Czech, mate? Sure — and Russian, too, at Slavic tea and coffee gatherings

Put on by the Slavic languages department, the tea and coffee gatherings are one way students can fulfill class requirements to use the language they’re studying outside the classroom. The Russian teas have been held regularly for the past six or seven years, and the Czech coffees began a little more than a year ago.

by Kate Bramson

On a recent Wednesday afternoon, a room in the basement of Marston Hall was transformed into a Czech cultural center (below). Native Czech speakers, teachers and students sang folk songs, played music, drank coffee and participated in an ungraded "quiz" on the Czech Republic.

And on two afternoons in February, the same room played host to Russian speakers who engaged in animated discussions at varying levels of ability and drank tea.

"It’s obviously a less academically structured environment and is more about being a person in the Czech culture," Amanda Moskowitz ’02 said about the Czech coffee hour. She’s taking fourth-year Czech classes after spending second semester of her junior year in Prague and beginning to learn the language there. "And granted, it’s impossible to simulate Czech culture in the basement of a department at Brown, but we just do things that we don’t really do in the classroom."

Put on by the Slavic languages department, the tea and coffee gatherings are one way students can fulfill class requirements to use the language they’re studying outside the classroom. The Russian teas have been held regularly for the past six or seven years, and the Czech coffees began a little more than a year ago.

"They’re a great place to practice Russian because in class you don’t get to chat a lot," said Myko Hull, a junior who studied and worked in Moscow last semester. "There’s discussion [in class], but it’s structured still on a topic, and here there’s no pressure."

For Hull, his time in Moscow helped immensely, and he’s now in the last semester of Russian language classes offered at the University. For next year, he’s considering taking Russian literature classes taught in Russian.

While some languages taught at the University have residential housing that draws students who speak the language, Brown hasn’t had a Russian or Slavic house for about 10 years, said Alexander Levitsky, professor and chair of the Slavic languages department.

But that hasn’t stopped students from learning about Slavic cultures at Brown, as evidenced by those attending the teas and coffees.

Elena Taussig ’04, who’s in her second year of Russian classes, was impressed by a visit last year from native Russian speakers whom the students called "the Russian grandmas."

While Taussig usually does more listening than speaking at the Russian teas, the afternoon that the "grandmas" visited "was one of those breakthrough moments," she said. It was then that she realized she was actually having a conversation in Russian.

Moskowitz has high praise for Masako Fidler, associate professor of Slavic languages and literature, who has been the force behind the Czech coffees.

"They really do an excellent job trying to expose us to a culture that really is not as accessible here in the United States as other cultures from abroad," Moskowitz said. Fidler "does a fantastic job exposing us to things really beyond just the formal language."

The next Russian tea is Feb. 26, at 4 p.m. in the basement of Marston Hall. The next Czech Coffee is Thursday, March 7, at 4 p.m. in the basement of Marston Hall.