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Almost 40% of Czechs own a dog, which is more people than in Germany, France or Great Britain. Moreover, 20% of those “outsiders” without a dog are actually thinking about getting one in the future! What “secret” is hidden behind these high statistical figures? Why do Czechs love dogs so much? Besides the the obvious universal reasons such as their unconditional love and devotion, Vladimira Ticha, the spokesman for the Czech dog breeder’s union adds some more specific facts: (more…)

So I learned something new! As we walked around town to see the 4th of July celebrations we stopped by a big stage where a large orchestra was playing the classic circus song of all times (click here to listen to it). Our friend, knowing that I am Czech, mentioned that the song had a Czech origin. “Really???” I couldn’t believe the fact that I didn’t know that! Such a famous song! Even some obscure tribe in the forests of Africa would recognize that tune. (more…)

Remember I wrote a story about my experience with the Czech versus the American educational system? Well, here is yet another guy that can expand your horizons on a similar topic. His name is Bill Cohn, the New York born lawyer who is also a professor of Ethics and Media at the University of New York in Prague (if you can make sense out of that name). Bill did an interview with the Radio Prague where he spoke on the topic of Czech students and how they differ from the American students. He is kind of wishy-washy with his answers (probably didn’t want to upset either side) but after some time of decoding his “politically correct” sentences, this is the bottom line: (more…)

The internet pages of the iDnes magazine re-created the communist shopping mall and it is AWESOME! Talking about reminiscing, this will definitely bring back some weird memories (I mean who didn’t have Krasohled!!!! - see picture above)…… (more…)

Hello everyone/ Nazdar vsichni!

I thought some of us moms - myself included - would like to brush up on Czech lullabies (Ukolebavky) so I went ahead and found some of them. Up till now I personally would usually just remember the first verse/sentece of a particular ukolebavka and then was left with brainless humming or substituting words than not only didn’t rhyme with the rest of the song but they also didn’t make sense (my poor child). Well, today is a new day, new beginning! I did not translate the content into English for one simple reason: I want to keep my sanity (I hope you understand).

CZ: Tak jsem si rikala, ze je na case, abych si oprasila znalosti ceskych ukolebavek. Pamet mi moc neslouzi, coz znamena, ze si vetsinou pamatuji prvni vetu z kazde ukolebavky a pak jsem odsouzena k prostemu broukani, nebo do pisne vlozim vymyslena slova, ktera nejen ze se nerymuji, ale take nedavaji vubec zadny smysl. Jestlize mate ten samy problem, tyto nize uvedena slova vam pomohou problem vyresit: (more…)

I have a 10-month old baby. Her name is Hahna; that’s right – H-A-H-N-A - for people to pronounce it the European way (although many times she is still called Hannah). Picking a name that would work for both “worlds” was very important to me. I didn’t want to name her something very ethnic like “Drahomira” so that she wouldn’t be ridiculed at school and my husband could pronounce it. I also didn’t want to name her something like Cloe; although I like the sounding of that name, as far as Czech language is concerned, it is unfortunately completely useless and that’s because: (more…)

Have you ever found yourself translating Czech idioms into the English language? I have; and once you do there is no way out. No matter how serious the topic is, once you throw in the “…you can kill two flies with one swap that way….” (an equivalent of “kill two birds with one stone”) or “...that’s totally a Spanish village for me….” (meaning “I have no clue on this one”) you are bound to get confused looks from your English-speaking listeners and the serious conversation is over because everyone starts to laugh. Anyhow, here is some more of these play-on-words thingies that I found or thought of. Feel free to add some!

CZ: Taky vzdycky udelate tu samou chybu a prelozite jeden z nasich ceskych idiomu do anglictiny? A taky dostanete zmatene pohledy? Ja jsem v tomto ohledu “nevylecitelna”. Jestlize vam repertoar jiz dochazi, tak tady si jich par muzete pripomenout…

• Take your legs on your shoulders = vezmi nohy na ramena (take to your heels)
• Like soaked hen = vypadas jako zmokla slepice (you look glum)
• Throw it behind your head = hod to za hlavu (forget about it)
• To have a milk on your chin = tece mu mliko po brade (to be still very young and naive) (more…)
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Here is a fun way to educate yourself about the Czech Republic. I promise you, this history lesson will not bore you for sure…

CZ: Mate chut na pikantni zajimavosti o Ceske repulice? Nize uvedena lekce v historii vas urcite nudit nebude….

Satelite View

The Czech Republic is one of the few inland countries whose borders can be seen from satellite photographs. The location of the Czech Republic can be best recognized by its border mountains on satellite photos made from a height of 900 kilometers.

Bohemia
According to Roman reports, the Latin name of the Czech lands Boiohaemum (Bohemia) is derived from the name of the Celtic tribe that settled on the territory of today´s Czech Republic. (more…)

The “My Czech Republic” website did a poll on people’s favorite Czech meal and here are the results:

1. Beef goulash with dumplings (Hovezí guláš s knedlíkem) - 18% [27 people ]
2. Beef sirloin with dumplings and vegetable cream sauce (Svícková na smetane, knedlík) - 21% [ 32]
3. The winner: Roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut (”vepro-knedlo-zelo”) - 28% [42 ] (more…)

It’s kind of embarrassing but the most common Czech words are :

• voni ( the colloqial “oni” meaning “they”)
• proste (colloquial “right”)
• teda (”well”)
• bejt (the colloquial “byt” meaning “to be”)

Do they not look familiar to you? That is because they are used in spoken Czech. So unless you have the Dictionary of Spoken Czech near by you are pretty much left guessing to what those words might mean. Profesor Cermak, the creator of one of the above mentioned dictionaries, recorded in his research sample speeches by over 500 people and discovered that the spoken Czech uses huge number demonstrative pronouns such as “that”, “there”, “here”, “that” as well as the pronoun “I”. Also particles such as “vzdyt”, “no”, “aby”, “ze jo” (”after all”, “well”, “right”..) are very common through which we express our +/- attitudes, expectations or doubts.

What are one of the most frequent Czech nouns? (more…)