More animals and "This is"

More Animals

Opica /o-pi-tsa/ Monkey - Imagine a Monkey driving a race car and pulling into O PITSTOp.

Vel'ryba /vel'-ri-ba/ Whale - Imagine a WHALE named VEL croaking RIBBA like a frog.

Mačka /mach-ka/ Cat - Imagine a CAT tipping over MUCH CUps off the table.

Kačica /ka-chi-tsa/ Duck - Imagine a DUCK ringing up sales on an old register KA-CHIng SUh.

Kôň /kóñ/ Horse - Imagine a HORSE wearing a bright orange CONE YUp on his head

Questions:

1. Which of the above words are feminine?
2. Which of the above words are masculine?

Answers:

1. Opica, Vel'ryba, Mačka, Kačica, (Generally nouns ending in a are feminine.)
2. Kôň (Generally nouns ending in consonants are masculine)

More Questions:

How do you say the following in English?

1. Opica
2. Vel'ryba
3. Mačka
4. Kačica
5. Kôň

How do you say the following in Slovak?

1. Monkey
2. Whale
3. Cat
4. Duck
5. Horse

Grammar

There are no definite (the) or indefinite (a, an) articles in Slovak. So depending on context pes can mean dog, the dog, or a cow

The Slovak words for "This is" are "Toto je" (TOE TOE You)

Questions

How do you say in English?

• Toto je pes.

How do you say in Slovak?

• It is a dog.

Pronunciation tips

• i is like i in little
• b and m sound like their English equivalents, Big, Mess
• j sounds like y in you
• l' is a soft lye or lyuh sound
• c sounds like ts in cats and rats
• the Caron or Czech Háček, ˇ , which looks like a "v" over a letter is a diacritical mark that is used to change the sound of the letter to which it is added.
• č sounds like ch in chocolate chips. It softens the c
• ň sounds like ni in onion and is a soft consonant
• The Circumflex, ˆ , which looks like an upside down v over a letter is a diacritical mark that is used to change the sound of the letter to which it is added.
• ô sounds like wo as in won't

Here's a link to a virtual Slovak keyboard. http://mylanguages.org/slovak_keyboard.php

Also here is a Wikipedia link to diacritical marks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

Until next time, Do videnia.
© Kathy Porubcan 2013
If you wish to subscribe to a feedblitz newsletter from this blog just click
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=407695

Posted by y1htak at 6:47 AM

Animals

Animals

Vlk /vlk/ (m) Wolf – Imagine a WOLF drinking a glass of miLK

Slon /slon/ (m) Elephant – Imagine an ELEPHANT sitting in a SaLON having a pedicure

Pes /pes/ (m) Dog – Imagine Dad telling the toddler, “Don't PESter the DOG.”

Koza /ko-za/ (f) Goat – Imagine a GOAT shivering outside during a COld SUmmer rain.

Krava /kra-va/ (f) Cow -Imagine a COW wearing a CRA-VAt

Prasa /pra-sa/ (n) Pig - Imagine a PIG in a pot under PRE-SUre

Questions:

How do you say the following in English?

1. Vlk
2. Slon
3. Pes
4. Koza
5. Krava
6. Prasa

How do you say the following in Slovak?

1. Wolf
2. Elephant
3. Dog
4. Goat
5. Cow
6. Pig

Grammar Note: Genders

Slovak has three genders; Masculine (m), Feminine (f), and Neuter (n).

Questions

1. Which of the above animals are Masculine?
2. Which of the above animals are Feminine?
3. Which of the above animals are Neuter?

Answers:

1. Vlk, Slon, Pes
2. Koza, Krava
3. Prasa

More questions

1. Does the masculine animal nouns end in a consonant or a vowel?
2. What vowel do the feminine animal nouns end in?

Answers

1. Consonant. (Masculine nouns usually end in a consonant.)
2. a (Feminine nouns usually end in a.)

Pronunciation Tips

a, e, o

• a sounds like u in cup
• e sounds like e in Ellie
• o sounds like o in open

k, l, n, p, s, v, z sound like their english equivalents;

• Keep, Low, Never, Peek, Sing, Violet, Zoo

r sounds like r in rug but rolled

-------------------------

Until next time, Do videnia.

© Kathy Porubcan 2013

If you wish to subscribe to a feedblitz newsletter from this blog just click
http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=407695

Review of digital dialects.com

I went to http://www.digitaldialects.com/Slovak.htm

They have some learning games. I clicked on animals and they give you a list to look at on line that you can not copy or print off. Well, I don't have photographic memory and I need to physically manipulate things to learn them so I wrote up some flash cards. Then worked on figuring out the pronunciation. Overall, I think the site is good place to test your memory of the words. It doesn't give you the pronunciation so you have to go elsewhere for that.

I started writing the slovak book for my family again by longhand in a notebook. Right now I'm following the vocabulary from digital dialects. Then looking up the words in my dictionary for pronunciation. Then looking at my other 2 slovak learning books for additional pronunciation guidance. One thing nice about Slovak is that it is mainly pronounced the way it is spelled. 

Somár for donkey is not in my dictionary. I found an error in one of my old posts. http://simplyslovak.blogspot.com/2008/06/animals-is-has.html Krava is cow. Not Kava. Káva (f) is Slovak for coffee. Need to fix that post. There done. It's fixed. I like how I have the page set up. I may do the same format. Right now I am just learning vocabulary. Grammar is a little more difficult in Slovak.

I looked at http://www.digitaldialects.com/ablico/about_contact.htm . It appears that it's OK to link to them as the material on my blog is free. I can contact them at dd@digitaldialects if I have any questions.

Google search results for slovak

Here's what I found on a quick google search. There probably are a lot of duplicates as I used different search phrases. Next step is to evaluate each link.

most useful for learning
https://sites.google.com/site/marekhlavac/slovak_lessons_beginner_overview 
http://slovake.eu/en/learning

overview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_language

some miscellaneous learning
http://www.slovak.com/language/ ok. overview, alphabet, numbers, greetings, calendar, phrases, vocabulary
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/slovak.htm combined with other languages, overview, phrases, numbers colours, kinship terms, songs
http://wikitravel.org/en/Slovak_phrasebook

games/ flashcards
http://www.digitaldialects.com/Slovak.htm
http://www.quia.com/jg/435090.html

general
http://www.ethnologue.com/country/SK
http://www.slovak-republic.org/language/
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/slovakia.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/548978/Slovak-language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Slovak_language


Not sorted yet
http://slovakia.embassyhomepage.com/slovak_language_learn_slovak_language_schools_slovak_dictionary_online_holiday_phrases_in_slovak_embassy_london_uk.htm
http://www.ssees.ucl.ac.uk/languages/slovaklang.htm
http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=47&menu=004
http://www.slovakia.culturalprofiles.net/?id=-6840
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Slovak_language
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?category_id=1288455
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101221230515AAWlksX
http://mihu2.tripod.com/micro/language.htm
http://www.cdvuk.sk/blade/index.php?c=351&summer-course-of-slovak-language-and-culture
http://webtranslation.paralink.com/Slovak-language_Slovak-English_Translation/
http://sobipro.sigsiu.net/download/languages/164-Slovak-Language
http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/slovak/
http://www.seelrc.org/webliography/slovak.ptml
http://www.meetup.com/czech-150/
http://www.omniglot.com/books/language/slovak.php
http://localize.drupal.org/translate/languages/sk
http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/slovak.htm
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/slovak.php
http://www.linguanaut.com/english_slovak.htm
http://mylanguages.org/slovak_phrases.php
http://www.slovakiasite.com/useful-vocabulary.php
http://www.linguata.com/slovak/Basic_Slovak_phrases.html
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Slovak_phrases
http://www.bratislavaguide.com/slovak-language-basic-phrases
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/slovak.shtml
http://www.slovak.com/language/phrases/phrases.html
http://mylanguages.org/learn_slovak.php
http://www.slovakiasite.com/slovak-language.php
http://www.lingvozone.com/Slovak
http://www.slovensko.com/about/is-slovak-difficult
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap6b04JkVYI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_declension
https://sites.google.com/site/marekhlavac/slovak_lessons_beginner_overview
http://www.dielna.net/slovakgrammar_en.php
http://www.opakovanie.sk/index.php?topic=133.0
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=775362
http://www.ccjk.com/resource/slovak-translation-services/slovak-grammar/
http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t15083.htm
http://mylanguages.org/slovak_verbs.php
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Slovak_verbs
http://learn101.org/slovak_verbs.php
http://www.heartofeurope.co.uk/dictionary_verbs.htm
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Slovak-World/message/19732
http://quizlet.com/subject/slovak-verbs/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_language
http://www.101languages.net/slovak/ ***
http://www.surfacelanguages.com/language/Slovak *
http://www.amazon.com/Talk-Now-Learn-Slovak-Beginning/dp/B0000899QX
http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/Learn/Slovak.asp
http://www.digitaldialects.com/Slovak.htm ***
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/cgi/f/rView.pl?pc=MALSlovak&tc=Games&vm=fc&la=
http://www.purposegames.com/game/slovak-language-quiz/info
http://www.byki.com/fls/free-slovak-software-download.html
http://www.studystack.com/flashcard-76598
http://quizlet.com/15956098/slovak-irregular-verbs-flash-cards/
http://www.masteranylanguage.com/cgi/f/rView.pl?pc=MALSlovak&tc=Verbs&vm=fc&la=
http://www.livemocha.com/flashcard_sets/view/672581
http://www.byki.com/lists/slovak/10-fero-irregular-verbs-present-tense.html
http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.iedutainments.ipad.sl.free/FREE-Slovak-Verbs-LearnBots
http://www.flashcardexchange.com/cards/slovak-english-2386032
http://mylanguages.org/slovak_words.php