Learn about Czech dialects
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Intro |
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| Antoni: How many Czech dialects are there? |
| Veronika: And are they universally intelligible? |
| Antoni: At CzechClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee sees a word which he believes is misspelled. He seeks confirmation from his friend, Lukas: |
| "Is this a mistake?" |
| Ben: Je to chyba? |
| Dialogue |
| Ben: Je to chyba? |
| Lukáš: Ne, je to napsané moravským nářečím. |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben: Je to chyba? |
| Antoni: "Is this a mistake?" |
| Lukáš: Ne, je to napsané moravským nářečím. |
| Antoni: "No, it's written in the Moravian dialect." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: The Czech language, or |
| Veronika: čeština, |
| Antoni: has three main varieties. Each of these varieties has distinct characteristics that set them apart, particularly in terms of their morphology and phonology. The first variety is |
| Veronika: obecná čeština |
| Antoni: or "Common Czech." This is the main vernacular used in the Czech Republic and is the variety with the highest number of speakers. It is used predominantly in the capital city of Prague and is widely used in both print and electronic media. The second variety is |
| Veronika: moravština |
| Antoni: or the "Moravian" dialect. This variety is predominantly spoken in Silesia and Moravia, and has around 108,469 speakers all over the Czech Republic according to a 2011 census. The Moravian variety of Czech is made up of the following dialects: |
| Veronika: Nářečí českomoravská |
| Antoni: the Bohemian–Moravian dialects, |
| Veronika: Nářečí středomoravská |
| Antoni: the Central Moravian dialects, |
| Veronika: Podskupina tišnovská |
| Antoni: the Tišnov subgroup, |
| Veronika: Nářečí východomoravská |
| Antoni: the Eastern Moravian dialects, |
| Veronika: Podskupina slovácká |
| Antoni: the Moravian Slovak subgroup, |
| Veronika: Podskupina valašská |
| Antoni: the Moravian Wallachian subgroup, |
| Veronika: Nářečí slezská |
| Antoni: and the Silesian dialects. And, finally, there’s the Bohemian dialects, which are used mainly in marginal rural areas. This variety is composed of the following dialects: |
| Veronika: Nářečí středočeská |
| Antoni: the Central Bohemian dialects, |
| Veronika: Nářečí jihozápadočeská |
| Antoni: the Southwestern Bohemian dialects, |
| Veronika: Podskupina chodská |
| Antoni: the Chod subgroup, |
| Veronika: Podskupina doudlebská |
| Antoni: the Doudleby subgroup. |
| Veronika: Nářečí severovýchodočeská |
| Antoni: the Northeastern Bohemian dialects, |
| Veronika: Podskupina podkrknošská |
| Antoni: and the Krkonoše subgroup. The variety of Czech dialects shouldn’t be a cause of concern for learners of the Czech language. As mentioned, the language predominantly used in Prague, the capital city in the Czech Republic, is Common Czech. As for the rest of the subgroups, they are mostly used in rural areas. There is also mutual intelligibility among these dialects, particularly with Moravian, which is sometimes considered as dialects of Slovak. And, as you might already know, Czech is mutually intelligible with Slovak. |
| Cultural Insight |
| Antoni: While Czech is the mother tongue and official language used in the Czech Republic, there are also languages spoken in the country—one of which is German, or |
| Veronika: němčina. |
| Antoni: German was actually an important language in the Czech Republic during the Middle Ages and was spoken as a first language by many Czechs. Today, there are over 20,000 German speakers in the Czech Republic. Aside from German, another language spoken in the Czech Republic is Vietnamese, or |
| Veronika: vietnamština. |
| Antoni: This may seem surprising, but today, there are over 60,000 Vietnamese in the country. This all goes back to Soviet times when Vietnamese people were encouraged to live in Czechia as migrant-workers. Today, Nguyen, the most common Vietnamese surname, is considered as the 9th most common surname in the Czech Republic. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Veronika: Na shledanou! |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Veronika Ageiwa (Czech, Prague), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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