When we arrived at Teen Challenge in Sluknov after a long day of traveling from Ireland – our contacts decided to give us an overview of the “important things” missionaries should know when ministering in the Czech Republic. This time of sharing began with us sharing what we knew about the Czech – and transitioned quickly to them sharing about their country.
“There is one word in Czech that we must clarify for you” Peter said. “Many, many missionaries get offended when they do not understand this word, so it is good for you to know it.”
Blushing he started to pronounce this mystery word and instead postponed the delivery for a moment and opted to write it on paper. “It is a word meaning ‘really?’, and it is spelled like this…” he said, carefully writing the letters “FAKT JO” on a scrap piece of paper. While this word is actually (properly) pronounced like”fackt yo” — its sound is delivered much like the American cuss word “f*you”. This word in Czech means “Really?!?!” (It’s almost an expression of :WOW! Really?) Interesting!
Imagine my surprise when I suddenly realized the man at the bus station earlier in our travel day saying “fakt jo” over and over and over again on his cellphone, wasn’t being rude and offense, but was more than likely blown away by whatever story his buddy was sharing on the other end of the conversation. It was a great revelation to realize that when people in this country speak this word they are not swearing at us, but rather are interested or wondering about something we are conversing about. Oooh the beauty of translation and interpretation…
