Any Czech learners/speakers here?

[lctrgzmn]

Well, considering I'm rather serious about Czech, I do think it'd be a pretty beneficial thing for me (and any other conlangers who are learning Czech) to practice together. Or if you're a native, I'd also be down with that

If I don't get an internship at my dad's place next summer, there's a high possibility that I'll be going to the Czech Republic, and I'll be damned if I go there and am not able to communicate in Czech -_-

Anyway, to wrap this up, I'm pretty much asking to talk to some people who are also learning Czech/who already speak Czech. It could be a rather interesting experience, myslím!

-Lictor

[Viktor77]

I have and continue to neglect it. But I had 3 Czechs live with me who I still communicate with and have plenty of resources if you need to know anything pressing.

[lctrgzmn]

I've got a Czech family friend, but now that I'm old and she's old we hardly ever talk anymore. Such is life.


But if you ever get back into it, hit me up~ Oh, and will do.

[Gojera]

I studied it a bit before a month-long trip there a decade ago. My sister's going there next month, and Czech is a lot of fun, so I was thinking about taking it up again. But I suspect I should be studying Russian instead. =/

[linguoboy]

Back in college, I mentioned to one of my linguistics professors my desire to pick up some Czech and he told me, "Don't learn Czech; the vowels are a disaster!"

I did do some self-study for a bit, but since then I've become more interested in Polish.

[lctrgzmn]

"Don't learn Czech; the vowels are a disaster!".

... lolwut.

[Cathbad]

My great-grandfather was Czech, and he used to bring me loads of Czech books when he visited - really random books about keeping tropical fish, etc. I didn't manage to learn any of the language from that though. I still have some of the books lying around at home I think, but I doubt they'd be of any use of you. Unless of course you plan to set up an aquarium in the Czech Republic, which I seriously doubt.

There's also a bad and mean "joke" about Czech people, supposedly told by the Poles as well as my great-grandmother on my grandmother's side (my Czech great-grandad was on my grandfather's side), which kind of compared the Czechs to Mongols (or Huns?), although the "salt" involved in it is rather more, ummm, dissolved.

[äreo]

I want to learn Czech at some point because I have Czech family, but I don't have time right now.

[linguoboy]

"Don't learn Czech; the vowels are a disaster!".

... lolwut.

He was speaking from a diachronic point of view, naturally. If you want to learn a Slavic language which will help you to understand historical developments within the wider family, Czech is not your best choice.

[lctrgzmn]

I was about to say... If anything, Czech's vowels are depressingly simple.

[linguoboy]

I was about to say... If anything, Czech's vowels are depressingly simple.

Don't be deceived by the simplifications of the official orthography!

[Viktor77]

I was about to say... If anything, Czech's vowels are depressingly simple.

Don't be deceived by the simplifications of the official orthography!

I lol'd.

[lctrgzmn]

I was about to say... If anything, Czech's vowels are depressingly simple.

Don't be deceived by the simplifications of the official orthography!

I'm not, lol. I know some dialects change certain vowel sounds (like some users pronounce the -ý in adjectives as -ej), but overall the general vowel inventory isn't as insane as... say Russian, or Swedish (or English).

[linguoboy]

I'm not, lol. I know some dialects change certain vowel sounds (like some users pronounce the -ý in adjectives as -ej), but overall the general vowel inventory isn't as insane as... say Russian, or Swedish (or English).

LOLwhut?

Russian has a total of five vowel phonemes. No phonemic length, although there is vowel reduction. Frankly that's much easier for English-speakers to master than the Czech feature of having phonetically long vowels in unstressed position.

[lctrgzmn]

You think so? I find the vowel lengthening to be easier than the vowel reduction in Russian, but that's just me, I guess.

[Io]

I too loled but my interpretation was of Czech having no vowels, of course not literally, I mean the consonant clusters.

[lctrgzmn]

I too loled but my interpretation was of Czech having no vowels, of course not literally, I mean the consonant clusters.

Strč prst skrz krk.
Plch pln skvrn prch skrz drn prv zhlt čtvrt hrst zrn.

Teehehehehe. My favorite is the word for "icecream", "zmrzlina."

Mám rád zmrzlinu!

[Niedokonany]

"Don't learn Czech; the vowels are a disaster!".

... lolwut.

He was speaking from a diachronic point of view, naturally. If you want to learn a Slavic language which will help you to understand historical developments within the wider family, Czech is not your best choice.

Well, the vowel changes after palatal(ized) consonants have wrought havoc in some morphology (those adjectives where every ending seems to be -í), but I don't think it even compares to Polabian

My favorite is the world for "icecream", "zmrzlina."

Accidentally, zmarzlina means 'permafrost' in pl...

[alice]

Accidentally, zmarzlina means 'permafrost' in pl...

The historian Norman Davies recalled the problems he had learning Czech after Polish; apparently the word for "east" or "west" in one is the same as the word for "toilet" in the other.

[Niedokonany]

Accidentally, zmarzlina means 'permafrost' in pl...

The historian Norman Davies recalled the problems he had learning Czech after Polish; apparently the word for "east" or "west" in one is the same as the word for "toilet" in the other.

Polish zachód ["zaxut] "west" and Czech záchod ["za:xot] "toilet", not quite the same but similar (formed in a fully analogous manner). A similar Polish derivation with a similar meaning is wychodek "outhouse".

We can boast other colourful false friends, e.g.: odbyt (pl "anus", cs "sales, market (for a product)"), napad/nápad (pl "fit", cs "idea").

There's also a bad and mean "joke" about Czech people, supposedly told by the Poles as well as my great-grandmother on my grandmother's side (my Czech great-grandad was on my grandfather's side), which kind of compared the Czechs to Mongols (or Huns?), although the "salt" involved in it is rather more, ummm, dissolved.

So what's the joke?