A Little More than Chaos?

Slovenian is the first Slavic language which I have ever studied. Slavic languages present a number of difficulties for the anglophone brain, and Slovenian is certainly (!) no exception. Nonetheless, the course I attended over Summer in 2013 helped me to make some sense of what I had perceived beforehand to be little more than chaos (as a side note, to anyone reading this who wishes to gain even a rudimentary level in spoken Slovene, I would urge you to enrol in a class; this language, for whatever reason, and in contrast to most other languages I have studied (quite a few), laughs in the face of those who hope to learn anything more than the rudiments from a textbook in their free time... not to say that I came away from the course with the ability to discuss politics or art or anything much with any degree of refinement; nonetheless, it gave me enough of an insight to the language's inner-workings to allow me to continue to progress, albeit slowly, on my own). 

Which brings me to my next point: Slovenians themselves frequently demand an explanation as to why you would want to learn Slovenian!? So, you'd best have one prepared. In my case, I was attracted to Slovenian in particular because I came across the writing of several Slovene poets, not all at once, but in a variety of contexts and over the course of several years. I am a composer and am often researching texts which I would like to set to music. I particularly liked the work of Milan Dekleva and Dane Zajc, two poets whose work has little in common stylistically (the former is something of a bower-bird post-modernist, the latter a quaint, socialist romantic), but which nonetheless share the characteristic (as I discovered) Slovene tendency in speech to juxtapose convoluted, drifting-in-the-wind anecdotal digression with brusque directness. But the subtle nuances of the Slovene character are a matter for another day. 

Now that I have spent some time studying Slovenian, I can say that you have to learn to love its almost impenetrable difficulties, its regional variants (read mutually-unintelligible dialects), its stubborn irregularities, its... well, you get the idea. These characteristics, normally dreaded by those hoping to become conversant in a foreign language, become, well... charming! The (not inconsiderable) frustration which felt in class is long forgotten, all that remains is a window (modest in size as it may be) through which I am now able to observe this language and culture, and for that I am truly grateful.

Paul Clift, skladatelj in prejemnik štipendije Jane Zemljarič Miklavčič 2013

I was worried that I would not even be placed in the beginner’s class!

When I started learning Slovene I was extremely nervous and unsure I would ever be able to speak well. In the Unites States, learning even a second language is often not a priority in school, and while I had studied French for many years I never became very good. I assumed that I was probably not talented at languages, and I was worried I was setting myself up for failure trying to learn a language that everyone said was so difficult. It did not help that when many friends and colleagues found out that I was trying to learn Slovene they always looked both impressed and alarmed, and usually more alarmed. By the time the first day of the 32. Poletna šola slovenskega jezika arrived I was a mess, worried that I would be so terrible that I would not even be placed in the beginner’s class!

I could not have been more wrong. Slovene is such a wonderful language, and it is actually completely logical and quite straightforward to learn (even the dual!). Everyone said that Slovene was difficult to pronounce – but if you understand the pronunciation rules, you can say almost anything. Unlike French or German, even as a beginner you can make yourself understood if you speak carefully. And the dual – well yes, it is quite a lot to remember, but once you know the rules you are fine. The same is true of the cases. When I was a student at the 32. Poletna šola slovenskega jezika I was constantly comparing what I had learned in class that day about Slovene grammar rules and vocabulary to my native English and I felt I was the lucky one – it must be terrible to learn English! It has completely bizarre pronunciation even if you’re a native speaker, and sometimes it seems like there are more exceptions than rules in the grammar! And Slovene is completely logical in comparison, which is so helpful as a beginner because you make progress much more quickly and can begin to communicate much more easily than with many other languages. 

But I should also be fair to French and the other languages I have tried (and mostly failed) to learn – part of the positive difference in learning Slovene was the community experience I had while learning it. I am a graduate student studying archaeology in the US, but my dissertation research is in Slovenia, so in the past two years I have spent about five months in Ljubljana. I have a lovely network of friends to practice with, and I get to practice every day while out in the city and working with colleagues. But the major turning point in learning Slovene came when I was taking courses at the poletna šola with the wonderful Anja Strajnar and Tanja Kotnik, and studying hard with other foreign students. We played games, did practical activities, went on fun excursions, and constantly helped each other practice so that eventually we could all go out in the city and have basic conversations. I think the most important benefit learning Slovene as a foreign language was the opportunity to study in Slovenia itself with wonderful people who made Slovene a pleasure to learn, and who make me want to keep studying the language because there are so many more people that I want to meet and have conversations with in Slovenia!

Adrienne C. Frie, doktorska študentka arheologije in prejemnica štipendije Jane Zemljarič Miklavčič 2013

Priročnik za začetnike

Dragi prijatelji!

Danes se boste odločili za pouk slovenščine na začetni ravni. Upam, da slovenski jezik bo Vam veliko koristil v življenju.

Na kratko pa razpovem, s čim se boste ukvarjali med poukom. 

Najprej bo treba vedeti slovensko abecedo, zato da bi pravilno pisati in govoriti, pa pozneje – tudi misliti v okviru slovenščine.

Potrebujete tudi dober učbenik, ki ga lahko najdete, na primer, na spletu pod imenom Slovenska beseda v živo 1. V njem boste dobili potrebne informacije za slovenski jezik, njegovo slovnico, fonetiko, besedotvorbo in tako dalje. Poleg učbenika nasvetujem Vam obiskat spletno stran www.mp3center.si pa malo kasneje tudi YouTube. Tam boste lahko prenesli tudi slovensko glasbo in video-posnetki, ki so bili in še vedno bodo zanimivi za vse ljudi, ki se ukvarjajo s slovenščino. Ko poslušate slovensko pesem, boste dobili dodatno motivacijo in navdih za priden pouk in boste našli nekaj povsem novega, včasih – celo zabavnega, ki bo dodalo Vam energije in preudarnosti. 

Dobro zavedajte, zakaj se ukvarjate s slovenščino in vsak dan podarite za njo par prostih trenutkov. 

Med poukom izkoriščajte tudi audio-tečaj na spletu. 

Če Vas Slovenija in njen jezik kar presenetita in če želite spoznati njiju globlje, v večji raznolikosti, lahko obiščete spletno stran Veleposlaništva Republike Slovenije v Vaši državi in tam lahko najdete zase ali za Vašega prijatelja lektorja, ki bo Vam omogočal boljše možnosti pouka.

Poudarim pa ta značilnost, da če se boste trudili odločno, pridno in z dobro voljo, boste dosegli veliki uspeh.

S trdim delom in s kapljico humorja lahko naprej do spoznavanja skrivnostnih plati slovenskega jezika.

Želim Vam obilo zdravja, navdiha in radovednosti med poukom slovenščine!

Živeli bomo naprej!

Srčno,

Anton Gluško, udeleženec 31. Poletne šole slovenskega jezika 2012

Recepti za dobro slovenščino

Okus, ki nas privlači

Ko začnem razmišljati o tem, kaj mi slovenščina pravzaprav pomeni, ne morem mimo vprašanja, kaj pomeni tistim, ki se z njo ne ukvarjajo profesionalno, a jo uporabljajo še več kot mi, »raziskovalci«. A je sploh občutijo kot nekaj stvarnega? Včasih se niti ne zavedamo, v kolikšni meri se z nečim združimo. Na jezik je treba paziti. O skrbi in ohranjanju raje ne bom govorila. Kot jezikoslovka sem med študijem poslušala znano vprašanje: »Kaj je najprej, jezik ali misel?« Hm, tega še ne vem, ampak vem, da je meni slovenščina druga. Iz tega izhajajo tudi nekatere težave ...

Čeprav se nam slovenščina pogosto zdi zelo težka (kar v bistvu tudi je!), ima neki svoj okus, ki nas pravzaprav privlači. Kot če ješ limono, čeprav je prekisla. Prav to, kar je nam »prekislo«, je lahko nekomu drugemu najslajše, kot na primer znana dvojina, brez katere to besedilo ne bi bilo popolno, tudi če bi hotela. Lahko jo ljubiš, lahko jo sovražiš – na koncu jo boš imel rad. Odkar sem v učbeniku Jezikovod prebrala nekaj vrstic Draga Jančarja o tem, zakaj je dvojina lepša in boljša, gledam nanjo čisto drugače, me ne moti in se ne morem dovolj dobro izraziti brez nje, na neki način jo pogrešam in ne morem, da je ne bi uporabljala. »Svet je za dva in za dobrega angela z njima, s tretjim so že težave.« Kljub temu da se danes veliko ljudi trudi, da bi dvojino pozabili.

Kaj pa skloni? Enako, enim so zanimivi in lepi, drugim pa neumni in grdi. Ker jih imam tudi v svojem jeziku, mi niso nikoli delali velikih težav. Ampak bilo mi je simpatično in zanimivo opazovati svoje kolege in kolegice na tečajih, ki so prihajali iz drugih držav, kako se mučijo in zapletajo z jezikom, dokler na koncu celo ne uganejo pravilne oblike!

Pa še to – res ne vem, kam bi ga uvrstila – neki fant je celo Poletno šolo govoril »lahko se vprašam« namesto »lahko vas/te vprašam« in zelo smešno mi je bilo, ker sem razumela, začetniki pa so se naučili napačno. Nihče ga ni hotel popraviti, češ, saj vsi razumemo, kaj je hotel povedati.

Brez vsega tega slovenščina ne bi bila slovenščina. Dodati pa moram še naglas, ki – kolikor koli se močno, močno, najmočnejše trudimo, da bi ga zadeli – vedno po neki nikoli razkriti poti pobegne in odpotuje do neke druge črke, na katerih niti sanjali nismo, da bi lahko bil. 

Ampak ko vse to skupaj premešamo, pa tudi malo ljubimo, ko se navežemo na neke stvari, knjige, pesmi, drage osebe in prostore, povezane s slovenščino, se nam naenkrat odpre pot, po kateri se zelo lahko koraka. In slovenščina postane del nas.

Snežana Goršek, diplomirana filologinja splošnega jezikoslovja s slovenščino na Univerzi v Beogradu