Mluvím Česky! (I Speak Czech!)

I’ve been putting off this particular blog post for a bit because it’s felt like a homework assignment from college, albeit, a homework assignment I’ve given myself. The past few weeks have been quite busy. I’ve taken on a few new clients, made a day-trip into the countryside of the Czech Republic, and moved to a different part of Prague. But I’ll talk about that some other time. This post is dedicated to the basics of the Czech language. I hope it helps anyone planning on vacationing here or starting to work as an ESL teacher.

In my last post, I emphasized that it is not necessary to learn the local language to be an effective English teacher. Nonetheless, I highly recommend learning as much as you can. This has several benefits:

1) It helps you empathize with your ESL students. Struggling with a new language will make you appreciate how hard your students are working. Knowing how horrible my Czech is, I am continually impressed by how dedicated my students are to absorbing as much English as they can. I often wish I were making as much progress with Czech as most of my students are with English!

2) Locals will appreciate your efforts. I imagine most Czechs become very annoyed when spoken to in slow, condescending English. It makes for a nice change when they can sit back and let the foreigner struggle with a foreign language. Their respect for you will increase dramatically, even if your pronunciation is all over the place and you only use a few simple words.

3) It’s practical for living in that country. Duh. Is this shop open? Do they have my brand of shampoo? What the hell am I ordering from this menu? Is this public announcement important? Why is this person screaming at me? Know your basics, and life abroad becomes a lot easier.

4) It improves your skillset. Now more than ever, employers are looking for employees fluent in foreign languages. Furthermore, your value as an ESL teacher will dramatically increase if you’re able to translate back and forth (read: more $$$).

5) It challenges you. Learning a foreign language is one of the best ways to expand your life experience. It enables you to travel to new places, encounter different cultures, and may even change the way you think. It’s never too late to start.

            Now that you’re motivated to learn, let’s get started with the basics.

Pronunciation:
            How do babies first begin to learn language? They experiment with speech sounds. These are the necessary building blocks of language. Master them from the beginning, and the learning process will become much easier. Czech looks confusing at first glance, but is actually very logical and consistent once you know the rules. Reading Czech aloud is a breeze once you memorize these rules.

Consonants
Written Form                      English Example            Phonetic Transcription

b	boy	/b/
c	cats	/t͡s/
č	chain	/t͡ʃ/
ch	Guttural sound common in German Bach or lach	/x/
d	dog	/d/
f	fish	/f/
g	game	/g/
h	hat	/h/
j	yellow	/j/
k	kick	/k/
l	laugh	/l/
m	mouse	/m/
n	nose	/n/
p	people	/p/
q	quiet	/kw/
r	rolled like in Spanish rapido	/r/
ř	This sound is unique to Czech. It is notoriously difficult. It is somewhere between a rolled “r” and “zh” (like in treasure)	/r̝/
s	sun	/s/
š	shoe	/ʃ/
t	tall	/t/
v	voice	/v/
z	zoo	/z/
ž	treasure	/ʒ/
’	This adds a slight “y” lilt after the consonant that precedes it	Czech example: loď for “boat” t' = /c/  d' = /ɟ/

Vowels: In Czech, vowels can be short or long in duration. Long vowels are given an accent like á. For example, the word “bird” is pták, which is pronounced “ptaak” They can also have what is called a háček (sometimes called a carrot or a hat) like ě, which adds a “y” sound in front. For example, the number 9 is devět, which is pronounced “day-vee-yet”.

   Written Form                 English Example            Phonetic Transcriptions            

a	father	/a/
á	law	/a:/
e	egg	/ɛ/
é	Mr. Burns: "eeexcellent"	/ɛː/
ě	Pierre	/jɛ/
i / y	fish	/ɪ/
í / ý	bee	/i:/
o	ocean	/o/
ó	Goooal!	/o:/
u	dude	/u/
ú / ů	Duuude, space is big.	/u:/

Additional note: Some consonants will act like vowels in Czech. The letters r, l, and m can make up syllables like krk (neck), vlk (wolf), and osm (eight). Practice with this famous Czech tongue twister: "Strč prst skrz krk." (Stick your finger through your neck.)

Basic Phrases: These are helpful for everyday life. These are good to know immediately.

      English Phrase                        Czech                                   Notes

yes / yeah	ano / jo	Be careful—sometimes this is shortened to simply “no”, but it means “yes”!
no	ne
Hello	Dobrý den	Literally “good day” Always say this when entering establishments
Goodbye	Na shledanou	Always say this when leaving establishments. Pronounced na-skleh-dah-no
Please / You’re welcome	prosím	It means both! It is also used as a “here you go” when giving something
Thank you.	Děkuji	If you say “dickweed” without the ending “d”, that’s close enough. You can also say “diky” for “thanks”.
Excuse me / Sorry	promiňte	“Excuse me” as in “Can you help me?” (Used to interrupt)
Excuse me (you’re in my way)	pardon	Useful on public transportation
I (don’t) understand	(ne)rozumím	Someone approaches you for money? “Nerozumím!”
Do you speak English?	Mluvíte anglicky?	“Promiňte, mluvíte anglicky?” is a wonderful phrase.
I don't speak Czech	Nemluvím česky.	I speak a little Czech = “Mluvím trochu česky.”
Help!	Pomoc!
How much is it?	Kolik to stoji?	Just saying “kolik” for “how much?” will get your meaning across just fine.
Where’s the bathroom?	Kde jsou toalety?
I’m an English teacher.	Jsem učitel angličtiny.	Females say “učitelka”
I would like (a beer), please.	Chtěl bych (pivo), prosím.	Females say “Chtěla bych”
I (don’t) have ______	(ne)mám ______
Cheers!	Na zdraví!	Clink your glasses together and drink up! (Literally “to health”)

Numbers: These are good to learn so you can start to hear prices from store clerks or ask for the right number of beers for all your friends at a pub.

1	jeden (m) jedna (f) jedno (n)	Nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. The numbers 1 and 2 must agree.
2	dva (m) dvě (f & n)
3	tři	A good way to practice ř
4	čtyři	Czechs will laugh when you try to say this one.
5	pět
6	šest
7	sedm
8	osm
9	devět	These two are similar. I remember that 9 is a deviant (odd) and 10 sets things back to normal (even).
10	deset

 So there you have it. This should honestly be enough Czech to get you through daily life in the Czech Republic. Please let me know if this was helpful, if anything should be clarified, or if I've made any mistakes. I did my best to describe the pronunciation simply, and I understand it might not be exactly like some of the English examples I've provided. 

Hezky den!

-Anthony