Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Czech Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (TY: Complete Courses)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

While many of the books in this series are quite useful, the Czech edition is extremely unhelpful. In addition to a tendency to stray into topics that you will never use (e.g., "Cleaning Liba's Wardrobe"), it offers very unclear explanations for a language with a very complex grammar. I lived in the Czech Republic for six months, and I don't think I once found this book useful. If you would like a resource that will help you learn this crazy (but fascinating!) language, try "Cestina pro cizince" or "Communicative Czech".

This course starts with the Czech alphabet then immediately throws you into a complex conversations. Often times the book and audio do not match. If you are a beginner, this is not for you. Definitely not for a person just wanting to learn the basics for travel. Save your money and search elsewhere.

I've been studying Czech out of this book since July 2006. It's the only comprehensive overview of the Czech language out there, and it's great. The book is very well written and edited. It's very concise and explains everything you need to know about the language in a logical and sequential way. If you are truly devoted to learning the language in depth, this is the book for you. Be aware however, you will need to make flashcards, listen to Czech internet radio and rent Czech movies, take notes from the book, and perhaps purchase Josef Fronek's Czech-English dictionary. If you really want to put the time in - this is the book for you. But it's VERY difficult, and is like doing a Sudoku puzzle every time you sit down to read it.

If you just want to learn a couple of useful phrases, check out the in-flight Czech CD or Berlitz's tape on Czech expressions. Stay away from the Pimsleur 5CD set, because it's extremely boring.

I was surprised at how much material this book covered, especially with some of the colloquial forms of speech that wouldnt be taught in other, more "formal" courses...

But it is very confusing sometimes and you will seriously have to put a LOT of work into memorizing the information presented in the dialogs. Yes, it's true that sometimes the book doesnt match the audio, but only with one or two words. The charts are extremely confusing and unhelpful...

This book is not for the casual tourist, it is for a language learner who is intent on packing in as much information as possible with limited practice material.... so be warned i guess...

First off: Most of these bad reviews are coming from tourists who really only need to learn a couple of phrases like, "where is the shopping center?" and "will you take my picture?" This program is designed for people who want to learn the actual basics of the language and communicate effectively with native Czech-speakers. Since it was designed for that purpose, it is most definitely a terrible phrase book. But it isn't trying to be a phrase book, now, is it?

In any event, I have had a lot of success with this book. It's packed with a ton of information and the grammar points are laid out so they can be absorbed as painlessly as possible. Occasionally awkward phrases (like "My, they're in a hurry") seem to be the author's attempt to stress vocabulary, not merely goofy phrase supplements. The unit that it appear in introduces the verb "sp'chat" (to hurry), and the phrase is actually a nice way to get it to stick in your head.

That being said, this book does have one weak point in particular: there isn't nearly enough audio for it to be your only resource. Also, this isn't really a problem for me, but it seems to be a problem for some other reviewers; this book won't hold your hand while it walks you through the lessons. The back cover is misleading when it says you can progress quickly. You have to spend a LOT of time soaking up all the details they throw at you, because they do pop up later. Overall, though, the course is very comprehensive, you just need to actually spend some time studying. Of course, if you're very averse to studying, perhaps learning an entire language is not for you :(

While I believe the lessons would eventually teach Czech well, they seemed to be designed for someone sitting down at a desk and repeatedly replaying the CD's while following along the written text. Having said that, I did found the book material excellent for a vocabulary reference. The verbal CD conversations were difficult to follow as a learning device, however, listening and reading at the same time did give a good opportunity to learn how to speak the Czech written words with some accuracy. I did use the text in the Czech Republic while we were there and it was helpful as a reference. I never made it through the CD's to the end. This to me was not a program that I could learn in only a couple of weeks, but it is a good foundation for someone who really needs to learn Czech over a period of time. The two stars are for the intensity needed to learn from the program, not the quality of what is provided.

I purchased this book for an upcoming trip to Prague, in hopes of at least learning a little of the language. Unfortunately, all I came away with was "please," "thank you," and "hello." The book starts out doing a good job of outlining how to pronounce Czech words and how different accents change the sounds, however, the units stray increasingly far from anything useful to a tourist (including a conversation in which the 2 characters are having a domestic dispute). The book does include the numbers and other basics, but the cd does not cover their pronunciation.
This may be a good supplemental cd if you are already in a Czech class, because it gives a good feel for the pronunciation of the language as a whole, however it is not useful for a tourist who needs to learn things such as how to ask how much something costs or needs to be able to read a menu. Thankfully everything in Prague was in English as well, but I would have liked to learn a bit more of the language before going.

I'm surprised by so many negative reviews for this book. Much of it sounds like frustration from learning Czech generally or the book not exactly matching what you expected. I've lived in Prague since 2003 and have read just about ever Czech language book on the market and I think Teach Yourself Czech is one of the best. It's somewhere between a phrasebook and reading lessons with the grammar learning implicit, at least as much as possible. The biggest problem I have with Czech language books is that they give you a list of vocabulary and then some grammar and declination rules and then a bunch of drills and they expect you to use it in conversation. It takes a very long time and lot's of practice. To form a relatively complicated sentence requires to know at least 2 or 3 or more cases and it's difficult to combine them fluently in a sentence, In Teach Yourself Czech, that's already done for you and you remember the entire phrase and not just vocab lists, and your fluency increases rapidly because you aren't trying to remember 3 different case and gender endings, you just repeat the phrases as it's listed. This book is intended for more than just being a tourist, for that I'd recommend a basic phrase book, in Prague most people speak some English. I bought the Berlizt tape with phrase book and found it very useful for basic travel and it has the same methodology of using whole phrases. Then I'd recommend moving to Teach Yourself Czech and the Lida Hola book mentioned by other. I'm still reserving my 5 star rating for the perfect Czech textbook. Something like Raymond Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use but for learners of Czech instead of English. As a language teacher living in Prague, you can't do much better than teach yourself Czech for a basic conversational fluency.

I find this book a churning chaos. I only recommend using it in conjunction with something like Czech: An Essential Grammar. Without something like that you'll be flipping around crazily every time you use this book. You'll be flipping around anyway of course, but much more efficiently if you have another book. I'm sure there's a logic to the book's organization but it doesn't work for me. The appendices at the back do not make up the deficit. !But! I haven't found anything definitely better.Czech: An Essential Grammar (Essential Grammars)

I've been sticking with it for two months, and overall it's been a nice study aid. It's more of an academic tool than one for hopping in on a visit and getting around. A little more explanation of the grammar would be helpful, and I needed to break down and use Anki to memorize the vocabulary each section to prevent holes forming in my lexicon. Still, I appreciate the breadth of vocabulary, and the authors do try to help with identifying gender and verb forms.

Just wish some of the conversations didn't have sexist comments. So far, Ivan thinks that women agree about everything, and Mr. Smith is joking that being single is better than being married and expressing happiness that his wife's fast asleep. Way to win points with female readers.