Hello, I am reading an online article about Chrám Sv. Mikuláše and I came across the following: Byl stavěn tak, že se vždycky dokončila část, na to navázala dřevěná stěna a dál potom pokračovala část původního gotického kostela. It was built in such a way, that each time a section was completed, a wooden wall was attached to it and then continued a section of the original Gothic church. (I am really having trouble translating the section marked in italics) Can you please read my English translation and make corrections as needed? Thanks!
Well, there is nothing obvious to correct, maybe I would rather say "...from that part onwards continued..." Basically, instead of demolishing the original church all at once and thus making it impossible to use the whole place for church service for several years, they only demolished what needed to be demolished at that moment to make it possible to build there and the completed parts were then connected to the original building.
(1) dokončila se část -> (2) na to navázala dřevěná stěna -> (3) a dál potom pokračovala... It is a clumsy colloquial sentence. It looks like a temporal sequence, but it is not. The 3rd clause (...a dál pak pokračovala...) is not a continuation of the process of construction. Better: Byl stavěn tak, že se vždycky dokončila část, na to navázala dřevěná stěna, která spojila (propojila) dokončenou část se zbývající částí původního gotického kostela. It was built in such a way, that each time a section was completed, a wooden wall was attached to it. The wooden wall connected the completed section with the remaining part of the original Gothic church.
Bibax, Sworsdslayer: Thanks for your comments and explanation. I understand the phrase much better now. -Rene
I should add: část původního gotického kostela is the subject of the last clause (...a dál potom pokračovala část původního gotického kostela...), not the wooden wall. Část původního gotického kostela pokračovala (in space, rozprostírala se, táhla se) od dřevěné stěny dál.
While reading the same article, I found the expression "část historiků umění", which I find very difficult to translate. Here are some examples and my partial English translations: Je zajímavé, že se dlouhá léta pochybovalo o tom, jestli Kryštof Dienzenhofer kostel skutečně stavěl. It's interesting, that for many years it was doubted whether Krystof Dienzenhofer really built the church. "Část historiků umění totiž uvádí, že Kryštof Dienzenhofer snad neuměl ani číst ani psát a že by nebyl schopen tak precizních děl. Namely, část historiků umění state, that Krystof maybe didn't know how to read or write and that he wasn't capable of such precise work. Z těchto důvodů část historiků umění v 70. letech tvrdila, že toto není ani tak práce Kryštofa Dienzenhofera a stavba se připisovala Janu Blažeji Santinimu-Aichlovi." From these arguments část historiků umění in the 70s affirmed, that this was not Dienzenhofer's work and that the structure is attributed to Jan Blazej Santinim-Aichel. Can someone help me translate část historiků umění ? Thanks!
Rsalc, your czech grammar is really good. That's impresssive. You've done a great job at learning czech. Did you take classes at some point along the way? You like to translate the tougher sentences. Me too. How is your comprehension? If someone were speaking czech to you, not just the familiar audio cd dialogues, would you be able to follow them? I am totally lost when trying to follow czech tv or radio.
Scrimshaw, thanks for the compliment. All the Czech that I know has been self-taught (books, CDs) - no classes. I just feel that I don't have very good comprehension when I read. I picked what I thought would be an interesting (and hopefully easy article) but the sentences are very tough. I recently was in Prague. I was able to understand my friend fairly well (about 75% comprehension) but when I listen to TV and radio my comprehension is < 10% Right now I am trying to read a few articles on /www.radio.cz/cz/clanek/ just to improve my vocabulary. Later I plan to revisit www.radio.cz to LISTEN to the articles that I previously translated. If you know of a better way to improve reading and listening comprehension, please share it!!!
