Learn the top five tools for learning Czech
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Martin: Hi, everybody. I’m Martin. |
| Gabriella: And I'm Gabriella. Welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is All About, Lesson 11: Top 5 Most Useful Tools for Learning Czech. |
| Martin: In this lesson, we’ll equip you with the tools you need to successfully do your Czech studies! |
| Gabriella: These tools will help you enjoy your Czech studies as much as possible and save you a lot of time. |
| Martin: Right. So why don’t we jump right in? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella: Sure. Our first tool is Entertainment! TV, news, and movies provide excellent examples of how native people use the language in the most natural way. |
| Martin: Some great sources for Czech learners of all levels are YouTube and Radio Praha, and radio channels’ web pages. |
| Gabriella: Yes, and the Radio Praha website contains information about all aspects of life in the Czech Republic. And information is provided in various forms such as articles, short audio and video files and pictures. You can refer to the Lesson Notes for the link to that website. |
| Martin: Yeah. Learning Czech through songs is fun too. Just go to Youtube then type “Czech songs”. |
| Gabriella: You’ll have a lot to choose from. |
| Martin: Definitely, and it’s a fun way to learn new words! Now let’s move on to the next tool - a dictionary |
| Gabriella: Using bilingual dictionaries is always safe. Here we’ll recommend the two most user-friendly Czech-English/ English-Czech dictionaries available on the web. The first one is glosbe.com: g-l-o-s-b-e dot com. And the second one is: seznam.cz: s-e-z-n-a-m dot cz. |
| Martin: Simply type in the word you want to look up, then you’ll see the equivalent word and an explanation in English. |
| Gabriella: The great thing about Glosbe is that it also includes other languages and Dictionary Seznam.cz translates from Czech to English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. It’s quite convenient for both native English and non-native English speakers, isn’t it? |
| Martin: Yes, it is! Now our next tool is Czech-speaking friends. |
| Gabriella: This is potentially the most efficient and most rewarding source of learning Czech. Friends who speak to you in Czech can give you more insight, understanding, and help you feel the heart of the Czech people. |
| Martin: That's true. They can really help you express yourself in Czech and understand others. |
| Gabriella: But if you don’t have a Czech speaking friend, it’s still fine. Online social networks are another helpful tool. And one of the best of these is called Lang-8.com – (l-a-n-g dash eight dot com.) |
| Martin: This site provides a free way for people studying a language, to have their writing corrected by a native speaker of that language. |
| Gabriella: For example, a native English speaker can correct a Czech person's English writing. And a native Czech speaker can correct a native English speaker who is studying Czech. |
| Martin: It's quite helpful, because it offers a free service for people to correct each other's writing. |
| Gabriella: Definitely, and if you want to meet even more Czech people, the best place is Facebook. |
| Martin: Who doesn’t have Facebook these days! |
| Gabriella: Right? Facebook is by far the most popular social networking site out there. It is even more popular among Czechs than any other Czech social network. |
| Martin: Search for Czech language pages, groups or anything related to Czech language learning ... |
| Gabriella: And you are sure to find helpful Czechs willing to help Czech learners. It’s free, and there are great opportunities to make awesome friends out there. |
| Martin: All right. Our last tool is more simple than you can imagine - pen and paper. |
| Gabriella: You may think this is absolutely prehistoric now because we’re in the digital age. But there are still good reasons to use pen and paper. First of all, they are cheap materials. You won’t have to be afraid of getting them stolen or broken. And lastly, they help you take notes quickly and remember what you learned. |
| Martin: And if you catch something interesting in the street, like a useful word or phrase, you can just write it down! This is when a notebook comes in handy. |
| Gabriella: When you write it down yourself, and mark it in your notebook, it gets into your memory quickly and stays there longer. |
| Martin: Another good source of the Czech language is the Czech media, such as newspapers! |
| Gabriella: For example, the newspaper Deník offers the most important regional and international news in Czech, or there is the free iMetro newspaper that you can pick up anywhere in the underground stations when you’re travelling across Prague. |
| Martin: Mladá Fronta Dnes, or MF Dnes for short, is the most popular Czech daily newspaper and it’s affiliated with an internet portal, iDnes.cz. |
| Gabriella: They often have the same articles and news, and you can read it online. |
| Martin: I can also recommend some magazines that will get you on your way to reading Czech. Respekt is a prestigious Czech magazine that has been nominated several times as the magazine of the year. |
| Gabriella: It contains columns with comments, domestic news, economy, international news, interviews, civilization and culture topics. |
| Martin: If you like to travel, a good magazine is Lidé a země, or Ego magazine, which has many articles on lifestyle. |
| Gabriella: And lastly, don’t forget you can get some good magazines, leaflets or other useful materials related to the Czech Republic for free at any Czech Embassy! They promote the Czech Republic and its culture, so they have lots of interesting materials ready for their visitors. |
| Martin: Alright, so we hope you’ll take advantage of these great tools and all they have to offer. |
| Gabriella: We've tried them and we know how good they are, so that's why we're passing them on to you! |
| Martin: Remember that the links for all of these sites and programs can be found in the accompanying lesson notes. |
| Gabriella: Let us know what you think of them too! And don’t forget to stop by CzechClass101.com and share your own learning methods with the community! |
Outro |
| Gabriella: Thank you for listening everyone. See you in the next lesson! |
| Martin: Ahoj! |
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