Kolach or kolache

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous (Czech-Related)' started by billy ray, Oct 9, 2007.

  1. billy ray

    billy ray Member

    My mother's family, Texas Moravians of the Bryan/College Station area are only a couple generations past the time when our family spoke only Czech while living in Texas. My Grandmother, God rest her, spoiled me by making the most wonderful poppyseed kolaches. I learned from them to call these delighful pastries 'kolach' but in recent years, this pastry has gained widespread popularity in my state. Some non-Czechs enjoy correcting my pronounciation by saying 'kolachee.'

    Can you native Czechs tell me, is the e silent or pronounced as a long e? Before they closed the bakery, I frequented the Sulak's establishment in the Czech town of West, Texas. They had the best poppyseed and the Sulaks are distantly related to my Merka family. The late Mr. Sulak was also a US Marine, like myself, but I learned of our relation only after his death or I would have struck up an acquaintence.

    I wondered if possibly the difference in pronounciation is between Czech and Moravian. An extension of my question is how you all see 'Czech' versus 'Moravian' or are we one and the same?

    I consider myself a Texan first, an American second, growing up in the small Texas Hill Country town, Utopia, Texas.

    My Great, Great Grandparents immigrated around 1878 and were endentured servants for 21 years before they had paid off the debts of their immigration. They first lived near Corpus Christi, Texas then moved to the Dime Box, Texas area, then a small Czech community near Bryan named Smetana, Texas. I believe this town was named in honor of the composer, Smetana. They all say 'kolach' yet here in North Texas, I hear mostly 'kolachee.' My children would also like to know which pronounciation is the more correct, although we agree to stick to 'kolach' out of respect for our grandparents.

    Sorry, but I tend to digress. Again, this is a wonderful forum. Thanks to ya'll.
     
  2. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member

    Well, kolach - in Czech "koláč" - is singular and pronounced approx. kohlach (with long "a"). "Koláče" is plural, pronounced kohlacheh (long "a" again).
     
  3. maxicek

    maxicek Member

    Just to clarify what Jana said - she means "long" as in "drawn out", not "long" as in long vowel or short vowel in English. :)

    At any rate, the "e" is definitely not a long vowel e, but a short vowel one (eh, not EEEEEE), as Jana said.
     
  4. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    That was fascinating. It's always interesting to hear about people's heritage. You will enjoy this site. There are a lot of people around the world that love the Czech Republic and are very knowledgeable about it. Although my father was Czech - he escaped to the UK in 1939, fought in the RAF, met my mother and stayed - I don't speak Czech (yet!) and I found everyone very helpful when I moved to Prague in December.

    Have a look at the sections on pronunciation on Local Lingo and that'll make sense of some of the other Czech words you might know that have been 'translated' into American English.
     
  5. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    That was fascinating. It's always interesting to hear about people's connections with the Czech Republic. You will enjoy this site. There are a lot of people around the world that love the country and are very knowledgeable about it. Although my father was Czech - he escaped to the UK in 1939, fought in the RAF, met my mother and stayed - I don't speak Czech (yet!) and I found everyone very helpful when I moved to Prague in December.

    Have a look at the sections on pronunciation on Local Lingo and they'll make sense of some of the other Czech words you might know that have been 'translated' into American English.
     

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