By Ricky, on April 23rd, 2012
Our first outdoor beers of 2012 © Ricky Yates
Back in 1970 when I was just eighteen years old, I went off to see the world and emigrated from England to live in the Australian island state of Tasmania. As well as being a formative experience, one thing I discovered whilst living there, really surprised me. Despite Tasmania having at that time, a population of only just over 400,000, there was a great rivalry between those who lived in the south of the island, particularly in the state capital Hobart, and those who lived in the north of the island, either in the second city Launceston, or in the string of towns along the North-West coast.
Bearing in mind that Tasmania was and still is the smallest of the six Australian states, both in area and population, it did seem odd to me that there should be . . . → Read More: Rivalries within small states & nations
By Ricky, on March 11th, 2012
Myself with Kristin & Petr following their wedding service © Sybille Yates
On Saturday 3rd March, I conducted my first wedding of 2012 when Petr, a Czech, married Kristin, an American. The wedding took place at St. Clement’s Church with a congregation made up of Petr’s Czech relatives, a small number of Kristin’s American relatives, together with numerous mutual friends.
This wedding presented all the usual problems that arise when I conduct a Czech to English-speaker marriage. Petr’s parents and older relatives do not understand or speak English. None of Kristin’s family speaks Czech except for Kristin herself who has lived in Prague for twenty years and has her own business here. How was I to conduct a service that would be understood and appreciated by everyone present?
As with previous Czech to English-speaker weddings, I got Petr and Kristin to produce a completely bilingual order of . . . → Read More: My first wedding of 2012
By Ricky, on August 27th, 2011
Would you like an exclusive French female cousin? © Ricky Yates
I’ve written many times previously about this strange language that I regularly encounter in the Czech Republic which I call Czenglish. I’ve found it on menus, on market stalls, on buildings and on public notices. If you want to see other examples besides those I’ve just linked to, put ‘Czenglish’ into the search box on the top right-hand-side of this page and hit ‘enter’.
On the left is my latest example of this strange language. The Kulat’ák Restaurant here in Praha 6, is proud to offer an exclusive French female cousin to its customers. For the benefit of the proprietors of Kulat’ák, it should be ‘Exclusive Cuisine’.
And when correcting this hilarious mistake, the first statement also needs to be amended to read ‘The first . . . → Read More: Czenglish – an explanation?
By Ricky, on August 5th, 2011
Map showing those areas with a majority German population in the 1930s, superimposed on an outline of the current Czech Republic. Fair use assumed as the map is from a now defunct website
Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, as part of the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following the end of the First World War. The country’s first President, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, was very keen that the western boundaries of this new nation should be the historic ones of Bohemia and Moravia which predominantly follow the ridges of the surrounding hills and mountains. This was to ensure that the new nation had defendable borders and that also nearly all Czech speakers would be living within those borders.
However, one important consequence of the adoption of these borders was that many people of German ethnic origin were also incorporated into Czechoslovakia. According to a census taken in 1921, . . . → Read More: Sudetenland and the Sudetendeutsche
By Ricky, on May 22nd, 2011
With Rev’d Dr. Karen Moritz outside St. Clement’s Church on Sunday 1st May 2011 © Gerhard Frey-Reininghaus
In recent months it has been a great privilege to have another lady called Karen join the St. Clement’s congregation. She is not to be confused with Karen the TEFL teacher, who has been the subject of several of my previous blogposts and who now lives in Istanbul, but remains a very regular and faithful commenter here. Nor is she to be confused with Czech/Australian Karen, who helped us with adopting Sam the dog. Nor is she Karin, (note the slightly different spelling), who has also previously worshipped at St. Clement’s, currently lives on the Greek island of Paros and, from time to time, also leaves comments here.
This latest Karen is the Rev’d Dr. Karen Moritz, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). . . . → Read More: Welcome to another Karen
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