Tim Reads A Slovakian Newspaper …
… and loves it!
Of course, the newspaper is written in English. But what brilliant English it is!
I like to think that I’m not the world’s worst speaker of foreign languages. I might even allow myself to claim to be ‘advanced’ in a couple of them.
But there’s no way that I even approach the level of the contributors to The Slovak Spectator.
Check this out for an opening paragraph in a story over the sacking of a cabinet minister:
What had seemed a quiet ministry, overshadowed by media excitement with departments such as finance, economy, defence, justice, health and the interior, is now in turmoil over accusations of cronyism related to the approval of subsidies.
Native English-speaking professional novelists would struggle to write as well as that. Given the quality of our tabloid press, I think the same could be said for most of this journalist’s English competitors too.
The author is a lady named Beata Balogová.
And the articles all seem to have some use too. The front page has a small report on the expected cost of adopting the euro, following a report from the OECD. (504 kuruny per person, which is £13.)
There is an article on the firing of the enviroment minister for ‘unethical conduct’. Next to it lies another column detailing a surprise presidential veto.
I know nothing about Slovakia, yet within two minutes of picking up the newspaper have found out the names of the president and prine minister, thanks to two well-worded articles.
Top stuff.
Seeing such exceptional English made me think of something else that I have often pondered and on which I reflected again recently: “Is a British 100% equal to a foreign 80%?”
Tags: SLovak Spectator