Comments on: Czech Mommy diary: the beginnings / Denik ceske maminky zijici v zahranici – zacatky

By: Tanja

Tanja — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:41:05 +0000

Hi Sarah!

Yes, I know that game very well I do it with my two little kids as well – at least once a day!

“berany” is a derivation from ‘beran’ which means ‘ram’.
‘duc’ is something like ‘boing’ (a hitting sound). So in translation it’s something like ‘ramy, ramy, boing’ ) when to rams are fighting together. I hope I made it a bit more clear

By: Sarah-Ashley Ortiz

Sarah-Ashley Ortiz — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 16:28:24 +0000

Hi! I found this post because the last time my mom was here (she was born to Czech-Canadian parents, learned enough of the language to get by, but not everything, and she’s quite rusty) she taught my 7month old the “berany duc” game. I’ve been trying to find a translation for it… and your blog is the closest I’ve found. Do you think you could tell me more about it?

By: Monika

Monika — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:06:04 +0000

For boy, I am thinking of names Adam or David. For girl Dana, after my mom. All these names can be used both in English and in Czech. Hannah is good too, but our niece has that name already and our neighbors’ kid is Lucas so those are out of question

By: Mommy diary 4: O.P.O.L. can kiss my shorts! / Denik maminky v zahranici 4: O.P.O.L. mi muze polibit frak! | Czechmatediary

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:15:39 +0000

[...] For part 1 click here, part 2 click here and part 3 click [...]

By: How to have a bilingual child - personal experience | Czechmatediary

How to have a bilingual child - personal experience | Czechmatediary — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:03:12 +0000

[...] I thought I would give you an update on how is my bilingual experiment with my daughter going (for part I click here). Since it is an experiment with no way of knowing how is it going to end, I thought I would put it [...]

By: Tanja

Tanja — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:23:24 +0000

Thanks Tom! /Dik!

Actually Americans pronounce Hannah HEENA, which we didn’t wont so phonetically “Hahna” does sound like the European “Hana”

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:24:00 +0000

Hi, Tanja. That is an interesting name. I would probably just go with Hannah, which sounds the same in both languages, but yours is pretty good! Nice blondie you’ve got there!

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:22:48 +0000

I would not bother with Czech fairy tales in English. They are usually translated terribly. If you want your baby to know Czech, just read in Czech, talk and talk and talk.

By: Paulina (Pavlina)

Paulina (Pavlina) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:35:50 +0000

Hi Tanja and everyone.
This is a fantastic idea for a website! I found it while I was looking for ceske pohadky. I live in Melbourne, Australia (since 86′). My husband is Italian/Australian and I have a brand new daughter – nearly 3 months old. We named her Milana – (s dlouhym a) as this is easy to pronounce and reflects both our heritage. I can still “cute-ify” it and all grandparents can pronounce it! I am determined to teach her Czech language – and I found your tips on bilingual children very useful. Here is some inspiration for all us struggling bilingual mums – My school friend Andrea married a German guy (they communicate in English) and they live in Spain. She has a 4 year old daughter (Nikky) and she speaks all 4 languages and apparently doesn’t get confused!
I was worried about how I am going to manage teaching Milana Czech but now I am determined to perservere.
PS Lukas is also another name that work in both English & Czech
PPS Has anyone come across Czech Fairytales in English?

By: Tanja

Tanja — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Ahoj Zdenko/ Hi Zdenka,

that must be so hard! I have a friend here whose husband is Spanish and she is now pregnant too and dealing with the same issue. However, I have to encourage you as we know a family where a French husband and a Swedish wife have a son (about 20 years old now), they live here in the US and he does speak all of the languages!!!! And he also knows Spanish…I guess once you learn Swedish, French and English then all other languages come pretty easy to you…

Tak nezoufej!!!