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 »

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 »

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

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 »

Related Language and Culture: 

The noun in translation: A Czech-English contrastive study (Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philologica. Monographia)

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.

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 »

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 »

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.

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 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.

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 »

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).

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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 »

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 »

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%).  read more »