Czechmatediary

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…)

Would you like to know what are the cool traditions of Czech Easter (for the not-so-cool Easter traditions click here)? Or maybe you are Czech but would like to “brush up” on those customs? For example, could you explain your fellow neighbor what are:

• rehtacka
• pomlazka
• Skareda streda (??) (more…)
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Easter is coming up so let’s talk about the Czech Easter. What am I about to say here may be really interesting for those who didn’t grow up in Czech or Slovakia (and a “nice” reminder for those who did). The “My Czech Republic” website gives you the cheery and playful version of this tradition but my recollection is not so cheery. Of course, we do the fun stuff like coloring the eggs, baking cakes in a shape of a lamb and sing merry songs. However, as I mentioned in my other posts, Czechs really like their alcohol (they have been no.1 beer-drinking consumers for ages now) and if you mix that with Easter - or any other celebration - things can get pretty crazy.

I can speak with a dose of authority since I have experienced the “wonders” of Czech Easter many, many times. As I mentioned before, when I was a kid my family spent the weekends/holidays at our cottage, located in a little quaint village near Prague. And villages are the places where things get REALLY crazy when holidays - especially Easter - come around. (more…)

Do you miss communism? Do you miss Lednacek (ice-cream bar), Cecka (plastic chain pieces shaped in “C” shape; toy for kids), Tuzex (fancy store with Western goodies; had its special currency) or those grocery stores with the always-empty shelves (see the picture)? Well, save your tears because the Czech TV is coming up with a new TV series called Retro which will bring back those memories - the good and the bad ones…Find out more about the show here.

CZ: Styska se vam po komunismu? Po lednaccich, ceckach, po Tuzexu nebo prazdnych obchodech? No, uz nemusite plakat, ponevadz ceska televize prichazi na televizni obrazovky s novou show zvanou Retro a slzy vam tak ususi…prectete si vice zde.
Source: http://www.radio.cz/en/article/100467

As I was surfing the Czech web the other day looking for something attractive to write about, I came across this interesting article called “What are we like?“. I was interested enough to finish the whole article and I decided to share some of the stuff with you. Not only is the content intriguing but the author is well over 70 years old (and runs a blog!!) so you know that he has earned the authority and respect to talk about pretty much anything he wants and people will listen.

(Pro ceskou verzi clanku “Jaci jsme?” kliknete zde)

Mr. Krejci divides Czechs into 9 categories:

1. The defendants of the “good old times”: they long for the communist times to come back when the government was in charge of the economy…. as well as their own lives. That way they didn’t have to worry about anything. Now they feel like everyone is doing whatever they feel like without following any kind of order.
2. The never-happy, beer-belly hicks: they know that nothing is the way they wanted it to be. They can’t change it nor can they change themselves. The only place where their opinions have any kind of weight are in their own homes with their families. (more…)
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The Czech Republic (and Slovakia) has an interesting tradition. If you are a high school student your mom will most likely force you to go to “do tanecnich” ( Dancing school). It is a very inexpensive way to not only learn how to dance almost any type of dance that currently exists (seriously, they teach you anything from Polka to Samba to Foxtrot) but it is also a socialization tool for all of the pimply kids out there. When you are 15 or 16 years old, it is hard to talk to the opposite sex (well, for most of us anyway). But this dancing school makes you to do exactly that. At the beginning of each weakly session you are forced into pairs (male -female) whether you like it or not. (more…)

I LOVE THIS! Do you remember Ivan Mladek’s song called “Jozin z Bazin” (the Swampland Jozin) (see the words to the song by clicking here) ? Well, if you don’t, it is a 30-year old, folk song that became a huge hit at the time. The song is about this monster Jozin who lives in the swamps somewhere in Moravia and eats only people from Prague - the city snobs. Although he doesn’t eat the locals they are tired of him. That is why the town mayor makes an offer to give away his daughter and a half or the “JZD” (the communist word for the town farm) to anyone who destroys this monster. The Czechs still play it on the radio from time-to-time. Every time I hear this song it brings me back to my childhood: I am 7 years old, hanging out with my friends at my parent’s cottage during the summer and lazily munching on Nanuk (an awesome communist ice cream bar). Anyway - it’s crazy - but this song ( and the video) has just now become a HUGE hit in Poland! It’s been the number one song on most of the Polish Top Song list (in Polish it is Jozek z bagien). The teenagers have the disco version uploaded in their MP3’s and are dancing away, trying to copy the dancing style of Ivo Pesak. (more…)

The classroom environment in the Czech Republic has been changing. Not only the children hide Intendos (and other electronic games) under the school desk instead of a sling-shot, but also the physical punishment has vanished. Schooling was very important to the Czechs from the start. Until the beginning of the Thirty-year war (1618-1648) the quality of education was very high. Perhaps the biggest reformer of the Czech education system was Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670), a pastor, teacher and a writer. He came up with the idea of so-called Universal education which means that everyone has the right to get educated. He also disagreed with any form of physical punishment. Comenius’ loyalty to teaching - and not only in the Czech Republic alone - earned him the nickname of the “Teacher of the Nations“. After the Thirty-year war was over, the quality of education in Czech went down the drain. It became so bad that many children didn’t even know how to read and write! (more…)

In her article “The secrets of the Czech complexion” Rosie Johnson expresses her perplexion over the beauty of Czech girls’ skin during the winter times and calls them the “Sun-kissed goddesses”. I don’t mean to brag or anything but being Czech myself, I have to say I have gotten some positive comments on my skin complexion as well. Needless to say, that I have just recently discovered that there is actually a specific kind of soap for your face! I is kind of embarrassing that up till recently I have just been using water (or a regular bar of soap) to wash my face down. But my friend decided to educate me one day and made me buy one of those fancy face soaps (for about $20,000 a bottle) and the result??? (more…)

If you knew that something terrible were to happen to the Czech Republic and a radio broadcast was telling you that you had 24 hours to get out, what Czech “treasure” would you pack in your bag, knowing that you could never come back?? What things do you think would retain the Czech heritage for the future generations as well as keep you from becoming terribly homesick?

This is how my list would look like:

• Food

- Remember, we only have ONE luggage to pack, so we can’t fill it all with food (you can see I had to get rid of lot of my stuff…..)

3 tatranky (waffles dipped in chocolate)

2 fidorky (round waffles dipped in chocolate)

1 lentilky (similar to M&M’s)

2 polomacene susenky (shortbread cookies; one side dipped in chocolate)

2 burty (type of sausage)

• Books

Polacek: Bylo nas pet ( “It used to be five of us“)

Nemcova:Babicka (”Grandma“;Czech classic written in 19th century)

Vylety pana Broucka (”Trips of mr. Borucek“;another 19th century classics)

Capek: Valka s mloky (War with the Newts (European Classics)

Ctyrlistek - can’t leave Fifinka behind! (Czech cartoon magazine for kids) (more…)