I am seeking a word other than "Babicka" that grandchildren can use to address their grandmother. "Stara mama" was suggested, but this seems too cumbersome. I came across "babi", which seems like the suitable word, but I'm not sure of the proper pronunciation. Is "babi" a suitable word, or is there a better word to use? Is "babi pronounced more like bu-bie or more like bah-bie, or is it pronounced otherwise? Sorry, I don't know how to use symbols.
I was waiting for a Czech to reply - after only 18 months in Prague, what do I know?! But I have definitely heard babi on trams - my fail safe check for whether a word is current Czech as it is actually spoken! And I think it's babi, short a and i.
I had hard time to imagine how to pronounce "bu-bie" or "bah-bie" but pronunciation of "babi" should be: "ba" as banana and "bi" as in dustbin - and if you connect this two sounds/ i guess/ you get something close enough to original "babi" - sorry for crappy explanation but this was first words with similar sounds i found in my mind... "Stará máma" - I would never use it.. especialy not to call my babička.. sounds horrible Babi is the best way and i use it all the time..
My husband's grandchildren call me babi. But they pronounce it like Bobby. He taught them to call me that and he's czech so I assume it's the proper way. However, perhaps is more like the ba in banana and my husband just didn't want to take the time to teach it exactly correct - given that the grandchildren don't speak czech.
Well here's how we pronounce bananas (at least in my region) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmW3aBqZtKQ And here's how we pronounce bobby or babi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmW3aBqZtKQ listen about 30 seconds and then she will talk about Whitney Houston & Bobby Brown. Hope that helps.
In the song you posted - i clearly hear no A sound after the fisrt B in word banana... btw: do you know that the second link is exactly the same as the first one?
Sorry, let me try again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb7NCENRkrA ok, at about 30 seconds she starts talking about bobby brown.
The syllables [ba] and [bi] are so simple, so basic in the whole world that I am amazed some persons have problems pronouncing them.
I have a question about how to pronounce babička. is it 1) "ba beech ka" or 2) "ba bitch ka"? (sorry about the b-word in the 2. example, but it's the only way I could get the sound right) and by "beech" I mean a shorter "ee" sound than is typical in English (not í). when my son says it, it sounds like 2., but when my niece says it, it sounds more like 1. I have a hard time distinguishing "a" and "á" usually, but not i and í - except sometimes the "i" sounds very short like in "dustbin" and other times not so short... I guess my question is: Is the Czech "i" simply a quickly spoken "í"? Or is it a completely different sound as in English (AmE, at least)?
There are (at least) two I's in the Czech pronounciation. Generally I is a close front vowel (see Wiki - IPA), but the long í is more close and front than the short i (compare dík vs. ty). It depends also on the adjacent consonants. Finally there are some regional differences (Prague, Brno, ...). I should say: BAH-bitch-kah.
For me, the Czech /i/ is similar to the same vowel in French, German, Italian, Spanish, etc. The difference is that it can be punctual or long [i:]. English has no similar /i/. Compare the vowels of bit and beet in English with those of bit and bít in Czech.
Just paste babička in the Text to speech site input form and let Czech – Eliska say it. Another option would be http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cs-babička.ogg