Submitted by Margaret McNamara on the 2016 fall semester study abroad program in Prague, Czech Republic…
Growing up in America, there really isn’t a need to know another language other than English. Although there are foreign language requirements at U.S. high schools and universities, it’s not exactly necessary for that information to stick. Granted there are exceptions, but for the most part when an American encounters a foreigner in America, they usually aren’t much help when it comes to knowing a second language, at least in my experience.
In Europe, it’s a much different story. It seems that everyone in Europe speaks at least two languages competently, which would makes sense. Geographically speaking, Europeans can travel to other countries the way we travel to other states so it serves them to know how to communicate with each other.
To offer a numerical perspective, the Czech Republic has about 10.52 million people in it and it’s the only country in the world where Czech is the main language. Slovakia is the second Czech speaking country and I don’t know if you can even call it that as only about 24 percent of the population speaks Czech. So if a native wanted to go on vacation to Italy, Croatia, Spain etc. and they didn’t know another language, chances are they won’t be able to find someone who could understand and help them.
As a result, plenty of locals in Prague know English and many know a third language. That’s lucky for me, because so far my Czech is pretty much limited to hello, please, thank you, excuse me and do you speak English? But even with so many English speakers, it’s important to realize that I am in their home and they are accommodating me by speaking English. Even with so many English speakers in Prague, things still get lost in translation and there is still a barrier. One of the foreign language professors told us on the first day that language is a key and in the last two weeks, I’ve understood more than ever how valuable that key is, especially as the member on the receiving end. While I don’t know another language and it’s highly unlikely that I’ll master Czech in four months, it’s given me a lot to think about and a new goal to set. Maybe after this semester, I’ll try to at least revisit my high school Spanish…