Czech Language Lessons REQUIRED

Hello, the reasons for studying Czech are explained - although scattered here and there - throughout the whole forum discussion. For clarity, I shall perhaps summarise them here again: 1. I am a linguist and a philologist. As a job, I conduct university research in Theoretical Linguistics. In particular, I specialise in the pragmatic-semantic-morphosyntax interface. I came across several articles and essays on Slavic languages, which indeed display some very interesting linguistic features. I simply would like to expand my research and hopefully find more evidence on my theories. 2. I have always been fascinated by Czechoslovakia (since I was a child) and by Czech Republic (more recently). Don't ask me why. It would be like asking why I like blue more than yellow or wine more than beer. 3. For personal reasons, which relate to my private life. 4. Simply because learning languages (ANY language) is a challenging but useful exercise for the brain and for the soul. That is all. I really am still puzzled by the fact that learning Czech seems to be 'odd' for most of the contributors to this forum... Czech is just a language as all the other languages: it has its more complex features (compared to other languages) as well as its easier features (compared to other languages). I just happen to be interested in Czech, rather than Vietnamese. That's all. Thank you for posting to this forum, anyway.

The thing is... learning a language spoken in just one small country is not very 'practical' use of one's time :S Same with learning Dutch, Danish,Swedish,Hungarian.... or Italian. -I would never invest my time into learning one of these languages. If you are into slavic languages, why not invest your time in learning Russian - lot more people speak the language(from Latvia to Ukraine to Vladivostok, to Central Asia)-more useful for business as well. And once you learn Russian, it is relatively easy to learn other Slavic languages... Anyway, if you insist on Czech. Good luck to you. It is a beautiful language!

I get your point, and you are right to some extent: learning Czech may not be of 'practical' use. However, never forget that there exist pleasure and 'uninterested' interests in life. For example, do we really (biologically) need to drink wine and beer? And yet we do drink them: for no other reason but pleasure. I see learning Czech as a passion and a pleasure rather than an intended purpose - as odd as this may sound. On a different note, linguistic research has shown that Russian is less 'interesting' than Czech (only meaning that it has less peculiar grammatical features than Czech). Very much has been written about Russian, but not so much about Czech, which actually displays a more intricate grammatical system. As a researcher, I would like to explore more what has not yet been thoroughly explored, hence Czech. Thank you for your comment and for wishing me luck.

[quote] I see learning Czech as a passion and a pleasure rather than an intended purpose [/quote] OK, not everybody is 'practical' and it is perhaps a good thing! [quote] linguistic research has shown that Russian is less 'interesting' than Czech (only meaning that it has less peculiar grammatical features than Czech). Very much has been written about Russian, but not so much about Czech, which actually displays a more intricate grammatical system.[/quote] Agreed- Russian grammar is based on the same principles, but simpler(less complex, less grammatic exceptions etc.). Of living laguages, Russian is probably closest to what you could call proto-Slavic language. That is why it's grammar is simpler making it good starting point to learn other slavic languages.

[quote]The thing is... learning a language spoken in just one small country is not very 'practical' use of one's time :S Same with learning Dutch, Danish,Swedish,Hungarian.... or Italian. -I would never invest my time into learning one of these languages. If you are into slavic languages, why not invest your time in learning Russian - lot more people speak the language(from Latvia to Ukraine to Vladivostok, to Central Asia)-more useful for business as well. And once you learn Russian, it is relatively easy to learn other Slavic languages... Anyway, if you insist on Czech. Good luck to you. It is a beautiful language![/quote] Toto je kvalitni nazor!

Hi Francesco, are you still interested about czech language??? or you can speak now fluently ? You can let me text and we can speak later. PJ