shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6150 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 1 of 14 25 January 2008 at 5:30pm | IP Logged |
I'm currently learning Czech and I was wondering if there were any efficient ways to improve my language. As a matter of fact, I'm currently living in Prague (for educational purpose) and the course I'm enrolled in offers a language course for 3 years but it's not that effective and the pace is too slow. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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aru-aru Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 6459 days ago 244 posts - 331 votes Speaks: Latvian*, English, Russian
| Message 2 of 14 25 January 2008 at 6:36pm | IP Logged |
Get czech speaking friends willing to communicate with you in their language even though you speak broken czech only. Or better still, make friends with small children. Children will most probably only speak czech AND they tend not to be good at understanding bad/wrong czech. They will also not be polite enough not to point out your mistakes. Since you're in Prague, listening comprehension courses or vocabulary cards would not be a good idea. You can do it when you go home.
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shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6150 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 3 of 14 25 January 2008 at 7:02pm | IP Logged |
The only problem is that it's so hard to make czech friends here as most of them only speak czech. I had always thought that there would be a lot of english-speaking population here in Prague and there is but that english speaking population only comprises of the foreigners (expats) that live here. The czechs here mostly speak only in czech and don't understand a word we say. But since I'm going to be here for a long time, I think I might be able to improve through language courses and basic communication (in whatever occasion I can).
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Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6441 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 4 of 14 25 January 2008 at 7:20pm | IP Logged |
Your German could be helpful. I found German more useful than English when I was in the Czech republic, for talking to Czechs (I can't say much more than 'good day' in Czech, sadly).
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shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6150 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 5 of 14 25 January 2008 at 7:27pm | IP Logged |
Aber sprechen Sie deutsch oder schweizerdeutsch? Mein deutsch ist nicht sehr gut weil ich fur eine lange zeit nicht gesprochen haben. (uh..I hope that's corect?)
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Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6441 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 6 of 14 25 January 2008 at 8:07pm | IP Logged |
shreypete wrote:
Aber sprechen Sie deutsch oder schweizerdeutsch? Mein deutsch ist nicht sehr gut weil ich fur eine lange zeit nicht gesprochen haben. (uh..I hope that's corect?) |
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I speak high German, poorly. I don't speak Swiss German: I did not spend my childhood in Switzerland, and I have never lived in the (Swiss)-German speaking parts.
I'll leave possible corrections to those who have a reasonable claim at fluency.
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shreypete Pentaglot Groupie Czech RepublicRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6150 days ago 90 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English*, Hindi, Telugu, CzechB1, SpanishB2 Studies: GermanB2, FrenchA2, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 7 of 14 26 January 2008 at 4:46am | IP Logged |
What is you take on Italian? Do you think it's a hard language for someone who has some knowledge of another Romance language (Spanish in my case). I've learn that Italian grammar and phonetics can be quite confusing at times and that it's much easier for those who can speak French. Is this true?
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Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6905 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French
| Message 8 of 14 26 January 2008 at 8:01am | IP Logged |
Find Czech friends. Yes, it is possible, I know young people from Czech Republic who speak good English and/or German (High German). They do exist, specially in Prague. If you have problems with it go to the Faculty of Languages, you can even hang an advert about looking somebody for language exchange. I'm pretty sure plenty of students will answer it, the students of English always look for a possibility to speak it.
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