I
do speak following languages:
German -
as my mother tongue
English -
as my first foreign language, which has brought myself professionally up to
Mumbay,
Hungarian -
as the mother language of my wife and the favorite language of my younger
daughter
Czech -
which I started to learn because of professional needs some years
ago
Slovak -
according to Czech
French -
the favorite language of my older daughter, which took me one year of
hard work but also much pleasure - I am very fond in this language
Italian - one very intensive year of learning too, now a bit behind
french, but mostly I like to sing in this language
Spanish - I have been starting it, when last year I spent a week on
Teneriffa, and I had much fun using it. My vocabulary is very much
limited, but that's relative as it is in all other foreign languages too.
Russian -
a few words have still remained from my first course in Russian, but in
my memory I still have those days before my eyes, when I was learning
Czech in Upper Austria and at the same time some people have learned
Russian there. These days, especially the Russian tea-evenings, I will never forget.
It
has to be implicitness to mention, that all these languages I do speak
are on different levels, one more in reference of business use, some
others in reference of personal use.
Do
you think I would speak one of them perfectly, would you? Okay, in
German we could discuss about, I think I speak it really well, but
perfectly? My sight of view is, that almost no-one is able to speak a
foreign language perfectly. Later on at this site I will give you some
examples, please be patient until then.
I
am a so called "typical Viennese", which will only understand
those people, who are a bit closer to Austrian
history. In particular it does mean, that my grandparents by two
parts have been Czech workers, by one part Austrian farmers and by one
part Hungarian bourgeois. (That sounds to be a good mix, isn't it?)
Do
you think, I could have been able to profit from linguistic heredity?
No, I am sorry, that's wrong. Here are the examples therefore:
Czech
language: As I have had five years I have spent half a year in an Czech
Kindergarten, but never before and never between this time I did speak
any Czech. What a pity, when I remember back to the time many years
later, when I have been learning Czech for professional reasons.
Hungarian
language: The first time I was in Budapest I was two years old. In my
school years in my holidays I have spent many weeks there too and I know
it and I like it much. (The same as with Prague.) But as for the
language I really did'nt like it. This has changed completely when many
years later I was in Budapest for visiting a football-match Hungary
against Austria in 1973, when I have met my later wife. Then it was
necessary to learn and afterwards to appreciate this language much.
All
the other languages I have learned step by step then and with each of
them my affection for foreign languages has grown more and more. So I
found my own and efficient way to learn them.
Some
of the parts to this way I want to show you too, so that you personally
can share this way too. For me it was and it is a way of fun and of
self-determination, so why should'nt it work with you too?
