Czechs often make their New Year´s resolution – a promise they will do what they need, have to, want but they hadn´t had enough time, had been lazy… The resolution often concerns their study of languages: I am going to start learning, to learn more… And what about you? Would you like to learn Czech effectively? Great! Here are three tips on how to start.

Learning Czech effectively

1. What is important to you?

Novoroční předsevzetí

The Czech word předsevzetí (resolution) is very old and meant „lift something up for me “. Something interesting, something I need, something lying down very close – and I make it important to me.

If you plan to start to study Czech or to study more this is your first question: WHY do I want to do this? Why is learning Czech important to me? Find a very good and very specific reason. Here are a few tips from my students for inspiration:

• I want to order a meal in Czech in a restaurant in two months.
• I want to go to the post office in May, to speak Czech and send a birthday present to my parents.
• I want to visit a shop, speak Czech and buy a new coat in a month.
• I want to travel to the Czech Republic in summer and know basic phrases in the shop, restaurant, at the airport, to ask how to get to…
• I want to pass an exam for a permanent stay in autumn.
• I want to pass an entrance exam for a Czech university in June and to study in Czech.
• I want to pass an exam and get Czech citizenship in a year.

Can you see what the good GOAL looks like? It is specific, realistic, and has a time limit. Take a piece of paper/phone/tablet… and set your own goal. I am sure you manage it without difficulty.

2. When am I going to get to study?

You have set a goal and now think about how to achieve it. When specifically are you gonna do it? Be realistic.

• WHEN? Have a look at your diary and choose a particularly short time for studying Czech REGULARLY. It can be 10 minutes a day or 30 minutes twice a week on your own or a 90-minute lesson with a teacher + 15 minutes twice a week. Choose a part of a day as well: somebody is effective in learning in the morning, other people in the evening, I also have students learning at noon during their lunch break. It is good to have time just for yourself and the Czech language.

3. How am I going to get to study?

Novoroční předsevzetí – píšete si je?

You have set a goal and you have to know when to learn. And what specifically are you gonna do?

• HOW? Will you learn new words in Quizlet, write three grammar exercises, listen to the audio, read one page in a Czech book, watch a 5-minute video, and do a few exercises to check your comprehension…?
  Choose activities and topics you like. It can be cooking, traveling, films, sports, and cars… Look for information, read, listen, and learn new words. If you have a teacher tell him/her what your goal is, and what you want to do, and ask him/her for help.

On Sunday (Friday, or Saturday… it is your convenience) write down these specific tasks and learning times for the next week in your diary. Set the reminder not to forget.

And most of all: HOLD ON! There will be days you won´t be ready for your study, tired, lazy… But you won´t give it up. You will keep on learning and in a month you´ll be very surprised with your new knowledge. And this becomes your new motivation! I keep my fingers crossed for you.

You can also read an article with 10 tips for your effective study. And Lucie Gramelová wrote an excellent and very practical book Jak vyzrát na cizí jazyky (How to outsmart foreign languages – available in Czech).

So now: a piece of paper, a pencil, and first of all your answer: WHY…

Read also:

• 5 tips on how to make your Czech learning enjoyable
• I want to understand and speak in a Czech shop
• Progress or excuses?

1st January 2018

Czech version of this article