New Links Added

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've added a couple more Links to the (where else) Links page. These include a site I found that includes online exercises to practise vocab and Grammar. There are also a couple of dictionaries and a few other more general language sites. Remember: keep checking it out as I regularly update it! And of course, if you find something interesting send me a link and I'll stick it up!

Free PDF Textbook

A simple gap fill to expand vocabulary.

I found this ages ago for free on the internet. It’s a 148 page PDF Czech  textbook from varianty.cz. It is entirely in Czech but is meant for foreigners. On your own, it will take a bit of work to get through it as there are no translations. However, vocabulary is introduced through pictures and so is a good way to get used to the language. There is a vocab list at the end of each lesson which you can either have a go at translating before each lesson to prepare, or, possibly more useful and easier, fill in as you go, using the pictures and exercises to help you.  Most of the exercises are also quite self explanatory and involve activities such as gap filling and matching. Grammar is also introduced, starting off with gender in lesson 1, pronouns in lesson 2 and introducing full blown conjugation in lesson 3. If  you can get to grips with it, and don’t mind the prospect of being instantly dropped in the Czech language, it’s a fun course with lots of variety; diagrams, crosswords along with traditional grammar explained in context.

For more information, this is the website. Unfortunately entirely in Czech.

Czech.cz

This is a really good website to keep up to date with life in the Czech Republic. It’s aimed at foreigners who have an interest in the country and is full of facts on history, culture, news and statistics. You can even send cute little e-cards with such puzzling greetings as “liquid plums” and “The Propelled Man”, which if you can decipher, celebrate Czech achievements and sights. It also offers practical advice on travel and finding a job in the CR. I have made regular use of this site in history essay and expect when I’m over there next year. There are so many articles and it’s regularly updated so is a great way to find out more about the country.

Slovo Dne #3 : Však

The most common way to say “but” in Czech is with the word “ale”. However, there are a few alternative, the most used being “však”. It really means “however”, but you’ll see it used more frequently than the English translation, often just being a simple replacement for “ale”. Having a varied vocabulary is a key way of making your writing and speech sound more natural and advanced, so try using it whenever you find yourself repeating “ale” a bit too much.

Slovo Dne #2: Bohemistika

The actual Czech word for “Bohemia” is Čechy, from which comes the word Česko, and the word for the country in many other languages, Czech. However, these originally referred only to the Western half of the country we now call the Czech Republic, Bohemia. This term comes from the Latin term for the tribe that inhabited the area in ancient times, the Boii.

The word Bohemistika is a Czech word that describes the discipline of Czech Studies- the study of the language and the literature of the Czech lands. The discipline has existed from at least the 14th century when the scholar Klaret attempted to create a scientific vocabulary in the language under the rule of Charles IV, but Jan Hus is widely regarded as the founder of the discipline, completely reforming Czech orthography, so that now istead of “Czech”, we see “Čech”.

Inultus

For my Czech Literature course at uni, one of the works that we read was a rather interesting and surreal work by the decadent writer Julius Zeyer. It was called “Inultus”, which means “unavenged” or “unpunished” in Latin and is the first story in his collection Three Legends of the Crucifix. Unfortunately, there I have only found a Czech edition, which you can read for free on the Czech Wikisource. If you’re a beginner it will be a difficult read, but if you’ve studied the language for a year or so, you should be OK.

Synopsis
The story takes place about 20 years after the Battle of White Mountain, a time which the Revivalists looked at as the Czech Dark Ages when German culture dominated in the Czech lands. An Italian sculptress, Dona Flavia, is walking along the Charles Bridge at night with her mute assistant. She comes across a man she takes to be a beggar, who she insults by offering money. He is in fact a poet, one who has written nothing and claims it is all stored in his mind. He calls himself Inultus and is described as having blonde, long hair and watery eyes. In other words, he looks like a Romantic image of Jesus. Flavia, who is sculpting a crucified Jesus, asks him to accompany her to her studio, where she reveals her intentions to sculpt him as the Christ. He is taken aback, believing that this would be blasphemous, but Flavia manages to convince him by claiming that such a great work coming out of the Czech nation would soften the heart of the foreign ruler of Bohemia and so ease the lot of the Czechs. Despite the fact she is only sculpting his face, she ties him to a cross and so begins one of the most surreal episodes in Czech literature. Inultus begins to believe that he is actually Jesus, whilst Flavia becomes overcome by an artistic passion that eventually leads to Inultus’s death and Flavia’s suicide.

Zeyer and the Decadents
An important fact about Zeyer is that he wasn’t strictly Czech, he was the son of a Franco-German noble from Alsace and a Jewish mother. He only learnt Czech from his Nanny. It is possibly this foreign aspect of his character which makes Zeyer such an interesting writer. Though there are clear nationalist elements to the work, Inlutus owes more to French symbolism than the quaint rural nostalgia of Erben or Němcová. Zeyer’s description of Jesus recalls El Greco, a favoured artist of the Decadents and the overlap of art and reality was explored in depth by Huysmanns in his bible of Decadence À Rebours.

SAQs: Seldom Asked Questions

This hasn’t been updated in a while- more than 2 years- but still, it is an interesting diversion and a way to learn more about the less obvious facets of Czech culture. It is a blog by a Professor at Northwestern University and is a compilation of “puzzling aspects of life in the Czech Republic”. Highlights include “Kolová”, or “cycle ball”, a sport he claims was adopted by the Czechs in order to be the best in the world at something! Cynical, but you can’t help but believe it.

Slovo Dne #1

My first "word of the day is: "Ahoj!"
Now, I have already explained that it means "hi" in my last post, a fact that most of you reading this would already have known anyway, if only because it sounds like a pirate greeting. If you think about this, it is quite odd that the Czechs, being a landlocked nation, should have adapted a seafaring term as a greeting! It is true that it is an adoption of the English term, despite some sources claiming the other way around. ( anyone studying Czech is instantly taught that the only Czech words in English is robot, and, possibly, pistol). Apparently it was adapted through the boy scouts and tourists and became popular during the 1930s. Now it is one of the most common greetings in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Czech Basics 1- Greetings

Here is my first “lesson” in Czech. I hope to eventually write some more. Today I will be dealing with how you greet another person, along with the common formalities necessary for any trip. I haven’t included how to pronounce the words, I have presumed that you know what the letters symbolise, though I will cover this on another day. For now, if you need some more guidance, take a look at the pronunciation guide on locallingo.com.

Dobrý den	Hello	Na Shledanou	Goodbye
Ahoj	Hi, bye	Dobrou Noc	Good night
Dobré Ráno	Good morning	Čau	Hi, bye
Dobré odpoledne	Good afternoon
Dobrý Večer	Good evening

These are all pretty self explanatory. Note that both ‘Dobré Ráno’ and ‘Dobré Odpoledne’ are a lot less common than the basic “Dobrý den” which is used throughout the day. “Ahoj” and “čau” are used like French “salut” or Italian “ciao”, for both greeting and saying “bye”. They are relatively informal, but shouldn’t raise any eyebrows if you use it with people you don’t know, just like English “hi”. “Na Shledanou” is the full form of Goodbye, though has a meaning similar to French “Au Revoir”, meaning “until we meet again”. Of course, “Dobrou Noc” is only ever used just before you go to bed.

Ano/ jo, no	Yes/ yeah
Ne	no

Czech can claim the rather dubious achievement of being pretty much the only European language to have a word for “yes” that contains an “n”. Not only does it contain an “n” but you will often hear Czechs use “no” whilst nodding in agreement. This is their way of saying “yeah”. The actual Czech word for “no” is “ne”. You will also hear “jo”, which luckily is more in line with the European norm.

Prosím	Please
Děkuji/u	Thank you
Díky	Thanks
Promiňte	Excuse me

The real star here is “prosím”. Not only does it mean “please” but also has meanings similar to the Italian “prego”. If you don’t know what that entails, it means that you will be asked what you want in a shop with “prosím”, then, after you’ve told the attendant what you want, you will of course, being the polite traveller you are, stick a “prosím” onto the end of your request. Then, once you’ve said a “děkuju”, the assistant will again reply with a “prosím”, though this time with the meaning, “don’t mention it”. For a two syllable word it has a lot of functions attached to it.

Note also that “děkuji” has two possible pronunciations, with “děkuji” being the slightly more formal, but in Prague you are more likely to hear “děkuju”. If that’s  too much of a mouthful, you could resort to a cute little “díky”. Naww.

Well, that’s the basics. Obviously, if you were landed in the middle of Prague, it would not be much help, but I plan to cover more soon! So stay tuned.

Oh, and if you are stuck in Prague, you may want something else to say after you’ve hailed someone with “Promiňte”. Just learn this phrase: Umíte anglicky?

Colloquial Czech: Review

Please note that this is for the 2nd edition. There is a 3rd edition out.
Well as I mentioned last post, I really fell behind in my Czech studies last term thanks to an almost 4 month summer vacation period and so now I am in the great position of spending the Christmas holidays cramming for January exams. Tip 1: don’t do that. My Bible/ life-support machine has been James Naughton’s Colloquial Czech. To anyone who has done a little research into what resources are available to the budding student of Czech, you will undoubtedly have already heard of this work. My advice: get it. It’s one of the few courses worth studying.

The lessons are built around dialogues, which are first presented first in Czech and then, until the 5th lesson, in English. Each comes complete with a vocabulary list to help you decipher the conversation, as well as plenty of good, concise grammar explanations. For the complete beginner, it can be quite overwhelming to be instantly presented with a dialogue in Czech to work through, but gradually it becomes easier to read them, where the issues become more revolved around vocabulary rather than syntax.
There are a lot of exercises that are placed throughout the lessons, between 6-8 for each chapter. A good point is that they encourage you to recall both recently learnt and past vocabulary, ensuring that it is firmly placed in your memory.

There are few really good resources for learning Czech and so this, from an  esteemed Oxford lecturer, really is the best out there. It has the perfect blend of grammar  and exposure to actual examples of the language. Whilst some of the early conversations seem a bit contrived, this is mostly due to the limited language available for the beginner and as you progress they become more lively and natural. I really cannot recommend this book enough!

Czech Films on the Internet!

So after that... traumatic video, how about a bit of kultur? As I have said before, Czech films are pretty good, but are also very hard to come by in England. Luckily, there is now a Youtube channel with a selection of Czech films, at the moment mostly from the 60s. The good news they also come with subtitles! Just click on the little CC on the video player. It stands for "Closed Captions" here rather than "Coco Chanel". Just a heads up.

http://www.youtube.com/user/filmgoria

Mmmmmmm... what?

So you still need a reason to learn Czech? Well, then watch this! Threre are subtitles but really, no translation is required. Just let the rhythm and the dance take over.

Mmmmmm. Jó. Je moc zajímavý.

Updates

I haven't written anything in a verrryyyyy long time but no matter, I'm back! I'm a little under half way through my second year at university and it has been tough! Made worse by my total lack of revision throughout the summer. But I've been working hard over Christmas so hopefully that's sorted! Anyway, next year I spend the year abroad in France and the Czech Republic as part of my language degree. So, in October I'm off to Paris to spend a few months studying in the Paris ghetto at Paris VIII, and then, in February I go to... Brno. Now, most people study Czech with Prague firmly in mind, but, alas, my uni believes that the purpose of the year abroad is to immerse yourself in the language rather than act a tourist in the Golden City. So it's to Brno, the second city, that I have been sent. But as you can see from the image at the top of the post, it really isn't such a disaster, it's a truly beautiful city, and possibly more of a living and working one than central Prague; it will definitely be easier to pick up Czech. This is for 2 reasons, one, Moravian Czech is actually closer to the written standard than the form spoken in Bohemia and 2, I'm more likely to get a chance to actually speak the language.