Historical Aspects of Early Contacts of Slovaks with English

• Published in: ELOPE (Tiskana izd.) Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 63 - 85
• Main Author: Böhmerová, Adela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ljubljana University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts 31.12.2022; University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
• Subjects: 19th century; Dictionaries; emigrants to the US; English as a second language; English language; first English manual; Foreign language learning; historical circumstances; History of language teaching; Immigrants; Janko Slovenský; literary translations; Slovak language; Slovaks and English; Slovensky, Janko; Slovakia
• ISSN: 1581-8918; 2386-0316
• DOI: 10.4312/elope.19.2.63-85

This study is devoted to tracing, presenting and linguo-culturally interpreting some of the aspects of the early history of the contacts of Slovaks with the English language. Although English in Slovakia started to be of interest to several men of letters already in the 18th century, the need for it as means of communication only arose in the US in the second half of the 19th century among Slovak immigrants. The paper focuses above all on Janko Slovenský’s book as the first material assisting Slovaks in the acquisition of English, and analyses its content, educational merit and cultural value. Also surveyed is the history of the first dictionaries contrasting English and Slovak. The final part introduces the beginnings of English studies in Slovakia dating from the early 1920s, and their early development. The study offers insight into an educationally important subject that so far has only marginally received scholarly attention.