To receive free education at universities in the Czech Republic, language proficiency at level B2 is required. To everyone who wants to become a student prestigious university the question arises, how to quickly learn Czech and how realistic it is to achieve good results during a year.
Educational Center Association (ECA)
offers everyone from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries preparation courses for studying at universities in the Czech Republic, including language teaching. Our many years of experience will allow you to master all the subtleties of speech and learn to listen to lectures, communicate and write fluently in Czech.
Ways to learn Czech
Czech is in the group Slavic languages. He looks Russian and Ukrainian languages, but at the same time it has its own difficulties and features. They consist in differences in stress, grammatical structures, differences in the meaning of lexical units that sound similar.
Establishing correct pronunciation is of great importance. Phonetic errors and distortion of words lead to misunderstanding and difficulties in communication. In addition, when learning the Czech language, you need to master writing and reading the Latin alphabet.
Learning the Czech language requires a lot of hard work and attention, systematic hard work, and daily practice in communicating with teachers and other students. What are the ways to learn this language?
- On one's own
You can purchase tutorials and other language aids and get started selfeducation. This method requires minimal financial costs, but it is ineffective. You will need a lot of time and effort to understand all the grammatical, lexical and phonetic subtleties. You will not always be confident in your correct understanding of the peculiarities of the language, and you will not be able to actively and fully communicate with other students. - Online courses
It's more effective method language learning. There is a big choice courses with which you can perform many exercises, expand lexicon and even chat on Skype. You can choose a teacher from any city and study in comfortable conditions, without wasting time on travel.
But online learning There are also significant disadvantages. A teacher located far away cannot always give you maximum attention and you will lack the experience of live communication, which is very important when studying at a university. - Czech language courses at your place of residence
Have you found Czech language courses in your city? You can be congratulated, because the Czech language is not as widespread as English. Many people who want to master this language have to travel to a neighboring city, which leads to chronic fatigue and reduced learning efficiency. In addition, you cannot always be sure that your teacher is sufficiently professional, and finding a native speaker teacher is an even more difficult task. - Czech language courses in Prague
Learning a language with native speakers in the capital of the country – The best decision for those who set serious goals to obtain a quality education. IN Educational center Association (OCA) you study the Czech language in Prague together with native speakers who have extensive experience in learning and live communication.
What difficulties can you encounter in learning?
Despite the fact that the Czech language is not the most difficult for the Russian- or Ukrainian-speaking population, learning it can cause certain difficulties, namely:
- not enough developed perception speaking by hearing and understanding the interlocutor;
- poor vocabulary, inability to select the necessary lexical units when speaking;
- difficulties in constructing sentences, inability to express one’s thoughts and judgments;
- strong accent making it difficult to understand;
- fear speech errors, a psychological barrier that prevents free communication.
These and other mistakes and difficulties can be easily overcome if you study speaking practice by enrolling in Czech language courses in Prague. In a relatively short time, you will master the necessary base and overcome the fear of mistakes and the feeling of self-doubt.
We will help you succeed in Czech
We offer a large selection of programs for studying the Czech language throughout the year. They all involve intensive language and speech practice in listening, reading, speaking and writing. You will gain the necessary skills for successful completion entrance exams and admission to the best specialties of leading universities in the Czech Republic.
Annual Czech language courses at the Association Educational Center they provide excellent practice for training grammatical structures, mastering and using lexical units, developing phonetic skills, and listening comprehension. Thanks to our programs, you will learn many useful and interesting facts from the history and culture of the country.
Czech language courses in Prague help to quickly and effectively overcome the language barrier, increase motivation in learning, and arouse interest in further deepening and improving acquired skills. Being in a natural language environment makes language learning lively and very effective, and the creative, friendly atmosphere of classes makes them educational and exciting.
Already hundreds of graduates of our center are successfully acquiring knowledge in best universities Czech Republic. You can become one of them if you fill out an application on the site.
What prompted me to think about this issue is that it is believed that the Czech language is very easy for students from the countries of the former CIS to learn. In this article I will try to talk about the arguments both for and against. By the way, I have been studying languages for a long time - I studied at a school with in-depth study of English, I even won a couple of Olympiads, I took French and German courses for a couple of years (and I still remember a little of them), I taught at the institute Spanish- in general, you can trust me :)
First, I would like to talk about a couple of myths, where they come from and confirm/refute them.
Myth one. The Czech language is very easy, like Russian, only in Latin letters.
The Czech Republic is a fairly attractive country for tourists. Of course, the main flow of tourists goes to Prague. She is especially popular center. Entrepreneurs are not fools at all, so their services provide on different languages . Russian, English - including. An unprepared person will draw his first conclusions here after hearing Russian speech and seeing many signs. In fact, this is, nevertheless, a purely tourist place, and drawing conclusions here is stupid.
Those who are lucky enough to get outside of Prague will also not experience huge problems. For example, what can be seen in Poděbrady - the words “museum”, “církev”, “ostrov” (see the sign on the right) - are quite clear, and if something is not clear, you can guess it from the pictogram. From this we can also conclude that Czech is a very understandable language, however, this is not the case. In fact, all signs are made to attract maximum amount people, so they are written as simply as possible. In such cases, international variants of words are often used.
In fact, the vocabulary hidden from tourist eyes is not as easy as it might seem. For those who want to try their hand at understanding Czech texts right away, you can try reading the news on http://ihned.cz/ - it’s unlikely to be very easy.
Speaking of what language Czech is similar to - it is similar only in Slovak. With the others there is only similarity, which does not always help, and more often it only hinders.
Myth two. You can learn Czech quickly.
This myth is born mainly among those who have already tried to start learning this language. And it’s hard to argue here - the first period of study is quite easy for Russian-speaking students - in the first month of our study, almost everyone had excellent grades.
Then, very often, everything falls into place - the grammar becomes complex. The main problem (for me personally) is the frequent illogicality. If a rule applies in one case, it is not a fact that it can be applied in another. However, this feature is inherent in many Slavic languages, including Russian.
The test results at the end of the year are proof of my words. Rare student more than 90%. As for admission to top universities in Prague, I’m just silent.
Myth four. I am a techie (doctor/lawyer/athlete/idiot), I won’t need Czech in my profession.
(If you want to find out whether a Czech student can work -!).
Everything here is also quite controversial. Firstly, working in the Czech Republic without knowing the Czech language is strange, to say the least. Secondly, you need to be very lucky to immediately get to a foreign country like this. Thirdly, you need to study, and here you can’t go without a language - foreign students have the same rights as Czech students (and, therefore, the same responsibilities), which means their studies will take place in Czech. And in the end, sooner or later you will also want to talk to someone.
One of the subtypes of this myth is the myth that knowing English is enough here. I admit, I thought so too. It seemed to me that if I knew the language, then everyone knew it too. And this is Europe, civilization. Oh, how wrong I was. English is mostly spoken by educated people, which means they are unlikely to help you in everyday tasks - in shops, banks, at the post office - everything is in Czech. And if suddenly a person knows English, this is also unlikely to help you. Usually, it was taught at school and forgotten without practice, so you won’t be able to show off your knowledge.
It just so happens that I am now (yes, which is the antivirus). The working language is English; you can also speak Czech with colleagues. Do you think there are many techies here who boast that language is just a tool? In a nutshell: if you don’t know the language, well done, go work where you don’t need to communicate.
Well, I guess I talked about myths. Now, I think it’s worth talking about the Czech language and looking at it with my Russian-speaking eyes :)
Czech belongs to the Indo-European family (like Hindi, Farsi, Spanish - do you think they are all similar?). This is very large group languages, and they are quite different. Czech belongs to the Slavic group of languages (that is, it still has something in common with Russian), or more precisely, to the West Slavic group (together with Slovak and Polish, which actually already have a lot in common with Czech).
Czechs write with Latin letters with diacritics. There are 3 diacritics: charka (á), gachek (č) and krouzek (ů). There are 42 letters in the Czech alphabet, it is very easy to begin to understand the Czech letter.
Now - about the difficulties that any Russian-speaking student will most likely encounter.
1) False friends of the translator
This phenomenon has been known for a long time. For example, the word “město” (read as mnesto) is translated as city. Everyone will definitely come across the word “pozor” (read as disgrace) - this is a call to be more attentive. In fact, it happens very often, so it’s a shame!
As you can see in the picture, there are a lot of them. There is no need to learn everything; it comes naturally with the experience of living in a particular place. In Russia the situation is different, on Far East You will most likely be understood just as well as in Moscow (if they still speak Russian in Moscow 🙂).
On the other side, single standard, nevertheless, exists - it is what is studied in schools, universities, and used in official documents.
5) Ignorance of Czech realities and history
From my own experience, knowing these things is very important for learning a language. Sometimes only history helps to understand why a word is called one way and not another. And knowledge of realities recent years In general, it is necessary - in order to understand peers.
So, let's summarize. Czech is a difficult language. Only Slovaks understand it relatively easily; the rest need to work on themselves. Knowledge of the Russian language does not always help, and even more often it confuses. Knowing English helps very little. On the other hand, if you use this knowledge correctly, success in learning Czech is much easier to achieve. It is worth learning a language (any language) in the country in which it is spoken. However, if it is not needed for practical application, but as a hobby, you can do it at home. It’s also worth saying that you shouldn’t judge the Czech Republic and the Czech language by the center of Prague - there are a lot of interesting things around, take it at least.
In the Czech Republic there are programs for English language, however for free training the applicant will have to enroll in a program that is taught in Czech. To confirm knowledge, there is also a special exam, which, like IELTS or TOEFL, is recognized in other countries. If you are planning to take Czech for admission, we suggest reading what this exam is like, whether it is easy to learn the language and what resources may be useful for mastering it.
Difficulties in learning
Czech cannot be considered an easy language. But it is much easier for Russian-speaking people to understand Czech than, for example, English-speaking people, due to the similarities in vocabulary and grammar. For the same reason, it will be easier to learn and speak Czech. However, at the same time, the similarity of languages causes problems when studying, because when communicating in Czech, a student may, out of habit, use constructions that are used in his native language. Such difficulties arise not only when learning related languages, but in the case of them the habit is especially difficult to overcome. Among the common mistakes are words that are consonant with Russian but have a different meaning, verbs that in the Czech Republic are used with one case and preposition, and in Russia with another, and pronunciation.
Is it possible to learn Czech quickly? In general, yes. Of course, the duration of training depends on specific person, but due to the similarity of languages, this process will go much faster for a person who speaks a language from the Slavic group. It will also be an additional bonus to know German language, since Czech has many borrowings from it.
Exams
To study for free in the Czech Republic, you need to provide proof of your language proficiency at the proper level. Typically, Czech universities require knowledge at level B2, less often they accept level B1. To do this, you need to pass the State Certified Examination (CCE), but some schools independently test your level of language skills.
Exams are held in 15 other countries besides the Czech Republic, including Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The procedure for passing Czech differs from the well-known IELTS and TOEFL, where the student first writes an exam, and then finds out his score and level of language proficiency. To take the CCE, you must enroll in the exam at a specific level in which you speak the language. To obtain a certificate, you must score at least 60% overall and for individual parts.
The exam consists of reading, listening, vocabulary and grammar test, essay and oral part, which are taken on the same day. Level B2 includes all of these parts and is approximately 4 hours long. The cost of participation in CCE at this level in the Czech Republic is CZK 3,800.
Resources
To successfully pass the exam you need good preparation to every part of it. To make it easier for you to study Czech, and to make the process of learning it more interesting, we have prepared a selection of resources where you can both understand the basic rules and apply the knowledge that you already have in practice.
Preparation materials
For CCE classes, there is a selection of books and educational materials in English and Czech created by the Institute of Language and Professional Training, which are often used by students and teachers. The authors of the list warn that using only the listed sources may not be enough to obtain a certificate. You need to listen to the radio, communicate with native speakers, watch television and read newspapers, books, and magazines in Czech.
Websites in Russian and English
- The Lingusto.com website has a section dedicated to the Czech language that will be useful for beginners. Here you can learn the alphabet and take lessons on various topics. The site will also help you become familiar with the basic rules of the Czech language.
- Localingo.com is an English website where you will find tests, listening tests, exercises, books and theory materials. The good structure of the site makes it accessible for use. If you know English, then understanding it is not worth the effort.
- On Abradio.cz you will find different radio stations. The site itself is in Czech, but you can use its English version.
- On Forvo.com you can hear how individual words and phrases sound in Czech. Expressions that are often used and will be useful in everyday life are also collected and divided by topic.
Websites in Czech
- The site Pravopisne.cz, as the name may suggest, will mainly help you with learning spelling. Here you can find sound dictations, spelling tests, sentence construction rules, analysis common mistakes and problems in language learning.
- Rozhlas.cz is an excellent radio station website that is suitable for listening. The radio station is dedicated to the life of foreigners in the Czech Republic and contains audio recordings on the website different topics.
- On the website of the Prague City Library you will find free e-books in Czech and other reading materials. The site is available in Russian and English, but the suggested options e-books differ depending on the selected language on the site. In both cases you will find books in Czech, but the range will be different.
- Prirucka.ujc.cas.cz is a reference book where you can find out the meaning of words and learn in detail about the morphology, spelling and grammar of Czech. It will be useful for those who already know the language at a good level and want to know its structure better.
Websites for communicating with native speakers
- On Conversationexchange.com, once you register, you can find someone to talk to in your target language. Here you can communicate via Skype or in writing. If it is possible to find a person who lives in your city, then meet in person.
- If you don’t yet want to communicate freely with other people or it seems that your knowledge is not enough, you can take a few lessons from a native speaker. For example, on the site
Do you like the Czech language as much as I do? Join us, this language is worth paying your attention to, because you are already going to visit Prague, right? The main question: how to learn Czech? I am always for independent study. In the vast expanses of the Internet, I was able to find a lot of free materials for self-study of the Czech language for level (A1-A2).
A universal formula for learning a language
- Specific goal (desired level and preparation time)
- Systematicity ( main secret success!)
- Positive from studying (do what you like: talk, read, write, sing, watch)
The sum of it all will give you new language in the pocket. So, how to learn Czech on your own?
Step 1. Grammar and vocabulary
Children's books. Classical works are especially good in short summaries.
Comics "Four Leaf" . While walking, we accidentally came across an amazing comic book store. I immediately intrigued the sweetest saleswoman with my request “for something that will help me learn Czech.”Apparently, such a buyer was in children's store for the first time, because she gave me a magazine and offered to return to them if I liked it. I liked the magazine immediately, and I took four more for the 2+2 promotion.We were additionally pleased with a gift of a memory game, another magazine, and wished us success in mastering the Czech language. The content of the magazines is interesting, the paper is of excellent quality, the art and the main characters are funny.Comics are a Czech thing! I am delighted. And the employees of this store definitely know a lot about marketing and working with clients!
Step 6: Interactive Resources
Videos, test materials for preparing for language tests on A1 and B2. The most valuable resource!
Czech is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Distributed both in the Czech Republic itself and in the USA, Canada, Slovakia, Serbia, Austria, etc. The total number of native speakers of this language is 10.6 million people. Learning Czech is not difficult, since it is related to other Slavic languages. Closest to Slovak.
There are many reasons why people learn this language:
- tourism;
- education;
- Job;
- moving to this country;
- interest in culture and history.
It is worth noting that the Czech Republic provides an opportunity to get a well-paid job. Alternatively, you can study at the University of Karlovo, which was founded in 1348 and is one of the oldest universities in Central Europe.
Whatever the reason, you can be sure that knowing a foreign language opens up new boundaries for a person.
Photo of an evening Czech city.
What is important for a beginner to know?
One of distinctive features Czech is phonetics:
- The stress always falls on the first syllable;
- The alphabet uses superscript characters: apostrophe and acute. An apostrophe is placed above consonants to indicate a hard sound. Above vowels - to show the softness of the preceding consonant sound.
From a grammatical point of view, Czech is distinguished by the presence of archaic (old) forms. For example, unlike Russian, there is still a vocative case.
Pronunciation has specific features. The Czech language uses Latin letters, most of which are read as they are written.
However, some sounds require explanation. For example, h is pronounced like Ukrainian, and y is the middle sound between i and ы. It’s interesting that the Czechs themselves cannot pronounce our Russian ы.
It is difficult for both foreigners and Czechs to learn to write correctly - you can hear and understand the meaning of words incorrectly.
Czech is unusual and at the same time interesting language especially for Russian speakers. For example, the inscription in the store POZOR:SLEVA does not at all mean that there is something shameful on the left. It actually translates to "Attention: Discount". Or the word “čerstvý” (stale) does not mean, as in Russian, something spoiled (stale bread), but on the contrary, something new, fresh. Therefore, in order to correctly understand all the intricacies of this language, it is necessary to choose the right methodology and method of teaching.
Ways to learn Czech
Exist various ways for training. You can try to master the language yourself. To do this, it is important to purchase a tutorial that is suitable for you. Dictionaries and phrase books are also needed, it is advisable to find films and books in order to get used to speech that is foreign to you from the very beginning. On the other hand, you can find a tutor who will conduct classes with you once a week, and if desired, twice. It is worth noting that if you have a teacher, learning goes faster, as there is an incentive to learn in the form of homework and direct practice with a native speaker. In addition, do not forget that only an experienced teacher can give the correct pronunciation. In this case The best way for training - these are courses.
If you decide to attend language courses, it is important to find out about the details: what exactly they are ready to offer, what program the training is based on. Is there an original method, how many times a week are classes, the amount of homework and workload in class? Plus, it is important to find out whether you can study individually, at home or via Skype, in the evening or during the day.
Czech language courses in Moscow
Foreign language courses "Master Class" offer several training programs. The duration of each level of training is 48 academic hours (3 months). Upon completion of the program, a certificate is issued indicating the course and number of hours.
The training is intended both for beginners from scratch and for those who have already studied the Czech language. They will help you update your old knowledge or gain new knowledge, correct your pronunciation and teach you how to speak and write correctly. During individual training, the methodology is built taking into account your wishes. The courses are taught by experienced certified teachers, both Russian-speaking and those for whom Czech is native.
You can choose any of the branches for learning the Czech language in Moscow, which are located next to the metro stations: Belorusskaya, Oktyabrskoye Pole and Kashirskaya.
Price for individual and group Czech language training
The price is per group.
Corporate training price
The price is per group.
Basic Czech language course
Based on rich experience in this field and the best educational materials Effective programs have been created that will allow you to develop a strong grammatical base and communication experience. You can learn Czech language basic course which includes training both in small groups and individually. Czech language courses in basic level are aimed at students mastering the necessary aspects of grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary.
The basic Czech language course lasts 4 months. At the end of the course, the student will be able to communicate in Czech on everyday topics, read adapted texts, and conduct simple correspondence.
The full course lasts for a year. Training is based on individual program, based on the student’s goals (Czech for doing business, studying at higher education educational institution, communication with native speakers, learning specific vocabulary professional sphere etc.).
Educational process in the classroom
Native Czech-speaking teacher Teresa
LESSON 1 – LEKCE 1
We start the first lesson with the Czech alphabet and phonetics. Unlike the Russian language, the Czech language uses the Latin alphabet. Many letters have the same pronunciation as the Russian language, for example:
- a = a
- b = b
- c = c
- č = h
- d = d
- e = e
- ě = e
- f = f
- g = g
- ch = x
- i, y = and
- j = th
- k = k
- m = m
- n = n
- o = o
- p = p
- r = r
- s = s
- š = w
- t = t
- u = y
- v = in
- z = z
- ž = w
Some letters are either pronounced slightly differently or do not exist in Russian at all, for example:
- l = l – pronounced like the Central European “l” - neither hard nor soft;
- h = pronounced like the Ukrainian “g”;
- ř = pronounced as ringing sound“rzh”, or like a dull sound “rsh”;
- w = in;
- x = x;
- q = que;
Having studied the alphabet and phonetics, and explained the rules of stress and vowel reduction, we begin to practice reading and learning new words, for example:
Čeština, kavárna, daň, trojúhelník, skříň, praxe, šlehačka, štěstí, žádný, řeka, moucha...
At the end of the first lesson, we will get acquainted with the basic phrases and slowly begin to form simple dialogues.
- Good day.
- Good day. Jak se máte?
- Děkuji, dobře. A vy?
- Take it easy, děkuji.
- Jak se jmenujete?
- Jmenuji se Jana Nováková. A vy?
- Já se jmenuji Karel Slaný.
- Těší mě.
- Take it easy.
- Na shledanou.
- Na shledanou.
Other Czech lessons
At the beginning of each subsequent lesson we review grammar and vocabulary. Then we try to speak more and use phrases that we have already learned and acquire new ones (colloquial and literary).
We are considering a new grammar that concerns verbs (present, future, past tenses), nouns, adjectives, their endings in different cases, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions...
To remember the new grammar better, we put it into practice.
Despite the fact that I am a native speaker, sometimes I need to listen to another Czech voice, because of this we first listen to simple texts, then to Czech radio. You can’t learn all the words from a textbook, so we read different articles from newspapers and magazines on any topic so that everyone can find it interesting.
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