王小宇的異想世界

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。