In the US if you DONT know someone you say hi how are you . in Czech you only say hi how you if you are friends w/ the person !! what do you say if you dont no them ????????? and how is it pronounced... thanks scotty
I guess they use second plural (which is different from the singular, on the contrary of english) Jak se mate?
Unlike the Americans, Czechs don't use "how are you?" as part of a greeting. When a Czech asks another Czech "how are you?" ("jak se máš?"), he/she is usually genuinly interested in knowing how the other person is doing. That's why Czechs have a hard time understanding the "American superficiality". They don't realize that for Americans, "how are you?" is meant as little more than a greeting, and are sometimes offended when the person who asked the question doesn't even wait to hear their answer. Overall, Czechs are more reserved, private and formal than Americans and when meeting someone for the first time, they would say something like "Já jsem Jirka, těší mě" ("I'm Jirka, nice to meet you"). If you ask a Czech "jak se máš/máte?" when you're first being introduced to them, they'll find your question too personal. If you just want to say hi to someone you don't know but not necessarily go through the introduction process, you would usually use the informal "Ahoj" ("hi") with someone who's young and you're in an informal atmosphere (at a party, in a bar, at school). You should use the formal "Dobrý den" ("Hello", "Good day") in formal situations (with a shop assistant, at the doctor's, etc.) and with people who are older than you. Of course these are general rules and exceptions exist.
some people say "nazdar" instead of "ahoj" and when they are being quite familiar, they'll say "tak co, kluku" or "tak co, holka", instead of "how are you, or "jak se dari"
I think, "nazdar" was created by shortening from "na zdar budování Národního divadla" . I think, it can be translated as "the succes for building the National theatre" - it was in the time the Czechs were buildling that theatre.
really, Ladis? I've never heard that explanation. Where did you see it explained? Is it on the Net? I'd love to read it for myself. I always just understood Nazdar to be a greeting that originally meant "good luck" (na - for - zdar = success), though how it came to be associated with the National Theater is beyond me. Hana
I googled ( http://www.google.com/search?q=p%C5%AFv ... avu+nazdar ) this page, where my version is confirmed : http://bullshid.webz.cz/pozdravy/ (some greeting descriptions are really funny :lol
That's awesome, thanks for giving me that link. Do you know that in the fifties and sixties (and even seventies, I am sure) most communists greeted each other with Cest Prace I haven't heard it since 1990, though
'Čest práci' or simply 'čest' is permanently used by communists - today only by communists . You can hear it often in films.
yeah, Wer, my neighbours' son used to say it to his father "Cest Praci, Tati" when his dad came home from work...ugh
Thanks, that's about what I thought it was but it didn't seem to make much sense. I suppose in light of the old "workers of the world, unite" line it is understandable.
OT: The word "práce" was used a lot by communist, e.g. look at this info about the Rudé Právo newspaper in that era and that propaganda poster on the left in that page, what I found in Wikipedia.
