What a story! I visited Prague in 2005 and saw no signs of the flood. Most Americans and Brits are unaware that Prague was essentially a German city. It is home to the oldest German University in the world. I found that, although I didn't understand a word of Czech, I could make my way through the city adequately using German.
Kind of. Both are written in standard Western script. German makes use of diacritical marks to an extent not seen in English; Czech uses different diacritical marks making different sounds. The majority of diacritical marks in German can be replaced with an "e" following the changed vowel (e.g., schoen versus schön), both meaning beautiful. Not to be confused with schon, meaning already.
The big difference is that Vanna White would go broke in the Czech Republic. All the vowels escaped and fled to Sweden, where they took refuge in words such as Huuptiduptipflaagermussliiwaangen.
Prague has a very rich, complicated and multi-cultural/multi-lingual history. Ruled by royal lineages from House of Luxembourg, the Jagellon dynasty (Lithuanian-Polish), Bohemians, the House of Habsburg and others, Prague had at times large populations of German speaking people, including Jews. The University was divided into Czech and German sections during the late 19th and early 20th century, with separate teachers, students and curriculums. I wouldn't call it "essentially" German but it was a major center of German highbrow culture until WW I. A fascinating place! Fun fact: after the collapse of the Soviet Union and all Communist regimes of Eastern Europe Prague was such a popular destination for young people of the early 1990s that some Americans overstayed their visas and were actually deported!
That is a very complex library history. You are right..I remember now that after the Soviet era ended Prague was a hot spot for tourism but did not know they all hung around so long.
Yes, the lesser known sibling - the great Jagiellonian University in beautiful Krakow - is another marvel of Western academia and education. It's definitely worth a visit. To be fair, I am somewhat biased since my wife is Polish, from Krakow and a student of the Jagiellonian University. :-)
What a story! I visited Prague in 2005 and saw no signs of the flood. Most Americans and Brits are unaware that Prague was essentially a German city. It is home to the oldest German University in the world. I found that, although I didn't understand a word of Czech, I could make my way through the city adequately using German.
I honestly do not remember this happening but it was still early days post 9/11. German and Czech are different alpahbets, tho?
Kind of. Both are written in standard Western script. German makes use of diacritical marks to an extent not seen in English; Czech uses different diacritical marks making different sounds. The majority of diacritical marks in German can be replaced with an "e" following the changed vowel (e.g., schoen versus schön), both meaning beautiful. Not to be confused with schon, meaning already.
The big difference is that Vanna White would go broke in the Czech Republic. All the vowels escaped and fled to Sweden, where they took refuge in words such as Huuptiduptipflaagermussliiwaangen.
Prague has a very rich, complicated and multi-cultural/multi-lingual history. Ruled by royal lineages from House of Luxembourg, the Jagellon dynasty (Lithuanian-Polish), Bohemians, the House of Habsburg and others, Prague had at times large populations of German speaking people, including Jews. The University was divided into Czech and German sections during the late 19th and early 20th century, with separate teachers, students and curriculums. I wouldn't call it "essentially" German but it was a major center of German highbrow culture until WW I. A fascinating place! Fun fact: after the collapse of the Soviet Union and all Communist regimes of Eastern Europe Prague was such a popular destination for young people of the early 1990s that some Americans overstayed their visas and were actually deported!
That is a very complex library history. You are right..I remember now that after the Soviet era ended Prague was a hot spot for tourism but did not know they all hung around so long.
I did one post about the library in August. https://kathleenmccook.substack.com/p/jagiellonian-library-of-poland
Yes, the lesser known sibling - the great Jagiellonian University in beautiful Krakow - is another marvel of Western academia and education. It's definitely worth a visit. To be fair, I am somewhat biased since my wife is Polish, from Krakow and a student of the Jagiellonian University. :-)