Learning Czech: Post-trip debrief

Wow, it’s been a while! Three weeks, to be exact, since I set off for Prague. I meant to write this debrief post after I got back, but as usual, things got crazy, and I haven’t had a second until now. But anyway.

Prague was amazing! I loved the atmosphere, and I was thrilled to see the astronomical clock! The only problem?

Everyone. Spoke. English.

Which I expected beforehand, but it was still disappointing.

I set off for the airport with my phrasebooks, and even did a little bit of Duolingo while I was waiting for my flight. Gotta keep that streak alive!

However, as soon as I touched down on Czech soil, I found myself immersed in English almost wherever I went - in shops, cafés and restaurants. I know it’s because of tourist traffic in the city, but I still found it strange that the default language was English at the beginning of any interaction.

Several times I tried to use my few words of Czech, but I can’t say I was successful. Once was to say ‘Thank you’ to a taxi driver, but I think I used the formal version and messed up the pronunciation. Another time was in a café, but the order was too complicated so regrettably, I had to switch to English to speak to the barista, who seemed to speak it fluently!

Now, I know I probably could have tried a bit harder to keep up conversations in Czech, but the truth is, I was scared. Scared of making a mistake, and scared of not being understood. The irony is I always tell my students NOT to be afraid of making a mistake, that mistakes are how we learn. 

I’d love to go back to Prague for a bit longer in the future, and explore more. I’m going to keep up Czech on Duolingo for the foreseeable future, and hopefully I’ll be more confident for my next trip!