ENGLYSH WITH TAMARA

Dear readers,
You are now reading the first of many (I hope) Protein articles in English! The idea is to practice your English reading skills and to build your vocabulary; I hope that my small contributions will help improve your English! In any case, my goal is to be entertaining, at the very least.


I suppose the first thing I should do is introduce myself, being new to the YMCA family in the Czech Republic. My name is Tamara, and I am the new International Secretary of YMCA in the Czech Republic. I have been working here since January, and I must say, I feel very blessed to be here!

Although I, myself, am new to the YMCA in the Czech Republic, I can’t really claim that the YMCA is something completely novel to me. The “Y” is something that I have running through my veins: my great-grandfather, Bertram Grant Mitchell, was a YMCA secretary in Harbin and in Riga in the early 1920’s. He also worked for the YMCA in Switzerland, and in many other places.

My grandmother was lucky enough to travel with her father on his missions, and so she spoke eight languages fluently! She and her sister spent many after-school hours in the “Y”, and she passed this tradition on to her four children. Not long ago, I found a letter from my uncle, written when he was ten to his father who was serving in Germany at the time, and he mentioned that he was writing the letter at the “Y”! So, I guess I can say that although I have been a YMCA member “on paper” for only several months, I have been brought up to respect the principles that the YMCA is built on since my childhood. Therefore, the YMCA is not so new to me, after all.

These articles will be in American English, because that is where I grew up. The Czechs would say “that’s the way my beak grew on”, but the Americans wouldn’t. :-) In the future, I hope to explore the history of the YMCA in the world, to introduce the interesting projects that I am working on, and maybe just write about my observations and feelings. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to contact me at ymca@ymca.cz. See you next time!

Vocabulary

contribution – příspěvek

at the very least – přinejmenším

suppose – předpokládat (I suppose = předpokládám)

novel – nové, ale take roman

running through veins – koluje v krvi

pass a tradition on – předat tradici

beak – zobák

Tamara Anne Smelíková, foto: YMCA Mělník