Learn Czech - Basic Pronunciation Tips - Lesson 7

[@JessicaOceanLover]

My Dad is from the Czech Republic and growing up I was did not learn Czech....or so I thought until I started watching your videos! So far I've know most of the phrases and words you have gone over! I'm thrilled and surprised! I must have somehow picked up on it from being around it so much without realizing it! Thank you for the wonderful lessons! I look forward to my next visit to Prague even more now :)

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

+JessicaJoyFarkie That is awesome, to find you have a secret talent for something. With a bit of practice your Czech will be awesome. Enjoy your next trip to Prague Rich :)

[@GamleJas2]

+JessicaJoyFarkie Lucky you. I am just plain danish and don't have a f****ng clue of any slave language. Would really love to1

[@JonnoDavies1]

I can finally pronounce the ř sound after lots of practise, I thought I was an idiot because I could not say it - it turns out there are Czech people that cannot pronounce it either! Its a great way to impress! :D

[@gutterducky]

Index cards or something with the accents over their letters would be really helpful for visual learners. Thank you for all you have put out so far! Děkuji!

[@slocad11]

Hello, hey, I just came across your lessons while looking for a way to learn some Czech before I go there to take an intensive course. Of course, I am working on the content of your videos, but I wanted to write that, as someone who teaches English, I really appreciate a few things about your series: you are very organized in how you present the targeted information; you enunciate quite clearly a few times and even slowly for beginners - a real plus; you give similar-sounds in English, which is super for native English speakers especially; there are no distractions such as music or images so it is focused on sounds and explanations; finally, you give some relevant cultural notes. I have seen numerous language learning videos on KZbin, but yours is one of the most professional. Good job, Rich. I may be able to enter a course as a false beginner after having worked on the material you have presented in your series. Thank you and kudos!

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

slocad11 Thanks for taking the time to give me such positive feedback. It is funny actually because if I had time to go back and start the whole series again, I would change many things, not least getting a decent camera from the start. Plus you will notice as you watch more of my lessons that I jump about a bit rather than having a clear progression through the videos. Is your Czech course for a month? and who are you studying with? Are you then intending to stay in the Czech Republic. Good luck I am sure you will do well. Rich

[@slocad11]

Learn Czech with Rich Hi, I wrote a message on your FB page as a reply, but essentially, I can only take 2 weeks off at a time, so I will go in October (5th-16th) and December 20-January 1). I am penciled in, should the course actually open with enough students, for Study Czech, a language school in Brno. It will take some time to work out the arrangements for the move, but it won`t be until next year. I have a full-time contract, and so my current employer spent a pretty penny obtaining my residence and work permits. It would be best if I give them their money`s worth. I should say that I will only be able to decide about moving for sure once I have enough informationa bout the feasibility of a Third Country National (American) finding enough stable work to make it all worthwhile.

[@janellechase]

Wish I would have watched before going to Praha. I was completely lost, but found a Spanish lady I could speak with. We live in Germany, but I only know Spanish and English lol. Trying to learn a little more just to get by as we travel. Thank you.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

+Janelle Moore Yeah learning a little bit certainly helps a lot when travelling :)

[@luisaquino3241]

Where were the screen notes?! I missed so much! Thanks for doing this! greetings from Mexico.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

sorry must have forgotten them

[@doloresconnolly]

Great teaching Richard. I've been living in Prague for 2 years but still know little apart from greetings and counting to 10 so I'm making a little headway. . . at last!. :-)

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

well done, keep trying, it takes time, i still often have times when i am frustrated and wish i was making progress more quickly

[@LisbethGonzalez]

I loved it. But i suggest you write the words on the screen, is better to follow... thank you

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Hi, thanks. This depends on what you view the videos on. I added comments but for some reason they do not show across all platforms. Sorry

[@LisbethGonzalez]

@@LearnCzechwithRich ...maybe a board? Just ideas, I really want to follow your clases😉, find it easier if i see the words written.. 🙏thanks

[@kopite4434]

Hello Richard, I just wanted to comment about this little pattern I am seeing here. You see, English is my Second language, I learned it while growing up in the States when I moved here at 10. Spanish is my first language, and for some reason, it is easier for me to Assimilate the Czech language when I think of the words in a sort of Spanish pronunciation, do you have any Idea why this might be? There are of course some rules that apply differently, for example, in Spanish there aren't (as far as i'm concerned) any Háček,or Kroužek and some of the Consonants sound different, for example our J sounds like the Ho in Hole or the Ha in Hard. Other than this and a few differences in some consonant rules, it's almost the same, the Vowels sound Exactly alike, even the ones with čárka (which in Spanish is called acento ortográfico) sound pretty much the same. It also seems as if words sound Exactly as written just like they do in Spanish. The word "Dobrý", sounds just as written, as in "Bueno" (good) sounds just like that, unlike English where if you have two of the same letters, the word might change on you like the word "good", when I started learning, I though proper pronunciation was as if I was saying "God", later I learned that two O's make a U sound. Anyway, thought I'd share this, let me know if you find some sort of explanation to why it seem more simpler to think of it in Spanish! Dobrý den! Cheers from Cali!

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

I have no explanation I am afraid, I only know a very, very limited amount of Spanish. However, I have been told by my friend who teaches Spanish to foreigners that Czech learners that are native speakers of Spanish often have brilliant pronunciation. So this supports what you are saying. Perhaps it is just that the languages have a few of the same letter sounds, such as a rolled 'r' and that both languages are read as they are written. I am sorry this isn't the best answer, perhaps there are some linguists out there reading this that may be able to give you a much better reply than I can. Thanks for writing :) Rich

[@Zdunaa]

Zdarec! Já jsem čech a líbí se mi jak to pěkně vysvětluješ. Jsi skvělej! Pokračuj v tom! Kde ses vůbec naučil česky? Měj se hezky a přeji mnoho úspěchů!

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

+Zdunaa thanks, i just try to explain everything as simply as I can, but sometimes it isn't easy.

[@kokoken1]

Rich, there is one other point you could have made, and that's when ě comes after an M, as in "těší mě" -- there's an N inserted between the M and the "ye", right? Does that apply every time a "mě" appears anywhere in a Czech word?

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

good question, and I am not really sure about the answer. Can any native Czech speakers help? Thanks

[@tomaszantochow8391]

I love how I can pretty much pronounce all of these things because I'm Polish, but then there are Polish words which czech people can't pronounce. For example we have the nasal sounds ą and ę. An example of the ą would be "bąk". It's pronounced like the "on" in "on va" in french. You kinda pronounce it like you would want to form an czech or polish short o, but then you kinda swallow the sound. And for the ę, I have yet to come across a language that also has it. It's pretty much the same as the ą, but then starting with a regural e and nasalising it in the process. Oh, we also have the letter "ł" which a lot of people get confused by, but it's pretty much just an english "w". As in war. I guess if you wanted to write "war" phonetically in Polish, it would be "Łor".

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

+Tomasz Antochów that is great, having a Slavic language must be a huge help :)

[@tomaszantochow8391]

Learn Czech with Rich Yep, it surely does. I wasn't sure if I could pronounce the R hacek btw, so today I asked a czech friend to help me do it. I was surprised I could :D

[@banane4joy]

+Tomasz Antochów I thought "rz" in polish is same like "ř" in czech. :)

[@tomaszantochow8391]

banane4joy Nope. It's like the r hacek but without the r part :D The rz can also be spelled like "ż" in Polish.

[@GamleJas2]

How did you learn the czech language so excellent? I am danish and have struggled for the last 25 years to learn and remember just a little more than the most polite phrases from the czech language. It just doesn't come to me! When I see you it looks like a play. You are so good. But I know from my 25 years af visiting Praha twice a year that learning czech is a very hard task.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

+GamleJas2 thanks a lot, but I have to admit it is not easy for me and I get lost in conversations very easily. There is no magic trick unfortunately. It has taken time and quite a lot of work for me to become "ok". Of course it helps a lot that I live here so I here Czech very often. Also I am not scared at all to use Czech, I do not mind if i look stupid from time to time, or almost every day. I just try to speak and remember to smile.

[@2011littlejohn1]

My Czech friends like your lessons and are entertained as well.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

i think they can enjoy laughing at my strange accent and mistakes :)

[@2011littlejohn1]

They like your accent and unusual word structure but they understand all of it. They were positive.

[@gwenrodriguez1972]

Ahoj!!! I agree with you: the pronunciation is not so easy and it seems get worst when the letters have a háček!!! Nevertheless, I like this lesson and I´m reviewing it in order to memorize these sounds. I didnt understand when you explain "y" and you say that it sounds like ahoj, so, does "y" and "j" have the same sound?

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Ahoj!! Thanks for noticing that, it is a mistake. I wanted to say explain the 'j' sound. J sounds like the English 'y' at the start of 'yes'. I will edit this out of the video. A short 'i' or 'y' sounds like the English 'i' in the word bin. A long 'i' or 'y' sounds like the 'ee' in the English word 'bee'.

[@gwenrodriguez1972]

Learn Czech - Czech for Beginners Understood!!! Díky!!!

[@MrsRen]

The letter C gets my classmates in so much trouble. Like when we were learning the difference between znát, vědět, and umět. And to get us to understand umět, the professor was having us say things like "Umím vařit a mluvit španelsky, ale neumím plavat." Well, somebody tried to say "Umím tancovat." but pronounced the C like a K which meant he said "Umím tankovat." which made the professor start giggling then explain that you need to remember to pronounce Cs properly because it sounded like he was proud of being able to pump gas.

[@pezos5]

Serbo-Croatian has like 3 different Cs, regular C, Č and Ć (sounds kinda softer than your t' ). We borrowed Č from Czech and Ć form Polish. In other languages they usually don't write hačeks and the pronunciation of a certain name/surname gets butchered. In all Slavic languages (latin alphabet based) C makes a /TS/ sound (excluding CH). Polish has one exception, when c is before i. Also, Albanians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Hungarians pronounce the letter C the same. Even in German the letter C is pronounced as /tse/ and of course in Mercedes. R with haček is a tough one, I'll have to work on it. Trivia: In Serbian we spell Dvořák as Dvoržak.

[@lingfengzhang433]

i love becherovka !!!!!!

[@JT-xj1pg]

I have a question. Are you using the text book Czech an essential Grammar for the lessons?

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Hi, no I am not using that textbook, I do not actually have that one. I am using a mixed of Czech textbooks. I think I based this lesson on something in colloquial Czech actually. rich

[@JT-xj1pg]

Ok it was just because that book has the same examples you used in this lesson, thanks.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

:) they are probably very common examples, and certainly my material is not original. I just wanted people to be able to access some Czech online for free. thanks for writing.

[@JT-xj1pg]

Yes your lessons are very helpful

[@pavelstebl9966]

Well-done on your pronunciation in Czech, next to perfect. One little area to work on would be the consonants /p/, /t/ and /k/, which are not aspirated in Czech the way they are in English. As I said, it's just a small thing. Especially your /e/ is convincingly Czech-sounding as are your soft consonants.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Pavel Stebl Ahoj Pavle! Thanks for your comments I appreciate them. You present them in a diplomatic and constructive way which appreciate. I will work on the things you mentioned.

[@observateurcz]

Your ř is cute :) Jinak je asi lepší způsob, jak se naučit vyslovovat ř - zuby se přitisknou k sobě a našpulí se rty, pak se s citem a potichu vysloví R. Když se trochu přitlačí na vyslovované R, ozve se Ř. (Maybe it is better way how to learn to pronounce ř - the teeth are pressed closely and the lips are pursed, after that say easy and quietly R. If you say it harder, the sound will be correct Ř.) A pak už jenom trénovat a trénovat, aby to znělo přirozeně :)

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Ahoj. thanks for the really useful comment! :)

[@Pidalin]

nechápu lidi co neuměj vyslovit Ř, nemůžou pak třeba ani dělat hubou jakože střílej a podobný věci, to je fakt divný :-D

[@HenryLeslieGraham]

amazing trick many thANks

[@mikaalokaa]

I thought u were Czech. Well done ☺

[@oscararrieta326]

Thanks for the lesson, I live in USA but my mother language is Spanish, I fin many similarities with Spanish of the vowels, we use accents in Spanish but not too many like you, the formal and informal form is very common , not in English , and finally the gender of things is not part of the English grammar. Thanks again, Ill be in Prague very soon. Na sheledanou

[@Pocomoi]

Yeah, I also found that the Ř is pronounced very similarly to the way the R is pronounced in NW Argentina. What a strange coincidence.

[@albylayton6972]

Čau, děkuji. Máš dost dobrý videa. Si mě pomohl dost. :)

[@LiborSupcik]

Well done you have actually shown the ř teeth position better than 3 Czech girls in their ř video. Attention to Antonín else your prosody rocked

[@SEAAIRLAND]

rrr and žžž makes řřřř! wow, I never thought of that before! nice and thourough explanation :-D

[@rohanchauhan2135]

how can i used present tens past tens and future tens many different meaning you ti vy vam te so how can i used choose sentence

[@petracrhova3768]

Jou have soo cute Czech :3 Nice. :) You're good! :) But the ř! :DD Iknow it's hard but.. you know it's in the most of words in Czech :) But.. :) You're pretty good! :)

[@oscararrieta326]

Correction. I find many similarities with pronunciation of vowels in Spanish.

[@Neumini.s]

yep, the "ch" sound is to be found twice in words like Jorge

[@ceriseflora468]

And you are english yourself?)

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Yes, well British anyway, part English part Welsh :) and yourself?

[@ceriseflora468]

I'm Russian)

[@ceriseflora468]

Your czech sounds very very good:))

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Sveta Kravchenko Thanks that is kind of you, do you live here in the CR. Probably you speak much better Czech than me as you are a slav.

[@ceriseflora468]

No no, I live in Russia) but I'd like to live there)

[@СаваннаДавидовнаЮоить]

Ř feels impossible for me as a native American English speaker with a solid Russian foundation

[@maukisek]

sorry but u cant say ř :D

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

ok, hopefully it will be better in the future

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Learn Czech with Rich For others reading these comments here is a video that Marki made to help people with the -ř sound. It might be useful to here a niative making these sound rather than me. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHaklmSEe62rla8

[@AllSheLikes]

Learn Czech with Rich Why she said you can't? Maybe you have a non-rhotic accent. I think that that R in Czech with the roof is like the double r in Spanish such as in the word PERRO. Is it Marki? or am I wrong? What do you think?

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

well I am not a native Czech speaker so she must think I cannot pronounce this perfectly. It is not the same as a simple rolled r, it is a bit more difficult. I am sure about Spanish as I do not speak this. Good luck. It is known as the most difficult letter in the Czech alphabet.

[@maukisek]

Learn Czech with Rich its not like double r :) i dont know how to explain cos any other language hasn't this...

[@davidsarif2481]

Are you Czech or British, because I can't freaking tell!

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Anastasia Beaverhousen hi, I am British :)

[@davidsarif2481]

Learn Czech with Rich Hmmm ok lol, I've never met a Brit learning Czech language. Why?

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Anastasia Beaverhousen I live here, I only have intermediate level Czech but I am trying to improve. You will see in some later videos that I have a native speaker, Veronika, with me. Where are you from and how long have you been learning Czech?

[@davidsarif2481]

Learn Czech with Rich Oh no, I'm from Slovakia, but I have been living in Ireland for 10 years now. I just couldn't figure out if you were Czech or British. I can speak Czech and Polish naturally. I was just wondering if you, perhaps, married a Czech woman and, for some reason, stayed in Czech Republic. May I know why are you living there and what you do?

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Anastasia Beaverhousen I am not married yet. I have lived here for 5 years and like it. I work in an office for a software firm, it is a good job.

[@barcher]

pro NUN ci a tion

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

yeah, absolutely, pretty horrific mistake on my part, thanks for pointing it out. have a good new year Rich

[@CLANZhuleny]

Kunda sem kunda tam 😂😂😂

[@jovetj]

Jsi kočka!...

[@motionlessbacon5989]

It's pronounced 'pronunciation' not 'pronounciation'. This significantly reduces my trust in your pronunciation skills.

[@LearnCzechwithRich]

Motionless Bacon As it should! I cannot argue with that :)