Prague travel guide to restaurants pubs bars apartments shops and hotels in Prague Czech Republic

Language Tips!

Fun with words


There are a whole range of Czech words that look roughly similar to their English equivalents, so signs such as POLICIE, RESTAURACE, HOTEL, and TAXI won't be a problem for you, but here are a handful of others that may be useful:

Kavarna - Cafe
Knihkupectvi- Book Shop
Reznik- Butchery
Obchod - Shop
Prasa - Newsagent
Pusobiste - Station
Letiste - Airport

Click & Listen!

Yes

No

Hello

Goodbye

How are you?

Please

Thank you

How much does this cost?

Do you speak English?

Cheers!

I lost my passport - can you help me?

How much does beer cost?

Two beers please!

Do you have a sister?

Drop by tonight and I'll show you my stamp collection

We're not going to lie to you: the Czech language is VERY hard for English speakers to get to grips with. We won't go into all the complicated reasons why (...cases, declensions, conjugations, participles, tongue-twisting pronunciation...) just trust us: Czech is a nightmare for all but the most linguistically talented students! Of course all this really means that it is all the more impressive when you do successfully utter even a few words in the Slavic tongue...

Even if you're only here for a short while you should be able to master one or two of the basics. Pretty much every Czech person you meet (i.e. those working in shops, hotels, restuarants etc) will speak English, and certainly virtually all young people will too, but the locals will like you better if you at least make the effort; don't be at all surprised to find that the level of service improves noticably after you give Czech a try, even if you massacre the pronounciation!

a few words...



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Czech language tips

"Uncle Sam is watching you Mr Ernie."

FBI
United States
Jun.13.2009
rates this page
3/5

"wi do u think u can say this boy u dumba$$ "

aba
United States
May.01.2009
rates this page
3/5

"If I had to guess, "Ernie" is not a native American because his use of English is terrible. "Worst" is "worse" Ernie. Learn English before you start bashing other languages. "

Julie
United States
Apr.03.2009
rates this page
3/5

"I'm from the United States and Ernie embarrasses me. It's people like him that give the rest of us a bad reputation. Sad."

Austin Abroad
United States
Feb.14.2009
rates this page
3/5

"D -- Don't group me in with Ernie! He knows he's being a t*t and he wants to p*ss everybody off. BTW, I am an American and I speak Spanish, Japanese, and I am learning some Czech. How many languages do you speak, oh great and learned European? "

Sara
United States
Dec.21.2008
rates this page
3/5

"Ernie Ernie, i know why i donĄt like Americans. . . you are all too lazy to learn another language. . "

D
Czech Republic
Aug.23.2008
rates this page
2/5

"Wow, Ernie, who put bitter lemon in your coffee this a.m.? You criticize Czech and Slovak and think they welcomed the Warsaw Pact invacsion of 1968? Czech and Slovak are beautiful languages, far less complicated than English, less vowels to contend with, less words that all mean the same thing, like English. Perhaps you should pick on another nationality, like maybe, your own? "

Marcia
United States
Aug.12.2008
rates this page
3/5

"apologies for mr ernie-he does NOT speak for all of us here in the usa-and also ernie don't go 2 any country if u don't plan 2 learn to communicate in THIER language since u would be on THIER soil as well...gets some damn manners boy."

nate
United States
Jul.14.2008
rates this page
3/5

"I'm from Romania and find czech hard but not impossible,romanian has some slavic influences so words like 'narod' or 'prieten' are also present,if you speak english and want to study romanian it's much easier since you'l find it's a romanic language"

erds
Romania
Jul.05.2008
rates this page
3/5

"Czech is a wonderful language, and not so hard if you just listen and don't try to read it (at first) - To hear & pratice a few words before you arrive, try the "Quick Fix - Essential holiday phrases" mp3 download at the BBC Languages website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/czech.shtml) The more you try, the more fun you'll have & the more people you'll meet! (And they are really great people!;-)"

Sonny
Netherlands
Apr.17.2008
rates this page
4/5

"Ernie, you're a real american dumba_s!"

Dora Simonffy
Hungary
Feb.15.2008
rates this page
4/5

"Helpful site thanks. Ernie- it's people like you that give Americans such a bad rap. I'm embarrassed to share the continent with someone as ignorant and rude as you are. "

Adrienne
Canada
Dec.23.2007
rates this page
3/5

"What an ignoramus Ernie Crispen is....it always shocks me how many "ugly Americans" are still out there. Try joining the human race, Ernie."

Deborah Bartlett
United States
Oct.18.2007
rates this page
3/5

"My advice to the Czech is this: Learn English, you decided to go capitalist, so now you have no other choice. By the way,the best Mac Donals can be found in Prague. I don't really care about the Czech language. It sounds worst than Chinese."

Ernie Crespin
United States
Aug.11.2007
rates this page
2/5

"great. but one question on the graph on what words to say to make you stay better, how to pronounce the words would be a great idea, beacuse i could even try saying the words correctly"

tracy
United States
May.10.2007
rates this page
3/5

"I appreciate all info. I am really worried about the language thing. I always try to know some of the language of wherever I visit but Czech is daunting. I do wish that when there is a czech-english (like on your page) that there was also a phonetic pronounciation written beside it. Thank you."

Susan Dukes
United States
Apr.06.2007
rates this page
3/5