Good day!
My name is Michael and I come from Slovakia.
I was born here in Slovakia, 31 years ago
and I grew up in Petržalka (some place in Bratislava), that is where I live today.
I spent most of my childhood in Germany.
There I adopted my foreign language.
That is why I am here today, in the Medickej garden,
for a good weekly conference.
A conference which is called "Polyglots".
For those who don't know, polyglot refers someone
who knew at least two other foreign languages
other than their own mother tongue.
Here in Bratislava this weekend there were over 400 people
gathered in this conference for different lectures
we had the opportunity to get to know each other and the people, who came perhaps from America or Asia
had the opportunity to get to know a little about Bratislava.
We are now in the Medickej garden, it is called such a name because it is located next to...
the Faculty of Medicine Comenius University, and behind me we chose some background of...
a sculpture of one of the famous Slovakian writers,
which is Martin Kukučín.
Martin Kukučín lived in the second half of 19th century
and he was one of the leading representatives, so-called Slovakian realism.
This was the style of prose, which tried to capture the real situation
without any exaggeration, and it reflects the romanticism
in Martin Kukučín. He wrote epic poems and embraced...
superhuman affairs, until realism he started coming back to the simple village life.
We can see these in Martin Kukuchin's writing.
He was a very interesting person. He was also a doctor, a very educated person.
He later moved to Croatia and Chile.
I would still like to tell you something about Slovakia,
about this country, where I live and what it means to me.
If you do not know, then Slovakia is relatively new.
It achieved independence on 1st January 1993
today this country is only about 25 years old (since independence) and it is a new country
It achieved by its (peaceful) dissolution with the Czech Republic
which (Slovakia) previously formed a constitution with
but that doesn't mean that Slovakian (followed) the modern-day trend
Slovakians have a very rich history they just weren't lucky enough
to be allowed to have their own country.
So Slovakia means to me first of all, the country that is my home
and which I love very much, it is because of the people here: my colleagues, friends, family.
Although I am from Bratislava, so often I spoke with the tourists who come here and want
to cancel (Bratislava) from list (itinerary), but I was in Bratislava
this means, I (also) visited Slovakia
so I told them, "You know what, you are wrong."
"This Bratislava is quite different from the rest of Slovakia"
and I think that just the rest of Slovakia this is what makes Slovakia special."
"We have a rich history, beautiful nature, we have a huge number of forests, mountains,
castles, picturesque villages, (which) some of them are protected by the UNESCO
there are huge recreational opportunities: cycling, hiking."
"We have soome hiking trails over 15,000 km (in length) which cross the whole country."
"We have a wonderful tourist culture. When you come across with someone in the forest, there is a chance,
that at the end of the day or night you would (end-up) having a new friend."
So that's what we Slovakian are. We go into the woods and then we have fun
with a guitar, a bottle of good beer or wine we'll sing and make friends.
So...
I guess I already spoke so much in Slovakian language, so I wish you all
have a good day and goodbye!
Subtitles by the Amara.org community