My grandmother taught me this prayer. Can comeone translate it to english then rewrite it in Czech? My spelling is based on Czech sounds, I hope it is close enough for you. Here goes, hope it's complete. On the lee skool most thra yinks skool o pot thea vee venya iv nois ey moyee dush sheek skool. Thankyou. I may have for got some of it, hope I didn't
Maybe it's : Andělíčku, můj strážníčku, opatruj mi mou dušičku. My little angel, my little guardian, look after my little soul.
Dear Eso Can you do me another favor? Take the Czech version and and sound it out in english so I will know that I am pronouncing it correctly? Thanks
That's a problem, because I don't know English pronunciation good enough. But I will try: And- (pronounce like "and "in "android") -ě- (pronounce like "ye "in "yes") -lí- (lee) -č- (pronounce like "cz" in "Czech" -ku (pronounce like "coo" in "Cook", but short) mů- (moo) j - ((pronounce like "y "in "yes")) strá - (pronounce like "stri "in "strike", but long) žníč - (?) ...well, here I'm stuck
I've got better idea. I played this text through voice synthesizer program a here is result: http://vladimir.skach.cz/files/andelicku.wav It's not ideal, but I believe it's good enough and it's better then text form.
This is very rough, but try it this way (I am sure the 'purists' here will be back with dozens of corrections and other suggestions about the vowel qualities, but...here it is) Andělíčku, můj strážníčku, opatruj mi mou dušičku. Und-yell-each-coo, mooy strazh-neech-koo, op-ut ('up' with 't')-rooy mi (as in Mitch) mow (as in "low" with 'm') doo-shich-coo It may not be perfect, but at least this pronunciation will be closer to what it used to sound like when you were little Happy New Year to all myczechrepublic denizens
by the way, there is one more sentence that completes this childhood prayer, Animal Andelicku, muj straznicku, opatruj mi mou dusicku is followed by Telo, dusi opatruj, andelicku strazce muj (sorry, I don't have the Czech keyboard) which means "The body, the soul (you) guard, little angel, guardian (mine) which roughly means "Guard both my body and my soul, my guardian angel"
Thanks to everyone for help. I didnot know or remember there was a 2nd part to this prayer, but then again she taught us over 28-30 years ago.
Andělíčku můj strážníčku opatruj mi mou dušičku opatruj ji ve dne v noci od škody a od zlé moci tělo duši opatruj andělíčku strážce můj.
OMG, I just phoned my friend who also speaks Czech, and she is still on the phone, laughing her head off. She thought the prayer said opatruj me ve dne v noci od skoly and od nemoci it just shows you how kids mishear things and just change the lexicon to make sense to themselves (I used to sing "Zajicek Svejance" and thought it was his name, instead of "zajicek v sve jamce")
The meaning of that prayer is very cute. V Americe, we have a children's prayer something like it. Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep (which in this context means guard). If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take (meaning allow me in heaven vrs hell).
The prayer my children are familiar with is gentler, and doesn't make one afraid of falling asleep Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; Thy love be with me through the night and keep me safe till morning light. My friend's children have yet another version as their nightly prayer Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Please forgive me for doing wrong. Make me pure, and wise and strong. Guide me safely through the night, And wake me with the morning light.