相信對初到捷克的人,一定像王小宇一樣,對滿街長的有點像英文,但又跟英文差很多的捷克文字感到相當無助。以英文來說,就算不知道一個字,王小宇也能夠大致上憑著以往的經驗猜出這個字該怎麼發音,但是對於捷克文中那些帶有勾勾撇撇在上面的字母,王小宇可是一點辦法也沒有。幸好水果先生帶了一本LP(是知名的旅遊指南Lonely Planet,「寂寞星球」,不要想歪了),在LP的最後一章找到了捷克字母的基礎發音規則,這才讓王小宇在旅途中需要投石問路的關鍵時刻,不至於張口結舌,連個目的地要怎麼說都不知道。

為了服務以後有機會去捷克觀光的朋友,王小宇冒著被LP告的風險,將捷克文字的基楚發音規則節錄如下:

母音(vowels,accent for long vowel)

a:as the ‘u’ in ‘cut’ (British pronunciation)
á:as in ‘father’
e:as in ‘bed’
é:as in ‘there’
i/y:as the ‘i’ in ‘bit’
í/ý:as the ‘i’ in the ‘marine’
o:as in ‘pot’ (British pronunciation)
ó:as the ‘aw’ in ‘saw’
u:as in ‘pull’
ú/ů:as the ‘oo’ in ‘zoo’

雙母音(diphthongs)

aj:as the ‘i’ in ‘ice’
áj:as the word ‘eye’
au:as the ‘ow’ in ‘how’
ej:as the ‘ay’ in ‘day’
ij/yj:short; as ‘iy’
íj/ýj:longer version of ij/yj
oj: as the ‘oi’ in ‘void’
ou:as the ‘o’ in ‘note’, though each vowel is more strongly pronounced than in English
uj:short; as the ‘u’ in ‘pull’ followed by a ‘y’ sound
ůj:longer version of uj

子音(consonants)

c:as the ‘ts’ in ‘pets’
č:as the ‘ch’ in ‘chew’
ch:as the ‘ch’ in Scottish ‘loch’
f:as in ‘fever’, never as in ‘of’
g:as in ‘get’, never as in ‘age’
h:always voiced, as the ‘h’ in ‘hand’
j:as the ‘y’ in ‘year’
r:a rolled ‘r’, made by the tip of the tongue
ř:no English equivalents; a rolled ‘rzh’ sound, as in composer, Dvořák
s:as in ‘sit’, never as in ‘rose’
š:as in ‘ship’
ž:a ‘zh’ sound, as in ‘treasure’

其他

The letter ď, ň and ť are very soft platal sounds, produced by a momentary contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, as if a ‘y’ is added, e.g. the ‘ny’ in ‘canyon’. The same sound occurs with d, n and t followed by i, í or ě.

All other consonants are similar to their English counterparts, though k, p and t are unaspirated, i.e. pronounced with no puff of breath after them.

母音比較簡單,有打一撇的,大概就是發長音。子音稍微記一下打勾勾的幾個常見字母就差不多了。王小宇發現一個很好的練習方式,就是在布拉格坐地鐵的時候,聽地鐵站報每一站的站名,然後跟著念念看,多練習幾次就會慢慢記住一些常用的特殊字母了。順便也可以知道那些地名的重音該落在哪裡。

所以Telč會唸成特「奇」而不是特克,Karlštejn唸成卡爾「修」坦而不是卡爾斯坦,Florenc唸成佛羅倫「茲」而不是佛羅倫斯也是因為上面的發音法則而來的。各位看官有機會去捷克的時候,試著說說看吧,不要再做個「只會把手指頭指向地圖上某個點說著「this、this」,然後向巴士司機呆笑的觀光客」囉。

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