussions and specialist seminars. Evenings are reserved for screenings of famous Czech films.
On Fridays, the students head out on trips around the Czech Republic. This year, they will visit the chateau in Vranov nad Dyjí and take a boat trip on the Vranov Reservoir. They will also visit Prague, the Punkva Caves and the Macocha Gorge in the Moravian Karst, as well as the brewery in Černá Hora. The summer school runs until 15 August and there are eleven lecturers and three guides looking after the 100 participants.
Four questions for Summer School director Eva Rusínová
Which language features or words are hardest for foreigners to learn?
Everyone thinks it is the sounds “ř” or “č”, but many foreigners pronounce them beautifully. I teach Czech pronunciation myself, and I’ve seen that foreigners can master these sounds. What is much harder for them, however, is Czech prefixes. Understanding the differences between napít, vypít, zapít and dopít is a real challenge. And then there are verb constructions – bojovat s něčím, bojovat za něco, bojovat proti někomu. For foreigners learning Czech, all of these are much bigger problems than pronunciation.
Do you have any unusual method of teaching Czech?
To get students excited about Czech culture and everyday life, I tell them that we will “eat our way” around the Czech Republic. With snacks, treats and specialties such as the Kofila chocolate bar, Lomnické suchary, Miletínské modlitbičky, the famous pickles from Znojmo and the pungent Olomoucké tvarůžky, we “travel” through the whole country. At the end of the course, we raise a toast with Becherovka. I motivate students with food, so when they leave the summer school, their backpacks are edible souvenirs.
What are the students usually pleasantly surprised by in Brno?
Our public transport. They are amazed by how well the services work and how punctual they are. Another positive surprise is our cultural tradition. I personally love functionalist architecture, and in the course for the most advanced students that I teach, I have a programme focused on tours of Brno’s famous villas. Last year we visited five villas; this year there will be six.
And what takes some getting used to?
Czech food is often something that shocks foreigners. I wouldn’t say our food comes as an unpleasant surprise, but our eating habits can take some getting used to. For many years, we have worked with the Veveří canteen to provide summer school participants with a menu that offers a good range of options for both vegetarians and meat eaters. At the same time, they gradually add typical Czech dishes to the menu so that foreign students can try them. This gives them a chance to sample svíčková, fried cheese and vepřo knedlo zelo. I’ve notice that they are not particularly keen on our bread dumplings; and it is impossible to convince an Italian that a sweet dumpling is a main course.