Mrs. Helena Lehečková, philologist, neurolinguist, lecturer, writer and translator, from Finland, belongs to this year´s laureates.

Helena Lehečková is a graduate of Charles University, Faculty of Arts, where she studied Czech Language and Literature, Finno-Ugric Studies, English, and General Linguistics (1970-1975). She went on to work at the Department of General Linguistics and Phonetics as an Adjunct Assistant Professor. In 1986, she joined the University of Helsinki where she has worked since 1995 as an Associate Professor of Czech Philology primarily at the Department of Slavic Studies and Baltic Languages and Literature. She teaches all linguistic disciplines from phonetics to grammar, stylistics, translation, and Czech linguistics. She is an official translator from Finnish into Czech and has interpreted for Czech and Finnish officials at many high-level meetings. She has collaborated with universities in Prague, Brno, and Olomouc, facilitating international exchange programmes for Finnish students. At the University of Helsinki, she has developed a course on Czech Language and Culture which ranks among the top minor language diploma programmes and is offered also as a major. She has taught Czech language to hundreds of Finnish students and contributed significantly to their positive attitude towards Czechia and Czech culture.

In her research activities, Helena Lehečková has focused on the Czech language and Czech culture. She is the author of dozens of publications in the field of Czech studies. She is also a prominent linguist who has promoted Czech language in international research projects related to aphasia (a language impairment caused by brain damage) and introduced neurolinguistics (a new interdisciplinary discipline studying the relationship between language and the brain) to Czech linguistics. She has published in prestigious journals, participated in numerous international research projects, and served as a member of prestigious scientific organisations (such as Academy of Aphasia, since 2000) and many Finnish and Czech professional associations (including Finnish Literary Society, since 1997; and Finnish Learned Society, since 2010). She is Finland's representative to the International Committee of Slavicists and a member of the Expert Commission for Czech Language Examinations appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Education.

In addition to her scientific and educational activities, Helena Lehečková continuously sparks interest in Czech language and culture. She is the author of the first Czech language textbook for Finnish- and Swedish-speaking Finns (Tšekkiä suomalaisille, 1989, 1995, and Grundkurs i tjeckiska, 1991) and has cooperated with the Czech Embassy in the organisation of many visits and performances of Czech artists and cultural practitioners and experts in Finland. She has been a Czech language consultant to the Finnish National Opera since 2003, teaches Czech phonetics at the Sibelius Music Academy, and translates Finnish literature into Czech and Czech literature into Finnish (including Václav Havel's play Leaving). She is the author of several books for children and young adults, such as Trucajda the Little Devil, The Queen of Northern Winds, or A Jealous Knight and a Silent Bride. Together with her Finnish students of Czech, she translated her book To the Devil! into Finnish.

Photo: © MZV ČR / MFA CZ