A personal path that led to the “Magical Hour”
I am a bicultural adult who once grew up as a bilingual child, mostly in the country of my paternal heritage, with — thankfully — frequent trips to my second homeland, the one of my maternal origin. I consciously use the term bicultural, because when a child grows up in a bilingual or even trilingual environment (as do my own trilingual twin daughters), they do not simply learn two languages — they absorb two entire cultures, each inseparably linked to its own language and worldview.

I will never forget traveling to Prague and hearing my Czech grandmother, Marie, sing traditional Czech children’s songs to us every night. Nor will I forget when she read us fairy tales by Božena Němcová, Josef & Karel Čapek, and many other distinguished authors. I will never forget discovering, as I grew older, the early novels of Milan Kundera — back when he still wrote in Czech. Nor will I forget Jarmila Kratochvílová, the legendary runner, in the moment she achieved her (often debated) world record in the 800 meters. And of course, the opera performances I attended at the Státní opera during the Communist era in then-Czechoslovakia…

What amazes me is that, back then, I didn’t realize I was being taught — through lived experience — the most precious cultural treasures of my maternal homeland. And that was the best way. I still believe this today, after more than 25 years in the field of education and the arts — even now that I teach both my paternal and maternal languages to children, teenagers, and adults.

But when, as a child, you cannot be regularly present in your “second” homeland because life has placed you mostly in the other, you must discover the most creative and experiential ways to keep alive — in your mind and spirit — the country you don’t permanently live in.

And so, through inner mechanisms of memory, knowledge, and inspiration, the “Magical Hour” of the Czech language was born. An hour that can, in fact, be applied to any language in the world. And that is where its true Magic lies…