Czech Update

People speaking Czech on YouTube 1: 10 Survival Phrases

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:01:29 -0400

Sometime ago I started a theme of Czech music on YouTube but never followed up on it. Here's an extension of it: People speaking Czech on YouTube. There are lots of people speaking Czech on YouYube, sometimes the clips are funny, sometimes interesting and informative, and sometimes obscene. The first example is a run down of top 10 phrases from travellinguist.

Strčprstskrzkrk.com launches

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:42:08 -0400

I've owned the StrčPrstSkrzKrk.com domain for a year but only now did I find a few minutes to make it live. All it contains is a video of me pronouncing the phrase. But with any luck, I will be adding more Czech tongue-twisters there, as time goes on. read more »

Google Translate now does Czech, makes for a useful phrasebook

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:59:24 -0400

Google Translate is mainly a source of merriment when funny mistranslations occur as they do on almost any text. But if it's all you have to get the gist of a page, it is (marginally better than nothing). And now, you can get Google translate for Czech (and many other related languages). read more »

Expand your vocabulary with this online gadget!

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:22:56 -0500

I just got an early look at a great new gadget by the good people at Learnit Lists! It helps you practice 10 new words every day by putting it on your iGoogle page or in one of your social networks. read more »

Fables and Understories: Čapek on the Web

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:46:17 -0500

Andrew Malcovsky, the self-described 'Slavicist on spec' (I wonder if this is a conscious bilingual pun for špek) found a great new way to exploit the medium of the blog. For translating Karel Čapek's famous whimsical short pieces Bajky a podpovídky (as Fables and understories). It's certainly a great services to the student of Czech culture. read more »

Czech inventor of the 'drunk tank' dies aged 91

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:07:26 -0500

Záchytka is a wonderful Czech word that stands for the institution for the collection of drunken (and possibly disorderly) individual wondering city streets occasionally referred to in English as 'drunk tank' or ' read more »

Play Czech geography game on Facebook and win PDF of Czech grammar

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:43:31 -0500

Czech 'uzeniny' in branding battles

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:23:48 -0400

Uzeniny is a great Czech word covering all kinds of saussage-like products and uzenář is the purveyor or producer of such meat products (you will often see 'maso a uzeniny' on Czech butchers' store fronts or supermarket sections). read more »

Free pocket guide to Czech language

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:05:49 -0400

Single-serving.com has come up with an easy to print and fold PDF brochure covering most of the basic phrases a tourist coming to the Czech Republic may want. The format makes it easy to carry in your pocket.

Learn Czech web navigation with Aktuálně

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:50:28 -0400

This nascent Czech news service has finally introduced an RSS feed but even more importantly it provides its non-Czech speaking users with a handy little glossary for understanding the Czech navigation on their site. Perhaps the most important: read more »

Burčák came early this year

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:02:13 -0400

Burčák the young wine (stum) popular in the Czech lands in the early autumn came earlier this year appearing in early August. Burčák sales in Prague kiosks around September and October is one of the joys of the Czech 'babí léto' and reminds Bohemians to remember how good it is to have Moravians part of the nation.
read more »

Czech is ...

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:37:01 -0400

If you want to know what Czech and other languages are like, read some of the humorous entries on the Essentialist Explanations page. They may not all be accurate but they are mostly funny. read more »

100 Years of Czech Teaching in Nebraska

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 07:20:47 -0400

Here's a nice bit of news. Apparently people were learning Czech as long ago as 1907.

U.S. University of Nebraska celebrates 100 years of Czech lessons - Czech republic read more »

The gender expectation and death

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:09:10 -0400

An interesting headline appeared in today's Mladá Fronta. Zemřel nejstarší člověk světa, 114letá Japonka - iDNES.cz (lit. The world's oldest person [man] died: 114-year old Japanese woman). This is an interesting example of how the strict gender assignment of all nouns can cause problems. read more »

More Czechs happy with public services

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 11:08:45 -0400

A new survey suggests that more (if still not most) Czechs find improvements in government-provided services. They are more responsive to people's needs but still frequently slow. This is a frequent topic of conversation and the word "úředník" means so much more than "public servant".
read more »

Hyponyms and hyperonyms

Melvyn Clarke — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:16:28 -0400

One of the differences I find between Czech and English in the lexical sphere is that of the greater or lesser degree of specificity used in referring to certain objects, i.e. the use of hyponyms and hyperonyms. read more »

Post-position adjectives

Melvyn Clarke — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:14:33 -0400

The position of an adjective before or after a noun can occasionally change its entire meaning in English. As you drive into Prague, why do the numerous roadside hoardings offering "free rooms" strike you as not quite right? Because an adjective before a noun can denote a permanent state and after a noun a temporary state. In this read more »

Overuse of Participle Forms

Melvyn Clarke — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:01:41 -0400

English often prefers prepositional phrases to straight participles.

It is being reconstructed - it is under reconstruction
The observed team - the team under observation

The considered design - the design in question
The disputed matter - the matter in dispute read more »

Possessive Pronouns

Melvyn Clarke — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:35:07 -0400

There are many cases where a possessive pronoun needs to be recast in some other form, particularly where it acts as direct object of a verb:

Tento výčet deseti doporučení není jistě vyčerpávající, ale jejich důsledné uplatnění vždy výrazně změnilo průběh a především výsledky pravidelných porad sledovaných manažerských týmů. read more »

Hollywood Rains Puns on Czech

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:53:09 -0400

Jossip Brad And Angie Take A Rain Czech Ditch Boring Senators In Favor Of Glam Hollywood Film July 12th, 2007 » 2 Comments angelina-jolie-pensivemic.JPG According to Us Weekly, Angelina Jolie hasn’t exactly been living up to her (honorary) title as U.N. Ambassador. Reportedly, the pro-adoption humanitarian recently left the Czech senate hanging, canceling a planned get-together in Prague in order to wrap up shooting her latest film, Wanted.

Prague ham to return to Prague

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 06:12:11 -0500

Pražská šunka se vrací - iDNES.cz Kdo neví, jak chutná tradiční Pražská šunka od kosti, ať si koupí letenku. Ochutnat ji může v italském Terstu, v Berlíně, ve Spojených státech nebo i v Austrálii. V Česku zatím ne.

Is vepřoknedlozélo in danger?

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:23:26 -0500

Pig Progress | News | Page content | Pig breeding down in Czech Republic
Pig breeders are annually winding down activities in the Czech Republic. In the last five years, pig stocks have decreased by 600,000 to 2,840,000, says the Czech Statistical Office (CSU). read more »

The Masopust season: Pork killing and eating time

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 05:30:39 -0500

MF DNES Praha - Pravé zabijačkové hody, ale hlavně karnevalové masky a spousta zábavy. Tak vypadal čtvrtý ročník Karlínského masopustu, který odstartoval v sobotu v jednu hodinu po poledni.

The time of Masopust, or the pre-lent carnival, (literally, the meat fast, a translation of the carni-val) has come upon us which means a lot of pig slaughtering festivities (zabijačky [lit. killing times]). Of course, the atheist Czechs will go on eating meat all the way through Lent. The Czech Wikipedia lists some of the foods you might take away (výslužka) from a killing time: read more »

Improve your Czech with Windows Vista Ultimate

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 02:55:30 -0500

Windows Vista a lokalizační balíčky | Windows Vista Blog
Pokud si uživatel koupí anglickou kopii Windows Vista Ultimate, může do ní nainstalovat libovolné množství jazykových balíčků - mezi nimi i češtinu, která bude k dispozici pravděpodobně 1. března.

One of the best ways to learn a language is to practice it in an environment where you need it to do something specific. Such as, navigate a piece of software. Well, it appears that you can do that if you get the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista. read more »

Nohejbal - A Czech sporting invention

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:57:44 -0500

MF DNES Příští sobotu se ve sportovní hale v objektu 1. základní školy ve Staré Boleslavi uskuteční první ročník nohejbalového turnaje trojic o putovní pohár starosty města – Ondřeje Přenosila. read more »

Vysvědčení dnes - School reports today

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 05:24:29 -0500

MF DNES Praha - Téměř osmdesát tisíc dětí ze základních škol a více než sedmdesát tisíc středoškoláků si dnes odnese domů pololetní vysvědčení. „V letošním školním roce máme v Praze evidováno 75 566 žáků základních škol, 4047 žáků speciálních tříd a 70 440 studentů středních škol,“ vypočítává vedoucí oddělení školského rejstříku a výkaznictví pražského magistrátu Karel Krupka.

Today is the day of so called "pololetní vysvědčení" - or the end of term ('pololetí') school report. read more »

Czech ministry of education to sponsor students of Czech

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:09:49 -0500

Every year the Czech ministry of education sponsors a certain number of foreigners to study Czech in the Czech Republic for up to a month. See the enclosed document (in Czech) for details on how to apply. Submissions are due by February 18.

More women politicians in Prague (and rest o CR)

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 12:15:04 -0500

Političek v Praze přibývá - www.lidovky.cz PRAHA 10. ledna 2007 | 14:54 Karlovy Vary, Zlín, Havířov, Chomutov. Tam všude sedí v primátorském křesle ženy. Praha zatím nikdy svou primátorku neměla. Podle stoupajícího počtu žen v zastupitelstvu i podle přání veřejnosti se ale možná hlavní město v nedaleké budoucnosti své ženy v čele dočká.

Four important Czech municipalities (two in Bohemia and two in Moravia) are headed by a woman holding the post of primátor (mayor) or in their case primátorka. And there is a good chance that in the future Prague could join them. read more »

Cultural impact of change in Czech TV news schedule

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:32:31 -0500

Change in Czech TV main news time benefits Nova - 10-01-2007 - Radio Prague Many Czechs catch their television news in the early evening, between 7 and 8 o'clock. But which particular news programmes they choose to watch has changed somewhat since the New Year, when Czech Television brought its main evening news forward by 15 minutes. The change also affects hundreds of thousands of Czech children, as a popular animated programme also starts earlier.

It is interesting, if not surprising, how important TV schedules are for the cultural patterns of a nation. For Czech, culturally particularly important time is between 7 and 8 pm which is a transition between children's time and adult time. Children watch their 10-minute evening story - Večerníček, and then adults watch the news (boring for children) and than at 8 pm the main adult (as in not for children, not pornographic) programming starts when children go to bed. So a change of even as little as 15 minutes can have quite an impact on individuals' lives. Particularly when it comes down to the institution of Večerníček (so important it even has its own Wikipedia entry): read more »

„Estébák“ forced to return honor

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:00:40 -0500

„Estébák“ musí vrátit medaili, rozhodla Akademie - iDNES.cz
Akademie věd vymazala jméno teologa Františka Jindřicha Holečka ze seznamu osobností, které získaly medaili profesora Jana Patočky.

Even though Charter 77 commands much less respect today than it did 15 years ago, some subjects are still sore. A theologian F. J. Holeček was asked today to return a medal awarded to him 2000 for achievements in theology and the study of Jan Hus. Unfortunately, it appears (the facts are as usual a little fuzzy) that he cooperated with StB (Státní bezpečnost - State police) in the early 1980s. And given that the award bears the name of Jan Patočka (a philosopher, the first signatory of the Charter, and the first victim of the subsequent prosecution) Holeček was asked to return it. This is still a sore subject for many Czechs and although revelations of somebody's communist past are not as common as they were not long ago, they still crop up at least once every few months. read more »

More than half of Czechs willing to move for work

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:24:33 -0500

Téměř polovina Čechů je ochotna odejít za prací - iDNES.cz
Češi jsou již ochotnější stěhovat se za prací. Z výzkumu, který provedla Hypoteční banka, vyplývá, že téměř každý druhý v tom nevidí velký problém. Lidí, které by výhodná pracovní nabídka přiměla sbalit kufry a odstěhovat se, je dokonce více než těch, kteří si to nedovedou představit.

"Je lepší dvakrát vyhořet než se jednou stěhovat" (It is better to have your house burn down twice than to have to move once.) goes a Czech saying. read more »

More Czech beer in the US

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 04:49:08 -0500

KOMO-TV - Seattle, Washington - Business - Anheuser-Busch, Czech brewer strike deal
Anheuser-Busch Cos. announced a deal Monday to distribute a beer brewed by Budejovicky Budvar. Both companies stand to benefit from the deal. But they also say it won't end their century-old legal fight over the Budweiser trademark.

The companies both claim exclusive rights to use the Budweiser name, and their trademark dispute has tied up courts throughout Europe.

But even as the lawyers battle it out, the two brewers will share common ground in pushing Budvar's Czechvar Premium Czech Lager to nationwide distribution in the United States. read more »

With the right motivation Czech is a piece of koláč

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 05:11:18 -0500

Czech isn’t as impossible to learn as it seems It’s true that Czech isn’t the easiest language, but it isn’t as difficult or as complicated as most people think. Moreover, if you can manage even a little Czech, it can help you in work, social situations or simply going through the daily routine of shopping. ... It’s not only asylum seekers who are interested in studying Czech, there are students from all social levels. It isn’t possible to generalize about the age of students, because there is a very wide range. The reasons for learning Czech are varied, the most common are: work reasons, as employer or employee; preparation for study at Czech colleges or universities; and family reasons such as returning children of Czech emigrants or a Czech partner. read more »

Czech negative self-images - "čecháčkovství"

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:50:59 -0500

Schwarzenberg a Klausovo čecháčkovství - www.lidovky.cz
Samozřejmě, že by byl schopen, kdyby chtěl. Avšak o smyslu Klausova výroku vypovídá jeho pokračování: „Každý člověk (...) se na to díval s pootevřenou pusou. Myslím, že to je všeobecný názor v této zemi, žádné specifikum Václava Klause.“ Kdo je ten „každý člověk“, který vyjadřuje „všeobecný názor v této zemi“? To je přece známý činitel českých dějin, pro kterého literární historik Václav Černý vymyslel název „Čecháček“: Ten, kdo se umí vždy včas přikrčit a včas kopnout do holeně a včas podat přihlášku do správné strany; kdo poměřuje své „my“, „my, kdo jsme Češi“, svojí „žabí perspektivou“ - do které se mu nevejde nikdo, kdo ji jakýmkoliv směrem překračuje: ani šlechtici, ani Němci, ani Židé, ani Cikáni, ani kněží, ani homosexuálové, ani disidenti. „Čecháček“ je rub české národní povahy, nad kterým zoufají národní buditelé - ale kterého umějí geniálně využívat demagogové. read more »

Koledy: The sounds of Christmas

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 08:37:02 -0500

Tradice koled pochází ze středověku - www.lidovky.cz
V dnešní době jsou koledy synonymem pro vánoční písně. Ve středověku tomu tak nebylo.

Koledy (Carols) are as indispensable for a Czech Christmas as carp and Christmas trees. In fact, they have a long history, going all the way to +šth century. Originally, they were associated with small gifts from householders to roving singers (trick-or-treat - Czech verb: koledovat) and were not limited just to Christmas. Now, they can be heard in homes around the country, they come on radio and appear in shopping malls and elevators. read more »

Changing Czech tastebuds find fresh fish (plus some meat stats)

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:31:38 -0500

Češi přišli na chuť čerstvým rybám na úkor mražených - iDNES.cz
V České republice podle obchodníků v posledních letech roste obliba čerstvých chlazených ryb, které z nákupních košíků postupně vytlačují ryby mrazené. Češi jsou sice v EU stále značně podprůměrní jedlíci ryb, při výběru ale čím dál častěji sahají i po exotických druzích ryb a mořských živočichů.

Czechs are far below the EU average when it comes to eating fish, other than the Christmas carp but a recent report shows that for the fish they eat, they are more and more reaching for fresh chilled fish rather than frozen fillets. read more »

Svátky: The holiday season

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:03:13 -0500

MF DNES To, že jsou Vánoce již za dveřmi, lze poznat z nabídky a výzdoby obchodních domů a od čtvrtka je bude připomínat i výzdoba v ulicích Prahy 8.

The holiday season is upon us, around the corner, or behind the door (za dveřmi). More and more Christmas trees are showing up in the streets of Czech cities and soon they will be joined by tubs with carp. But first, we will have to celebrate St Nicholas on Mikuláš day (5. of December). Last year I put together a Christmas vocabulary, and here are the key words for the season again: read more »

Czech Republic - Home of the Free Antivirus

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:04:19 -0500

I never really thought about it until recently when I needed to replace my antivirus software (getting rid of the bloatware that is McAffee and Symantec's Norton) but three of the major players on the global antivirus scene come from the Czech Republic. And two of them offer free versions (meaning that the freeware antivirus all comes from Central Europe - the only other contender is Antivir from Germany). They are: read more »

Czech is a luxury language but NOT difficult

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:06:51 -0500

CZECH IS EASY - when you find a patient teacher.
"Czech is the Rolls Royce of the Slavonic Languages" (Terje B. Englund)

I discovered this today on a Czech teacher's website and it made me wonder what the motivation for such a statement might be. The full quote goes like this:

Czech is the Rolls Royce of the Slavonic languages, and a star player in the Indo-European linguistic league. Czech is so rich, precise and, unfortunately, also complicated that a foreigner trying to learn the language may be driven to suicide. Either because he or she never manages to learn it, or because of the utter depression that follows when the foreigner realizes how primitive his or her own mother tongue is. (Full text on Expats.cz)

Although, I completely disagree with the assertion that Czech is a difficult language, the full article is worth reading because it provides an interesting overview of the highlights of Czech's history.

Let me conclude with a counterquote of my own:

Czech is not a difficult language. It is just difficult to learn it.

28. říjen - October 28 - Day of many memories

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 20:41:50 -0400

28. říjen - Wikipedie, otevřená encyklopedie
# Státní svátek: Den vzniku samostatného československého státu
# Socialistický kalendář:

* Vyhlášení samostatnosti Čechů a Slováků (1918)
* Den znárodnění (1945) – významný den Československé socialistické republiky
* Schválení zákona o československé federaci (1968)

As this short extract from Czech Wikipedia shows, the 28th of October has played a significant role in recent Czech history. These days it is a státní svátek - meaning a day off work (unless it falls on a weekend) - in memory of the 1918 founding of Czechoslovakia (dissolved in 1939 and then again in 1993) and gaining independence of the crumbling Austrian Hungarian Empire (perceived partly as German). read more »

Another survey of individual professions' prestige

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 07:01:22 -0400

Medical profession most prestigious in Czech Republic - Prague Daily Monitor
Doctor's [lékaři] gained an average of 89.5 points, followed by scientists [vědci] with 80.7 points and university teachers [univerzitní učitelé] with 78.5 percent.
...
The professions of elementary school teachers [učitelky na základních školách], programmers [programátoři], designers [designéři], judges [soudci], private farmers [drobní zemědělci], managers [manažeři], mayors [starostové], professional sportsmen [profesionální sportovci], accountants [účetní] and journalists [novináři] figure in the first half of the standings. read more »

'živnostník' shoulders Czech economy

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:57:54 -0400

Czech economy depends on self-employed, small firms - Prague Daily Monitor
Brussels, Oct 16 (CTK) - No other EU economy is more heavily affected by the self-employed and small companies than the Czech Republic, according to data from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.

There is a nice Czech word for the self-employed/home business: živnostník i.e. someone who runs a živnost which in means small business but evokes a subsistence connotation - since it is derived from the Czech word for life život. read more »

Nuselák to Bohnice: Third time very unlucky

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:08:32 -0400

Tři sebevrahy záchranáři přemluvili, čtvrtý skočil - iDNES.cz Po skoku z Nuselského mostu zemřel večer v Praze 21letý mladík. Záchranáři dnes na mostě nezasahovali poprvé. Během dne rozmluvili sebevraždu třem mužům, kteří chtěli skokem o hlubiny ukončit svůj život.

This very sad story has some interesting language. Three times in one day did the emergency services have to drive out to "Nuselák" or "Nusle bridge" famous as the Prague suicide spot (so famous, in fact, that there is a bar called "U skokana" (The Jumper) in one of the streets below it. They were able to talk the first two out of taking their life and took them to "Bohnice" a psychiatric hospital near Prague. The last person, unfortunately, did jump and kill himself. The phrase that could be related to this is: "Mě snad odvezou do Bohnic" meaning "I am going to go crazy" (lit. they're probably going to take me away to Bohnice).

Foreign languages spoken in the Czech Republic

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 11:12:23 -0400

One Country, One Language - Worldpress.org Following the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989, Russian was abolished in Czechoslovakia as the first foreign language, marking a turning point in foreign language teaching. Learning a foreign language is compulsory in today's Czech schools and students learn two or three languages in secondary school.

German is the second foreign language although students can also choose French, Spanish, or Italian. In areas near the German border, however, German is even taught as a first foreign language. read more »

Czechs, bets and lotteries

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 03:23:18 -0400

Each Czech spends almost CZK 10,000 on betting yearly - Prague Daily Monitor Each Czech will spend almost CZK 10,000 on legal lottery and betting this year, up from CZK 9,000 in 2005 and CZK 6,000 in 2000. Besides, the popularity of betting on the Internet is growing, although this activity is still illegal in the Czech Republic.
...

Some 37 percent of Czechs take part in lotteries or betting, and more than half of them place a bet at least once a week. read more »

Babí léto - Indian Summer

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 18:24:17 -0400

Well, we've said nashledanou to okurková sezóna (the summer slow news season) and are about to welcome another time of year: babí léto (Indian Summer). I don't really know why it's called that but it seems to be reminiscent of bába (hag) but hag's summer sounds a little strange. Unfortunately, I don't have any etymological dictionaries to hand. This is what Czech wikipedia has to say about it:

Babí léto bývá charakterizováno obdobím suchého, málo větrného,
slunného a přes den velmi teplého počasí. Noci ale bývají již poměrně read more »

Czechs like to eat what's not good for them

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 06:51:11 -0400

Co Čechům chutná, to je vlastně i ničí - iDNES.cz

Na čem si Češi nejvíce pochutnají? Jednoznačně na mase, salámech a
uzenině. Za své nejoblíbenější jídlo tyto potraviny označilo 52 procent
dotázaných v novém průzkumu agentury Focus. ... "Mnoho lidí používá jako doplněk k pečivu zásadně uzeninu. Na otázku, co si dají ráno k snídani k housce, většina odpovídá, že samozřejmě salám," popisuje obezitolog Petr Sucharda, který lidem s nadváhou pomáhá změnit jídelníček. Učí je, že oblíbené salámy mohou nahradit mléčnými výrobky nebo právě zavrhovanou zeleninou.Salámy a uzeninu preferují spíše muži – 70 procent z nich je označilo za své oblíbené jídlo. Ženy mají raději mléčné výrobky a ovoce. Dvakrát více mužů než žen má rádo pizzu, hranolky a hamburgry. Ženy naopak tíhnou k vegetariánské stravě. read more »

New Czech textbook

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:51:12 -0400

Czech Express is a fast Czech language course aimed at students of all nationalities encountering Czech for the first time. It serves as a practical gateway to the language and forms a solid foundation for further study, while at the same time is also completely appropriate for those whose aspirations stretch to “survival level” Czech. Czech Step By Step

A new textbook from the author of Czech Step By Step. This one for people who want to learn basic conversational phrases quickly. I haven't seen it but will post a review when I do. read more »

Czechs don't shop for fun

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:45:48 -0400

Pro zábavu nakupují tři čtvrtiny lidí, Češi zřídka - iDNES.cz Podle výzkumu agentury ACNielsen chodí občas nakupovat pro zábavu tři čtvrtiny spotřebitelů ve světě - s výjimkou Čechů. Češi kralují úplně opačnému žebříčku. Nakupují převážně z nutnosti. Že by alespoň někdy zašli do obchodu pro potěšení, připustila jen zhruba polovina dotázaných.

Acording to ACNielsen three quarters of the world's population like to shop for fun. Czechs, of the 42 countries surveyed, are least likely to engage in "recreational shopping". In this they are similar to other European countries.

For instance, there is no word for window-shopping. Even some aspects of the word to shop are missing in Czech. nakupovat means to shop but only if buying is the purpose. Partly because the word koupit (to buy) is a part of it.

Here is the exact quote from AC Nielsen press release:

Despite the high concentration of recreational shoppers in Asia-Pacific, the trend is flourishing all
over the globe. In each of the 42 markets surveyed by ACNielsen, the majority of consumers shop just for something to do. Seventy-three percent of Latin Americans and 68 percent of Europeans are recreational shoppers, with 48 percent of Latin Americans going shopping for fun once a month or more—beaten only by consumers in Asia-Pacific, where 55 percent do it once a month or more.

European consumers were least likely to be recreational shoppers, and nine of the top ten countries for “never” shopping unless it’s necessary are in Europe. Czechs are the least likely to be recreational shoppers, with nearly 50 percent of respondents saying they never shop for entertainment. This is followed by Austrians (44%), Hungarians (43%), Portuguese (42%), Spaniards (41%), Danes (36%), Norwegians and Poles (tied at 35%), and Britons (tied with Brazilians at 34%).

Prague Taxis Expensive for Našinci

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 04:16:03 -0400

MF DNES

Pokud
by našinec vložil celý svůj plat do rukou taxikáře, jezdil by s ním po
Praze rovných 762 kilometrů, tedy při průměrné rychlosti 50 kilometrů v
hodině asi 15 hodin. Pokud by to samé udělal Berlíňan, musel by si na
jízdu vyhradit celé dva dny - a ještě by to nestačilo. Na místě
spolujezdce by si totiž poseděl více než 54 hodin, za něž by najel
rovných 2730 kilometrů. V Bruselu by ujel 2070 a třeba v Paříži 1864.

An interesting way to compare Taxi prices across Europe. If a Prague resident took his or her entire monthly salary, he or she could ride in a taxi for about 15 hours (762 km). This is less than a half compared to Brussels and Paris and less than a third when compared to Berlin with 54 hours (or 2730 km).

Useful words:

našinec = opposed to cizinec (foreigner) - derived from the word náš (ours)
Berlíňan = Berliner