Czechmatediary

I have lived here for almost 12 years and I can so relate to this. I have two children 3 and 5 so it has been interesting.
My favorite always has been (now this is not from me, but a friend of mine whose parents immigrated when she was 7 years old from Czech Republic. So I have to cut her a slack) luxovac (instead of lux or vysavac).
My parent’s favorite mixed up word from me (they are still in Czech) is Mensiky (wanted to say Meciky – “gladiolas”). They still make fun of me every time this comes up.
I have made up enough crossed words and some I use so often I actually think they are real Czech words. Immagine the surprise when I go to Czech and everybody looks at me like I just came from moon when I use my “perfectly good old Czech word”
Keep on teaching your daughter Czech. She will love it when she is older. Both of my kids are fluent in both and I am so proud of them.

To Michaela: my favorite is “idem dolu z telefonu”
Moje nejoblibenejsi je “jdem dolu z telefonu” a pak “zober si cas” – to zni tak filosoficky:)))

To Lenka: I have used the word “luxovac” before!!!
Taky mi nekdy z pusy vypadne slovo “luxovac”!! Ja vim, tech prvnich par dni v Cechach je fakt vzdycky sila…prijdu si jako uplny ufon!

Pockej, co je “drivovat”??? To jsem nejak nepochopila. Jako drivi?

my jsme sortky v cechach pouzivali a texasky byly tenisky.
It is funny, because as I think about it my kids (especially my son, since Czech was his first language to learn unlike my daugher, whom learned english first) would use Czech words and add ing ..
kouping (taking bath), nebo s… botys. Puts smile on my face every time.

“checknout” or “vocheckovat” that is definitely used among all young or computer skilled people. I also totally love “kouping” and “rednout” ; )))
I even think there already has been a book written about czenglish.
What I miss in Czech most is “ago”. instead of 10 years ago you have to say before 10 years (does it make sense at all?) (10 let zpatky zni fakt blbe)

Lenka, good for you that your kids speak both languages. I think it’s very important and it will surely keep a special bond between you and your children I don’t have any children yet, but when I do I will make you they speak my language, too (it’s Slovak)

Na techto strankach jsem poprve a hned jsem si je dala do bookmark. Moc se mi libi vsechny zajimave a legracni stories a asi dneska zkusim jeden z tvych receptu.
Jinak tohle je bomba. Ziju v Aust. od svych 11let (je mi 37) a nekdy taky nevim jestli to slovo ktere vyslovuji je zpravne ceske nebo jen mnou vymyslene. Strasne jsem se nasmala tem komentarum. Ja podobne rikam.. jdu ven s rubbishem, nebo ze se jde shoppingovat. Mam taky 2 male deti a snazime se porad na ne mluvit cesky, ale obcas mam problemy, protoze pul vety reknu cesky a tu druhou pulku anglicky. Tak se jim ani nemuzu divit kdyz nic z toho nepochopi. ‘uvidime se pozdeji’

Hi Tanja. I actualy had hard time learning english when I was a teen and you won’t believe me when I tell you that I still have a slight accent. I definitely don’t sound like an aussie . But I owe my written czech to the six years I attended saturday-czech-school throughout my high school years. And the fact that australia is where my home is, but Czech R. is where my heart belongs.

[...] Let’s talk Czenglish! [...]

[...] the fact that my Czech vocabulary has decreased quite a bit (read my article on “Let’s talk Czenglish “), I also keep realizing that the longer I live in the States the more often I find myself [...]