Job Discussion Forums

[Sigma]

Czech is a difficult language. I have been learning it off and on for a few years. At this point, I find it easier to read. My vocabulary is decent, but I am struggling with some of the grammar.

[naturegirl321]

I've been told it 's one of the most difficult, with the nomative, denomative, etc.

What about you TEFL Prague? 12 years there, you must speak pretty well

[Arab Strap]

[spiral78]

My Czech's functional, but I am based most of the time in a small town where I'm the only English speaker. You learn much faster when you really need to!

[naturegirl321]

[Frizzie Lizzie]

I had an interesting experience recently, when I travelled to Germany on the train, and the border police (both on the way there and back) seemed rather surprised that I couldn't speak Czech. They read the stamp date in my passport which said I'd arrived in Prague a couple of years back, and couldn't understand why I hadn't learnt any of their language.
It was a bit pointless to try to explain that my job didn't require me to speak Czech, but it also gave me a bit of motivation to start taking lessons again. I can get by at the shop/in a restaurant and I can usually work out what I hear without having to understand every single word, but it IS a difficult language, as many on this forum have said.

[johnchina]

I'd have to agree that the Czech Rep. isn't a place for making money. However, it is a good place for a new teacher. I'm in China now, making much more money but it's nowhere near as enjoyable. I was out in a village for my first year in CR and that got my Czech rolling as well as being a great place. I've been out of CR for a while now, but still keep up with my old mates. My Czech is very good. I put that down to my love of popping into the village pub every evening determined to get to know the locals. Ah, good times! Czech grammar is tough though!

[merlin]

Learning the Czech language:

The best thing you can do is just forget all that nominative locative dative rubbish at the beginning - it'll just discourage the heck out of you unless you've learned Russian or another slavic language before.

What I do now is I just use the masculine form for all cases - and people will smile but they're so happy that an American bothered to learn their language, even if I say it wrong they're happy and in no way offended at all.

So the steps for the Merlin Method of learning Czech:
1) Learn as many words as possible and forget about masculine and feminine neuter: just learn one. This will allow you to speak like a neanderthal the Englsih equivalent would be "I bad Englsih speak."
2) Learn to conjugate all the major verbs but if you can't remember jit/jet, just let it be.
3) Learn the masculine (or feminine if you're a woman) forms of the differen cases, starting with the accusative. This will allow you to say more complex sentences, but with some humorous unintentional connotations regarding gender.
4) After practicing for a few years, take a course and learn it "properly"

I learned Czech from my wife speaking to my daughter mostly, and my mother in law's constant bytching.

BTW: Yes, officials, police and so on are getting less tolerant of foreigners who have lived in Czech for 15 years and can't say a word and don't even try, particularly if they never bothered to learn any language except Russian.

[Layli]

I'm trying to teach myself as much Czech as I can before I leave for my job in August. It's slow going, but I think that even living there for a year is worth the effort. Fortunately, the school I'll be teaching at offers free Czech lessons to teachers at least once a week, and if there is room enough, I can take extra lessons.
I was also lucky enough to have met a lovely couple from Brno in my home town over the weekend, so I'll have a bit of a lifeline while over there. They were impressed with my desire to learn their language and with my pronounciation, even though it is less than perfect.
As far as the earlier debate of Prague versus Brno, it's probably to each his own, but to the ywo gentlemen who married Czech woman, let me ask this: what can i expect as an American woman from Czech men? A little crudeness doesn't bother me, but i don't do well when told to "stay in my place". If there's to be any of that nonesense (or at least an abundance of it) i'd like to know ahead of time so I can prepare myself and not walk around screaming like some hysteric.

[spiral78]

Czech men are NOT chauv. pigs, in general. It's a case-by-case thing, of course, buy I've found the vast majority in my experience to be highly civilized and to treat women as equals. Women have a long history in the workplace here and there are relatively many holding management positions - they also tend to be highly educated. They seem to generally get the respect they deserve.

Ok, there's the myth that to compete for marraige, you'll have to iron socks and underwear, because his mother did/does, but I don't think that's really the modern truth, even for Czech women.

All in all, you are highly unlikely to be treated disrespectfully by you male students and/or men you encounter in public places.

[Arab Strap]

You'll not find many 'metrosexuals' in Brno.

Most Czech men I know are, shall we say, traditional in their outlook on life. What does that mean? Well, the pub for a few beers with the lads of an evening, feet up in front of the telly watching the footy that kind of thing.

Women are generally expected to cover the domestic duties, even when they are in full time employ. I know of some women who work 9 to 5 and who make hubby's dinner and iron his 'mullet' for work the next day............still they regard it as their duty to do so.

Czech men? Well you'll have to ask the wife, then again she chose me.........

You might want to note that when it comes down to 'style' most Czechs (men and women) are stuck somewhere in the early 80s. Mulleted, purple leisure suited, white socked and slip on shoed males haunt the more �traditional� hostelries of Brunn.

There is also the question of cleanliness. A lot of men's (and again women's) armpits are strangers to deodorant. Mullets are sometimes not washed as much as they could be. I might sound like a bit of a smell fascist but you wait until you're in a stuffy classroom or on a busy tram.

My wife, who as you know is Czech cannot stand it. She's armed with a can of Imperial Leather deodorant when she takes a tram and she's not afraid to use it.

Lot's of men I know go to work straight after a night out and forgo their morning ablutions. You might eye your Cesky Brad Pitt from across a crowded bar, be blind to his mullet, green denim jacket, pink shirt, purple (Bowie) trousers and open toed sandals, only to be overwhelmed by the whiff of stale fags (cigarettes), rancid lard, unwashed hair and pig offal (it�s their diet you know).

Just a wee point here but most ex-pat females I know of end up with ex-pat boyfriends, while most ex-pat men end up with Czech girlfriends���..just something to ponder.

[ITTP]

Interesting thread

I just want to partly clear up the odour issue here:

It appears to me that (in general) Czechs wash before they go to bed so they are clean for bed and then get up in the morning and get dressed without washing.

Expats do find it gross that this is their custom and Czechs find it equally gross that Expats don't (in general) wash before they go to bed.

The problem is that in summer here the public transport can be VERY toxic as not washing in the morning isn't the best possible solution.

The deoderant issue is something I don't understand and maybe it is a knock back from communist times when deoderant was (I imagine) largely unavailable. On the bright side - Czechs (in general) are contributing in a positive way to global warming by not using so much deoderant.

Still, you might want to avoid those busy trams and busses when the temperature hovers around 30oC

[spiral78]

I actually thought Layli was speaking from a work/daily living perspective - it didn't occur to me that she might be seeking a mate. I think TEFL-Prague's made some useful observations, and I still think that Layli's unlikely to encounter any massive displays of C.Piggism in her classes or most of daily life here.

[joscothewalrus]

what exactly is the population of Brno?
im considering going there myself in September?

could anyone post me a list of schools??

[spiral78]

google wikipedia. 370,000. Although I doubt that's 'exact.'