A day ago I went out and got some self-learning Czech language books. The one I am mainly using is "Learn Czech for English Speakers", which is a bit outdated (1969!) but it's really slow-paced and I like that. I have just passed the alphabet pronunciations, long vowels, accented consonants, and just recently "softening of the letters d, n, t, affected by the soft e^" (i can't make the accents on this computer.. that I know of anyway). But now I got to "pronouncing Czech words which contain no vowel at all". I'm trying not to add vowels in when I pronounce the vowel-less words such as .. prst, plst, srp, smrk, smrt, shkrrt, skrz, vlk, and others.. but i don't really know how exactly you go about pronouncing them without pronouncing them with vowels. But this is difficult!
hey, yes I guess it's hard to speak for You. Some of these words are really tough even for the CZ natives ----strč prst skrz krk----
One tip I can give you is that Czechs roll their r's. So when you you try to say such words as prst and Brno, then really roll that r . It makes things much easier. Words using l as a consonant I find fairly easy to pronounce. I guess you will have to practise a bit, unless someone else can give you a tip. Have you tried Local Lingo. It's a great help with pronunciation as they use native czech speakers.
I usually add a short imaginary "e" before the consonant in question - ain't perfect but, works ok. Another note - if you wish to use Czech letters with your keyboard, Search the word keyboard at the top of this page and check out the "european keyboard" thread - tells you all you need to know.
thank you all for the tips and encouragement. i'm going to keep trying, and hopefully that will be enough. :]
I also add a short imaginary vowel. I believe I hear it when my husband (czech) speaks. For example, when he says "krk" to me it sounds like "Kirk" When he says "prst", it sounds like "perst". He claims that he is not saying a vowel at all but that he is only saying the sounds of the consonants. However, it sounds the same to my ears. I'm sure that it doesn't sound the same to Czechs but they will understand us and that's what counts.
I always say to people that words like smrk and krk are pronounced like the English smirk and kirk, except that the vowel in it must be very short -- the shorter, the better. As to whether Czechs actually do or do not insert these tiny short vowels when pronouncing vowel-less words is a contentious question. Foreigners often say they hear them, native Czechs usually say they don't. Some linguists would tell you that consonants can never be pronounced on their own, therefore it must be the case that people do indeed insert tiny vowels when speaking, even if unconsciously. Myself, I just like to think I can live without vowels if I need to. Maybe years of living in Brno (pronounce that!) tought me that.
In languages written with an alphabet, people tend to see words through the way they are written. If no vowel is written, although you hear one, an average Czech person will tell you they do not pronounce any vowel. Yet the position of this vowel, the schwa, is crucial. In the examples you give, it is placed before the /r/ or the /l/. Sometimes it's a consonant. For instance, in English, a stressed syllable with no opening consonant at the beginning of word is automatically provided with an initial glottal stop, e. g. able, end, innings, outage, umpire. Each of these words begins with a glottal stop. Yet, the majority of native speakers of English will tell you there is no such consonant before the initial vowel. Sometimes two different spellings corresponding to the same sound are interpreted as representing two different sounds. For instance, many native speakers of French will tell you gn and ni + vowel are different. Actually both represent ñ / ny, e.g. gnon in brugnon, nion in fanion are pronounced the same way: ñõ / nyõ. So don't believe what native speakers say. Listen to their pronunciation and imitate them.
