Czechs often apologise for their English before they’ve said a single word. The apology usually comes in perfect English.

“Sorry for my English.”

It’s rarely necessary. Most native speakers admire the effort, not the mistakes. But after years of living in the Czech Republic, I’ve noticed a handful of recurring errors that appear with surprising consistency.

None of them are catastrophic. Some are charming. A few are unintentionally dramatic.

If you’re looking for quick ways to improve, here are ten to watch out for.

1. “On the airport” instead of “at the airport”

Czechs often use on instead of at with places.

I once received this message from a student:
“I cannot come to class today. I am on the airport. Thank you for everything. Goodbye.”

For a moment, I wondered if it was a suicide note.

Prepositions are small, but not always harmless.

2. “Please?” instead of “Sorry?”

Czechs sometimes say “please” when asking someone to repeat something.

It isn’t a catastrophic error, but in English it can sound as if the speaker is politely begging for mercy mid-conversation.

“Please?”
It feels like you’re negotiating for your life.

“Sorry?” is much safer.

3. “Strange person” instead of “stranger”

In English, a stranger is someone you don’t know. A strange person is someone unusual.

I once explained this difference to a student after she told me she liked talking to strange people.

“Do you mean strangers or strange people?” I asked.

“Both,” she replied.

Hard to argue with that.

4. “Chief” instead of “boss”

“I like my chief.”

Native speakers will understand, but may briefly wonder why they’ve been transported into a Western film.

Language sometimes carries unexpected costumes.

5. Pronouncing every letter

Czechs tend to pronounce every letter with admirable dedication.

Fruit becomes fru-it.
It should rhyme with shoot.

I’ve explained this so often that I sometimes wake up in the night with “fruit rhymes with shoot” spinning through my mind like a low-budget mantra.

6. “Control” instead of “check”

The Czech kontrolovat is a false friend. It often becomes “control” instead of “check.”

“I need to control my homework.”

This creates the image of homework developing agency and plotting something dramatic.

You need to check your homework. Controlling it is optional.

7. “Count with you” instead of “count on you”

“I’ll count with you.”

A single preposition can create a surreal image of two adults enthusiastically counting to one hundred together.

You want to count on someone. Not with them.

8. “Action” instead of “event”

In English, an action is usually a protest.

So when a student once said,
“My colleague organised an action in the forest,”
I briefly imagined banners and political slogans among the trees.

It turned out they were picking fruit.

Context matters. So does vocabulary.

9. “Satisfied” instead of “happy”

Satisfied suggests expectations were met.

“I’m satisfied with my internet provider.”

When someone says, “I’m very satisfied with my new girlfriend,” the tone becomes unintentionally corporate.

This is not a performance review.

10. The apology before the sentence

This is the only mistake that isn’t linguistic.

The strongest students are often the ones who apologise the most. They hesitate, restart sentences, and search for the perfect structure. They know the rules. They just don’t trust themselves to use them imperfectly.

Meanwhile, native speakers happily break their own grammar every day without hesitation.

Perfectionism is admirable. In language learning, it can be paralysing. Conversations rarely collapse because of a misplaced preposition. They collapse because someone is too afraid to speak.

The real obstacle is rarely vocabulary or grammar. It is confidence.

Most Czechs speak far better English than they think.

The only thing missing is the willingness to sound slightly wrong for a few seconds.