culture

Czech-Americans in the 21st century: Questionnaire results – final part /Cecho-americane ve 21. stoleti: vysledky ankety (posledni cast)

Hi you guys, here is the summary essay on a current situation of the Czech-American community in the USA (if you would like to see Ivana’s more detailed report click here.)

CZ: Ahoj! tady je zbytek diplomove prace ceske studentky Ivany Stavarove, ktera popisuje nynejsi situaci Czecho-Americanu zijicich v USA (vice podrobnych udaju muzete najit zde).

The Czech-Americans of the 21st Century

by Ivana Stavarova

The 159 respondents, the Czechs, Czechoslovaks, and Czech-Americans, put together a vivid picture of the lives of Czech descendants across the sea in America. Their viewpoints differ in relation to their age, generation, the environment in which they were bought up and also their own nature as to how they approached the origin side of their identity individually. The Czech settlements in several parts of the United States are over one hundred years old, the evidence of Czech presence on the American land is hundreds of years old, yet the Czech life and Czech ways there are still very much vibrant, as we have learned from the current descendants’ answers. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: culture, Czech Americans, Slovak-Americans, statistics, tradition

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Are Czechs bad comunicators? / Umi Cesi komunikovat s okolim?

argument google imageEmily Prucha is a writer for the Prague Daily Monitor but she is also married to a Czech man. In her recent article Emily describes communication skills (or the lack of) of her Czech husband Radek. Listen to this:

CZ: Emily Pruchova je dopisovatelka pro Prague Daily Monitor a je take vdana za ceskeho muze. Ve jejim nekdejsim clanku popisuje Radkovi ‘zvlastni’ komunikacni vlastnosti – jeji postrehy jsou vskutku velmi zajimave:

‘From the beginning of our relationship, I knew that Radek and I had strikingly different temperaments. Still, it took us several years to realize that many of our arguments resulting from miscommunications had as much to do with our cultural upbringings as our individual personal traits. In many cases, some of my husband’s most admirable attributes are the ones that strike the greatest discord when we disagree. It’s highly likely, that the same goes for me. Early on in our dating days Radek and I went to a sporting goods store so I could look for new running tights. He helped me pick out a few pairs, and I went into the dressing room to try them on. When I modeled them for his approval, I was shocked and hurt when he honestly replied, “They are no good. You have short legs and the pants make your legs look even shorter.” Tearful, I fled the dressing room and the shopping trip was aborted. A few minutes later my Czech girlfriend who witnessed the scene tried to calm me down by saying Radek wasn’t trying to be insensitive, and that she understood why I was upset, but that she also understood Radek’s perspective. While there have been many times since that moment, that I have truly appreciated Radek’s directness, this was one of the times that I hated the Czech propensity for honesty.
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Tagged as: culture, Czech language, marriage

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Which american symbols were not succesful in the Czech Republic? / Ktere americke symboly se v Ceske Republice neuchytily?

drinking fountain google imageWe don’t really think about it as much anymore but it is mind-boggling how much the American culture influcenced the whole world, including the Czech Republic. Most of the the American ‘novelties’ cought up very quickly (the good ones and the bad ones) but some did not. The Czech Daily Word did a whole article on those items which did not do so well in Czech. One of them is a drinking fountain, for example (what a shame!); or the usage of checks; or…you will just have to read it (click here).

CZ: My o tom uz ani moc nepremyslime, ale Americky zpusob zivota opravdu ovlivnil cely svet a to vcetne Ceske Republiky. Vetsina Americkych ‘novinek’ se uchytila  (dobrych i spatnych) ale par  ‘cernych ovci’ se v Cechach proste neujalo. Jako napriklad fontanka na piti; nebo placeni cekem; nebo…..to si ale budete muset precist cely clanek v Czech Daily Word.

Tagged as: culture

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Czech-Americans in the 21st century: Questionnaire results – part 3 /Cecho-americane ve 21. stoleti: vysledky ankety (cast 3.)

istockphoto_2096987-toon-crowd1Hi Everyone/ Ahoj vsichni,

This is the 3rd part of Ivana’s research paper on a current situation of Czech-Americans (myself included). I found these results rather intriguing (question no. 10) and also found myself pleasantly surprised at times (question no. 11 and 12). Check it out:

PS: for part 1 click here and for part 2 click here.

CZ: Zde je treti cast Ivanina veledila zabyvajici se  situaci soucasnych Cecho-Americanu.  Jsou to opravdu velmi zajimave vysledky, zejmena otazka c. 10 a otazky c. 11 a 12 mi udelaly velkou radost. Mrkntete na to:

PS: Prvni cast najdete zde a druhou zde.

•    Question no. 10 asked about the knowledge of the Czech language among respondents (159 total). More than half, 82 answered positively, 77 acknowledged their inability to speak Czech. Out of the 82 respondents with knowledge of Czech language 31 also use it at home, 23 were relearning the language in courses. 11 respondents mentioned the way the knowledge of Czech language disappeared in their families, they all concurred in the assimilation forces and their parents desire to blend fast in the major American society from which arose the disconnection of passing the language to other generations. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: culture, Czech Americans, Slovak-Americans, statistics, traditions

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Czech-Americans in the 21st century: Questionnaire results – part 2 /Cecho-americane ve 21. stoleti: vysledky ankety (cast 2.)

istockphotoHi Everyone/Ahoj vsichni,

here is a 2nd part of Ivana Stavarova’s research essay, which describes a current situation of the Czech-American minority in the US. As she said in the first part of this article there is virtually no statistical information on this topic so it is great that she picked something like that for her thesis! Although her sample group is quite small (159 people) you can still get an idea of what we, the Czech-Americans (and partially also Slovak-Americans), are like in these days. Don’t get freaked out by those evil-looking pie charts, they just make it easier for us to see the results. I thought the results to question no. 5 were very surprising and answer no. 7 made me feel a bit like an outsider since I do not belong to any of the official Czech organizations….but wait, I belong to Czechmate diary!!! So I am safe…..

CZ: Nize je uvedena druha cast diplomove prace super ceske studentky Ivany Stavarove. Esej se zabyva soucasnou situaci  Cecho-Americanu (a zcasti take Slovako-Americanu) zijicich z USA. Jak jiz Ivana zduraznila v casti prvni, o tomto tematu neexistuji skoro zadne informace, a proto se na nej take vrhla. I kdyz celkovy pocet vyplnenych dotazniku nebyl az tak obrovsky (159 lidi), stale vam to da dobry obecny prehled, jak to s nami vubec vypada. Odpoved k otazce c. 5 me dosti zaskocila a diky odpovedi na c. 7 jsem se citila chvilku trosku menecenne, protoze k zadne oficialni organizaci nepatrim; ale pak jsem si vzpomela na Czechmate Diary a oddychla jsem si :0)) Jo, a nebojte se tech grafu, ty vam zivot jenom ulehci – uvidite!



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Tagged as: culture, Czech Americans, Slovak-Americans, statistics, tradtions

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Czechs and their eating habits / Cesi a jejich zvyky u jidelniho stolu

table manners google imageOK, so I put together some thoughts about Czechs and their eating habits. Again, I have not lived in Czech for 10 years so these observations may have changed.

The negatives:

1. We  eat really fast; I don’t know if it is still some kind of an after-war, post-communist complex, like someone is out to get us so we better eat EVERYTHING (calories to running) and FAST (to have time to escape). My husband always has to remind me to slow down with my food as I am always the first one to finish my plate.

2. We don’t eat much vegetables. I don’t know how about you, but when I was growing up we did not eat salads. Yes we ate a lot of fruit (mostly just apples and pears – the cheap stuff) but salads were not our thing. The only time I would be in a direct contact with vegetables is when the school cafeteria slapped a runny mush of overcooked spinach or steamed cauliflower  on my plate. Occasionally I would get a bowl of fresh radishes or a big sick of carrot to crunch on – but that’s about it. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: culture, food, humor

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Czech-Americans in the 21st century: Questionnaire results – part 1 /Cecho-americane ve 21. stoleti: vysledky ankety (cast 1.)

google imageRemember, when you guys were filling out a Ivana’s questionnaire in order for her to complete her Master’s thesis on Czech-Americans? Well, the results are here! Ivana did a great job and since it is quite a long and meaty essay I cut it up into parts (I did not want our brains to explode):

CZ: Pamatujete is lidicky, jak jste pred nedavnem vyplnovali Ivanin dotaznik? Iva ho totiz potrebovala k dokonceni sve diplomky, zabivajici se tematem dnesich Cecho-Americanu. Moc se ji  esej povedla, ale jelikoz je to kusanec poradne prace, rozdelila jsem to na casti, aby se nam z tech informaci neprevarily mozky:

21st century – the Czech-Americans questionnaire survey

by Ivana Stavarova

Following the time line this chapter describes the lives of Czech-Americans in the 21st century. There are very little sources concentrating on this particular group of people now when borders are open and there does not exist any severe political, religious or social pressures that stand as push factors, especially any factors serious enough to push the citizens of an independent, free, and relatively prosperous Czech Republic to move to the USA and seek better lives there. [click to continue…]

Tagged as: culture, Czech Americans, Slovak-Americans, statistics, traditions

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Czech Republic – the cultural superpower / Ceska republika – kulturni velmoc

EU2009.cz imageWhether the other European countries like it or not the current King of Europe – the  Czech Republic -  is about to smother them with the Czech culture in the upcoming months. Don’t believe me? As of now the Czech government has planned about 700 events (art exhibitions, movies, theatrical plays, concerts..) which will be held in Czech as well as other 90 countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was given about $60 million Czech crowns to make all this happen so the world should be expecting some big things! The Czech vice-premier, Alexandr Vondra, “humbly” noted to the Lidove Noviny reporter the other day: ” The Czech Republic has a reputation of a cultural superpower.  The EU presidency gives us an excellent opportunity to expand upon this common knowledge”. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: culture, EU

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Jamie’s story: Reverse culture shock (part 2) / Jamesovy zazitky: culturni sok vzhuru nohama (cast 2.)

cartoon_monkey google imageHi everyone/ Ahojte vsichni,

here is the second part of Jamie’s experiences when he came back to the US. As I said in the first part of this post, Jamie is an American who spend many years working in the Czech Republic. When he came back to the US he experienced so-called “Reverse culture shock”. Here are the last tasty pieces of his insightful observations:

CZ: Tady je druha cast Jamesovych zazitku po navratu do Spojenych Statu. Jak jsem jiz vysvetlila v prvni casti teto story, James pracoval nekolik let v Cechach jako ucitel a kdyz se vratil do Ameriky, zakusil tzv. “kulturni sok vzuru nohama”. Tak si vychutnejte jeho posledni postrehy:

– I would fret over a $1.00 purchase, even if I needed the item and
it was a good deal. My sense of proportion between price versus
income was distorted by the lower prices and salaries in the CR, so I
thought of all the things I could buy (but in reality couldn’t) with
the dollar I was spending on a package of pens. I thought in terms of
a dollar (35 crowns at the time) buying me a haircut and a few
groceries, when all I was getting in the US was a few Bic pens. When
I paid $3.50 for a burger and fries at a fast food chain, I felt like
I should be getting an elegant meal for the price. It was a gut
feeling that didn’t take into account the difference between my $2,000
Czech salary and my $40,000 American one. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: culture, humor

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Jamie’s story: reverse culture shock (part 1)/ Jamesovy zazitky: kulturni sok vzhuru nohama (cast 1.)

cartoon_monkey google imageWe have here yet another great writer/contributor to this blog, Jamie,  who sees the Czech culture from the “outside”. Jamie is an American who has spend quite some time working in the Czech Republic so needless to say, he knows us, the Czechs, through and through. He describes here a “reverse culture shock” which he suffered with once he returned to the US. Listen to what he says – it’s hillarious:

CZ: Tak tu mame dalsiho nadaneho spisovatele, ktery pospisuje ceskou kulturu z vnejsiho vzhledu. Jamie je American, ktery pracoval dost dlouhou dobu v Cechach, coz znamena ze ten nas cesky narod  zna skrz na skrz. Popisuje zde  tzv. “obraceny kulutrni sok”, kterym trpel po navratu do Statu. Posudte sami – jeho vypraveni je dosti vtipne:

A lot of culture shock is caused when someone goes to a new place and
finds his ordinary habits of behavior — and even of seeing — are
dysfunctional there. Reverse culture shock is even worse, because the
person develops new habits in order to function in the new culture but
doesn’t realize he’s changed. He goes back home expecting to fit
right in, but he doesn’t. [click to continue…]

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Tagged as: culture, Czechmatediary readers, humor

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