Czech Update

Expand your vocabulary with this online gadget!

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:22:56 +0000

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 »

Czechs succumb to blogging craze (says Jyxo)

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:11:39 +0000

According to Czech Google-wannabe's press release blogging has become the next big thing on Czech Internet. One of the indication is that Blog.cz has become one of the top 10 Czech websites with 2 million unique visitors a month. 60% of Czech bloggers are under 30, most are employed and more than half visit their blog more than 20 days a month. read more »

Free pocket guide to Czech language

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:05:49 +0100

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 10:50:28 +0100

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 »

Czech news in English from a Czech online paper

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:44:39 +0100

Pavel Vondra » Yes, we speak English here Another milestone in Czech online journalism, or a tragically miscalculated flop? You be the judge. read more »

Czech opera on YouTube

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:20:02 +0100

YouTube is known mostly for funny little clips or stolen content. But it is also a great resource for music. One thing I came across by accident are a number of clips from Czech opera. This one is a famous and beautiful aria from Dvořák's Rusalka. It is sung in Czech by the American soprano Renée Fleming. read more »

Foreign investment in the Czech Republic

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:45:00 +0000

Europe : Foreign Direct Investment in the Czech Republic: A Challenge for Domestic Firms An economic analysis concerning Foreign Direct Investment in the Czech Republic has been published by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs The Czech Republic has been one of the primary recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) among Central and Eastern European countries. Soon after transition, it attracted the attention of foreign investors based on sound economic fundamentals and the opportunities offered by early privatizations. Substantial foreign investment over a fifteen year period has profoundly affected the structure and performance of the economy. This country focus looks at the way in which foreign investment has influenced productivity and market dynamics, including intra and inter-industry spillovers, and the expansion of the economy as a whole.

Improve your Czech with Windows Vista Ultimate

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 07:55:30 +0000

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 »

Charter 77 - 30 years on legacy questioned but unavoidable

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:23:40 +0000

Czech press survey Prague- Not much has be left of the Charter 77 human rights movement that was launched 30 years ago, Bob Fliedr writes in Lidove noviny today, and adds that only few signatories have succeeded in politics. The group, headed by later president Vaclav Havel, who took over power in late 1989, has practically disappeared from public life, he says. The few Charter signatories who have succeeded in politics. "were not much good in team work in managing public affairs, the less so in the power struggle," Fliedr writes.

Czech 'YouTube' to come out of Beta with Gynecology 2

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 12:15:23 +0000

Český „YouTube“ nabízí seriál od Čtvrtníčka - iDNES.cz Na začátku příštího roku se má oficiálně rozjet český server, který nabídne podobné služby jako populární YouTube. Vedle možnosti zveřejnit zde svá videa se případní uživatelé mohou těšit i na původní tvorbu. Svá videa zde mají podle plánu vydávat studenti filmových škol, místo bude i na zprávy či reportáže.

New Year will bring a new online service to the Czech internet to challenge YouTube called Stream.cz. And to draw new audiences it starts with an original show called Gynekologie 2 (Ob-gyn 2) which is a very funny parody of medical dramas with only slightly lascivious content. Stream.cz differs from YouTube in several important respects: it features (at least for now) very professional-looking content created for the site by film students, the quality of transmission is high, live content is planned (mostly transmissions from night clubs), concert footage, news, etc. Not all the videos require Czech, such as this short film on Brutal Ping Pong or this animated gruesome take on What was left out of fairytales. read more »

Christmas Trees in Public Spaces: Images

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 18:40:03 +0000

OBRAZEM: Vánoční stromy z Čech, Moravy a Slezska - iDNES.cz Na mnoha náměstích v Česku už řadu dní stojí vánoční stromy, tradiční symbol křesťanských oslav narození Ježíše Krista.

MF Dnes published an interesting gallery of images of Christmas trees in public spaces. Here's one:

Koledy: The sounds of Christmas

Dominik Lukeš — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 13:37:02 +0000

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 »

A Czech Christmas dinner in Texas

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 11:18:03 +0000

A Czech Christmas: fish soup, potato salad and False Snails | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle Everywhere in the Czech Republic, people enjoy the same menu on Christmas Eve: appetizers, fish soup, fried fish, potato salad, Christmas bread, Christmas cookies and apple strudel. By tradition, the fish is Czech carp, which is prized all over Europe but difficult to find here. In Marcella and Tomas Klima's family, the appetizer on Christmas Eve is always False Snails. These recipes come from Czech Family Cookbook - Cooking With the Klimas.

Dumpling News Weekly - Czechs in America

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:46:46 +0000

Internet newsletter offers Czech-American news, hard-to-find products - 12-12-2006 - Radio Prague Numerous newspapers and magazines serve the Czech community in the United States, from "nationwide" publications such as Americke listy to regional titles like Czech Nebraska. There are also several internet websites and email newsletters, such as the weekly Dumpling News; it is produced by Zora Pergl, a woman of Czech descent based in Florida. I asked her how Dumpling News has been received since its launch in April last year.

Santa vs. Ježíšek - The fight is on

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:19:03 +0000

Neberte nám Ježíška, vzkazují Češi Santa Clausovi - iDNES.cz Santa Claus s dárky, soby a "mimořádnými vánočními slevami" na nás kouká z každého rohu, z každé výlohy. Spousta lidí prská nad touto zjevnou "amerikanizací", aniž by si uvědomovali, že i českým reklamním agenturám se lépe pracuje s výrazným červenobílým tlusťochem, než s biblickým novorozencem, který se nedokáže ještě ani postavit, natož unést pytel s dárky.

It turns out that red-clad reindeer-drawn Santa Claus is treading on the territory of the rather abstract Baby Jesus (Ježíšek) not because of some cultural imperialism but rather because it is much easier to brand things with Santa. Also, all Santa-related products are mass-produced and therefore much cheaper. For now, it seems that Santa and Ježíšek can coexist although the authors of the Anti-Santa.cz website , who compared Santa's rise to power in the Czech lands to that of Hitler, might disagree ("Santův nástup v Česku má paralelu v tom Hitlerově"). read more »

Czech faux pas on Wikipedia

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:49:54 +0000

List of faux pas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Czech Republic and Slovakia * It is considered mildly impolite to wear baseball caps inside. [citation needed] * Women's last name tend to carry the appendix "-ova". For example Mr. Johnson's wife's last name would be Mrs. Johnsonova. Addressing a man with a female form of his last name (e.g., Mr. Johnsonova) is a serious faux pas. [citation needed]

Useful tidbits from Wikipedia. Bohemica has read more »

Czech Republic - Home of the Free Antivirus

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:04:19 +0000

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:

28. říjen - October 28 - Day of many memories

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:41:50 +0100

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 »

What the world wants to know about Czech stuff

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:55:37 +0100

Google released an interesting tool for comparing search trends. I tried to compare searches for Czech, Czech Republic, Prague, Brno and Czechoslovakia (see here). It is interesting (if not surprising) to discover that Prague was by far the most common search term followed by Czech. Brno and Czech Republic were about the same but significantly lower. Czechoslovakia is still in there but gratifyingly not too prominent (a lot of people who knew the old name still haven't made the switch). read more »

Spelling wars on Czech wikipedia

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 11:52:17 +0100

Spory na Wikipedii aneb válka o "h" - LUPA Ačkoliv se řada polemik týkala i obsahu jednotlivých hesel, hlavním tématem byl stále pravopis. Debata vedla k předložení několika návrhů závazných pravopisných pravidel.

An interesting article (in Czech) about debates (sometimes more fiery than necessary) on Czech Wikipedia. What is interesting from the perspective of this blog is that the most serious debates that actually resulted in people leaving the fold or being banned were focused on spelling. The Czech word for speling is pravopis actually parses as correct writing and is a very contentious issue in Czech language politics. The debates were between traditionalists and progressivists in one area and liberals and regulationists in another. read more »

Czech.cz - The Official Website of the Czech Republic

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:44:24 +0100

Czech Republic - The Official Website of the Czech Republic For some reason it strikes me as funny that a country has its own Home Page. But it looks pretty slick, although it was shown to contain some inaccurate information (mostly regarding economy and infrastructure). A regular visitor to the CR will find it useful, though.

Czech folk superstar records a concert album for free download

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 21:54:29 +0100

Jaromír Nohavica - Koncerty Praha 2006 -CD Pražská pálená

The folk singer and poet, Jaromír Nohavica is one of the foremost celebrities (in the truest sense of the word) in the Czech Republic. He routinely sells out large concert halls and has sold hundreds of thousands of records. Now he has decided to reward his Czech fans by recording a concert album and making it available online for free. And the main method of download is BitTorrent (although direct downloads are also possible). That's a pretty groundbreaking thing to do. read more »

Google calendars contains Czech holidays

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 21:00:58 +0100

Less than a week after releasing http://calendar.google.com, several public calendars relevant for Czech students appeared. Czech national holidays and Czech namedays are included among them. They are not included under Holiday Calendars but can be found by searching for 'Czech' in public calendars. A useful addition to any Czech enthusiast's language and culture learning armory. Hopefully, a Czech interface will follow soon.

Former Czech Prime Minister, current EU Commissioner, becomes a blogger

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:29:41 +0000

Komisař Špidla bloguje a má vlastní deníček - iDNES.cz "Technika budiž pochválena. A internet zvlášť...," píše český eurokomisař Vladimír Špidla. A nepíše to jen tak někde, ale na svém blogu. Tedy česky řečeno v internetovém deníku.

iDnes.cz and other Czech media reports that Vladimír Špidla, the former social democratic Prime Minister, now EU commissioner, joined the ranks of bloggers citing freedom of expression as main motivation. He comments on EU matters as well as football. So far, he's posted four lengthy entries since last November and is not accepting comments - obviously not quite got the hang of the blog concept. But the thoughts of a man who was always considered too contemplative for a Prime Minister are certainly worth a look. The Czech original of the blog can be found on this utterly immemorable URL: http://europe.eu.int/comm/employment_social/emplweb/spidla/blog_cs.cfm read more »

What are Czechs known for?

Dominik Lukeš — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 16:38:06 +0000

The interesting The Prejudice Map gives an overview of what the different peoples around the world are known for... (according to Google, that is). But Czechs (and most other smaller nations) are missing. So I thought, I'd fill in the gap. The search on Google netted 97 results. Here are most of them:

Czechs are known for their Bohemia Crystal, Garnets and costume jewelry, their composers (Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana ) and a Theater and Cartoons
Czechs are known for having a large interest in America

Czech-centric blogs and Czech blogosphere

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 12:52:16 +0000

Here are some Czech-centric English language blogs I came across: My Czech Republic Blog A Year in the Czech Republic I wonder if there are more. Czech blogosphere is pretty active (although not nearly as prominent as in the US). Neviditelný pes, one of the first Czech blogs ever (from before the word was even known) run by the writer Ondřej Neff has just been incorporated into a major news site run by the top daily Lidové Noviny.

Czech sung poetry

Dominik Lukeš — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 12:46:11 +0000

tuckova » Blog Archive » Starý Muž (Nohavica) When I am an old man I will read old books and press young wine When I am an old man I will at last be sure about who I want to love ...

A translation of the famous Czech singer-poet Jaromír Nohavica's song. Here's the original from http://www.nohavica.cz

Až budu starým mužem budu staré knihy číst a mladé víno lisovat až budu starým mužem budu si konečně jist tím koho chci milovat koupím si pergamen a štětec a tuš read more »

Teach English in the Czech Republic

Dominik Lukeš — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 00:44:49 +0000

One way to experience the Czech Republic for an English speaker is to teach English there. Jobs are plentiful if not extravagantly remunerated. But for a long time it has not just been enough to turn up with a smile and native language ability. You also need some qualifications, usually a so called TEFL certificate. This usually means a month-long course which includes some theory and a lot of practice. You can take it in a variety of places (see ESL Cafe for more info) all around the world but there are several schools directly in Prague that offer the same and you get a chance to explore the city with some of your peers and establish useful contacts. I used to work for one of these schools and have seen this first hand. The school I worked for is called ITC (International TEFL Certificate) Training so I thought I'd give them a free plug here. I had a hand in designing their curriculum and training materials which are very good and I imagine have improved over time. Another advantage of going through one of the local schools is that they pretty much guarantee you a job in the city where you train (and facilitate jobs throughout the world). read more »

Twisted Spoon publish Máj: Seminal work of Czech 'revival' in new English translation

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 11:53:31 +0000

Twisted Spoon Press, the Prague-based publisher of quality Czech and Central European literature in English translation came out with one of the key works of Czech national revival, Karel Hynek Mácha's 1836 Romantic epic poem Máj. Please support Twisted Spoon and CzechUpdate by buying the new translation on Amazon. This is the first published English translation in over 50 years. The Czech original with an older translation by Edith Pargeter is available online on http://www.lupomesky.cz/maj. read more »

New Czech course on CD-ROM

Dominik Lukeš — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 11:18:44 +0000

Czech Express: LANGMaster.com
LANGMaster 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.

Finally a Czech on CD course that is worth anything. This description from the Czech company Langmaster is fairly accurate. Of course, CD-ROM language courses are always limited in their use - they're always a complementary material at best (the other two existing course are virtually useless - one because it has no useful information the other because it is aimed at translation only). However, Lída Holá, the author of the interesting Czech Step by Step textbook did a very good job. Now, the CD does not have all the bells and whistles you might see on other Langmaster products for English or even some of the high-value CDs for French or English produced by large companies. There is no video or animation. However, there is plenty of good sound and some nice illustrations. There is also a grammar and the optional dictionary (Czech-English or Czech-German). read more »

Czech animation online

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 20:21:50 +0000

I just came across this wonderful Czech animation company called Amanita Design that has produced some great online games and animations. Despite their semi-English name and exclusively English website, their animations are full of Czech imagery and are clearly (for those who know) in the tradition of the best of Czech animation. Rummage around their pantry:

"Pantry" by Amanita Design read more »

or play the great Samorost game now in its second version. It is very enchanting, funny and eerie in equal measure.

Images and sounds from the old days

Dominik Lukeš — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:11:23 +0000

The Czech news server iDnes.cz put together two very exciting presentations from the days of 'communism' or in Czech "za komunistů" (under the communists - colloquialized as "za komančů") or "za totality" (during the times of the totalitarian regime" or even "za totáče" (the same as previous, only colloquial). You can see what the pre-Christmas shopping experience was like and what the goods were available and what they looked like. There are pictures of hundreds of products from different eras (unfortunately unsorted).

Czech department store from the 1970s

Want to get married in Prague?

Dominik Lukeš — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 14:06:12 +0000

Prague-wedding.com gives you the option! Or at least, you can find out more about Czech wedding traditions on their site.

Czech traditions | Prague Wedding Agency - specialized European wedding planner of destination weddings abroad in Prague. Many Czech wedding traditions have its origins in the early times of Christianity. Frequent rituals were not to only guarantee happiness and many children, but also to protect against illness, hunger, children’s death as well as against quarrels, hate, and most importantly against the bad spirits or ghosts. read more »