Czecholslovakia?
Dec 24th, 2002, 05:41 PM
#1
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Czecholslovakia?
Okay, so I'm a little out of it when it comes to history and geography. But to be honest Prague was not among the great cities of the world that I learned about when growing up. Now all I hear is Prague, Prague, Prague, and I'm considering a visit there. Upon review, it's listed as being in the Czech Republic. Is this something new? What is the official name of the country (as opposed to the English name)? What happened to the Czechoslovakia I used to hear about? Not a troll - I'm being honest about my "ignorance" ha ha.
Dec 24th, 2002, 05:58 PM
#2
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Don't feel bad about your ignorance of the Czech/Slovak split. Bush didn't know the difference, either (he thought Slovakia was "Slovenia"
.<BR><BR>Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. <BR><BR>Czechoslovakia -- a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks formed in 1919 -- was dissolved by mutual agreement in the Velvet Divorce of 1993. The Czech Republic retained the flag of the former Czechoslovakia.<BR><BR>The eastern portion of what used to be Czechoslovakia is now Slovakia, or the Slovak Republic. Its flag resembles that of modern Russia, with a cross insignia added. The capital city is Bratislava, about thirty miles east of Vienna.
.<BR><BR>Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic. <BR><BR>Czechoslovakia -- a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks formed in 1919 -- was dissolved by mutual agreement in the Velvet Divorce of 1993. The Czech Republic retained the flag of the former Czechoslovakia.<BR><BR>The eastern portion of what used to be Czechoslovakia is now Slovakia, or the Slovak Republic. Its flag resembles that of modern Russia, with a cross insignia added. The capital city is Bratislava, about thirty miles east of Vienna.
Dec 25th, 2002, 03:35 AM
#4
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Czechia Bayby!<BR><BR>Merry Xmas from Prague. Yesterday the tour guide corrected us... Its CZECHIA. I guess they know best since they live here.<BR><BR>We're having a blast... so many things to see. we arrived here in Old Town on Sunday for an 8 day stay.<BR><BR>
Dec 25th, 2002, 09:48 AM
#5
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It isn't really Czechia officially. I think that is a tourist authority's attempt to transliterate Czech into English, but I've never seen that transliteration on the govt. web pages.<BR><BR>Czech is a difficult language (which I've studied a little and didn't get far because of that) which has a lot of cases -- 7, as I recall, more than any other language I know. The term varies depending on case, but the form Marc above gives is correct, I think, as it is the one when it is the subject of a sentence and the one you'd use when referring to the country as a noun. YOu also see "ceske republiky" when the object of a preposition (as in "the govt of the Czech Republic" which would be "Vlada ceske republiky"although I forget the specifics on that case. Ceskou republicku is another case but I forget when you'd use that (if I ever knew).<BR><BR>There are accent or diacritical marks over some of these letters which I can't type, in particular the one over the c (the inverted carat or circumflex, which I was taught to call a "hacek" in my Czech classes but that word also has a hacek on it) which is often transliterated as cz (I don't think "cz" even appears in actual Czech language,but I could be wrong). Also, the ending "a" has a long accent mark over it which I think they are trying to transliterate as "ia".<BR><BR>If you look at the tourist authority web site (one is www.czechia.com etc) you won't find that word on the Czech language version of the site, only on the English (in Czech, they have "Ceska republika" instead of the word "Czechia". They may be trying to coin "Czechia" as some popular term for their country but I don't know why.
although I forget the specifics on that case. Ceskou republicku is another case but I forget when you'd use that (if I ever knew).<BR><BR>There are accent or diacritical marks over some of these letters which I can't type, in particular the one over the c (the inverted carat or circumflex, which I was taught to call a "hacek" in my Czech classes but that word also has a hacek on it) which is often transliterated as cz (I don't think "cz" even appears in actual Czech language,but I could be wrong). Also, the ending "a" has a long accent mark over it which I think they are trying to transliterate as "ia".<BR><BR>If you look at the tourist authority web site (one is www.czechia.com etc) you won't find that word on the Czech language version of the site, only on the English (in Czech, they have "Ceska republika" instead of the word "Czechia". They may be trying to coin "Czechia" as some popular term for their country but I don't know why.
Dec 25th, 2002, 07:38 PM
#7
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Czhechia? That's a new one.<BR><BR>I think the Czech tourist agents are looking for a snappy name. "Czech Republic" doesn't roll off the tongue like "Slovakia." <BR><BR>For a while, it was the "Czech Lands," which sounded feudal.
Dec 26th, 2002, 11:02 AM
#8
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I think "Czechia" might be a translation from the German. When the Czech and Slovak republics split about ten years ago, there was no major problem with the German term "Slowakei" for Slovakia, whereas the original term "Tschechei" reminded many Czechs about the time this term was used by the Nazis to designate the territory annexed by the Third Reich (later changed to "Böhmen und Mähren, i.e. Bohemia and Moravia).<BR><BR>Therefore, the Czech authorities made it known that the new state should be known as "Tschechische Republik" (the term I prefer) or "Tschechien" in German.<BR><BR>Phil.
