Language, Prague

So, I bought a Praha lanyard, a KGB (We're Still Watching You!) t-shirt, and a Praha bottle opener at the souvenir shop beside the bridge tower. The young lady at the cashier said to me, "Prosim." I asked her what it meant. She said it means thank you or hello. I said to her, "I thought thank you was "Dekuji." She said, "Yes." So now I'm confused... I asked her one more question, "What does Bes Do Perdele mean?" She was sipping on some water at that time and I had her blowing water/chunks through her nostrils. Hahaha! She couldn't tell me what it meant. Everyone in that souvenir shop was laughing so hard!

I told my Czech co-worker my story when I got back and he said that it's even harder for women to translate it to men. So remember, always learn a few useful verses (for comedic effect) when visiting other countries.

ok...i totally understand how hard it might be for a foreigner over here sometimes....there will always be nice people and not very nice people....or even rude people....mostly the older generation won' t understand english much...but realize they had to learn russian when they were at school...they had no other choice...hopefully that period is over and most younger people now can speak at least some english.........wish u good luck....:)))) sometimes u will feel like retarded when trying to order st in a supermarket haha...very exciting no? come on!

To me as a Norwegian this language is almost impossible to learn, It's hard to pronounce the words correctly.

Some words like Dobriden (Good day) and the word for Thank(Dekuij) is usefull

a funny sentence without a single vocal is this "strc prst skrz krk" meaning stick your fingers in the trouth

A language tape would be the best to help with pronouncing the slavic languages. :: Written language guides don't help with the pronunciation. And then there's the fact that "ano" means yes... :: See also - http://www.locallingo.com/countries/czech_republic/language/ and also - eurotravels' site on VT for more info.

I found that not very many people in Prague speak a lot of English, so learning some Czech will probably be useful. Locals generally respond very well if you at least recognise the effort they have made for you, even if you only know a word or two of Czech. Here are some useful phrases:

Hello - Dobrý den
Yes - Ano
No - Ne
Please - Prosím
Thank you - Děkuji

We found that most Czechs are more than happy to give an impromptu lesson in Czech - one taxi driver even listed off several phrases when we asked him, and then made us repeat them all in turn so that he could correct our pronounciation :) That was the best taxi journey I've ever been on.

Don't be too daunted if Czech looks too confusing - many Czechs speak German as a second language so if you did German at school, now is the perfect opportunity to go up into the attic and dust off all your old exercise books!

I read lots of things here on VT about problems with menus and such, but on my trip, never had a problem not finding someone who spoke English. Every restaurant we went in had English on the menu, and someone who spoke the language well, usually the first person we met there. Tourism is important and as their language is not much like what tourists speak at home, it is important for businesses to have German, English, French, Japanese speaking staff.

everyone says "Prosim," all...the....time. they pick up their cell phones and say, "prosim?" they give you your change back and say, "prosim!"

so what does prosim mean? according to my guidebook, it means please. but it seems like they use it for hello and thank you and all sorts of other stuff. i don't really know for sure, but it's a really big word - big like aloha or coca cola or something.

if you'd like to say it too, it sounds like pro-seem. roll the 'r'.

It will take about a day or so to acclimate yourself to the language barrier....and it is one at that. Despite tons of Americans and Brits taking over the city, there will be times when English (or German, the next safe bet) will not be spoken.

Try to learn at least a couple of words in Czech - at the very least "do you speak English/German/..." and "thank you." This really goes a long way; just thinking about a city, which in a short period of time went from a semi-sheltered Communist city to a free tourist center to a new residential destination for many Americans and Western Europeans. It's enough to make one big collective head spin.

Prague still is going through some growing pains...and it's a lot easier to make the overwhelming rush of tourism for some locals a little less...overwhelming.