Hi
anyone have any experiences with any satisfactory cassettes or such for learning just a few basic courtesy phrases in Czech?
I was hoping not to make a serious financial investment. I bought a Berlitz book and cassette for about $15, but found it very little help so far in getting the basics of pronunciation, and I usually do have some facility with learning languages. Suggestions?

Elaine,

I found that the hardest thing was (un)training my eyes/brain - - not so much training my tongue/brain - - especially with that "rzh" sound (r with a caret over it), and trickiest of all with other consonants in front of it (as in tr^i - - "three" or c^tyr^i - - "four&quot. Somewhat similar was the "c" (always "ts" but not when there is the caret over it, as in C^esky, or maybe that "ch" sound is in front of ANY "e&quot and the "yeh" sound (e with a caret over it). Last of all, it threw me to put the accent on the first syllable in 90% of the words.

I bought some little book(let) also with two tapes that came with it, and you are welcome to borrow those if you like. When are you leaving? We are "in transit" (moving) for the next few months (building a new house, and thus in boxes, to a great extent), but I think I can find that stuff.

On a positive note, I found that speaking German went a long way. I know I was flat out lazy this last trip, but I did not learn a lot of Czech, and hardly any Polish - - and we got along okay, or maybe even better than okay in Prague and in Cesky Krumlov.

Best wishes,

Rex

I studied Czech some and had a book and cassettes that can't easily be bought in the US, as I was taking a night Czech class--I guess they weren't that cheap, anyway, now that I think of it (over $60). I also bought Hugo's Czech in 3 months or something and it wasn't that easy to learn Czech from, but I think the pronunciation was okay -- to hear Czech if you kind of already knew the rules, though.

One of my favorite Czech web sites is www.locallingo.com It is all about Czech language and has extensive free audio files for words, common phrases, etc. Just go to the pronunciation section for the basics, and then the phrases section for them. I'll bet it is better than the Berlitz you have and you really wouldn't need anything else probably for the basics.

Otherwise, Pimsleur does have Czech out now and I know folks like that series -- maybe you could get one used or something. I think James Naughton's Colloquial Czech is rated the highest of readily available in the US books with cassettes.

One fun thing to do in Prague is browse bookstores, I think, where you can get much better and cheaper Czech/English dictionaries than in the US. I bought several as when I took that Czech class, I had to buy a $40 hardcover in the US for a decent dictionary (which wasn't even that good). Just look for "knihy" on stores for books.

There are several good bookstores on Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske namesti) Kanzelsberger's is the biggest and has two locations (more elsewhere) -- one near Mustek metro about no 42 and another at the bottom, no. 4, named Dum Knihy (Book House). That is a huge new bookstore and next to Bonton, a mega music store. It is also fun to browse for CDs in there, which are priced very reasonably in CR.

Don't know if you will be visiting much outside of Prague, but having visited that city in May, I can tell you that "please" and "thank you" in Czech are pretty much all you need - and that is really just a courtesy. We found that everyone in the service industry spoke enough English, and in many cases, very good English, to make it easy without knowing Czech. That said, you might want to look at www.jasoncholt.com. He has a link to a Czech language site.

Hi
Rex, thanks for that very generous offer, I'd rather own I think, and so can lend them also to my travel companions.
I'm not going until next March, just thought I'd get a head start on some Czech and also a little German (we're also going to Vienna.)Up until now I've only learned Romance languages. My ambitions are only for the basics here, though I do like being able to pronounce (sound out) words on street signs, maps, and menus.

Christina, I will try the website and the other hints you offered.

ellenob, thanks for the reassurance and the reminder about the jasoncholt website. I'd already been there, but didn't notice the language link.
Will check it out.
thanks all