Taking a 捷克 Language Class in 布拉格

我很幸运 宝博体育 三个月来 布拉格 with CEA, which was an incredible and transformative experience. 当我在那里的时候, I took a 捷克 language class that ended up having a very strong impact on my outlook on a culture that is drastically different from my own. 

布拉格 is in the 捷克共和国 and they speak the 捷克 language there. The first day I arrived, I was leaving the grocery store and a cashier came running out after me, 用捷克语喊叫. It took me 20 minutes to finally understand that I hadn’t signed my receipt from the self-checkout machine, meaning my payment didn’t go through. 

在那之后, I was less nervous about and more excited to take a 捷克 language class at my host university. It was super hard because 捷克 is totally different from English. For example, the word “four” is pronounced as “shtizzy.” However, the class didn’t only teach me the 捷克 numbers. It immersed me in the 捷克 culture and taught me to appreciate its uniqueness instead of expecting the country and its people to conform to me. I realized that we might speak a different language or have different traditions, 但在内心深处, we are all more similar than different. And we can learn to love the parts where we’re different.

Taking the 捷克 language class had an imperative effect on my time abroad, and I recommend anyone going abroad to do the same as I did.


Stella Bradley is a CEA 校友大使 who studied abroad in 布拉格, 捷克共和国, during the Fall 2019 semester. She is currently a student at Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo.