Throughout my Czechmate Diary years I have met some very nice people who were born and raised in former Czechoslovakia but no longer feel comfortable speaking the language. They emigrated in their late teens or early twenties and never came back. The communist regime either destroyed any will to speak the language or they just found no other Czechs to talk to in their new home country. The question is, if someone asks them what nationality they are, what will they answer?
CZ: Behem tech par let co bloguji jsem potkala velmi zajimave lidi, kteri se narodili (a nekdy take vyrostli) v byvalem Ceskoslovensku, ale cesky uz nemluvi. Bud v jejich nove vlasti nenasli nikoho, s kym by se mohli cesky bavit, anebo na to proste nemeli chut. Co si myslite, vy, jsou stale povazovani za Cechy?
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My Czech ancestors (Blaha, Cipra, and Kliment) emigrated to the U.S. in the 1860’s so I am tyhird generation American born. I have always found the language somewhat daunting (plus I am lazy), so I have never picked up much of the language–grandma taught me a little bit when I was a little kid (in the 1950’s), but she’s been gone since the 1980’s. I very strongly identify with everything Czech, including this newsletter. I always seek out Czech restaurants when I travel__Cedar Rapids, IA; Queens, NY; Pompano beach, FL, London, England; and of course CR itself. Wish I could get there more often. Besides the food, it’s the pivo, and the sport; esp. fotbal and hokej. I feel a very strong Czech identity, even though 150 years removed from it.
My ancestors came to America in the late 1890’s/early 1900’s. I am a third generation American as well. I know a few basic Czech words but not enough to carry on a conversation. I just returned from the Czech Republic and it feels like home. I am wanting to learn the language so I can speak it the next time I travel there. Even though I was born in America, I still say I’m 100% Czech and my heritage is very important to me.
That’s so great guys! Way to go! I had no idea that those heritage ties are so strong! Who cares about the language….if you can say “pivo prosim”, then you are set to go :))
It is interesting how some Czechs can be critical of other Czechs (born and raised there) if they don’t chose to use the language. I do believe though that those people kind of lose a bit of their identity since they grew up speaking it.
My husband’s first czech sentence learned was……”Jedno pivo prosim” 🙂
Tanja, a little off the subject because you are asking about Czech born, but do you consider us American born people like me Czech? My ancestors came here between 1866 and 1900, so we are several generations American born. I know people outside my family, but in my generation who spoke only Czech until they started school. Grandma said we are Czech and was very involved with preserving the Czech heritage in our town. My parents said we are Czech-American or just American. I just say I’m from Wilber, Nebraska and let them figure it out from there 🙂
Thanks for your wonderful blog, always interesting and thought provoking.
Steve Ourecky: I just wanted to write what you wrote so well. BTW, I am from New Jersey, born in Prague (Czechoslovakia) and don’t speak either language perfectly 😉 besides other languages that I don’t speak perfectly either.
I knew a very old man, he was so proud to be a Czech. When his long lived father was on a death bed, he told him a secret: “Honzo, we are Germans”… Disappointed Hans realized it was too late to switch the pride and continued proudly to be proud of being Czech .. Who wanted to be German after WWII anyway? 😉
Tell your children throughout their lives they are Chinese from Corsica and they will feel like Chinese from Corsica. And for sure they will be proud of that .
Vlastimil: Thank you. I am very proud to be descended from Czech immigrants. Grandma instilled that in me. I go to events at the Omaha Czech Cultural Club, the Komensky Club at the university, and area Czech festivals. I thoroughly enjoy learning all I can about Czech culture.
I got a chuckle out of when you said Honzo was German, because my Mother is 7/8ths German and only 1/8th Czech 🙂 So I’m not even full blooded “Czech”
I am curious if natural born Czechs consider us American born “Czech”.
Steve: I think is about one’s attitude. I you are really into your Czech heritage and call yourself Czech, who can take it away from you? Nobody. There is however a strong connection among those Czechs who were raised in Czech – it makes sense – you can share your childhood with them! They remember even the silliest things like some communist bubble gum wrap 🙂
BTW, I like your answer: “Wilber, NE” :))
Steve, my grandmother was German, but curiously, I feel 100% Czech and with every year spent in USA, I feel American 1% more per year… According to this formula, I will feel 100% American in 84 years … 😉
Unfortunately, I don’t think I will make it that far, since the Doom Day (12/21/2012) is looking to turn to be quite real 8)
Not to offend anyone, but I think that you can be real Czech only if you lived there and speak the language. Otherwise how can you identify with Czechs if you don’t even understand what they are saying, cannot read the books in original, or can’t share the childhood memories as Tanja mentioned. I meet a lot of people that want to explore their Czech heritage and identify themselves as being part or fully Czech, but really in my mind, this doesn’t count. It is more like a hobby that you take up, a fan club (don’t get me wrong, I am glad that people like Czechs and Czech Republic so much that they want to participate) but this is not the real identity and can never be.
Btw, now when I read it posted…I meant that I meet a lot of people that do not speak the language and never lived in the CZ and are many generations Americans that want to explore their heritage, etc…
Eva, you nailed it 🙂 Perhaps I am a Swede ? You know , they did stuff in Czech lands during the 30year war, and many offsprings were born…. What if I really am a Swede? It would be interesting to know, but I don’t see how I could identify myself with Vikings 🙂 I think one feel as Czech, Russian, German only if he grew up in that particular surrounding. BTW, we all are products of our “neighborhood” and that’s what we identify with…
But I appreciate people, who are interested to learn more about places where their ancestors came from …
If somebody’s ancestors have lived in USA for example
200 years, then according to a formula (which I invented) … power(2,220/35)….whe may have theoraticaly 78 ethnic groups in our blood …. then, go and pick your favorite ancestor 😉
Anyway, acoording to a scientific research , we all originated in Africa….
Finally, we got our own president now 🙂
Hi Vlasto, myslim, ze jsi uhodil hrebicek na hlavicku s tim produktem naseho neigborhoodu. Mi predkove take pochazeji ze Slovenska, Srbska, Nemecka, a mozna i Svedska jako tvoji, Svedove oblehali Brno, v jehoz okoli moje rodina bydlela a bydli 🙂 a taky z Afriky a presto se nepovazuji za Slovenku (to bych mohla, slovensky umim a mam tam cast rodiny), Srbku ci Nemku. Ale urcite je fajn, kdyz se lide zajimaji odkud pochazeji a chteji se o tom vic dovedet!