Speak Slovak!

• The Lord's Prayer
• Phrases and useful words
• About the language
• On-line English-Slovak Translator
• On-line Slovak Dictionary
• Pronunciation guide (external link to Travlang.com)

The Lord's Prayer - church slavonic (in English Phonetics)

   Ot-che nash, izhe e-si na ne-be-seh, da svya-tit-sya im-ya Tvo-e, da pri-idet tsar-stvi-e Tvo-e;da boo-det vo-lya Tvo-ya, ya-ko na ne-be-si i na zem-li. Hleb nash na-sooshch-niee dazhd nam dnes, i os-ta-vi naam dol-hi nas-sha, ya-ko-zhe i mi os-tav-lya-em do-zhni-kom na-shim: i ne vvedi nas vo is-koo-she-ni-e, no iz-ba-vi nas ot loo-ka-va-ho.
   Ya-ko Tvo-e est Tsar-stvo, i si-la i sla-va, Ot-sa i Si-na, i Svya-ta-ho Ya-ko Tvo-e est Tsar-stvo, i si-la, i sla-va, Ot-sa i Si-na, i Svya-ta-ho Doo-ha, ni-ne i pris-no i vo ve-ki ve-kov. A-min

Some Phrases

• Dobry den, ja som Matus - Good day, I am Matthew
• Prepáčte, prosi'm - Excuse me, pardon me
  
• Rozumiete Anglicky? - Do you understand English?
  

For more handy words and phrases, consult our Travelers Cheetsheet here (xls). It is designed for the beginning Slovak speaker based on personal travel experience.
Also, for a word and phrase translator for your computer (ENG->SLO, SLO->ENG), email us requesting a copy. The translation quality is quite good.

About the Language

The English Wikipedia for Slovak has a superb description of the language. The following are but a few choice excerpts. (Thanks Wikipedia authors!) As a native English speaker, I find Slovak to be very pleasant to hear. It is smooth and sometimes even quiet with touch of palatal emphasis.

The Slovak language (slovenčina, slovenský jazyk), sometimes referred to as "Slovakian", is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Slavic languages (together with Czech, Polish and Sorbian). The Slovak language arose directly from the Proto-Slavic language independently of other Slavic languages.

The principal dialect is largely mutually intelligible with Czech (though to varying degrees by age and location).

The spoken Slovak language consists of a large number of dialects that can be divided in four basic groups:

• Eastern Slovak dialects (in Spiš, Šariš, Zemplin and Abov)
• Central Slovak dialects (in Liptov, Orava, Turiec, Tekov, Hont, Novohrad, Gemer and the historic Zvolen county)
• Western Slovak dialects (in remaining Slovakia: Kysuce, Trencin, Trnava, Nitra, Zahorie)
• Lowland (dolnozemské) Slovak dialects (outside Slovakia in the Pannonian Plain which belonged to the Hungarian part of the former Austro-Hungary, i.e. in today's Serbian Vojvodina, southeastern Hungary, western Romania, and the Croatian part of Syrmia)

For a map of these dialects, see Atlas Slovenskeho.

Slovak uses a modification of the Roman (Latin) alphabet. The modifications include the four diacriticals (ˇ, ´, ¨, ^; see Pronunciation) placed above certain letters.

Language Links

• Wikipedia
• This site offers audio clips of Slovak numbers, locations, directions, basic phrases, etc: www.travlang.com
• An audio clip, from www.travlang.com
• A good site for basics of Slovak including words, numbers and short phrases, with audio examples: www.slovak.com
• And of course, find a Slovak speaker near you. Nothing beats the real thing! In Colorado visit Slovak Society of Colorado.