Willing to get past Assimil (Standard vs. Common Czech)

[Agorima]

Hello everyone,

I am opening this thread to ask some advice.
I managed to finish both waves of "Czech with ease", based on Standard Czech.
However, when watching some local TV over the internet, or listening some local music, I understand the "Common Czech" is spoken instead (or should I say "Central Bohemian dialect"?).
I would like to get past A2+ without having to deal with the dialect, it may bring some unwanted confusion.
Are there any valid resources (books, music, TV/radio programs) based on Standard Czech?

[Cavesa]

Yes, the "Common Czech" is mostly the central bohemian + Prague regional variant (the so called "Common Czech" is a vastly overestimated thing. Czech is no more diglossial than French or English, there is some amount of colloquialisms in any language). It makes sense to focus on something else, if you're drawn more towards for example Moravia. But you'll need to understand it at some point too.

Of course there are tons of resources in Standard Czech. For example vast majority of books, and therefore audiobooks. If they use the regional or otherwise colloquial Czech, then you should definitely get used to it, it won't get more formal than that. But you can definitely postpone the highly colloquial stuff. The radio (like irozhlas.cz) is almost exclusively Standard too, but I personally find radio to be harder than various other kinds of input. But it could serve. News websites are standard too (for example aktualne.cz).

There was a good thread on intermediate resources for Czech learners. The B1 and B2 coursebooks are likely to present you with mostly Standard Czech too.

[Agorima]

Yes, the "Common Czech" is mostly the central bohemian + Prague regional variant (the so called "Common Czech" is a vastly overestimated thing. Czech is no more diglossial than French or English, there is some amount of colloquialisms in any language). It makes sense to focus on something else, if you're drawn more towards for example Moravia. But you'll need to understand it at some point too.

It's better to deal with colloquialisms only when having a more solid knowledge of the language (B2 or better).

[Cavesa]

It's better to deal with colloquialisms only when having a more solid knowledge of the language (B2 or better).

Do you really have such a choice? I haven't had it. Yes, it is better to postpone the more colloquial stuff until B2, I'd agree. But there is no reason to obsess about it, or you'd might simply have to discard absolutely everything (and definitely not just in Czech). A low amount of colloquialisms can be even in rather formal kinds of input, let's not forget that languages evolve and the registers naturally shift a bit.

For example the French coursebooks introduce some tiny bits of colloquialisms even to the people trying to reach B1. And it's ok, the very common stuff shouldn't be hidden too much. So, I wouldn't obsess about it even in Czech. Really, get the coursebooks as the main resource, you'll be offered exactly the registers you are supposed to learn now. And you'll get to B2 faster, and therefore can be much less selective earlier

[tarvos]

Honestly, I think you underestimate the usefulness of colloquial expressions... especially in a language as colourful as Czech! I like saying things like HELE, KOUKEJ...

[Cavesa]

Honestly, I think you underestimate the usefulness of colloquial expressions... especially in a language as colourful as Czech! I like saying things like HELE, KOUKEJ...

I also thinks she overestimates their difficulty. Honestly, I've heard so many of the opposite complaints, like "I wish the textbook introduced more colloquial language", that I find this desire to avoid them completely at all costs rather weird.

[tarvos]

The tricky part is context. And in most contexts, colloquial language is going to sound more natural. So I am all for learning those expressions, because they might be some of the first stuff you encounter. Step on someone's toes and you might get a nice "ty vole" screamed at you...