How to learn Czech. Learning a foreign language: how to learn Czech on your own at home
Instructions
The first option for studying is not novel: you just need to find and purchase the necessary literature (grammar textbooks,). In addition, it will be better if you also purchase an initial audio course that will help you learn to perceive Czech speech by ear.
If possible, enroll in a linguistic class, where a qualified teacher will help you understand the basics of the language and master the correct pronunciation. By the way, you can study either individually with a teacher or together with a group. Do not be shy about group activities, since they are recognized as the most effective (perception and assimilation of material in a group occurs much faster than alone).
Of course, there is perhaps no better option than learning a language directly with its native speakers. This can happen not only in the Czech Republic itself, by the way. Many people today prefer classes via the Internet using various programs (via Skype, for example). This is no less effective, because it doesn’t matter whether you communicate directly with a person or using modern audio technologies. Besides everything else, the option of learning a language in the Czech Republic is quite expensive: here’s another advantage homeschooling.
Try to devote more time to listening, that is, listening to speech. This helps you absorb faster new material, increase lexicon and will certainly help you in the future to easily understand a native speaker.
The choice of how to learn any foreign language depends not only on certain goals that you can set for yourself, but also on other important factors. As a rule, there are two of them: how quickly you can do it, and how much the learning process will cost.
Instructions
Sign up for courses to learn Czech. There you will learn the language in a group, communicating with like-minded people. When learning any language, it is always useful to study with a professional teacher who will help you understand and systematize the material for educational process. But if the group is large, there is a chance that the teacher will not have enough time to pay attention to each student. And, having studied certain basics of grammar, you may encounter difficulties in communication skills.
Take private lessons from a tutor if you have the means. This way, language acquisition will happen faster and you will be able to successfully develop your skills oral speech. Individual approach to classes will allow you to quickly master skills colloquial speech, as well as improve the quality of education in general. For example, get more details Additional information about the country itself, customs, traditions. But don't forget that the cost individual lessons much higher than those conducted in groups on courses. And if you are counting on a small amount, this method may not suit you.
Learning the Czech language online via the Internet will cost you minimal material costs. Now there is wide access to various online courses and training programs. In the online library you will find various textbooks, phrase books, and reference books. And it's absolutely free. But this method designed for those people who can and are used to working independently, because it requires quite a high level of self-organization and discipline. If you tend to exercise regularly and independently, this method is for you.
Do you like Czech the same as me? Join us, this language is worth paying your attention to, because you are already going to visit Prague, right? The main question: how to learn Czech? I am always for independent study. In the vast expanses of the Internet, I was able to find a lot of free materials for self-study Czech language for level (A1-A2).
A universal formula for learning a language
- Specific goal (desired level and preparation time)
- Systematicity (the main secret of success!)
- Positive from studying (do what you like: talk, read, write, sing, watch)
The sum of it all will give you new language in the pocket. So, how to learn Czech on your own?
Step 1. Grammar and vocabulary
Children's books. Classical works are especially good in short summaries.
Comics "Four Leaf" . While walking, we accidentally came across an amazing comic book store. I immediately intrigued the sweetest saleswoman with my request “for something that will help me learn Czech.”Apparently, this was the first time such a customer had visited a children's store, because she gave me a magazine and offered to return to them if I liked it. I liked the magazine immediately, and I took four more for the 2+2 promotion.We were additionally pleased with a gift of a memory game, another magazine, and wished us success in mastering the Czech language. The content of the magazines is interesting, the paper is of excellent quality, the art and the main characters are funny.Comics are a Czech thing! I am delighted. And the employees of this store definitely know a lot about marketing and working with clients!
Step 6: Interactive Resources
Videos, test materials for preparing for language tests on A1 and B2. The most valuable resource!
What prompted me to think about this issue is that it is believed that the Czech language is very easy for students from the countries of the former CIS to learn. In this article I will try to talk about the arguments both for and against. By the way, I have been studying languages for a long time - I studied at a school with in-depth study of English, I even won a couple of Olympiads, I took French and German courses for a couple of years (and I still remember a little of them), I taught at the institute Spanish- in general, you can trust me :)
First, I would like to talk about a couple of myths, where they come from and confirm/refute them.
Myth one. The Czech language is very easy, like Russian, only in Latin letters.
The Czech Republic is a fairly attractive country for tourists. Of course, the main flow of tourists goes to Prague. She is especially popular center. Entrepreneurs are not fools at all, so their services provide different languages. Russian, English - including. An unprepared person will draw his first conclusions here after hearing Russian speech and seeing many signs. In fact, this is, nevertheless, a purely tourist place, and drawing conclusions here is stupid.
Those who are lucky enough to get outside of Prague will also not experience huge problems. For example, what can be seen in Poděbrady - the words “museum”, “církev”, “ostrov” (see the sign on the right) - are quite clear, and if something is not clear, you can guess it from the pictogram. From this we can also conclude that Czech is a very understandable language, however, this is not the case. In fact, all signs are made in order to attract the maximum number of people, so they are written as simply as possible. In such cases, international variants of words are often used.
In fact, the vocabulary hidden from tourist eyes is not as easy as it might seem. For those who want to try their hand at understanding Czech texts right away, you can try reading the news on http://ihned.cz/ - it’s unlikely to be very easy.
Speaking of what language Czech is similar to - it is similar only in Slovak. With the others there is only similarity, which does not always help, and more often it only hinders.
Myth two. You can learn Czech quickly.
This myth is born mainly among those who have already tried to start learning this language. And it’s hard to argue here - the first period of study is quite easy for Russian-speaking students - in the first month of our study, almost everyone had excellent grades.
Then, very often, everything falls into place - the grammar becomes complex. The main problem (for me personally) is the frequent illogicality. If a rule applies in one case, it is not a fact that it can be applied in another. However, this feature is inherent in many Slavic languages, including Russian.
The test results at the end of the year are proof of my words. Rare student more than 90%. As for admission to top universities in Prague, I’m just silent.
Myth four. I am a techie (doctor/lawyer/athlete/idiot), I won’t need Czech in my profession.
(If you want to find out whether a Czech student can work -!).
Everything here is also quite controversial. Firstly, working in the Czech Republic without knowing the Czech language is strange, to say the least. Secondly, you need to be very lucky to immediately get to a foreign country like this. Thirdly, you need to study, and here you can’t go without a language - foreign students have the same rights as Czech students (and, therefore, the same responsibilities), which means their studies will take place in Czech. And in the end, sooner or later you will also want to talk to someone.
One of the subtypes of this myth is the myth that knowing English is enough here. I admit, I thought so too. It seemed to me that if I knew the language, then everyone knew it too. And this is Europe, civilization. Oh, how wrong I was. English language, mostly educated people know, which means they are unlikely to help you in everyday tasks - in shops, banks, at the post office - everything is in Czech. And if suddenly a person knows English, this is also unlikely to help you. Usually, it was taught at school and forgotten without practice, so you won’t be able to show off your knowledge.
It just so happens that I am now (yes, which is the antivirus). The working language is English; you can also speak Czech with colleagues. Do you think there are many techies here who boast that language is just a tool? In a nutshell: if you don’t know the language, well done, go work where you don’t need to communicate.
Well, I guess I talked about myths. Now, I think it’s worth talking about the Czech language and looking at it with my Russian-speaking eyes :)
The Czech language belongs to the Indo-European family (like Hindi, Farsi, Spanish - do you think they are all similar?). This is very large group languages, and they are quite different. Czech belongs to the Slavic group of languages (that is, it still has something in common with Russian), or more precisely, to the West Slavic group (together with Slovak and Polish, which actually already have a lot in common with Czech).
Czechs write in Latin letters with diacritics. There are 3 diacritics: charka (á), gachek (č) and krouzek (ů). There are 42 letters in the Czech alphabet, it is very easy to begin to understand the Czech letter.
Now - about the difficulties that any Russian-speaking student will most likely encounter.
1) False friends of the translator
This phenomenon has been known for a long time. For example, the word “město” (read as mnesto) is translated as city. Everyone will definitely come across the word “pozor” (read as disgrace) - this is a call to be more attentive. In fact, it happens very often, so it’s a shame!
As you can see in the picture, there are a lot of them. There is no need to learn everything; it comes naturally with the experience of living in a particular place. In Russia the situation is different, on Far East You will most likely be understood just as well as in Moscow (if they still speak Russian in Moscow 🙂).
On the other side, single standard, nevertheless, exists - it is what is studied in schools, universities, and used in official documents.
5) Ignorance of Czech realities and history
From my own experience, knowing these things is very important for learning a language. Sometimes only history helps to understand why a word is called one way and not another. And knowledge of realities recent years In general, it is necessary - in order to understand peers.
So, let's summarize. Czech is a difficult language. Only Slovaks understand it relatively easily; the rest need to work on themselves. Knowledge of the Russian language does not always help, and even more often it confuses. Knowing English helps very little. On the other hand, if you use this knowledge correctly, success in learning Czech is much easier to achieve. It is worth learning a language (any language) in the country in which it is spoken. However, if it is not needed for practical application, but as a hobby, you can do it at home. It’s also worth saying that you shouldn’t judge the Czech Republic and the Czech language by the center of Prague - there are a lot of interesting things around, take it at least.
People who want to learn or are already learning Czech have two opposing opinions. Some people think that the Czech language is very easy to learn, as it has similar features to Russian. Others are sure that Czech is one of the most difficult languages to learn, and mastering it requires spending many years of time and a huge amount of effort. In this post we will talk about what myths exist about learning Czech and how difficult it really is to learn it.
According to official data, Czech is in fifth place on the list of the most difficult languages to learn. This is why many people think it is almost impossible to learn. In fact, for an Englishman, mastering the Czech language can actually be very challenging task, since it native language quite different. However, for those who already speak Russian or another Slavic language, Czech becomes much more familiar and easier to learn. It's no secret that many words in these languages are similar. Russian-speaking people always quickly learn to read Czech. But understand written speech does not mean mastering the language, which is often forgotten.
Knowledge of the Slavic language will help in the initial stages. You will quickly get used to the sound of Czech speech and will be able to read simple texts. But don’t delude yourself - the more you delve into learning the language, the more difficulties and pitfalls you will encounter along your way. After some time, it turns out that knowing Russian as a native language not only does not help you learn, but even hinders it.
So, it turns out that words that strongly resemble Russian ones have a completely different meaning. There will be significant differences in language grammar and pronunciation. The biggest difficulty that Russian-speaking students face when learning Czech is the desire to use Russian rules in it. This especially applies to cases and constructions with verbs. Where an English-speaking student simply learns a construction, a Russian-speaking student will have to fight the habit of using his native language.
And if you can still cope with written Czech on your own, then colloquial It’s simply impossible to learn alone. This requires extensive practice and a teacher who can teach you how to pronounce Czech words correctly. During classes in language schools Special attention is paid to phonetics, since getting rid of the Russian accent is quite difficult. Due to incorrect pronunciation of words, Czech residents simply will not be able to understand what you are talking about, even if everything is grammatically correct.
Czech language courses will allow you to master it in a specific time frame, without stretching this process over many years of independent study. Group classes will provide the necessary speaking practice, as well as the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others. We invite you to sign up for a trial lesson at the Czech language school “CzeskiTata” to determine whether the teaching methods and conditions are suitable for you. Waiting for you!
In the Czech Republic? Are you going to study or work? Or maybe you are simply attracted by the sound of Czech speech? In any case, you are faced with the question “How to learn Czech?”.
In order to understand the variety of language teaching options, you first need to have an idea of what the Czech language is, what group of languages it belongs to, and what related roots it has with the Russian language.
About the Czech language
Czech is spoken by about 12 million people. Czech - official language Czech Republic. It belongs to the group of West Slavic languages and is related to the Russian language. The Czech alphabet uses the Latin alphabet. Unlike Russian, in Czech there are long and short variants of vowel sounds (for example, drahá - “dear” and dráha - “road”), which perform a semantic distinguishing function.It should be noted that the Czech language is quite soft in nature, has a large number of soft hissing words, it is even sometimes called the “snake language”. Therefore, it is easy to recognize a Russian-speaking person, even if he speaks Czech, since the Russian language is characterized by greater hardness.
The Czech language also has one of the difficult sounds - the sound “ř”, which is not always easy for even the Czechs themselves. Often, to achieve correct pronunciation, Czechs resort to the help of a speech therapist. There is no similar sound in the Russian language, and our articulatory apparatus is not designed to pronounce it, so to get a good result you need to practice a lot. For simplicity and convenience in many textbooks it is recommended to pronounce this sound like "rzh". But the Czech language is much softer than Russian, this sound is pronounced very, very softly, the sounds “r” and “zh” merge into one. Moreover, this sound is original and practically does not occur in other common world languages. Czechs are proud of this sound. But if you pronounce it in the Russian manner, they will still understand you.
How easy is it to learn this language? The language is related to Russian, so you can find many similar words.
For example: people – lidé, seller – prodávající, teacher – učitel, and others.
Some of the Czech words and phrases may seem funny at first.
For example: čerstvé potraviny – fresh food, chytrý – smart, pozor – attention, and others.
You will find a lot of such words in the Czech language, which at first may make you giggle and smile, but with a more detailed immersion in the language, you will understand the processes occurring in it.
If your native language is Russian or another Slavic language, you have a linguistic education and already have experience in, then learning the Czech language will be much easier for you than for everyone else.
So, you have decided to start learning Czech.
Study using a phrasebook, tutorial, textbook
For tourist trip in the Czech Republic, learning the language using a phrasebook is the best option. In the phrasebook you will find the basic necessary phrases, signs, making purchases in a store, calling an ambulance, paying in a restaurant, and also performing other necessary operations. You will learn basic phrases and necessary words. In the phrasebook, all words and phrases are divided into thematic groups, so it’s quite convenient to learn phrases by comparing them with the situation. But I draw the attention of the readers of MirSovetov, it was not for nothing that we said “learn phrases”, since using a phrasebook, you will not be able to understand the system of the language, the principles of word formation, the principles of constructing phrases.
A self-instruction manual in this regard is much more useful, since it not only gives ready-made phrases, but also helps to understand how they are formed. Undoubtedly, the self-instruction manual should be accompanied by a disk with phonetic exercises. Because, even knowing the spelling of words and grammar perfectly, being able to navigate the text, but pronouncing words phonetically incorrectly, you will experience difficulties in communication.
Of the recommended textbooks, Shirokova’s Soviet textbook for universities is still the best. Everything in it is worked out in such detail and consistently that you will immediately fall in love with the Czech language. Also very popular is the textbook for Russians “Chcete mluvit cesky”. Many classes for Russians in Czech universities are taught based on the materials in this textbook. The textbook does not have a clear system, but the material is given quite completely.
But at the first stage of learning a language, you need a specialist who would correct you and point out your mistakes so that you do not memorize them.
Audio aids, radio, television, cinema
In the modern age, all this has become accessible. To immerse yourself in the Czech language, you can tune in to the frequencies of the Czech radio and listen not only to Czech news and music, but also on the Internet pages of the Czech radio Rozglas you can also find audio books. Czech films can be downloaded in a VKontakte group specially created for this purpose, on torrent resources and in other places. From the films offered, you can also choose Czech films with Russian translation or Russian subtitles. Watching national films is very useful, because... Almost all Czech films have a unique, characteristic flavor only for them. Specific humor, Czech realities, peculiarities of mentality - you can experience all this when watching Czech films. Internet, online courses
This is also a good option, since materials on the Czech language have now appeared. You can download not only textbooks, but also audio programs, and study using multimedia programs on the Internet. There are several copyright websites where materials are posted and seminars and language classes are held. The advantage of multimedia programs is that you can control yourself.Tutor, courses, university
When enrolling in courses, it is better if you have a native speaker teach the classes. You will be able to avoid fixing errors in speech that are typical for Russian speakers. Since the languages are related, I always want to speak by analogy. But here readers of MirSovetov should be attentive and careful. In the Czech language there are many such controls in phrases and sentences, which in Russian are used with other prepositions or in a different order.For example: to go to university (Russian) - it to university (Czech), to wait for someone - check for ... (Czech)
Therefore, classes with an experienced teacher who is a native speaker will be much more useful.
Language environment
If you go to study and think that in a language environment the language will learn on its own, then you are deeply mistaken. Without systematic, high-quality studies, the only thing that awaits you is that you will learn to perfectly understand others, but will develop linguistic muteness in yourself. Or you will speak with gross errors so that it will be very difficult for a foreigner to listen to you. And also remember that if you have chosen Prague for immersion in the language environment, then communication in Czech can be kept to a minimum. When you come to Prague, you will be surprised how often you will hear Russian. There are indeed a lot of Russian speakers in Prague, so you will not have problems with communication, you can always find a Russian-speaking friend who will help you. Companies in Prague also often recruit multilingual employees. And you, in addition to practicing the language, will always be able to “chat” with someone in Russian. And the temptation is great, especially when you are a beginner and find it difficult to express yourself in an unfamiliar language. Therefore, I advise MirSovetov readers to learn Czech not in the capital. For this purpose, it is better to choose a smaller city. But do not forget that there are 4 dialects in the Czech Republic - therefore, if you find yourself in these places, the speech of the residents may contain elements characteristic of this particular area.
In the environment, you will learn to perceive someone else's speech well, distinguish what is said, and perhaps model it with your own voice, adapting it to the soft, hissing Czech speech.
It’s good if you studied this language at the language department of a university, perhaps even did an internship. In the Czech Republic, there are Czech courses at Charles University and at other universities in the republic, and you can also go to a Czech summer language school for several weeks.
Of course, under no circumstances should you travel with zero knowledge of the language. You must have an understanding of the language and know basic phrases. Since modern Czech youth are reluctant to learn Russian, and people of the older generation have already forgotten a lot, and do not always like to communicate in Russian.
Have fun learning!
