Grammar-wise, Conversation-foolish

My Czech instructor, Ondrej, recently published his first textbook.

I got an autographed copy: “Sve vyborne studentce ....” (To my excellent student....)

I told him false flattery would not get me to learn his language any quicker.

Yesterday, I went to my district's Finance Department to pick up my Danovy Domicil, and much to my disgust I could only say three words: Dobry Den, Prosim and Nerozumim Cesky.... Hello, Please and I don't understand.

Call it a watershed moment, but I officially became a disgruntled Czech language learner.

Silvia and I had talked about languages over brunch Sunday. (She's learning Spanish.) Specifically about that moment—somewhere between beginner and pre/intermediate—when you just can't seem to make any headway. The hump.

So while standing at the bus stop after receiving my DD, I thought about that conversation and summed up my problem. Ondrej was right in a sense—in my early days of Czech lessons, I caught up with and even surpassed older students. With minimal effort.

Sure, Czech is a complicated language, but I have been a lazy student. My hump. I barely put in two hours a week of study. And the result is that almost a year later I'm all grammar but no [talk] action. The same scenario that plagued my attempts to learn French back in New York.

If I put out the bare minimum, then "Dobry Den, Prosim and Nerozumim" will remain the extent of my repertoire a year from now. I could just make my peace with it and continue as I do—Prague is amazingly easy to navigate in English. But when you know you can do better you should at least try, no?

Daily drills, here I come. I'll report back on my progress three months from now.