When English-speaking students begin learning the czech language, the first few weeks usually go something like this: first comes the excitement of discovering that autobus really does mean “bus,” then a cautious hope that the languages are “actually somewhat similar,” and finally an encounter with verbs of motion, cases, and the letter Ř. At that point, a philosophical stage of acceptance usually sets in.
The Courage to Speak
English-speaking students have one wonderful characteristic: they are not afraid to speak. Speakers of other Slavic languages often begin with delight at the deceptive similarity between the languages, only to quickly become anxious, because every new rule opens up new opportunities to make mistakes.
Those for whom the very concept of an inflected language is unfamiliar tend to have lower expectations from the start, and every newly learned word is honestly perceived as an achievement, especially when practicing the language in prague out on the streets. Speakers of an analytic language simply start talking immediately – with mistakes, unusual constructions, and, let’s be honest, a charming accent.
A Furniture Set Instead of a Table
The most sensitive topic is cases. An English speaker is accustomed to the fact that the word table remains table under almost any circumstances. In Czech, however, a table suddenly begins to live a rich and varied life: stůl, stolu, stolem, na stole… An English-speaking student looks at this the way someone would who intended to buy a single table and instead received an entire furniture set accompanied by instructions in an unknown language.
The concept of grammatical cases, preserved in Czech, once existed in English as well. In this respect, I have always found the pronouns I and me, or he and him, to be useful examples. Yes, those are remnants of the old case system. And even these distinctions are considered optional in some dialects. Just think of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song: “Old pirates, yes, they rob I...”
The Word Order Drama and False Friends
Word order is a separate drama altogether. English loves discipline: subject, verb, object. Czech looks at that calmly and says, “Well, you can do it that way. Or the other way around. Or you can start with whatever is important.” After a couple of months, a student asks, “So where does the word go correctly?” And you answer, “Yes.”
But true love begins with false friends. One example that always comes to mind is the word sympatický. An English speaker hears sympathy and begins using it cautiously in tragic contexts. The result is sentences like Ten pohřeb byl velmi sympatický – “That funeral was very nice.”
Discovering Deeper Similarities
On the other hand, English-speaking students often develop excellent intonation and conversational rhythm. Again, this is partly because they are not tempted to imitate a language that merely resembles Czech. The deeper similarities – whose roots may stretch back into distant history – become visible only at advanced levels, when the battle with cases and verb forms has been won and the student receives a reward in the form of a surprising realization: in the phrases “it should have already been done” and “to by už mělo být uděláno,” every word and every grammatical structure corresponds almost perfectly.
At the beginning of the journey, however, I always tell English-speaking students: don’t try to make Czech logical according to English standards. It doesn’t have to be. Czech is a language that enjoys flexible word order, respects endings, preserves ancient Slavic habits, and at the same time casually uses English loanwords such as mítink and lajk.
So if you are an English-speaking student taking classes of czech for foreigners and it sometimes feels as though Czech is deliberately setting traps for you, don’t worry. It sets traps for everyone.
For English speakers they often look like sympatický versus sympathy; for Slavic speakers, půjdu versus pojdu; and for everyone alike, they look like trying to explain to a waiter that you need an účet (bill), not an učitel (teacher).
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