Basic expressions in Czech and Polish

Assuming that the Polish and Czech languages are very complicated and that the local people are grateful the foreigners are able to say some word in their language, which they feel very proud, I have decided to make a small entry on the basic terms and more useful to be able to make themselves understood en Czech Republic and Poland.

My European Voluntary Service develops in Český Těšín, as you can read in the article Český Těšín, which means that I live daily with people who speak different languages, different currencies and have different customs. Personally, it is very rewarding and make me better.

In Czech Republic and in Poland it is such a important difference Between friends or family and strangers, you can distingued from the greeting if they speak with confidence or cordially (for which they do with great education), but in the first place we need to know a main problem,at least for spanish people, to learn Czech or Polish is that many letters have different phonetic, therefore let me begin by highlighting these letters to make the time to pronounce and read we are able to communicate and understand:

Czech	J	Č	C	Ch	H	Z	Š	Ě
English	I	H	Ts	G	J	Sh	X	IE
Polish	C	Ć	J	H	Ł	Ń	Ó	W
English	TS	H	Y	H	W	Ni	U	V

Once we have this more or less clear we must memorize certain words that will help you even if you can communicate in English, something that in my city is a bit more complicated to be small. In this way he has left you a table with the words more useful:

Checo	English	Polaco
Dobrý den	Good morning	Dzień Dobry /Yien dobri/
Ahoj	Hi (friendly)	Czesc /Chesh/
Na shledanou /Nascledano/	Bye	Do widzenia /viseña/
Prosím	Please	Proszęum
Děkuji	Thank you	Dziękuję /Yeculle/
Není zač	The welcome	Nie ma za co
Rád vás poznávám	Nice to meet you	Bardzo mi miło
Pardon	Sorry	Przepraszam
Pomoc	Help	Częstować się
Ano	Yes	Ja
Ne	No	Nie
Dobrou chuť	Enjoy the food	Dobry smak
Promiňte	Excuse	Przepraszam
Ja nerozumím Český	I don't understand Czech/Polish	Nie rozumiem Polsko

Between slash I have added a pronunciation a little rudimentary, but always use in my classes of Czech and It is very useful, given that my intention with these languages is not writing a book, only being able to have a conversation, make me understand. I hope that this brief introduction to these two languages so rich and complicated os useful and interesting. 

If you see some fault you do not hesitate to tell me because Polish already do not consider never only know the expressions of request them and ask those around me through these places.

Bambiriada 2014

Two weeks ago there was a huge event in our small town, this article has been delayed a little because i've been in the mid-term training and also into a small vacation in Czech Republic and Poland. The event was held for two days in the main square of Český Těšín, were treated in different information stands on the different associations for the children that there are in the area.

From Střep, OS AVE, we decided not only to report on our program and services, we also offered different games so that children will enjoy for a while of our daily work in our center.

The first activity was a puzzle with our new logo, with pieces of wood that we paint with the help of children who regularly visit the center. It turned out to be an activity that liked it a lot and where we also had to help a lot since it was more complicated than expected, but it was a group activity, which shows our everyday work, try to collaborate between them is one of my aims with the activity that began this month and that I will write later.

The second activity was the coloring logo to hang on the side of our house or take it home as a souvenir. 

It was a perfect opportunity to sit more quietly with the children, learn something from Czech and a bit of explaining what we do in Strep, which we are a center for leisure time and where they can go daily and join our programs and activities.

The third and last activity change different days, from guiding your partner in a tour to memorize different numbers and letters to pass the test, also in a time of Saturday we changed the activity of the puzzle to fit a tower between four children, a game very collaborative and entertaining, you can see a photo below.

Once the children had made the three activities you sealed the box of AVE in cardstock where appeared all the posts of the fair.
This type of local performances are much appreciated in cities like Český Těšín that have their streets filled with children eager to play. As a volunteer these two days not only had the opportunity to improve my level of Czech also to learn a little about the people and customs of my new city.

I recommend everyone to go to these activities and remind you that this weekend we celebrate the party of the creation of Cesky Tesin and Cieszyn stands in the two main squares of this unique city, two countries in one city, two cities in one.

My first Czech mean

With regard to the food in the Czech Republic I suppose that the first thing we have to mention are the opening hours, very different to those of Spain. Czech people wake up a little before us, between the six and seven in the morning and have breakfast, then, between the twelve and the two in the afternoon they've lunch, normally two dishes.

Dinner time is between seven and nine in the evening, while that in Spain we've dinner on the nine and eleven o'clock, time in which they are already relaxed on the sofa or in bed. This custom in the winter i understand completely as that between three and five in the afternoon is at night and that changes the routine much, until the body note it.

In the Czech Republic is typical, as in the north of Spain, eat two dishes, a first,normally cabbage, garlic, onion soup or another type of vegetables, and a second, in this case a fried fillet with a small salad and sauce typical that put here for the potatoes and the meat. But they have a lot of typical meal, we will speak about it in the future.

My colleagues told me that the fried fillet is typical Czech but frankly for me this is completely normal, I mean, it is a combo platter of the whole life. The original menu is cooked with boiled potatoes, but I am not enticed a lot and I decided to order chips. :)

In the Czech Republic also have a Czech drink like Coke, his name is Kofola and it is very sweet, more like the Pepsi and yes, it has gas, but also foam, a drink strange for my taste, but they are very proud.

Another meal or snack which is very typical are the rolls, muffins and coiled little facts about themselves, can have different seeds.
You can also find buns, small bars, in the end a number of ways to eat bread, usually quite sweet, but unlike us do not make sandwiches, they do not open the bread to put you on the inside the cheese or meat, but that added the food above the bread, you can be due to that are more narrow or small, or simply a habit. One colleague who saw me to another volunteer spanish making a sandwich with a roll, say us that we were told that the Spanish people played with the food, certainly, very different points of view.

Finally, one of the things I love most, all the weeks I'm testing a new are prepared to smear, as well as we can make tuna with mayonnaise or tomato and have a word itself, impossible to translate to Spanish "pomazanka". In the supermarket you can find many types of pomazanka and also types of salads to buy out the weight. As I say, are a few of “my whims Czechs”.