Suzy Millward from http://suzymillward.blogspot.com writes:
Do you have any experience with the Czech language? I'm currently trying to learn this, one of the 10 hardest languages, and I'd love any insight another non-native Czech speaker has to offer.
Hi, Suzy,
Thanks for the question! I’ve only dabbled in Czech briefly, but it’s on my to-study list. From what I’ve learned of and about the language, it’s not too onerous to be on my Top 10 list of difficult languages. First, it uses the Latin alphabet, so you don’t have to worry about a foreign script. Czech is also quite phonetic and fairly easy to pronounce. It’s also related to other languages in the Slavic family, which is helpful if you already know Russian, Polish, etc. or wish to learn any of these after studying Czech. (That's directed more at those of you who are looking to learn several Slavic languages than at Suzy, but I figured I'd mention it here.)
Of course, there are some tricky parts to the language. Czech has 7 cases, which affect noun and adjective endings based on the verbs and prepositions they're used with. Verb conjugations are a little more involved than in English. And many verbs come in two forms: perfective and imperfective, which indicate a one-time/completed action or an ongoing action (e.g. “I eat the sandwich” vs. “I eat whenever I’m hungry.”) I could list the few other aspects of Czech grammar that I know of, but the bottom line is that while Slavic grammar can be tricky, it need not scare you off.
A better answer for you depends a lot on what you need to learn, how long you’ll actually use the language, and what your resources are. Will you be using it for travel, to actually live there (or to live there again), to impress, say, a Czech boyfriend's family, etc.?
Obviously, the best way to get started is to take a class if you can. Interacting with Czech speakers is also a good way to go. Otherwise, if self-study is your current route, you might want to get Teach Yourself Czech or Colloquial Czech. I’ve been gravitating towards these series lately (although the Colloquial series seems harder to track down via Amazon) and they tend to be a nice mix of vocab, grammar and basic sentences that you can use almost immediately. The course quality varies from language to language, though, and I haven’t tried the ones for Czech. I’ve picked up several of these courses on Ebay for under $10 (US), so if you're on a budget, that might be a good place to start.
Pimsleur also has 3 different levels of Czech audio (Basic Czech, Conversational Czech, and Comprehensive Czech). I’m a big fan of Pimsleur, and I’ve used their products to pick up some Russian, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and currently Lithuanian. The reason I use Pimsleur whenever possible is that it gets me speaking right away, and it’s more involved than just repeating a word or phrase that’s given once or twice. And generally, what I learn, I remember indefinitely. (I used the Russian cassette course over 10 years ago and still remember a fair amount.)
The downside is that the courses are pretty pricey for the amount of vocabulary you learn. (I recommend seeing if your local library can get you a copy of any of these.) Also, you don’t learn much in the way of grammar, and the course is strictly audio. (Some courses have short reading lessons, but they don’t correspond to the audio portions at all and, in my opinion, can be skipped.)
And don’t underestimate the power of a decent phrasebook, which can provide ready-to-use phrases. Granted, you might feel like you’re doing little more than learning set phrases by rote (and sounding or feeling like little more than a parrot at first), but keep in mind that we tend to do that in English with certain questions and responses. And it’s a way to get a good foundation of vocabulary for when you finally get started on learning the nuts and bolts of the language.
Lest this response seem like little more than vague info and a way to market products, I’ll do a little digging and see if I can find any recommendable Czech resources. I’ll post reviews once I come across anything good.
~d
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