Since my volunteer project is coming to an end, I have decided to write about my progress of learning the Slovak language, as well as, my most used Slovak words. These words might not be used as often outside of the circus but they turned out to be one of my most important ones.

I started learning Slovak at the start of my volunteering project with the help of a mentor using the Križom Kražom book. I was meeting with the mentor every week for 2 hours for 3 months to learn the basics of Slovak. Afterwards, I was learning Slovak through my environment. I was trying to listen to my colleagues and friends around me to pick up new words I can use in my day to day life and circus workshops, classes. I did not spend a lot of my personal time learning Slovak but being immersed in the culture definitely was a bonus as it allowed me to pick up vocabulary through everyday life. 

Firstly, my top word has to be “špičky” meaning to point. I use this word every lesson we have with the kids. This word is important because the kids need to point their toes in a lot of exercises. 

The second most used word is “sklad”, which means storage. We always tend to use this word when talking about storage, where our things are, where to store everything. As well as, if you need help from the children you ask if they can take something from the “sklad”.

The third spot has to go to quite a few words which describe items that go into the storage. Such words are: žinienky (mats), loptičky (balls), kuželky (clubs), kruhy (rings) and šatky (scarfs). Most of these words just describe what kind of equipment we have in the circus. 

And lastly, some of my most used Slovak words that don’t relate to circus are - ahoj and čau, which mean hello and goodbye in an informal way. Ďakujem which means thank you. And all of this concludes my most used Slovak words. In the past year, I managed to learn a decent amount of Slovak so I could communicate with the children, with my friends and coworkers.

To leave some advice, I think you should not be afraid of learning a new language and just engage with the Slovak community to expand your knowledge and learn a new language.

Text: Saulé Dilyté - Jimin (he/him/them), fotka: Cirkuskus

Jimin je dobrovoľníkom programu Európskej komisie Európsky zbor solidarity na dobrovoľníckom projekte v organizácii Cirkuskus pod koordináciou Bratislavského dobrovoľníckeho centra. Projekt bol podporený z programu Európsky zbor solidarity.