Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City (84 page)

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Authors: Peter Demetz

BOOK: Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City

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A few suggestions about Czech pronunciation

Czech words are stressed on the first syllable, with the following syllables pronounced clearly and distinctly (“Smetana”).

Vowels are short unless marked by a diacritical sign (e.g., á, é, f, or ý); i (

) and y (ý), though different letters, indicate the same sound. These vowels are pronounced roughly as in English, except for long

, which is always pronounced “ee” (as in “meet”). Short u sounds like the vowel in “good.” Long u (as in “shoot”) can be marked one of two ways: ú at the beginning or in the middle of a word or

at the end. Vowels in final position are spoken clearly, at least in educated discourse.

Czech

is like the English ch (as in “church”), and the Czech c is like the English ts (as in “bits”). Czech ch should be pronounced in the German way (as in “J. S. Bach”). Czech š is pronounced sh (as in “shoe”); Czech ž is like a soft English s (as in “leisure”).

The letter j is pronounced like the English y (as in “yes”). The letter h is always voiced (as in “Hungary”) and never dropped. The letters t’, d’, and

are palatal (the back of the tongue touches the hard palate). The presence of

(approximately, “ye”) and of i (but not y) always indicates the palatalized pronunciation of the preceding consonants t, d, and n—for example, the initial d in “d

ti” (children) sounds like the one in English “duty,” and the n in nic (nothing) like the ñ in Spanish “mañana.”

The letters p, t, and k are always without aspiration (Jerry Lewis knew) and never have the tense sound of the English initial consonants in “pass,” “tap,” or “key.”

The

sound is rather difficult: phonology speaks of a “rolled postalveolar
fricative,” but it may be easier to approach the sound by pronouncing a trilled r and an ess aitch (as in “shoe”) simultaneously, if possible: r/sh. For instance, the composer Dvo

ák is pronounced “Dv
o
rshak,” with the stress on the first syllable and a long vowel in the second.

Here are some examples of common Czech words that you will encounter in the book. The underlined sounds are stressed.

A
rnošt (Ernest) = Arnosht

b
a
bi

ka (grandmother) = babichka

e
ský (Czech) = chesky, with a long final vowel

Hr
a
d

any (the Prague castle) = Hradchany, with a short final vowel