A Lost Language

Keira Davies | Writer

Ahoj, jak se máte? Jmenuji se Keira Davies. Those two sentences in Czech mean “Hi, how are you? My name is Keira Davies.” Whenever you learn a language, the first thing you tend to learn is how to say “Hi how are you, and my name is…” They seem like the two easiest sentences, but are they? 

For context, I was born in the Czech Republic and lived there for eight years. I knew Czech better than I knew English, and my family were all Americans. I spoke the Czech language everyday with my teachers, my parents, and friends. I thought that I would always be able to speak Czech. Well, that didn’t turn out as planned. 

Going back to those two sentences, while they seem like the two easiest sentences, I had to use Google translate to figure out how to pronounce them correctly. That’s the part that gets to me, I can’t even say the simplest of sentences. I love the Czech Republic, so why was it so hard for me to remember the language? 

Learning and remembering any language comes with its challenges. For me, those challenges became too much. I couldn’t find someone to speak Czech to on a daily basis, so that I wouldn’t forget the language. I was also too busy trying to learn English better. As a result, Czech just fell to the wayside. I know these are just a bunch of excuses to make up for the fact that I forgot the language, however, ask anybody who is learning a language and they will tell you just how difficult it really is.