The feedback I received from my last blog post has been incredible. It was one of the most rewarding posts I have written. Hearing it bought tears to a number of people is a lovely reward for all the time and effort that went into the engagement. However, this post is not about the engagement, although there is a tenuous link between the two items, hence the references in my last post.
The latest item was to study a language with the goal to be able to have a basic conversation. Initially I had it in mind that I would revisit the German or French that I had learnt at school, but more recently I started to steer more towards learning Czech. This may seem like quite a random choice, but my primary reasoning lies with the fact that my fiancee is from the Czech Republic. At this point you may be thinking she would be the ideal teacher for me to hone my Czech language skills, but after nearly three years my Czech vocabulary stretched from saying hello to saying goodbye. I needed another solution.
In the process of planning my engagement in December last year, I searched online for local Czech language classes and I came across a website called Tutor Hunt. Tutor Hunt is a directory for private tutors that allows you to search by subject, level, and location. Once these parameters are confirmed then you are provided with a list of potential private tutors that you can contact over the website. However, there are limitations on any initial contact with a finder fees required should you wish to contact the private tutor directly by email or phone. There are different options here, but the one of fee is £24. Do not be put off by this fee as most tutors on the website will offer the first lesson free of charge to compensate for this initial cost. My recommendation is to contact a number of potential tutors and ask lots of questions before committing to the finders fee. This will allow you to ensure you are both aligned.
In my case I found a tutor who was from the Czech Republic, he had previous teaching experience, and he was based around the corner from my office allowing us to be flexible with times. The deciding factor ultimately came down to the content of our initial conversations though. I noticed he was using a lot of typically English phrases and this gave me the confidence that he would be a good match for me.
Our first lesson took place in December and he has been coming to my office once a week for two hours ever since. In our first lesson I made it clear that I had a few goals in mind, the biggest of which was to ask Hana’s parents in Czech for her hand in marriage. Based off of the last blog post you obviously know the outcome of this.
It was in April that I travelled to Bruntal with my speech prepared in Czech. Given some of the challenges I was having with pronunciation, me and my teacher had to rework a few phrases, but it ultimately led to the same outcome. Pronunciation remained a big concern for me though and I made a last minute decision to print my speech on large cards for her parents to read along with should I come unstuck – think Love Actually. In the end I gave up with the cards as my confidence grew.
At this stage it would be easy for me to give up on the lessons now that my big goal has been crossed off. But my progress has been positive and I am really enjoying the challenge. It is one I plan to continue, and potentially one I will look to build on within future Edison Project lists.
On that note I will sign off this post – Na Shledanou!
Item: #2 – Study A Language
Useful Links: Tutor Hunt
Cost: £24 Finders Fee & £30 for two hour lesson