Mulvite Anglicksy?

Breaking Barriers

 The cab driver struggled, as he somehow successfully managed to unload my overweight baggage onto the street corner. Shutting the trunk, he closed the door behind me as I stepped onto my first cobblestoned Prague street. I turned to him to express gratitude. And that’s when it occurred to me: I don’t know Czech. 

My mind raced through every possible form of thank you I could think of.  But unfortunately my, “Merci”, “gracias”,  “gratia tibi”, “todah raba”,  “gratzi” and even  “spaisebia” (russian) were worth nothing in this foreign land. So I smiled at the man (hoping my toothy grin would get the message across) and hopelessly said “thank you so much”.

A week later and though I now have an idea of how “thank you” is supposed to sound in Czech, I am still completely hopeless in pronouncing its first “ydju” syllable. However, I have, instead, learned what it means to be in a country where I cannot read or speak a single thing.

As I have already admitted, and made painfully obvious to others, and myself my name is Karly and I am bad (awful really) at languages. (I even frequently mispronounce and misspell words in my so-called native tongue, English). I am a sophomore in Gallatin developing a concentration is visual anthropology (defined as cultural anthropology with an emphasis on the study and production of ethnographic photography). I am the first to admit that the lack of a language requirement in NYU in Prague most definitely factored into my decision making in choosing my study abroad destination. However, this past week, in an attempt to show respect to local Czechs, challenge myself, and learn more about this new city, I have rearranged my schedule in order to take elementary Czech. It is a decision I am still unsure of, however, everyone in my 6-person suite will be taking Czech and my hope is this will leave me with no choice but to learn something-even if it just to pronounce accurately those two words: “thank you”. 

In addition to my NYU classes, I hope to travel around the Czech Republic and Europe (in as inexpensive fashion as I can), interact with locals (in as “authentic” a manner as  possible), as well as read literature about this fog-filled city and fairytale-like land.   My first book will be the collection entitled Travelers’ Tales in Prague and the Czech Republic, featuring true stories of Jan Morris, Myla Goldberg, Patricia Hampl, Thomas Swick, Marry Morris, Paulina Porizkova, and Francine Prose.

One week later and I feel as if I see something everyday that makes me understand and appreciate, little by little, the dreary and overcast beauty of Prague . While I miss the sunlight, there seems to be so much more to Prague than the clouds…which is saying something, since there are definitely a lot of clouds.