Radio Prague International - Topic «Czech language course»: Recent Episodes
Radio Prague International
Czech children and teenagers are crafting their own language, filled with slang and new expressions, often borrowed from English. The internet speeds up the creation of new words and phrases, which can be confusing for people who aren't active online. In particular, it can be difficult for their parents and grandparents to understand.
As every year, dozens of students from all over the world arrived in Czechia to take part in this year’s edition of the annual Summer Czech Course for Expats organised by Charles University's Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies. For the past few years, the course has been held in the charming spa town of Poděbrady in Central Bohemia. We caught up with some of them to find out about their motivation to study Czech.
The promoters of hantec, a unique Czech language variety, spoken by the lower classes of Brno during the 19th and early 20th centuries, would like get it inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible World Heritage List. They are hoping that this might prevent the famous sociolect from completely dying out.
British linguist Danny Bate divides his time between Prague and Edinburgh, where he is completing a PhD. Given his academic background, the 26-year-old has many fascinating things to say on the Czech language, which he himself is studying. But I also asked Bate – who, incidentally, helps shape Czechia’s “maturita” school-leaving exam – about his experience of living in the country to date.
“A language is a dialect with an army and a navy.” This is the maxim often cited to explain the sometimes arbitrary distinctions between languages and dialects. So what about the case of Czech and Slovak, which are generally considered to be mutually intelligible? Were they always considered to be separate languages, even when Czechoslovakia was one country? And has anything changed linguistically since the nations went their separate ways politically?
On moving to the Czech Republic, many foreigners are surprised to find famous women such as Hillary Clinton and Meryl Streep referred to in the Czech media as ‘Hillary Clintonová’ and ‘Meryl Streepová’. Now one Czech news outlet has sparked debate on the matter, after dropping this practice for foreign women’s surnames.
Proponents of “Czechia” got a boost this month, when Olympic officials in Prague asked the International Olympic Committee to register it in its database of country names. But will the short name ever replace the official “the Czech Republic” in common speech? I discussed the matter with leading Czech linguist Karel Oliva.
If you live in the Czech Republic, you’ll have been enjoying two extra days off from work due to a pair of consecutive public holidays this week. 5th July, Saints Cyril and Methodius day, and 6th July, Jan Hus day, both have a connection to the way Czech is written – but what is it? And is Czech really easier to learn to read and write than other languages? Our reporter and amateur linguistics enthusiast, Anna Fodor, spoke to well-known Czech linguist Karel Oliva, to find out.
November 21 is World Greeting Day. One particular Czech greeting – Nazdar – has a colourful history.
After years of heated debates, Czech women may finally be able to make their own decision about the form of their surname. On Tuesday the Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment to the law on birth registers, names and surnames, allowing them to drop the ending –ová and use the masculine form instead.
With a strong economy and cities that few can rival in their beauty, the Czech Republic has become an increasingly popular country for foreigners from across the world. This has naturally led to a demand in Czech language courses. One of those who are leading the pack in online Czech teaching is YouTuber Vít Benešovský.
Should Czech women be able to choose whether or not to use the ending -ová in their surname? A debate over the question has flared up again after the cabinet approved a draft law on birth registers, which denies women the possibility to do so. The Pirate Party calls it discriminatory and wants to reverse the decision in the Lower House.
Today marks the midway point for students at the 62nd Summer School of Slavonic Studies in Prague, a month-long program for academics and enthusiasts of Slavic language and culture. I spoke with program coordinators to learn more about the school and its international student body.
The city of Brno is one of a number of venues where summer schools of Czech take place every year and bring together students from across the world. Now in its fiftieth year, the Masaryk University Summer School of Slavonic Studies offers its students much more than just language lessons.
Vojtěch Merunka, an associate professor who teaches at the Czech University of Life Sciences and also the Czech Technical University in Prague is one of a team of creators behind Interslavic – a language designed to make communication possible for anyone with Slav roots. Speak Czech but not any Russian? Bulgarian but no Polish? Interslavic, he says, is the alternative; at a conference in June, he and fellow team members put the language to the test.
Charles University academic Ivana Bozděchová has taught Czech and Czech Studies in several corners of the world, including in the United States and in the South Korean capital Seoul. When we spoke, the conversation took in everything from the particular difficulties Czech tends to throw up for English speakers to Czechia to the use of -ová surname endings. But I first asked Ms. Bozděchová about her experiences of teaching at the University of Nebraska in 1990, right after the fall of communism.
How has the Czech language developed over the past four decades? What expressions do we borrow from other languages and which words have fallen into oblivion? These are just some of the question I asked Martin Prošek, the head of the Institute of the Czech language, which has just started to release a new monolingual dictionary of Czech. Its first chapter, containing words starting with the letter A, has just been published in electronic form.
Earlier this year the Czech government made international news with its plan to promote “Czechia” as a snappy alternative to the cumbersome “the Czech Republic”. So far how has successful has this rebranding exercise actually been? I discussed that question and more with Professor Petr Pavlínek, a geographer who teaches at Charles University and at the University of Nebraska. He’s a member of the group Civic Initiative Czechia, which began by advocating for the Czech-language name Česko before focusing on its English equivalent. I first asked Professor Pavlínek what were the key arguments in favour of using “Czechia”.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song, sung by Markéta Konvičková, is called Z ráje jsem utekla – I ran away from heaven. The words to listen out for are ráj and peklo.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. The word for today is věk – meaning a time or age. We will be listening to the song V blbým věku sung by Xindl X and Olga Königová.
Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be listening to the song V naší ulici, or in our street, sung by Voxel. The word to listen out for is ulice – meaning street.
On May 2, 2016, the government of the Czech Republic decided to notify Czechia to the UN as the short alternative of the country´s English name, and on July 1, it was officially entered into the UN databases. Heated discussions preceded this resolution, with many considering the word „ugly“, and with even more erroneously believing that it was to replace „the Czech Republic“. So what´s in the name?
Welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. The word for today is anděl – an angel. We will be listening to a song performed by Czech singer Aneta Langerová called Spousta andělů – Tons of Angels.
Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be listening to the song “Jaký to je” or “How it is” sung by Ewa Farna. The words to listen out for are šedá myš - a grey mouse.
Welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Some days you may find yourself being convinced to do something, perhaps against your better judgement. If so, the Czech band ‘Kabát’ or ‘The Coat’ has just the song for you called Když ptáčka lapají.
How to teach your children the Czech language and maintain it in an environment where everyone speaks English? That is a big question for the Czech expatriate community living in the United States. Marta McCabe, a Czech teacher who moved to North Carolina, decided to deal with the issue by establishing a Czech and Slovak School in the town of Durham – the first organisation of its kind in that state. I met Marta McCabe on her recent visit to Prague to talk about the Czech community in North Carolina and about the school she founded. But I first asked her how she herself ended up living in the United States:
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. The word for today is zmizet, which means to disappear. We will be listening to a song by Helena Vondráčková called Kam zmizel ten starý song – where did that old song disappear to.
Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be listening to the song “Chemie” or “Chemistry” by Czech singer and songwriter Xindl X. The phrase we are listening out for is “Vykašli se na to”.
Hello and welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we will be learning words and phrases related to a night out on the town. The song we will be listening to is “Hospoda U Mámy”, or “The Pub at Mother’s Place”, sung by Jaromír Nohavica.
Czechia in English, and other variants of the name Česko in other languages, has taken a big step forward towards becoming the shorthand name for the Czech Republic at official meetings and international sporting events in the future.
The Czech Republic’s top officials are meeting to try and agree on a shortened name for the Czech Republic. The frontrunner in English appears to be the name Czechia and that could soon be popping up all over the place.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is sung by Hana Zagorová and the word to listen out for is kamarád, meaning friend.
All of us have found ourselves in situations when everything goes wrongs, days we would like to forget. When you get canned from work, get the boot from your partner, or get evicted from your apartment. Sometimes all three at once. Mňága & Zďorp have just the song for you called: Zapomenout (To Forget). Listen for the line chtěl bych zapomenout – I’d like to forget.
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is called Statistika je nuda by Jaroslav Uhlíř and Zdeňek Svěrák who composed it for a Czech children’s movie in 1980. The word to listen out for is nuda.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn interesting Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the singer and song writer Michal Prokop. It’s called Blues o spolykaných slovech or Blues about swallowed words and the phrase to listen out for is slova váznou na jazyku:
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech –Radio Prague’s Czech language crash course in which you can learn new idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song, sung by Václav Neckář and Helena Vondráčková, is from a popular Czech fairy tale and is called Kdyby na sůl nebylo – if we couldn’t even afford salt.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of Sound Czech, in which you can learn Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the popular Czech band Chinaski. It is called Zadarmo / For Free and it is literally packed with interesting idioms and phrases. Let’s have a look at some of them:
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn interesting Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the singer songwriter Jaromír Nohavica. It’s called Kdybych byl ředitelem zeměkoule – If I was Director of the World and the phrase to listen out for is mít všechno pod palcem:
Welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, our Czech language mini-series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we’ll hear a song by Jana Kratochvílová called V stínu kapradiny – in the shadow of the fern and the phrase to listen out for is když lámal se den.
Welcome to Radio Prague’s Czech language course SoundCzech in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s phrases revolve around the word ruka, meaning hand. Here is Vaclav Neckar with a song called give me your hand - Podej mi ruku.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of Sound Czech, in which you can learn interesting Czech idioms with the help of song lyrics. Today's song is by the Czech singer song writer Karel Plíhal and it is called Kde jsou or Where Are They. The phrase to listen out for is tiše jako pěna.
Just like society in general, Czech has changed markedly since the Velvet Revolution, says Karel Oliva, director of the Institute of the Czech Language. There is now greater informality in Czech – and a divisive trend of women with foreign husbands not using the traditional “ová” surname ending.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech –Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by a rapper going by the name of Johnny Machette – it is called Neřeš to – meaning don’t deal with this, or drop it –and that’s the phrase to look out for today.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song, called OK, is by the band Alkehol, and it is literally packed with interesting idioms and phrases:
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, where you can learn Czech words and idioms through song lyrics. The expression to listen out for today is nemá ani šajna, which is a colloquial way to say that someone doesn’t have a clue. The title of the song is “Dítě školou povinné”, or Schoolchild, and it was written by the 1960s legendary Czech duo Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr.
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we are playing a Christmas carol called Veselé Vánoce – or Merry Christmas.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s programme explaining Czech vocabulary through song lyrics. Today’s song is the 1969 Czech cover of “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. It is sung by Marta Kubišová and the Czech lyrics were written by Zdeněk Rytíř. We shall concentrate on the chorus which features a number of idioms. Let’s start by listening to the whole chorus which begins by the line Svět je krásnej, svět je zlej, hej, Jude, věř v něj meaning “the world is beautiful, the world is evil, hey Jude, trust in it”.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the famous singer-songwriter Karel Plíhal. The song is called Lelek and the phrase to listen out for is chytat lelky:
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech in which you can learn Czech words and sayings through song lyrics. In today’s episode the word to look out for is šilhat, meaning to have squint-eye, slang for the medical condition known as strabismus, where one eye wanders. The word is found in the song Balada O Rozhodujícím úderu šilhavého řezníka Josky about a pig slaughter and a squint-eyed butcher Joska.
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. This week the music is from an old black and white movie starring comic Vlasta Burian who is presenting his own “Russian” version of Black Eyes –Oči černé.
Czech expats from around the world gathered in Prague last week for a conference on maintaining their native language skills abroad. Czechoslovak exiles who fled the country after the war or after the Soviet-led invasion of 1968, descendants of the old Czech settlers, as well as members of the younger community of Czechs who went abroad to study or work met for a two-day event held in the National Museum building in the centre of Prague to discuss their cultural and linguistic heritage.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech, in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the legendary rock group Jasná Páka and the phrase to listen out for is šplouchá mu na maják, which is repeated several times in the songs’ chorus:
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the group Spiritual Kvintet and the phrase to listen out for is “správné slovo”.
Each summer the small eastern Bohemian town of Dobruška becomes a home to dozens of people from around the world who come to reconnect with the language and customs of their Czech ancestors. The summer programme, organized by Prague’s Charles University and supported by the Czech government, offers intensive language courses as well as an insight into Czech culture and way of life.
Welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which we explain idioms and phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is called “Malovaný džbánku” and is sung by the Czech pop-music diva Helena Vondráčková.
Welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can lean new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the rock group Natural and is called Já na to mám.
This year's Summer School of Slavonic studies is in full swing at Prague's Charles University. Almost 250 people are immersed in the study of Czech language, culture, and life. Students from all over the world - around 40 countries in all - and all degrees of education come together to brave the difficulties of learning Czech.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Dalibor Janda and it is called Žít jako kaskadér - Living like a stuntman.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by a singer going by the name of Xindl X and it’s called Poslední večeře - The Last Supper.
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song by Michal Tučný and is called Mam Páru – and that is the phrase to listen out for.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s programme explaining Czech vocabulary through song lyrics. Today’s song is the 1969 Czech cover of “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. It is sung by Marta Kubišová and the Czech lyrics were written by Zdeněk Rytíř. We shall concentrate on the chorus which features a number of idioms. Let’s start by listening to the whole chorus which begins by the line Svět je krásnej, svět je zlej, hej, Jude, věř v něj meaning “the world is beautiful, the world is evil, hey Jude, trust in it”.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, where you can learn Czech words and idioms through song lyrics. The expression to listen out for today is nemá ani šajna, which is a colloquial way to say that someone doesn’t have a clue. The title of the song is “Dítě školou povinné”, or Schoolchild, and it was written by the 1960s legendary Czech duo Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech – Radio Prague's Czech language series in which we explore idioms through song lyrics. Today, we'll be listening to a song called "Nikdy nic nikdo nemá" (or “Noone should ever”) by the pre-World War II comic duo, Jan Werich and Jiří Voskovec. The phrase to listen out for is "život je pes".
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today we are playing a Christmas carol called Veselé Vánoce – or Merry Christmas.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, where you can learn Czech words or expressions through song lyrics. The key word in today's edition is starý (starej in the colloquial) meaning old. The name of the song, by Czech hard rock band Kabát, is Starej bar – old bar. In it frontman Pepa Vojtek sings about stumbling into an old, mostly empty dive, with only a jukebox, a few stools or chairs, and an ancient barman who convinces the song's protagonist to have a drink.
The Czech Republic –or Czechia – a dilemma that Czechs have been unable to resolve since the 1993 Czech-Slovak divorce left the country without a one-word name that would roll of the tongue easily and that the public could identify with. On a state visit to Israel this week, President Miloš Zeman revived a twenty-year-old debate on an informal English name for his country, publicly thanking his host, President Simon Perez, for using the informal name Czechia rather than the official Czech Republic. I discussed the proposal with the head of the Czech Language Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Karel Oliva.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Hana Zagorová and is called Spěchám –the word to listen out for today.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech. In today's edition we look at at expressions using the word 'líný' or ‘línej’(informal) - featured in the song Jsem tak línej by the legendary Czech pop group Olympic. Yawn. What could be more appropriate for the lazy days of summer, on a weekend when temperatures are expected to hit around 35 degrees Celsius!
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Dalibor Janda and it is called Žít jako kaskadér - Living like a stuntman.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, our series where you can learn Czech expressions through song lyrics. Today we feature the expression chodit po špičkách, which translates as walking on one's toes or tippy toes.
Welcome to SoundCzech, a mini-series where we teach you Czech words and phrases with the help of Czech musicians. This week we will talk about fear and how to handle it, and we will listen to a part of a song Vyvolený, by the punk-rock group Jaksi Taksi.
Welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is a 1970’s Semafor Theatre hit called Máme radi zvířata and the singer is Jitka Molavcová. The word to listen out for is “zvířata”.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech. In today’s edition we’ll be hearing a song called called Zubatá by the legendary Czech band Pražský výběr. The root of the word Zubatá is zub, which means tooth. Zubatá, could be loosely translated as ‘Ol’ Toothy’ or the ‘Grim Toother’, referring to the Grim Reaper and his unflinching skeletal grin. One difference is that in Czech, Death is female.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the group Spiritual Kvintet and the phrase to listen out for is “správné slovo”.
Hello and welcome to the newest edition of SoundCzech. To help you shake off the winter blues, and learn a bit of Czech in the process, we will listen today to Jaromír Nohavica’s song Ahoj, Slunko, which translates as “Hi, sun”. And it is the sun, often elusive at this time of year, that we will be talking about today, and also a bit about compliments. So listen to how the song begins, with Nohavica addressing the sun – ‘slunko’ – and giving it a first compliment.
Welcome to another new edition of SoundCzech our long-running language series in which you can learn words and idioms through song lyrics. Today's song is by the Czech pop group Chinaski and is called 'chytrej kluk'. Chytrej is the ungrammatical version of chytrý and chtrej kluk means smart boy or smart guy.
Welcome to this week’s SoundCzech, a series where we teach you useful Czech words and phrases through songs. Today we will listen to Tomáš Klus’s song Panu bohu do oken. And since this is the presidential election weekend, we will focus on words connected with voting. The word you want to look for first is "volič".
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech – Radio Prague’s language course in which you can pick up useful phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is called Další blbej den (the Czech version of Nick Cave’s Death is Not the End ) and is sung by the duo Aleš Brychta and Pavla Kapitanová. The phrase to listen out for is actually hard to miss because it is simply everywhere : blbej den.
‘English is attacking Czech from all sides’ one newspaper columnist recently despaired, while others talk of Czech’s ‘battle for survival’ in a world in which ever more English is spoken. From terms like ‘setobox’, ‘vygooglovat’ and ‘mobil’ on the one hand to words like ‘sorry’, ‘byzy’ and ‘lůzr’ on the other, English does seem to be making an impact on today’s Czech. But are these English borrowings really a threat to the Czech language, or do they enrich it instead? I asked some Czechs for their opinion:
Every summer the north-east Bohemian town of Dobruška turns truly cosmopolitan, opening its doors to Czech language students from around the world. The Czech language summer school organized by Charles University lasts for a month and is specially tailored for Czech expats and people who have developed an interest in the Czech language and culture.
How did communist propaganda brainwash people? What were the most frequent words used in the communist press? And was it at all possible to learn any real news from the censored newspapers? These are some of the questions a team of Czech linguists is trying to answer in their Dictionary of Communist Totalitarianism.
Welcome to SoundCzech our long-running language series in which you can learn Czech idioms through song lyrics. Today’s final edition looks at the expression vypdanout z týhle díry – to get out of this hole. The expression features in a song by Mňága a Žďorp a very popular alternative rock band from Valašské Meziříčí, called Ve 4 rano – At four in the morning. The setting is a bar or club just before closing: the music has come to an end, no one has anything left to smoke and the tables are dirty from spilled drinks.
English speaking foreigners to the Czech Republic who are interested in the language are often befuddled or even annoyed by the feature of formal and informal speech in Czech grammar, called vykání and tykání - that is, the formal, plural “you” and the informal, singular “you”. Nowhere is that characteristic more frowned upon than in multinational companies, where new employees, called “formal you” at the job interview, are renamed “demotic you” on their first day of work, and told to address everyone else accordingly.
Welcome to a new edition of SoundCzech, our long-running series looking at sayings and expressions through song lyrics. Today’s expressions all have to do with the Czech word for work – práce – at a time when people either don’t have enough or have too much, trying to clear their desk ahead of the holidays. Featured is a song by 1990s punk band E!E called Práce. In the tune, the group sings “práce, jé práce, práce, je práce”, which translates as work, yay work, work there’s work. The accent on the “e” in the first jé makes all the difference.
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, our popular miniseries in which you can learn some interesting Czech phrases while listening to music. Today’s song is by Vladimír Mišík and it’s called “Co ti dám”. The phrase to listen out for is “na hromádce”.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is a traditional Czech folk song sung by Standa Hložek – and it’s called “When I used to come to your house.” The phrase to listen out for is “krev a mlíko”.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, our long-running language series which looks at popular Czech sayings through song lyrics. The expression in today’s episode is Hele, nemachruj (Hey, don’t brag) featured in a song of the same name by 1980s Czech pop icon Michal David.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by a singer going by the name of Xindl X and it’s called Poslední večeře - The Last Supper.
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, the only programme on global airwaves in which you can learn something interesting about the Czech language while listening to song lyrics. In this edition, we’ll hear the track “Ani k stáru”, part of the music score for the popular Czech film, “Vratné lahve”, or Empties. The phrase to listen out for is “nemám páru”.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Ivan Hlas and is called Na kolena.
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, our weekly programme to help you learn Czech through song lyrics, and in this case place names as well. The Czech Republic is packed with towns and villages with bizarre names, from Aš to Žabeň (the name of the latter having something to do with frogs). But just looking at some parts of Prague is enough to give you an idea. Here’s the folk singer Pepa Nos (which incidentally translates as Joe the Nose in case you’re wondering) thinking about what people from different, strangely named parts of Prague might be doing at the moment in his song “Copak asi dělá”:
Welcome to this edition of SoundCzech looking at expressions in the Czech language through song lyrics. In today’s episode we look at sayings associated with the word battle or fight which is boj in Czech. The featured song is sung by Daniel Landa, related to the Hussite wars. Bojovníci means warriors. We’ll be looking at fighting not in an historic context, though, but on a more comic book level.
Welcome to SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s popular series in which you can learn things about the Czech language you will not learn elsewhere, and enjoy music while doing it. In today’s edition, we’ll hear the song “Sprostý chlap”, or Vulgar Guy, by the popular Eben brothers. The phrase to listen out for is “sláma mně čouhá z bot” or straw sticking out of my boots.
Welcome to a fresh edition of Soundczech in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the group Vypsaná fixa and the phrase to listen out for is “je mi to jedno”.
Hi, and welcome to Sound Czech - which is going to sound Czecher than ever today because we’re going to talk about the Czechification of foreign place names, i.e. exonyms. We’ll start with Austria, because after hundreds of years of cohabitation Czechs have renamed just about everything in the country, beginning with the word Austria itself, Rakousko in Czech, as you can hear in this song by Šlapeto, “Kampak na nás bolševici”, where they sing about the “rakouský stat”, meaning the Austrian Empire.
Hello and welcome to Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s rap song is by Bow Wave and the phrase to listen out for is “umí vařit z vody”.
Hello and welcome to Sound Czech, Radio Prague’s language series in which you can learn some interesting phrases while listening to music. Today, we’ll hear the 1994 song Ne, teď ne (No, not now) by the Moravian band Mňága a Žďorp, whose name would deserve a special edition of SoundCzech in its own right. In this edition, however, the phrase to listen out for is ‘na svatýho Dyndy’.
Welcome to this week’s SoundCzech, our weekly language programme helping you learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics, and starring this week the legendary Jaromír Nohavica. Regular listeners may be wondering why we so frequently use the songs of music of Nohavica. The answer is that not only does he write wonderfully entertaining songs, but they’re chock-full of homey idioms from the times when he was dragging a toy duck in Moravia – that is, when he was a young fellow in Ostrava. Have a listen to this song, Když jsem tahal kačera, “When I used to drag the duck” – or drake, really, but why get technical.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech – Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is On My Own from the musical Les Miserables, it is sung by Lucie Bílá and the phrase to listen out for is “nosil by mě na rukou”.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Our song today is sung by Hana Zagorová and is called Sliby chyby – and that is the phrase to look out for.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our language series in which you can learn Czech phrases through song lyrics. In today’s edition the phrase to look out for is “To co bylo, neplatí”, featured in a song of the same name by Czech pop singer Hana Zagorová.
Hello and welcome to Soundczech, Radio Prague’s signature series in which you can learn some interesting Czech phrases while listening to a song. Today, we’ll hear a modern cover version by the band Lucie of the 1933 song Klobouk ve křoví, or The Hat in the Bushes, originally composed for a theatre play by Jaroslav Ježek, Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich. The phrase to listen for is mít svízel.
For many Czechs, the eastern Bohemian town of Dobruška evokes the Czech National Revival, a time when the Czech language was on the verge of extinction. A local merchant, immortalized in the novel F.L.Vek by the Czech writer Alois Jirásek, worked tirelessly in and around Dobruška to promote the Czech language and literature. Today, a different kind of Czech revival is taking place in the town. For the last 20 years, Prague’s Charles University has been organizing summer language courses for expats at this particular venue.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. In today’s edition the phrase to look out for is “letím jako blázen”, featured in a song by the Czech pop group Chinaski.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our Czech language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. Today, we will learn some expressions that might come in handy for those of us who would like to complain about the current heat wave. The song we will be listening to is called “Vedro” by the group Tichá Dohoda. The title of the song means heat. The word to listen for is vedro.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech – Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s piece is from the musical Les Miserables and is one you’’ll probably recognize – Master of the House.
Hello, this is a fresh edition of SoundCzech, our signature series in which you can learn some interesting Czech phrases while listening to a song. Today, we‘ll hear the song S nebem to mám dobrý, in English “I’m in good with heaven”, by the rock singer Vladimír Mišík and his band, Etc. The song appeared on his latest album, Ztracený podzim, or “Lost Autumn”, which came out this May. The first phrase to listen out for is držej mi tam flek, or “they’re holding a spot for me there”.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech – Radio Prague’s language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Hana Zagorová and it is called Perný den – which is the phrase to listen out for today.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our language series in which we look at Czech phrases through song lyrics. In today’s edition, the expression to listen for is “jakoby nic” featured in a song by the pop group Chinaski.
How did communist propaganda brainwash people? What were the most frequent words used in the communist press? And was it at all possible to learn any real news from the censored newspapers? These are some of the questions a team of Czech linguists is trying to answer in their Dictionary of Communist Totalitarianism.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our Czech language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. Today, we will focus on all things red. The Czech word for red is červená.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our language series where we look at Czech sayings through song lyrics. In today’s episode the expression to look out for is “konec srandy” featured in a song of the same name by the popular Czech blues band Katapult.
Hello, welcome to this week’s edition of Sound Czech, our weekend language programme that has been providing you with the Czech you need for the last, roughly, 182 Fridays. Why Fridays? Today is Saturday, I hear you say. But when something has been happening for ages for Czech, you can say it has been going on for nějaký pátek, or some Friday. And if you don’t believe me, then have a listen to Hana Zagorová in her song Baron Prášil:
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Lucie Bílá, it is called Requiem and the phrase to listen out for is “v kapse pár suchých jeřabin”.
Welcome to SoundCzech, our language series in which you can learn Czech expressions through song lyrics. The expression to listen out for is “nedá se svítit”, used in a song by the popular, now defunct Czech rock band, Lucie. The name of the song is Pod mědeným nebem (Under a Copper Sky).
Professor Lubomír Doležel, who was born in the Moravian village of Lesnice in 1922, is an internationally respected academic best known for his pioneering work in literary theory and linguistics. After three years at the University of Michigan in the second half of the 1960s, he was invited to the University of Toronto, where he established the study of Czech language and literature. On Friday Professor Doležel received the Czech Foreign Ministry’s Gratias Agit prize for promoting the good name of his native country.
Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech –Radio Prague’s Czech language series in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by Hana Zagorová it is called Biograf Lásky (Cinema of Love)and the phrase to listen out for is “můžeme si lhát” – we can lie to each other.
Hello, and welcome to SoundCzech – part Czech language programme, and in part a tool with which to unravel man’s deepest philosophical queries. Forsooth, today we delve into the most quintessential of them all, as Shakespeare asked, být či nebýt, “to be or not to be” – pondered o’er not only by the poets but also by the band Pražský Výběr in the song Big bít či nebýt.
Hello and welcome to a fresh edition of SoundCzech – our language series in which you can learn Czech words and expressions through song lyrics. Today’s word is usmrkanec – an expression Czechs have for a little upstart, or little snotnose or sniveler. The phrase to look out for is Co si to malý usmrkanec myslí? – what’s the little upstart thinking?! (or who does he think he is) featured in the song O Ferdovi a Mravenci by the pop band Divokej Bill.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is “Den jako obrázek“ or “A picture perfect day” by the singer duo Hana Zagorová and Helena Růžičková. The expression to look out for is “byl konec s jarní únavou” or “spring fatigue was finally gone”.
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is sung by Eva Olmerová. It is called Boží Den – a heavenly day and the refrain goes “a heavenly day – a gift from Our Lord”. The expression to look out for is “dal nám ho Pán” meaning it was given to us by our Lord.
Ahoj, and welcome to this edition of SoundCzech which this week features both rhyme and reason. The rhyme is provided by the hard rock group Kabát in their song Brouk Pytlík, and reason in the patent na rozum, “a patent on reason”. Have a listen:
Hello, this is SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s very own programme in which you can learn some interesting, if not useful phrases while listening to music. Today’s phrase to listen to is kde nechal tesař díru, or where the carpenter left a hole. This old and rather odd saying appeared in a song by the Moravian band Mňága a Žďorp, released on their recent album, Takže dobrý.
Prague’s Charles University recently hosted an unusual marathon which tested the capacity of various machine translating systems. The annual event is part of the Euromatrix project, which aims to establish machine translation systems for all European languages. The participants had a week to translate some 12,000 sentences from various newspapers and news sites. In the coming weeks their output will be confronted with translations done by professional „human” translators. Ruth Fraňková spoke to Ondřej Bojar from the Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics, which is taking part in the Euromatrix project:
Hello and welcome to SoundCzech, which this week will give you lots of the language you need to know when doing one of the things that Czechs like most: drinking beer. Czechs drink more beer than any nation in the world so there are a lot of words you need to know, beginning with “hospoda”, as sung in the folk song “Ta naše hospoda”, or “That Pub of Ours”:
Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech – Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the group Alkehol and it is called Guardian Angel. The phrase to listen out for is “on už mě má plný zuby”.
Welcome to SoundCzech – our Czech language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. Today, the phrase to look out for is tanec mezi vejci – dancing among eggs in a song of the same name by famous Czech folksinger Jaromír Nohavica.
Welcome to SoundCzech – our Czech language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. Today, we’ll be learning some expressions that might come in handy when someone gets on your nerves.