Monday, April 28, 2014

7 slovak kitchen words & resources to learn slovak

(in parenthesis are my best guess for sounds, I just want to get close so people I meet can correct me.)

chladnička = refrigerator (chlahd-nich-ka)
zima = cold (zimno in Polish) (zee-mah)
drez = sink (drez)
voda = water (woda in Polish) (vah-dah)
variť = to cook (vah-rreet)
horúci = hot (hah-rroo-see)
sporák = stove (spah-rraahk)

pronunciation guide from http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/alphabet/slovak.htm
A, a  - a as in father (short)
Á, á  - a as in father (long)
Ä, ä  - e as in let
E, e  - e as in let
É, é  - prolonged e as in where
I, i  - i as in machine (short)
Í, í  - i as in machine (long)
O, o  - o as in gone (short)
Ó, ó  - o as in gone (long)
Ô, ô  - the dipthong uo as in whoa
U, u  - u as in duke
Ú, ú  - u as in duke (long)
Y, y  - i as in machine (short); same as I, i
Ý, ý  - i as in machine (long); same as Í, í
C, c  - c as in dance
Ch, ch  - ch as in loch
Č, č  - c as in cello
Ď, ď  - a soft dy (the apostrophe on ď, rather than the caron, is preferred in typesetting)
Dz, dz  - dz adze
DŽ, dž  - dg as in edge
J, j  - y as in yes
Ľ, ľ  - ly as in halyard
Ĺ, ĺ  - ll in million
Ň, ň  - ny as in canyon
R, r  - slightly rolled
Š, š  - s as in sugar
Ť, ť  - t as in tune
W, w  - v as in van (found only in foreign words)
Ž, ž  - z as in azure




Resources to learn slovak
http://mylanguages.org/slovak_alphabet.php
http://www.forvo.com/languages/sk/
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/slovak.htm
http://www.bratislavaguide.com/slovak-language-basic-phrases
http://www.travlang.com/languages/slovak/pronounce.slovak.html
http://travel.spectator.sme.sk/articles/277/a_slovak_language_guide

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