V loňském roce jsem psala diplomovou práci na téma Integrace bilingvních dětí do základních škol v závislosti na rodinném prostředí. Rozebírala jsem několik typů zahraničních rodin žijících v České republice, českému jazyku a k našemu systému vzdělání. Rodina, z nichž byl veden následující rozhovor, k nim přišla z druhého konce světa. Na Moravě žijí již 11 let. Oba rodiče jsou pracující, ale ani jeden z nich nemluví česky. Děti se zde narodily a navštěvují běžnou základní školu.

Pro autentičnost jsem rozhovor nechala v anglickém jazyce, jen jsem změnila jména.

I: Tazatel M: Matka

I: What language do you speak at home?

M: English. Only English.

I: Only English?

M: Actually English and Afrikaans. Mainly English, sometimes Afrikaans. English to me, sometimes Afrikaans to the husband. He is Africans. But in South Africa most of the white people are fluent in both of the languages. English and Afrikaans.

I: Ok and your husband?

M: He speaks English to the children and sometimes Afrikaans to me and to my mom in law. The children’s Afrikaans is quite limited. They understand, but can’t really speak it. And… we are trying to explore the children in German. They watch TV in German.

I: So, how many people live in your house?

M: There are my two children, my husband and my mom in law. And my dog.

I: And your dog (with a smile). What languages do you speak to your dog, by the way?

M: Three languages. English, Afrikaans and Czech. He understands everything. Sometimes we say “Noddy, pojď sem” and sometimes “Noddy, come here”.

I: Bilingual dog (With a laugh). M: Yes, bilingual dog (She laughs). Well, everyone in this house is bilingual.

I: Ok. In your daily life, when you have to speak Czech. I mean when you have to speak Czech, out of your house, how good is the knowledge of your Czech? How well do you understand? And in what occasions?

M: The problem is when people speak very quickly to me in Czech. It depends on the situation. Sometimes I understand quite a bit, but I cannot answer back perfectly, due to the fact, that I understand well, I am able to speak. If that make sense (She meant the answer). Like (she is thinking)… at work I speak only English….and everyone speaks English to me. The problem is in the children’s school. Their teacher’s English is very limited or non-existing. In the shops…I manage somehow. If necessary I use my hands to communicate (she laughs).

I: How good is your Czech? What level is it? If you think in contest of the Common European Framework of References for languages?

M: Hmm… (She is thinking).

I: If you think about the levels A, B, C. Actually A1, A2, B1, and B2. Johan (their family friend) is B2. M: He is B2 and what is below B2? I: B1. M: B1? And below B1?

I: A2 and A1. A1 is a complete beginner and C2 is a native speaker. Or, let’s say, is your Czech on the inter-mediate, pre-intermediate, upper-mediate level? Maybe like that it is easier?

M: Maybe A2. I think I am speaking somehow, I can understand relatively well, but grammatically I am not able to communicate. My grammar is funny.

I: What language do you speak at work? M: I’m an English teacher, so only English. And that’s the problem. I speak English at work, I speak English at home and I don’t really need Czech in my life. There isn’t enough motivation for me to learn. Czech is really difficult language. I can speak English, Africans and learning Czech seems to be impossible for me. Czech is difficult. I began to learn the language only, after the kids needed my help with homework.

I: Ok. What language do you communicate with the teachers at school, at the parents meeting? Do you go to the parents meeting?

M: Yes, I do. Sometimes. If the teacher speaks English, we try to speak English. If the teacher only speaks Czech, we try to communicate or often they find someone to translate. Or we organize private meeting, if we have to discuss something and we do not have any English person to translate. If we have to do it at the moment, we have to communicate in Czech and sometimes with English words in between. It is depending on situation. I: What language do you write…how do you call it…when do kids don’t go to school.

M: Aha. I: How do you call it? M: The absence? I: Yes. What language do you write it in?

M: I don’t write anything, I just write….ou, in the book?

I: Yes? M: I just write “nemoc” or something. I get someone to tell me what the translation is and then I write it. I use to say like “boli brisko”, but now I just say “nemoc”. And when I phone the canteen just do my best to say “zůstává doma” and when they will return back to school. If there is no one to help me to translate the words into English, I use internet. (She said “boli brisko” in Czech, but without the Czech characters, because she can’t pronounce the letter Ř and Š properly.)

I: Ok. Who goes to school for the parents meeting, you or your husband? M: We try to go both.

I: To go together? M: Yes, we have two children, so we try to go each to class.

I: Whose Czech is better, yours or your husband?

M: (She is thinking) I: Who communicate better in daily life? In Czech. M: I think I communicate more than my husband, but I thing grammatically he’s better. I’m willing to speak, I might be more confident, he speaks (she is thinking) more……..and he would be grammatically more correct. He also comes home late from work, so he doesn’t get opportunity to communicate in Czech. I pick up the children from school, so I do most of the communication with the school….I go here to the little shop for things we need. He comes home only in the evenings.

I: How do you celebrate Christmas?

M: The children have stockings on the wall, in which Santa puts small presents at night. The larger presents are waiting under the tree. We celebrate the Christmas the 25. The children wake up in the morning and find the presents under the tree form Santa Claus.

I: Ok. And if you had a choice, would you come again to the Czech Republic, would you rather stay in South Africa or go to English speaking country? And why?

M: Ehm (she is thinking).

I: Difficult. M: Yes.

I: I know (I am laughing).

M: Ehm, I thing it depends where your family is and that. I would like to be closer to my sister, but I think, the family and safety and political reasons and that, the Czech Republic is the best place. But when it’s difficult to communicate in Czech, you sometimes wish you could be in an English country, where you could communicate and express yourself. I: Ok. What about your sister, where does she leave?

M: She leaves in Scotland, near Abaddon. She left South Africa about (she is thinking)….20 years ago. Her husband is Scottish.

I: Do you think for your family is better to leave here than to perhaps leave in Scotland?

M: (She is thinking.) I: They speak English, I guess in Scotland. M: Yes and sometimes they use Gaelic.

I: So, do you think it is better for your family to leave here than in Scotland?

M: For safety purposes and lifestyle in think its most probably safer here, but the children would be most probably able to communicate there better, more and most probably not struggle so much at school. So sometimes we consider if it would be better to go there, but it would be an adjustment for the children and maybe is good for them, that they learn another language here. Czech Republic most probably would be their home and if we ever go there, we’ll come back. The children hold South African citizenship, but there heart is here, in the Czech Republic. They like it here.

I: So you are happy in the Czech Republic?

M: Yes. Just when we can’t communicate and sometimes there is culture differences, it can be frustrating, but generally we are happy here.

I: And what is the biggest culture difference?

M: I thing, the biggest problem is communication, to express yourself. And sometimes the people don’t understand me, when I’m trying to communicate. When you communicate, they take it in a different way due to the culture….

I: …differences?

M: And some culture differences due the way of thinking, the lifestyle is much more passive and slower.

I: Here, in the Czech Republic? Slower? M: Slower, yes. Calmer…

I: Than in South Africa?

M: Yes.

I: OK (Suprised).

M: Yes. I: I didn’t think about it.

M: And in some ways, when you want something to do in the Czech Republic, everything is so calm and relaxes; there is another day, no stress. In South Africa people faith, it is a competition to survive. Literally competition to survive. People leave behind the walls….there is no safety. Especially for the children. The children have no freedom there. Our children can go out here, whenever they feel like. They can take the bike and cycle around the village. In South Africa this is impossible. Every house or neighborhood has their own security system, because of the amount of crime in the country.

I: Clearly you see it differently than typical Czech person. And for your children is it a big problem, that they speak different language at school then at home?

M: I think it’s difficult for them, because they don’t understand the grammar. And it is difficult because they have to do double homework, because we often we explain it in other languages (she meant English) and they have to translate it. So maybe homework takes longer. And….but I think they are young and it is always an advantage to learn another language and when you are younger it is easier to adapt to change then when you are older.

I: Ok. What about doing homework, preparing for school. Is it a big problem for you? Or do you have anyone to help you with that?

M: Ok. Generally it can be a big problem if we don’t understand, especially the grammatical Czech language. But we often translate it, than it takes a lot of time. But on the positive side we are learning at the same time, but we do try to take the children for lessons two to at least three times a week.

I: Thank you.

M: It’s a pleasure.