Expert: Sam - 3/27/2006

Question
Dear Sam,

Thanks for the info. Are you Slovak?

I will try to study Slovak. I am a Russian speaker and I am hoping I can quickly build off of my Russian.  I presently live in Moldova and the people speak Russian as well as "un-clean" Romanian, that is, Romanian peppered with Russian words.  Even so, when a Moldovan speaks Romanian in Romania, he is understood. I wonder why it is so much more extreme with Slovak and Czech.

I will probably move to Kosice. What can you tell me about the town? Worth living in?

Thanks.
Mary

Answer
Hi Mary,

yes, I am Slovak. When I said I had switched to Czech here in Prague, I meant I have _tried_ to switched to Czech. Though I understand everything and I can write Czech without mistakes, as soon as I open my mouth everyone knows I am not Czech.

That is the main point of difference between the languages - Czech and Slovak have a different "rythm", they sound totally different. I speak some Russian myself, but when I hear a Ukrainian (there are many of them here) I usually start by thinking he is Russian (because his language sounds "Russian" to me). It is only after I listen more closely that I realise he is speaking Ukrainian. This is not so with Czech and Slovak. The languages are very similar in vocabulary and sentence structure, but they have a very different tone. That is the "extreme" thing; that is why the Czechs understand me, a Slovak, theoretically (on paper or if I speak slowly), but if just come up to them and start speaking Slovak, they find it hard to get what was said.

Kosice is a beautiful city. One of the nicest in Slovakia, in many respects nicer than Bratislava. Have you been there yet? It is lively, people often go out. If I were to live in Kosice, I would probably spend more time in the surrounding mountains, which I love. When you get there, ask about "Zadielska dolina", it is a long valley with rocky cliffs towering on both sides, about 40 km far from Kosice :-)

Hope this helped.

Sam