Czechmatediary

My linguistic  buddy Jamie had a great post idea. I am to ask people what kind of strange English phrases were they taught back in Czech/Slovakia?

Here is his experience for example:

‘When I arrived at the hotelovka (vocational school for waiters and hospitality services), they were training kids as servers to ask restaurant customers, “Do you have any wishes?” When I first arrived in the CR, nearly everyone was pronouncing “sweater” as “sweeter”, and when we would correct them, they would protest that “sweeter” was “British English”, but the British don’t say it. They also taught the kids to call the školník the “school servant”, which, as far as I know, is only used in Singapore.’

Isn’t it so funny? I myself don’t remember any stupid English phrases I was thought (I am sure there were many) I just know we were thought some STRANGE pronunciation ;0)) (more…)

Martin’s yogurt breakfast pancakes – Czech style

Martin was born in Prague and since 1978 he has been living in the US. He married an American lady named Kathleen (who is also the co-creator of this magical recipe) and have 2 wonderful kids together. His blog called “O Americe” (“About America”) is written strictly in Czech. Why?  Martin gets to express himself in his native language, and  his non-English speaking Czech friends and family  can learn more about the American ways. Through his blog he found a  virtual way how to connect with his unforgettable motherland.

For those of you who would like a less fattening version of my recipe on livance (pancakes) here is Martin’s healthy version:
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Antonia is a 32-year-old mom of 16-month-old triplets, currently living in the state of Virginia. She was born and raised in Slovakia and attended Trnava University, like probably a handful of my other Slovak readers here. Antonia is a super-woman. Non only does she manage to juggle being a mom of triplet babies but she is also battling with a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (type of cancer). She had a tumor situated right above her heart that was interrupting the flow of blood. Surgery was not an option due to the tumor being wrapped around her superior vena cava vein and cordic arteries. She is finished with chemo, but the type she had is a type that you can only have once in your life as it changes your heart muscle and other things.

The plan for her family is to move back to Slovakia at the end of this month where they can build a small house and live close to Antonia’s family. Read what Antonia’s husband, David, writes in his blog.

‘This is where I need your help. I have reached the conclusion that I can not do this alone. This past year has been difficult as we have given up everything, including our home and car, to pay for medical bills to fight Antonia’s disease. And we are still fighting. There is one thing we do have however, and that is a piece of land in Slovakia called Hope. I have sent this to you asking that you help raise $2500 to build a house for Antonia. The cost to build a house in Slovakia is around $75,000 from the ground up. Our goal is to do it for $50,000. And with the help of 20 volunteers raising $2500 each this can be done. The construction will be done by myself, her father and her brother.
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Karen is one of my frequent commentators, a very pleasant American lady who currently lives in Prague. She has a blog called The Empty Nest Expat and writes bunch of interesting articles about her observations. One of her recent posts is contemplating about the Czech – still rather unhealthy – cuisine. Read her thoughts in a post called “Who will be the Czech Jamie Oliver?”.

CZ: Karen je jedna ze ctenarek Czechmate Diary, ktera se sama zabyva blogovanim, ale z opacne strany nez ja. Je totiz Americanka zijici v Praze a popisuje sve  zazitky a postrehy v blogu zvanem Empty Nest Expat. Clanek, ktery me tentokrat zaujal se pozastavuje nad – bohuzel stale jeste – dosti nezdravou ceskou kuchyni. Kdo Cechy vykoupi ze zaklete zeme brambor, knedliku a veproveho? To se muzete docist v Karenine clanku zvanem  “Who will be the Czech Jamie Oliver?”

Remember we had that heated discussion in one of my posts about  Americans and their poor knowledge of geography? You guys ended up leaving 102 (!!) comments! Jamie was one of those involved commentators who kept pursuing the idea that there is NO difference between us and the Americans as far as general knowledge goes. He also promised to send me a research paper on exactly this issue and he kept his word! Here is most of the article, although I could not fit in all of the questions. But you get the idea..

CZ: Pamatujete si , jak jsem jednou psala clanek o Americanech a o jejich spatnych znalostech zemepisu? Vyvolal takovou diskuzi, ze jsme skoncili se 102 komenty!!! Jednim z komentatoru byl Jamie, ktery tvrdil, ze vseobecne znalosti Cechu a Americanu jsou na stejne urovni. Take nam slibil odborny clanek, ktery jeho hypotezu pry potvrzuje. Jamie dodrzel slovo a clanek poslal. Zde je ho vetsina, ale vsechny otazky se mi tam bohuzel vmestnat nepovedlo.

OK, WHO IS SMARTER, WE OR THEY?

Author: Vladimír Kajlík

Periodically, readers are showered with newspapers articles decrying progressive decline if not outright abysmal state of American public education. The conclusion, usually supported by various sorts of statistical “knowledge surveys”, provides presumably ample evidence for such a decline. There would be not much to report if we just assembled such articles from Europe and America to state the facts and to confirm assumed trends. (more…)

For those of you who are hopelessly involved in the Facebook world here is a really funny (and also true!) article about this new ‘social awkwardness’ as the author calls it:

“Who you callin’ Facetard?” Social Media and the new social awkwardness.

CZ: Ti z vas, kdo jsou beznadejne zapleteni do site Facebooku oceni nasledujici vystizny clanek:

“Who you callin’ Facetard?” Social Media and the new social awkwardness.

My dad sent me a Czech newspaper essay that falls right into our political discussion about the troubled anti-missile defense shield we have been having. The author, Vaclav Vlk, named it ‘A Total Slap In the Face’ and I found his words quite intriguing. In order to share this article with the non-Czech speakers I translated parts that resonated with me the most (I apologize I could not translate the whole thing but it is really quite long). Here it is:

CZ: Muj tata mi vcera poslal dosti zajimavy clanek na tema protiraketove radarove zakladny, o ktere jsme tu pred par dny diskutovali. Clanek pochazi z Neviditelneho psa (autorem je Vaclav Vlk) a jelikoz kazdy odstavec ma v sobe neco velmi podstatneho, nemela jsem to srdce ho ‘okrohouhat’ (tedy spise zeditovat) a je tu tedy cely, od zacatku az do konce. Jmenuje se vhodne “Facka pesti pres Celou hubu”:

A Total Slap In The Face

‘What Obama did with the anti-missile defense shield is just a softer version of the Munich Agreement where the Czechs end up being the bait for the bigger fish. Or one can compare it to 1945 (5th of May) when the Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic was left out for grabs by the Soviets. In other words, if we give Russians what they want (i.e. no anti-missile defense shield in Czech or Poland) that in turn will keep them quiet for a while. (more…)

My Czech friend Pavla recently prompted me to write about the times when we had a yearly gas mask training at school. It was mandatory, so that we would know what to do in case some capitalist ‘pig’ decides to use the mushroom cloud on us. I don’t remember about it much since I was still kind of young (and my memory is terrible). I do have a vision in my head of putting those weird things on and then walking in the school hallways, feeling like a fool (especially if some cute boy walked right by). Since my story is not that interesting I called on to my Czech friends to help me write these memoirs . This is what they remember about those weird days:

CZ: Moje kamaradka Pavla mi nedavno poradila, abych napsala memoar o tom, jak jsme ve skole cvicili s plynovymi maskami (nebo-li tzv. branne cviceni). Nebyly to proste blaznive casy, kdyz si na to ted vzpomenete? Ja si toho z te doby moc nepamatuju (jenom to, ze jsme ten den tise chodily s dlouhymi choboty po chodbach nasi skoly), ale par mych kamaradek si toho vybavuje vic. Posudte sami – je to fakt zabava:

1. ‘Well, I don’t remember too much just that we had a gas-mask exercise once a year. The teachers handed us our masks which we had to wash with alcohol as a type of disinfection before we put them on. Of course, everyone had to have his own personal mask, which was fitted specifically for his skull. Before the correct mask was chosen for us, our face was measured with a specific measuring tool which kind of looked like pliers. (more…)

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Karel, also known as the Bouncing Czech has finished another one of his delicious stories! This time he reminisces about the ‘abundance’ of Czech restaurants in Hollywood in the past…and about this crazy guy named Boruvka (Blueberry) ;o). You can read the whole story here.

Karel (take znamy pod jmenem Bouncing Czech) dopsal dalsi ze svych vrcholnych del, tentokrat se v pribehu zabyva ceskymi restauracemi v Hollywoodu….a taky nam predstavi ceskeho typka jmenem Boruvka ;0) Povidku si muzete precist zde.

MaryLena is a very lovely lady who agreed to share one of her emails she wrote to me in the past. She and her husband are a die-hard travelers who have traveled all over the world, including the Czech Republic. Many years ago her family was also kind enough to host an exchange student from Japan who has become like a son to them. Here is one of her wonderful stories about Akira’ culture shock with America. Since it is about hugging – and most Czechs would much rather shake hands – I thought I would share it with you:
CZ: MaryLena je jedna fanjova pani, ktera s manzelem procestovala cely svet, vcetne Ceske republiky. Dovolila mi, abych jeden z jejich emailu (adresovanych mne) publikovla, protoze se mi opravdu moc libil. Zabyva se totiz tematem kulturniho soku a to objimani (misto potrasani si rukami), tedy neco na co vetsina Cechu neni moc zvykla:

Dear Tanya,
I have one funny story I will share with you which was the real beginning of our awakening to cultural differences.
Our oldest son brought home his college roommate “for dinner”. During the course of the evening, he explained that Akira’s family would have to restrict their funding of his education to address some health issues of his father. (Both Akira’s parents were children in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped. Both were left with lifelong injuries to their internal systems and Akira’s daughter has a mutation to one kidney which we believe goes back to her grandparents’ early exposure to radiation.)
Our son suggested if Akira could live with a family, work parttime, and attend a community college instead of continuing in a residential private college, he would have a better chance of finishing his education before the funds ran out. We agreed and he stayed three years. (more…)