Interesting Facts About the Czech Language

Interesting Facts About the Czech Language

8 Things You May Not Know About Czech

The Czech language is a fascinating one to learn and speak, although it is not used in many countries. However, it shares similarities with Slovak and Polish languages such these neighbors can easily understand one another when speaking. While it is not the most popular, learning to translate English to Czech can be a lifesaver when you visit these countries. The following are some facts about the language which may convince you to teach yourself.

It Has the Most Difficult Tongue Twisters

Tongue twisters are fun, and although you may not say them out correctly, they are interesting to learn and to use in challenging others. If you have a challenge doing the relatively simple English ones, then the Czech ones would completely knock you out. Consider saying something like Pštros s pštrosicí a malými pštrosáčaty severally, and your tongue will be in twists.

It Is Not Only Spoken in the Czech Republic

While Czech is the official language in the country, it is also spoken by its neighbors. It also shares a lot with the native languages in these countries, which is why they easily communicate with one another. Other people that use Czech include:

  • Bulgarians

It Was Known as Bohemian

You must know about the bohemian lifestyle, but what you don’t know is that the Kingdom of Bohemia was a part of the Czech Republic. Bohemianism started in French, and it was used to refer to some artists who were found in the Romani regions. Before the country became Czech, the language was known as Bohemian.

Many Words Don’t Have Vowels

One of the reasons many English speakers and even people from other countries in Europe find Czech language challenging is because many words don’t have vowels. This is because the language allows the use of consonants as vowels where it fits. Therefore, you can create a whole sentence without a single vowel.

It Has Almost Disappeared

The Hapsburgs who spoke German ruled over Bohemia, which is now Czech and would force the people to use German instead of bohemian. Therefore, German was used by most people apart from puppetry masters who were allowed to perform in the native language. This is why, in many books, the puppeteers are said to have saved it from extinction.

It Doesn’t Have a Variation for Kangaroo

Many languages adopt a variation of a word native to a particular country, and that is the case in many places. However, in Czech and Croatian, there is no variation for kangaroo, unlike in practically every language in the world. For example, in German, it is känguru, kangourou in French, but in Czech, the name for kangaroo is klokan. This was done when the language was being reformed in the 19th century, where they wanted to give it more authenticity and was later adopted fully.

Size Matters

In many languages in European countries, they pay attention to the size of something; for example, if a door is large, small or cute, it would have a different name from the average size door. For example, the word door in Czech is dveře which means an ordinary door. However, if you want to say a small door, it will instead be dvířka. That rule cuts across most common items.

Different Capitalization Rules

The check language uses different rules when it comes to capitalization. This is why translating Czech to English is difficult since capitalization rules are frequently changing. Many people who speak Czech confirm that they don’t know how to capitalize correctly.

The language is not very easy, and it may confuse a lot of the facts that you know from your native language, but it is an interesting one. Take time to study the different Czech words and try to find out the differences with any of the ones that you speak. You can also take online classes to learn a bit of the language, which may come in handy if you decide to tour the region.