Google Translate for Japanese is garbage! That's all I can say about it. The reasons are as follows:

• Japanese is SOV while English is SVO
• Logographic script differs from Alphabetical
• The application of honorific speech
• JPN is Japonic while ENG is Germanic
• Translations are always so literal word by word
• Cultural differences between the East & West

To reiterate, I am not talking about using both translators for basic or travel related dialog (like "How are you?" or "Can you tell me where Charles Bridge is?" or anything like that.) Instead my main point is talking about translating the following types of dialog from English to Czech that involve:

• Wordplay (Puns) As in terms that rhyme but consist of different words.
• Street talk (as in the manner how a "hood" type community speaks.)
• Slang: I'm talking about colloqial speech. (I.e. "I bet they aren't there.")
• Swearing (profanity): would it be applied correctly based on context?

Since Czech is Slavic (i.e. Slovak) while English is Germanic (i.e. German) does that play a role on why translations are horrible? In terms of translations, do you deem the result from EN > CZ with the following text that utilize the aformentioned content, read here.

Translation results:

• Via DeepL
• Via Google

I mean, would you even heavily rely on online translation to have an actual conversation translating spoken dialog from EN to CZ that heavily uses colloquial speech with puns involved? (Non-basic) I've translated these short sentences that have hyperbole or puns in each of them. The thing is that even when they're translated, can Czech speakers relate to them culturally or are they lost in translation?

Hyperbole - When your mom sees what you've done, she'll kill ya!

• DeepL: Až tvoje máma uvidí, co jsi udělal, zabije tě*.
• Google: Když tvoje máma uvidí, co jsi udělal, zabije tě*.

*The thing is that the statement "she'll kill ya" is colloquial and hyperbole for "you'll be in trouble when mom finds out." but the translation is garbage in Czech. How would you correctly convey the equivalent of that phrase in Czech?

Puns - I used to be a baker because I kneaded dough.

• DeepL & Google: Býval jsem pekař, protože jsem hnětl těsto.*

*The Czech one makes NO sense since the rhyme just isn't there. The word kneaded rhymes with "needed" when you pronounce it. How are you going to come up with equivalent phrasing in Czech but maintain the wordplay for Czech speakers to get it?

​

View Poll

I was wondering if you know an example of using ho in genitive (not accusative). I can only think of cases with a preposition, so that would mean you'd need to use něj/něho.

Něco tady neklape nebo jsem total ignorant. Chtěl jsem se přihlásit na kurz češtiny pro pokročilé. Zajímá mě hlavně psaní. Chystám se dát státní zkoušku z češtiny pro cizince na úrovni C1. Zkouška obsahuje psací úlohu. Musíš napsat recenzi, shrnutí nebo dopis. Když jsem napsal na Ig jedné společnosti, co nabízí kurz tak po mne chtěli abych poslal "životopis". Co tím myslí? Přeci nehledám práci. Mam popsat pracovní zkušenosti nebo je hlavně zajímají moje dosavadní zkušenosti s češtinou?

I just started learning Czech, using Duolingo for English speakers, keep in mind English is my second language, my native is Arabic, and I just saw this sub today, checking the posts, I see a lot of sentiment that Duolingo is bad, some claim the pronunciation itself is bad too, and so on, is it really objectively bad or is it okay as a starting point, and people are being harsh, and either way what's in your opinion the best way to learn Czech?

Why does Duolingo do such a piss-poor job of explaining Czech grammar? A lot of times the hover hints are incorrect, too. Anyone else notice this?

So i wanted to ask how to give player an item that is renamed and has lore. By command it would be like this: /give paper[custom_name='["",{"text":"Parkour ticket","italic":false,"color":"aqua"}]',lore=['["",{"text":"Sell this in afk area for rewards!","italic":false}]']]
I would like to do it with script tho so i can give player item when for example he steps on birch wood

If I ask a woman "co děláš za práci?" and she says, "To když tak osobně 😁," what does that mean?

Hello, what are possible urban meanings of the word "chlupač"?

I know it's used to refer to pets as in furry friends, but I heard it other contexts too and wonder if it's more meant for a hairy head, or body or rather intimate parts.

Thank you!

Ahoj, I was studying Czech language at the university for a 3 years. Unfortunately after my studies my paths with it diverged. Now I want to refresh my knowledge (or at least try to keep it alive) so I want to try to read some Czech books in the original language.

During my studies, I read a lot of books translated into my language. For example it was Báječná léta pod psa by Michal Viewegh, Postřižiny and a lot of other books by Bohumil Hrabal or, obviously, Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka.

For my first book fully in Czech I have chosen Kundera’s Žert but after few years of not using Czech language at all, it was a bit too challenging for me. I understood the main point but it was still difficult.

And here’s my question to you - can you recommend a Czech book that could be good to read for someone who has some general understanding of Czech language but isn’t also super advanced?

In masculine animate nominative plurals for nouns like these, is there a preference between the two options? -- Američané/Američani -- Angličané/Angličani -- Kanaďané/Kanaďani

Why does rok transform to let in locative case?

• jeden rok --> po jednom roce
• dva roky --> po dvou letech
• ...
• pět let --> po pěti letech

I've created a website (https://hellpanderrr.github.io/wiktionary_pron/?lang=Czech) that generates phonemic transcription for a given Czech text (of any length). It uses wiktionary dump as a base and rule-based module (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Module:cs-pronunciation) as a fallback. There's also a TTS option, but a Czech voice is present only in the MS Edge (Canary) browser.

when do I use one or the other, so far I've only used tak

Here's the sentence where takže was used:

Eva: Promiňte, Maike, ale vy nejste doktor, vy jste doktorka

Maite: Aha, takže já jsem doktorka

Is takže feminine?

When expressing the phrase "months of the year," what is more common, "měsíce v roce" or "měsíce v roku"?

Slovo píča je specifický tím, že je jedním ze slov, který obsahujou nepřehláskovanou koncovku -a po měkký souhlásce, v tomto případě č. Jediný další případy, co mě napadajou jsou prča a různý domácký podoby jmen, jako například Kamča. Slovo píča je ale zároveň specialní, protože může označovat jak neživotnej objekt (vulva), tak i osobu. Jeho skloňovaní je směsou mezi vzory žena a růže, tedy historickými vzory na -a.

Na co jsem přišel je, že pokud se bavím o osobě, moje píča se skloňuje mnohem blíž vzoru žena, zatímco pokud se bavím o vulvě, růže je tím převládajícím vzorem. Nikdy to není úplně čistý, například mý množný číslo je furt píče.

Na co se chcu zeptat: Jak je to u vás? Děláte mezi tím rozdíl? Ukázkový případy: "ta píča Jana" vs "janina píča".

Jinak jsem si vědom, že tohle není úplně ten ideální subreddit na takovou otázku (nejsu cizinec, co by se učil česky), ale jinam se to hodí ještě míň (možná mimo r/okkamaraderetarde). Doufám, že mi bude odpuštěno.

Hello, I saw the following sentence and I am wondering if this is correct and if yes why? Dříve bylo mnoho věcí horších (in the past a lot of things were worse)

I'd think, that one should use horší here. Is that correct or is horších really the correct fom?. If yes, could you please explain why.

Thanks a lot for all your answers!

Has anybody learnt Czech mostly through Comprehensible Input, I heard today about taking a lot of input rather than actively studying words and grammar, and I want to try it, only problem is I am struggling to find a good source of comprehensible input with video hints that is my level

I know very basic Czech, and I can understand sentences with context from the yt channels “Justczeching” and “Czech-In (Czech comprehensible input)” but the problem is these channels are now inactive with very little videos available. I also watch some slowczech

Does anybody know any good YouTube channels where I can get beginner level comprehension with video hints? I know about EasyCzech, however these videos are not useful since they are just interviews and the people talk too fast, so please don’t recommend this

Hey everyone!

A while back, I decided to dive into learning Czech. I was working along with my textbooks when, naturally, my brain decided to get distracted (as it always does). Instead of drilling Czech vocabulary, I started thinking:

"Wouldn't it be great if there was an easy way to create simplified text for beginners?"

Well, one thing led to another, and soon enough, I found myself coding a whole app that simplifies news into beginner-friendly content for language learners.

Fast forward a few late nights, and now I’ve got a bunch of Telegram channels with simplified news in Czech, as well as some other languages.

The funny part? I’ve finished the coding part, but now I’m not even sure if anyone besides me would be interested in this. 😅 So, I’d love to get your feedback, ideas, or just general thoughts on what I could do with it all!

Here’s the channel:

• Czech News Simplified (Beginners) - @ cz_news_simplified_beginners

Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/4kij5e94cbrd1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ca44383dc33fb11a320399bf2c17db7f4c169b0

Hi my name is Isaac, my native language is Spanish. So like Czech language, Slavics languages are hard, but learn it is not imposible. First you need to learn the basic very well because you will use them 90% of the time. See iVysílání or any Czech platform(try without subtitles) because if you see only videos in english about Czech, in a long term it doesn't help. If you have struggles taking and you are shy. Try to record yourself and make your own interviews or conversations. So the last one but very important Go to Czech republic and make friends, expats groups are happy to meet you and good luck

Ok jestli rozumíš český tak gratuluju.

As far as I understand there are many registers of Czech and I would be interested in working with something that would let me acquire spoken language. Andy recommendations? (Preferrably free?)

self explanatory

Ahoj guys, I just found following sentence on an Instagram post:

Hana je krásné jméno, budu-li mít někdy dcera.

What does this mean, I've never encountered this -li thing? Is it some kind of slang thing?

https://jmp.sh/s/ODvapBEWwFIsK4aJd83f

i hope its not too bad, but please give me your honest opinion :)

https://jmp.sh/s/R7iEE5e1vizcJHmlzjHC