Do real conversations with Czechs feel frustrating or scary?

I recently started working with two new clients.

They are completely different people, and yet they have so much in common.

We’ve only had two lessons so far, but I can already see something I see with my clients again and again.

1. Both of them have been learning Czech for years. They’ve tried courses, textbooks, apps, and podcasts. And still, they feel like none of it really fits together.

2. Real conversations with Czechs feel frustrating and scary. They freeze, the conversation fades away, or it quickly switches to English.

3. Their lessons were focused mainly on grammar, exercises, and rules. Then they closed the textbook, and Czech almost didn’t exist between lessons.

People struggle like this for years and often believe it’s their fault. But it isn’t!

Very often, changing just a few small things is enough for everything to start moving.

At the beginning, my clients and I always set a clear, real-life communication goal. Everything else grows from that.

Yes, we work on grammar too. But only the grammar that naturally comes from the goal and from real conversations.

We focus a lot on speaking, and I intentionally and carefully create a safe space where my clients can practice speaking without the fear of making mistakes.

We also set a simple, sustainable plan for between lessons:

- How to review new phrases and expressions?

- What to listen to to get enough input?

- and how can Czech become part of everyday life, not just something for lessons?

And very soon, they start sharing things like this: 

"𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑚, 𝐼 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑧𝑒𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡. 𝑀𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝐶𝑧𝑒𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑. 𝐴𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘, 𝐼 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝐼 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑."

If you’ve been learning Czech for a long time and still feel stuck, this is what I want you to know:

You’re not broken or stupid, and you don't need to try harder. You just need to start approaching Czech differently. 

Send me a message, and we’ll figure it out together 😊.

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⭐ As a Czech language teacher and coach, I help expats in the Czech Republic speak Czech with confidence and joy, making them feel truly at home in their Czech community.

 👉 Join my 1:1 Czech lessons, group courses, or online programs.

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