I've just been to Prague and it's terrific. However my language skills - (I'm currently learning czech at evening classes in Edinburgh) were horrific. I put this down to the three beer rule. After one beer you forget how verbs go. After two you forget how the nouns go and after three you can't even remember mluvite anglicky. cheers Steve
That is strange. Most people usually say that after three beers they start to remember things they didn't even know they knew
Uuspoiss, I agree with you... My husband knows some russian and after some drinks including vodka :lol: his language skills definitely improve!!! It is interesting - Russian is my native language and I find that I can actually understand some written czech. I am curious if I would be able to understand spoken language... Do many people in Prague speak Russian?
Hey I knew some Russian (on a so-so conversational level) before I started learning Czech. You're right in that it helps to understand written text, because you can deduce the meaning of many words and much of the grammar is similar as well. I haven't found it as helpful in understanding spoken Czech though. Recently I was at a work-related event and since many of the people who where there spoke Russian better than English, I naturally tried to recall what knowledge I have of it. Sadly I discovered that the similar/notsimilar relationship that Czech and Russian have has spoiled much of my Russian skills! Most of the time I was able to recall Czech words, but couldn't come up with the Russian "version" of them. It must have sounded very strange to native speakers But again, after some beers, I gathered some of my lost memories and the Russian people seemed to develop a sudden ability to understand my babbling If you want to try out some spoken Czech, take a look at these topics: http://www.myczechrepublic.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2877 http://www.myczechrepublic.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2424 H.
On reflection, you are probably both of you quite right. I should have ventured beyond three beers more often and then see what happened. Steve
