mluvim česky... except not. at all.

I'm trying to learn at least enough Czech to not be completely and totally lost and ignorant when I get there. I found out there are not very many resources available to teach yourself Czech and none of them are ideal. I decided on the pimsleur audio cd's (only to lesson 16, not the "complete" 30-lesson set (for the exorbitant $150!!). And also a separate grammar book. Pimsleur recommends you don't read or write anything while listening to the lessons. I know myself well enough to know I need to have an image of the word in my mind in order to remember it and pronounce it, even if I have to learn Czech phonics (and why do you consider this so above me, o pimsleur user's guide?).

So, with the help of the grammar book (which assumes I can already read complex dialogue from chapter one but has some helpful charts and vocabulary), as well as several English-Czech online dictionaries and phrasebooks, I've managed to ingrain several useful phrases, and am working on some other vocabulary. The thing is, I've lost some motivation because pimsleur has started doing phrases like "what would you like to drink?" or, "where would you like to eat?". These phrases are too long and complicated to look up on any of the dictionaries or phrase books I've found online, and I can't quite tell how the words are spelled (since I don't know the particular declension or conjugation and I haven't found where to look that up online) so I can't get a good idea of it in my head. And relying on imitating the sounds is not working very well.

Plus, I don't think this phrase is really necessary at all, not in the basic sort of way. Pimsleur hasn't even taught me to count, yet, or to say "my name is..." both of which I think are pretty high up on the "basic necessities" list.

But it certainly has not all been a loss. I've gotten to practice pronunciation, and broadened my vocabulary from nothing at all to at least a dozen or two words. I think the most useful phrase I have learned so far is "Promiňte nerozumím." "I'm sorry, I don't understand."