#@ropeydopeyiwillchokeathee

[nikoldragonne12]

Answering questions about Czechia (part 2)

Alright, the second post about Czechia is here. Let's get to it right away.

So, the second question, this time that one from a private chat, again from @ropeydopeyiwillchokethee (thanks for the question) was:

Q.N.2. Besides the standard stuff one should learn before going to a new country, is there anything that foreigners should really try to learn that is less obvious?

Again, like last time, a small warning that I will be using our czech names of the cities/towns/villages + the actual way we write the names and titles, so be ready for it. But I will also give you translations where I'll find it (and if it possible to translate):

And another warning: this post will be longer...

Language: 

Your main focus should be on the Czech language and learning it. Not only is it our ONLY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (unlike some countries that have two or more), be prepared that most Czechs don’t actually speak English. I saw so many foreigners being confused why people don’t understand what they want when they start speaking English. 

This especially applies to people over the age of 40 (and it’s even worse when they’re over the age of 60) but in their case, you can try German. 

About us, people in our 20s and 30s, we mostly know English, it’s the first foreign language we learn since the age of 6 or 7 in elementary/primary school and we even have it as a compulsory subject at the final exams/graduation at high schools/secondary schools and grammar schools. However, there are also some who don’t speak English well - these people either didn’t pay attention at school or they are naturally not good at learning foreign languages (I’m not saying they’re stupid).

Probably the most tricky are types of Czech language: we have a standard formal variation, informal variation and of course, there are regional slangs that even native speakers from different parts of the country don’t understand (and if they do, it’s with difficulties).

Areas in Moravia region are a great example - several of them are known for their unique slang.

Currency:

The second thing I’d focus on is our currency: I don’t know how known it is among other countries but despite being in the European Union, we’re one of the countries that don't use Euros - instead, we have our currency called "Koruny" ("Koruna" in singular). It means "crowns" (“crown” in singular) and you can actually notice a small crown at the smallest of the coins, 1 Crown.

We used to have even smaller coins but we no longer use these, except for prizing in the shops but it’s simply for the products looking “better-prized” - it actually has no big purpose. Just look at it and if it’s 0 - 4, the prize is the same as the first number (before comma), when it’s 5 - 9, it’s 1 Crown more expensive than the number before the comma. So basically if something is marked 10,90, it costs 11 Crowns.

1 Euro is about 25 Crowns and 1 US Dollar is about 23 Crowns.

By the way, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 crowns are coins (although 20 and 50 Crowns used to be papers), while 100, 200, 500, 1.000, 2.000 and 5.000 are paper currency. And each of it is decorated:

1 Crown - crown

2 Crowns - “gombík” (an ancestor of a button from the era of Great Moravia; 9th and 10th century)

5 Crowns - Charles’ Bridge

10 Crowns - Prague Castle

20 Crowns - St. Wenceslas, patron of Czechia

50 Crowns - Prague’s monuments (more of them)

100 Crowns - Charles IV., one of the medieval kings of our land

200 Crowns - Jan Amos Komenský/Iohannes Amos Comenius/Johann Amos Comenius, Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian

500 Crowns - Božena Němcová, Czech writer and story collector

1.000 Crowns - František Palack��, Czech writer and historian

2.000 Crowns - Ema Destinnová, Czech opera singer

5.000 Crowns - Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president when we became Czechoslovakia in 1918 (to that year we weren’t our own country)

Note: We’re no longer Czechoslovakia, since 1st January 1993, we are the Czech Republic, a.k.a. Czechia, and Slovak Republic, a.k.a. Slovakia. We are TWO SEPARATE COUNTRIES THAT ARE SIMILAR YET VERY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER.

On the other side of the coins (at the avers) is the Czech two-tailed lion with a crown (one of the heraldic figures from our coat of arms), “ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA” (the Czech Republic) + the year when the coin was made.

By the way, there's a rare chance you’ll get a 10 or 20 Crowns coin that will look like it has some kind of clockwork on it - do not panic, these coins are also valid. These are called “orlojové mince”. For context, “Staroměstský orloj/Pražský orloj”, known as the Prague astronomical clock in English, is depicted on these coins and this design is pretty unique. You can use it for paying or keep it as a souvenir if you get one.

I mention the currency here because except for large cities, you would have a hard time trying to use Euros - especially in small towns and villages, we use our currency only, so it’s better to have our money with you. 

How far it is? + time:

When we describe how far something is, we use meters, kilometers, etc., unlike UKs who use yards or USs who use time. And about hours, we're among the countries who use 24 hours, meaning 0:00 is 12am, 12:00 is 12pm, 15:00 is 3pm etc.

I’m not sure how many readers come from the countries I mentioned, so I’m including THIS here… just in case.

Poppies:

Now, something that might be controversial and actually it sometimes puzzle foreigners: I already noticed in one internet series with foreign people trying our food that they’re assuming dr*gs are legal in Czechia because we, without any problems, sell pastry or other dishes that contain poppy seeds. They occasionally even get scared, thinking that not only do we want to get them in trouble, but to poison them. 

First, I have to make clear that dr*gs are ILLEGAL in Czechia and even if there are people using these, they get in trouble with the law when they get caught. Depending on what you'll have and the amount, you may get a fine, you can get in prison, etc. 

But overall, dr*gs are ILLEGAL here. Don't use it.

The real reason why we use poppy seeds in our pastry is because we use a specific subspecies, also known as Czech Blue Poppy (czech “Český modrý mák”): the difference between this one and regular poppies is that ours has a very, very, very low amount of alkaloids, which means it’s harmless and you're safe to eat it without any problems. 

And from a nutritious perspective, Czech poppy is actually good for your health: it contains minerals, vitamin E, etc.

Plus, most of the dishes with it are pretty good. These two examples show two types of sweet pastry with poppy seeds:

On the left is something we call "koláče" ("koláč" in singular). I didn't find the right English translation (it probably doesn't exist), so I'll put a German word here (I speak German a little) - "die Kolatsche".

On the right is a type of rolls: these specifically have more sugar in their dough, so they're sweet, but you can find the salty ones much more often. The classic salty rolls are usually straight, unlike these.

But if you don’t want to eat it, you can at least appreciate the flower itself:

These photos shows the most common variation.

[nikoldragonne12]

Answering questions about Czechia (part 1)

Hello.

During summer, I received and then answered a few questions about my home country - specifically, I received 1 question directly under a poll about Czechia and then 2 questions in a private chat. Everything from 1 person... but that's fine.

It took me a long time before I was able to get to a public answer (although I did answer the person in their private chat), but, here's the 1st one (the other two will be in different posts).

So, the first question @ropeydopeyiwillchokethee gave me was:

Q. N. 1. "What is the public opinion on Czech Artists? Specifically Dvorak and Alphonse Mucha."

Before you continue, a small warning: I will be using our czech names of the cities/towns/villages + the actual way we write the names of the artists - I'm just used to it, sorry 😅):

I won’t lie, Antonín Dvořák and Alfons Mucha belong to a group of the most popular artists among czech citizens in my opinion: at least at schools I’ve been attending, we were actively taught about these two (in Music and Art classes at my primary school/elementary school and in History classes at my grammar school).

I don’t know how it is at other schools but considering my peers know very well who Dvořák and Mucha were, I’m sure they were educated about them, as well.

Plus, there’s actually a lot of other ways people can learn about these two men: there are documentaries, there are books, there are series, Mucha's art is often used as a design on magnetic bookmarks, mugs, etc. (I own some of these myself), and Dvořák's compositions are known to this day and several of them are still played - he even has a museum in a village named Vysoká u Příbramě you can attend.

Of course, like always and everywhere, there are some people who don't pay attention at school and/or don't care about any type of art, so these wouldn’t know who you are talking/asking about but most Czechs know who Dvořák and Mucha were, respect their part in our history and even enjoy what they gave us.

So, in conclusion, I’d say that Czech opinions of these two artists are pretty positive.

Truly sorry for the delay - I can't promise I'll be faster next time, I can only try to.