Radio Prague International - Topic «Czech language course»

Danny Bate, a former member of Radio Prague and linguist, has just published his first book, titled Why Q Needs U. In it, he dives into the history of the English alphabet and invites readers to see language as a collaborative project shaped by its speakers from day to day. The self-taught Czech speaker, writer, and perennial Czechophile, also shares practical advice for learning the language, including how to master the notoriously difficult ‘ř’ sound.

The University of Vienna is marking a remarkable milestone this year: 250 years since Czech was first taught there. In fact, Czech was introduced as a field of study in Vienna 18 years earlier than at any Czech University.

On May 27th, the ‘Day of Czech’ ( Den češtiny ) is serving up a multi-genre programme of linguistic events, designed to inform Czech speakers about their language and help them to look at it with new eyes. Aimed in the morning at school groups, and later on the general public, the Day of Czech is being held in Prague’s Kampus Hybernská, where Danny Bate met with one of the team behind the event, Dr. Ondřej Dufek.

Teachers at a Prague primary school are changing how the Czech language is taught to foreign children, and have produced new textbooks that implement their method.

The Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute of the Czech Language is recruiting young language enthusiasts to document dialects and the endangered speech of older generations.

Czech children and teenagers are crafting their own language, filled with slang and new expressions, often borrowed from English. The internet speeds up the creation of new words and phrases, which can be confusing for people who aren't active online. In particular, it can be difficult for their parents and grandparents to understand.

As every year, dozens of students from all over the world arrived in Czechia to take part in this year’s edition of the annual Summer Czech Course for Expats organised by Charles University's Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies. For the past few years, the course has been held in the charming spa town of Poděbrady in Central Bohemia. We caught up with some of them to find out about their motivation to study Czech.

The promoters of hantec, a unique Czech language variety, spoken by the lower classes of Brno during the 19th and early 20th centuries, would like get it inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible World Heritage List. They are hoping that this might prevent the famous sociolect from completely dying out.

British linguist Danny Bate divides his time between Prague and Edinburgh, where he is completing a PhD. Given his academic background, the 26-year-old has many fascinating things to say on the Czech language, which he himself is studying. But I also asked Bate – who, incidentally, helps shape Czechia’s “maturita” school-leaving exam – about his experience of living in the country to date.

“A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” This is the maxim often cited to explain the sometimes arbitrary distinctions between languages and dialects. So what about the case of Czech and Slovak, which are generally considered to be mutually intelligible? Were they always considered to be separate languages, even when Czechoslovakia was one country? And has anything changed linguistically since the nations went their separate ways politically?

On moving to the Czech Republic, many foreigners are surprised to find famous women such as Hillary Clinton and Meryl Streep referred to in the Czech media as ‘Hillary Clintonová’ and ‘Meryl Streepová’. Now one Czech news outlet has sparked debate on the matter, after dropping this practice for foreign women’s surnames.

Proponents of “Czechia” got a boost this month, when Olympic officials in Prague asked the International Olympic Committee to register it in its database of country names. But will the short name ever replace the official “the Czech Republic” in common speech? I discussed the matter with leading Czech linguist Karel Oliva.

If you live in the Czech Republic, you’ll have been enjoying two extra days off from work due to a pair of consecutive public holidays this week. 5th July, Saints Cyril and Methodius day, and 6th July, Jan Hus day, both have a connection to the way Czech is written – but what is it? And is Czech really easier to learn to read and write than other languages? Our reporter and amateur linguistics enthusiast, Anna Fodor, spoke to well-known Czech linguist Karel Oliva, to find out.

After years of heated debates, Czech women may finally be able to make their own decision about the form of their surname. On Tuesday the Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to the law on birth registers, names and surnames, allowing them to drop the ending –ová and use the masculine form instead.

With a strong economy and cities that few can rival in their beauty, the Czech Republic has become an increasingly popular country for foreigners from across the world. This has naturally led to a demand in Czech language courses. One of those who are leading the pack in online Czech teaching is YouTuber Vít Benešovský.

Should Czech women be able to choose whether or not to use the ending -ová in their surname? A debate over the question has flared up again after the cabinet approved a draft law on birth registers, which denies women the possibility to do so. The Pirate Party calls it discriminatory and wants to reverse the decision in the Lower House.

Today marks the midway point for students at the 62nd Summer School of Slavonic Studies in Prague, a month-long program for academics and enthusiasts of Slavic language and culture. I spoke with program coordinators to learn more about the school and its international student body.

The city of Brno is one of a number of venues where summer schools of Czech take place every year and bring together students from across the world. Now in its fiftieth year, the Masaryk University Summer School of Slavonic Studies offers its students much more than just language lessons.

Vojtěch Merunka, an associate professor who teaches at the Czech University of Life Sciences and also the Czech Technical University in Prague is one of a team of creators behind Interslavic – a language designed to make communication possible for anyone with Slav roots. Speak Czech but not any Russian? Bulgarian but no Polish? Interslavic, he says, is the alternative; at a conference in June, he and fellow team members put the language to the test.

Charles University academic Ivana Bozděchová has taught Czech and Czech Studies in several corners of the world, including in the United States and in the South Korean capital Seoul. When we spoke, the conversation took in everything from the particular difficulties Czech tends to throw up for English speakers to Czechia to the use of -ová surname endings. But I first asked Ms. Bozděchová about her experiences of teaching at the University of Nebraska in 1990, right after the fall of communism.

How has the Czech language developed over the past four decades? What expressions do we borrow from other languages and which words have fallen into oblivion? These are just some of the question I asked Martin Prošek, the head of the Institute of the Czech language, which has just started to release a new monolingual dictionary of Czech. Its first chapter, containing words starting with the letter A, has just been published in electronic form.

Earlier this year the Czech government made international news with its plan to promote “Czechia” as a snappy alternative to the cumbersome “the Czech Republic”. So far how has successful has this rebranding exercise actually been? I discussed that question and more with Professor Petr Pavlínek, a geographer who teaches at Charles University and at the University of Nebraska. He’s a member of the group Civic Initiative Czechia, which began by advocating for the Czech-language name Česko before focusing on its English equivalent. I first asked Professor Pavlínek what were the key arguments in favour of using “Czechia”.

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song, sung by Markéta Konvičková, is called Z ráje jsem utekla – I ran away from heaven. The words to listen out for are ráj and peklo.

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. The word for today is věk – meaning a time or age. We will be listening to the song V blbým věku sung by Xindl X and Olga Königová.

Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be listening to the song V naší ulici, or in our street, sung by Voxel. The word to listen out for is ulice – meaning street.

Welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. The word for today is anděl – an angel. We will be listening to a song performed by Czech singer Aneta Langerová called Spousta andělů – Tons of Angels.

Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be listening to the song “Jaký to je” or “How it is” sung by Ewa Farna. The words to listen out for are šedá myš - a grey mouse.

Welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Some days you may find yourself being convinced to do something, perhaps against your better judgement. If so, the Czech band ‘Kabát’ or ‘The Coat’ has just the song for you called Když ptáčka lapají.

How to teach your children the Czech language and maintain it in an environment where everyone speaks English? That is a big question for the Czech expatriate community living in the United States. Marta McCabe, a Czech teacher who moved to North Carolina, decided to deal with the issue by establishing a Czech and Slovak School in the town of Durham – the first organisation of its kind in that state. I met Marta McCabe on her recent visit to Prague to talk about the Czech community in North Carolina and about the school she founded. But I first asked her how she herself ended up living in the United States:

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. The word for today is zmizet, which means to disappear. We will be listening to a song by Helena Vondráčková called Kam zmizel ten starý song – where did that old song disappear to.

Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be listening to the song “Chemie” or “Chemistry” by Czech singer and songwriter Xindl X. The phrase we are listening out for is “Vykašli se na to”.

Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be learning words and phrases related to a night out on the town. The song we will be listening to is “Hospoda U Mámy”, or “The Pub at Mother’s Place”, sung by Jaromír Nohavica.

Czechia in English, and other variants of the name Česko in other languages, has taken a big step forward towards becoming the shorthand name for the Czech Republic at official meetings and international sporting events in the future.

The Czech Republic’s top officials are meeting to try and agree on a shortened name for the Czech Republic. The frontrunner in English appears to be the name Czechia and that could soon be popping up all over the place.

Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is sung by Hana Zagorová and the word to listen out for is kamarád, meaning friend.

All of us have found ourselves in situations when everything goes wrongs, days we would like to forget. When you get canned from work, get the boot from your partner, or get evicted from your apartment. Sometimes all three at once. Mňága & Zďorp have just the song for you called: Zapomenout (To Forget). Listen for the line chtěl bych zapomenout – I’d like to forget.

Hello and welcome to SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is called Statistika je nuda by Jaroslav Uhlíř and Zdeňek Svěrák who composed it for a Czech children’s movie in 1980. The word to listen out for is nuda.

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn interesting Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the singer and song writer Michal Prokop. It’s called Blues o spolykaných slovech or Blues about swallowed words and the phrase to listen out for is slova váznou na jazyku:

Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech –Radio Prague’s Czech language crash course in which you can learn new idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song, sung by Václav Neckář and Helena Vondráčková, is from a popular Czech fairy tale and is called Kdyby na sůl nebylo – if we couldn’t even afford salt.

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of Sound Czech, in which you can learn Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the popular Czech band Chinaski. It is called Zadarmo / For Free and it is literally packed with interesting idioms and phrases. Let’s have a look at some of them:

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn interesting Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the singer songwriter Jaromír Nohavica. It’s called Kdybych byl ředitelem zeměkoule – If I was Director of the World and the phrase to listen out for is mít všechno pod palcem:

Welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, our Czech language mini-series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we’ll hear a song by Jana Kratochvílová called V stínu kapradiny – in the shadow of the fern and the phrase to listen out for is když lámal se den.

Welcome to Radio Prague’s Czech language course SoundCzech in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s phrases revolve around the word ruka, meaning hand. Here is Vaclav Neckar with a song called give me your hand - Podej mi ruku.

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of Sound Czech, in which you can learn interesting Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today's song is by the Czech singer song writer Karel Plíhal and it is called Kde jsou or Where Are They. The phrase to listen out for is tiše jako pěna.

Just like society in general, Czech has changed markedly since the Velvet Revolution, says Karel Oliva, director of the Institute of the Czech Language. There is now greater informality in Czech – and a divisive trend of women with foreign husbands not using the traditional “ová” surname ending.

Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech –Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by a rapper going by the name of Johnny Machette – it is called Neřeš to – meaning don’t deal with this, or drop it –and that’s the phrase to look out for today.

Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song, called OK, is by the band Alkehol, and it is literally packed with interesting idioms and phrases:

Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, where you can learn Czech words and idioms through song lyrics. The expression to listen out for today is nemá ani šajna, which is a colloquial way to say that someone doesn’t have a clue. The title of the song is “Dítě školou povinné”, or Schoolchild, and it was written by the 1960s legendary Czech duo Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr.

Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we are playing a Christmas carol called Veselé Vánoce – or Merry Christmas.

Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s programme explaining Czech vocabulary through song lyrics. Today’s song is the 1969 Czech cover of “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. It is sung by Marta Kubišová and the Czech lyrics were written by Zdeněk Rytíř. We shall concentrate on the chorus which features a number of idioms. Let’s start by listening to the whole chorus which begins by the line Svět je krásnej, svět je zlej, hej, Jude, věř v něj meaning “the world is beautiful, the world is evil, hey Jude, trust in it”.