I posted an introductory thread but realized at the last minute I couldn't ask questions in that area so I'll ask here! Here goes. I'm having trouble finding a good, structured "teach yourself" kind of thing. I borrowed "Teach yourself Czech" but I find it horribly structured, and locallingo.com is great but it (or doesn't seem) to be set in a "start-finish" format. So, along with saying Ahoj, I would love if someone could help me find a good, beginners guide to Czech that doesn't throw you into conversation and starts with basic grammar type things and teaches you such conversation along the way. I'd really appreciate it! Peace!
Ahoj, Well, it is really a tought topic. I had some problems at the begging with it too. That's really true that it is very hard to understand the grammar and so on only with David Short's "Teach yourself Czech". Depending on how much you can and want to spend with Czech books, I suggest you to have at least two books. "Colloquial Czech" by James Naughton has better explanations, and the dialogues are less complicated. James Naughton also has a "Essential grammar", but be aware that sometimes he uses the same examples in Colloquail Czech and in the Essential grammar... David Short is good if you have other ways to learn the grammar and etc, because you may have some different kinds of dialogues (even you consider them a little weird). There are also other books that seem to be good as "Czech step by step" and "Begginer Czech". But I think that whatever you choose, it is good to have more than one... or, if possible, someone to help you - at least to training speaking and pronunciation skills. Na shledanou.:
Lonely Planet Czech Phrasebook is good. It's cheap, runs about $9. It gives a short introduction to the grammer and then works well as an accompaniment to other text books. I use Lida Hola's Step by Step but it's meant to be used by student with a teacher - it's not meant as a teach yourself but is pretty easy to follow and could probably be done alone. I recently bought Czech in 3 months and I'm finding it very easy to follow. I'm enjoying it but I'm only 50 pages into it so who really knows.
Also you will find some good online resources here: http://www.myczechrepublic.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8626&highlight=czech+websites
