13 October, 2010

Chete Mluvit Česky?

I am happy to report that I feel more encouraged about Czech than I have since before I left the States. This language is possibly the hardest thing I have committed to ever.

Let me explain to you a little about the language (or at least how I understand it):

I touched a bit on it already, seven cases for proper names, or seven endings for nouns; all for different contexts.

CASE MEANING OF CASE

1. kdo/co? (who/what?) nominative

2. bez koho/čeho? (without whom/what?) genitive

3. ke komu/čemu? (to whom/what?) dative

4. vidíme koho/co? (We see whom/what?) accusative

5. oslovujeme/voláme (I address/call) vocative

6. o kom/čem? (about whom/what?) locative

7. s kým/čím? (with whom/what?) instrumental

Then there are the genders of nouns; male, female and neutral. And non-living or inanimate items have genders as well, which dictates the endings of verbs and adjectives.

Confusing, right?

My brain is capable of handling most things; understanding ideas and grasping concepts, but for some reason, when it sees a big picture, that is really big. It shuts down. I go into the why-try-when-I-know-I-am-going-to-fail mode so instead of putting in effort, I get stubborn and don't do it. I'm ashamed to say that I've hidden behind the people I've met who speak English and Czech and have them translate things for me, instead of just trying, learning, sounding silly and correcting my mistakes as I go.

Something happened last night though; something clicked. While I still don't know very much Czech, I feel like I am understanding the concept of Czech and more importantly I know that I need to be careful about checking out and giving up.

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