For this American, podcasting became a way to make foreigners in Slovakia visible

Jeremy Hill, an English teacher who lives near Trenčín, came up with the idea of his “Na Slovensku Aj Po Anglicky” podcast during the coronavirus pandemic.

Jeremy Hill shows people around Trenčín during a fjúžn walk in 2021 (Source: Fjúžn Festival)

Eleven years after he settled in Slovakia, Jeremy Hill said to himself that he no longer wanted to feel invisible in the country and launched a podcast to tell stories about how he sees this place, which is his second home.

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The American titled it “Na Slovensku Aj Po Anglicky” to challenge a deeply-rooted notion among Slovaks that there’s only one right way of doing things: the Slovak way.

It was during the time of pandemic lockdowns and no travel, when Hill felt most isolated, that he decided to put out the first episode, despite initial fears that he might offend some Slovaks as he set out to paint what he calls a “not overly positive” picture of their country.

“I've heard a lot of glorifications of Slovakia in English,” the Trenčín-based English teacher and occasional writer claims, “But it’s kind of taboo to complain about Slovakia unless it’s politics or customer service.”

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