Defence Minister Ľubomír Galko, who faced criticism for his limited English, told the TASR newswire on Wednesday, October 13, that he is ready to furnish Prime Minister Iveta Radicova with an English language certificate that he received at an intensive English course in Malta.
"My results were evaluated by professional British teachers," said Galko. "As far as my English goes, I'm working on improving it with my teacher on a daily basis. I take English conversation classes every day," he added.
He also said that all official meetings, for example involving NATO, take place in the languages of the given states. "In the first place, it involves highly specialised military terminology where there's a need for every single word to be translated accurately, and the second reason is that some sort of national language awareness is important for some countries," he said. He added that "I need English mainly during informal meetings at events with my foreign colleagues”.
Radičová said earlier on October 13 that she is not going to subject Galko to English-language testing. She had said on July 8 that she expected Galko, then a candidate for the post of Defence Minister, to submit a certificate proving his knowledge of the English language by mid-October.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
14. Oct 2010 at 14:00
