Slovník českých vidových dvojic pro cizince
The Glossary of Czech Aspectual prefixes

Author(s): Jitka Horáková, Michaela Kopečková, Eva Nováková, Pavla Poláchová
Subject(s): Foreign languages learning, Translation Studies
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: Czech for foreigners; English; glossaries;
Summary/Abstract: The Glossary of Czech Aspectual prefixes addresses non-native speakers and learners of the Czech language to ease comprehending the principles of aspectual class and the opposition of perfective-imperfective aspect. This grammatical category poses a challenge to learners as well as the teachers of Czech for foreigners, since most textbooks do not offer detailed guidelines on teaching the aspect. Therefore, the learners use the aspect only in the limited set of contexts discussed in class and are not able to acquire its forms and functions fully before they proceed to B1/B2 level. The verbs in the glossary were excerpted from several textbooks of Czech for foreigners (e.g., Česky krok za krokem, Čeština pro cizince), and all verb forms correspond to the CEFR levels from A1 up to B2. The structure of the glossary was customized to the needs of non-native speakers of Czech and to meet the requirements on clear arrangement and user-friendly character of the glossary. The number of entries and aspectual prefixes of each verb was thus limited to the varieties that learners may actually face in real communicative situations. The contrast between perfective-imperfective forms is illustrated with model sentences. These allow to meet the criterion of functional equivalence, i.e., to express the grammar and meaning of Czech prefixes by syntactic, lexical or pragmatic means. Moreover, they show syntactic arguments of each verb and possible collocations as well as exemplify the use of verbs in authentic contexts.

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