English-Czech and Czech-English Dictionary: Thumb Index (Dictionary)

As a UK expatriate living in San Francisco (why didn't I stay in London so that I could hop over to Praha every weekend instead of taking an endless Transatlantic flight every three months--but I'm trying to figure out how to live there for ever?) I am totally addicted to the city of Prague, and am learning Czech. This is absolutely the best dictionary available for learners, but let me make some suggestions for using it. For example, if you are as green as I was when I first started using Fronek, I couldn't understand why I couldn't find any entries beginning with "ch." I finally realized that since "ch" in Czech is pronounced beginning with an "h" sound, Fronek like other dictionaries lists "ch" words after "h." Also, since nouns and adjectives in Czech are declined with up to seven endings, and verbs are conjugated with many endings, a lot of words simply aren't listed in their various forms. You need to have a good beginner's knowledge of Czech to use the dictionary properly.
I have two suggestions for study. First, "401 Czech Verbs" by Bruce Davies. YOu can buy it at the Globe Bookstore in Prague in Novy Mesto, but search for it online. This fully conjugates most basic verbs and is invaluable until you develop confidence in declining verbs (plus there are lots of unpredictibly conjugated verbs!) Absolutely the best text for studying Czech is "New Czech Step by Step" by Lida Hola. Note that this is not the older version ("Czech Step by Step") currently offered by Amazon.uk or Amazon.com in the U.S. It comes with a good CD and workbook, and expects you to do lots of work, like looking up words in Fronek. But after 20 lessons you end up with an excellent basic knowledge of the Czech language. It has its own website. As an adjunct, I recommend Pimsleur Czech I, for lots and lots of practice speaking quite a lot of basic Czech as spoken by Czechs.
Good luck, see you in the Slavia. Ken Martin

Essential dictionary (9/9 people found this helpful)

Excellent. I purchased this dictionary on day one of my degree in Czech language and literature at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL, London) and four years later it was held together with duct tape and thumbed to death! I now have Fronek's larger English-Czech and Czech-English Dictionaries (two seperate volumes) which are heading the same way. A very comprehensive dictionary which cannot be faulted - especially when viewed against other Czech dictionaries.

A good dictionary which could be better (10/10 people found this helpful)

Like other reviewers I rate this dictionary highly. As my study of the language has progressed, I have found one major drawback. In order to get a proper command of the use of verbs it is necessary to know both know both aspects of the verb. This dictionary does not
link the two. This is highly irritating for an English learner of Czech. I have been told that the Czech-English dictionary by Poldauf
does link the two forms. I am going to buy one of these, when I can find one.

Best English / Czech dictionary I've seen (26/26 people found this helpful)

This is the best Czech / English dictionary I've found - it includes things like verb models gender which aren't in cheaper dictionaries and are absolutely 100% vital for learning the language.

If you've learned French of German, you might expect Czech / English dictionaries to be of a higher standard - but in fact there's an awful lot of tat out there, and the majority are very much designed for a Czech person learning English, rather than the other way round. This is important because some things are simple in English and complex in Czech - and some the other way round (for example - Czech has about 16 words for 'bring').

If you are serious about learning the language this is, as far as I know, the best available dictionary...

Without doubt, the best dictionary for students of Czech. (18/18 people found this helpful)

As a student of Czech in the United States, I looked and looked for a quality dictionary that provided a lot of the "standard" things you would find in other dictionaries. This was not the case for most readily available dictionaries in the US. The one I was issued was printed in the 1960's and did not have some of the basic things you would expect, such as gender of the noun (very important).

After looking at this dictionary, I knew it was the one to get. It is well organized (although, some the manner that words are separted sometimes blends with the bolded words within the definitions) and simple to use. It has a super section on declinsion of words (words are referenced to a particular declinsion pattern) and conjugation of verbs. Examples for use of the words in context are very useful and well chosen.

English-Czech and Czech-English Dictionary: Thumb Index (Dictionary)

Josef Fronek

Reader Reviews:

The best dictionary and suggestions for study (5/5 people found this helpful)

Essential dictionary (9/9 people found this helpful)

A good dictionary which could be better (10/10 people found this helpful)

Best English / Czech dictionary I've seen (26/26 people found this helpful)

Without doubt, the best dictionary for students of Czech. (18/18 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories