Hello all from Canada!! I'm doing a research paper on the music of the Czech Republic and I've seen a lot of people with "mgr" in front of their names that live in the Czech Republic. Could any of you offer insight as to what it means? Thanks!
It is a shortcut for a university title - magistr. The corresponding english title would be "master". In CZ, this title is usually given at arts universities (philosophy, social studies, science,...), after four or five years of study (or Bc degreee + 2 years) Some of other common titles are: Bc. - bachelor, "bakalář" - 3 years on a university. Ing. - "inženýr" - equivalent to Mgr, given on technical schools. JUDr. - iuris utriusque doctor, title of lawyers. MUDr. - medicinae universae doctor - doctor of medicine.
Many Czechs like to put their titles in front of their names whenever they can - on their business cards, IDs, even doorbells. I don't know what's behind this urge to put one's earned degree on public display but it's quite common in the Czech Republic. In some cases, it is not unusual to address a person not by their name, but by their title, e.g. "paní inženýrko" (literally "Ms. engineer") or "pane magistře" ("Mr. master").
Yes, I even remember some Tv programme showing a man quoted as "Mgr et Mgr Name Surname" - he had two "master" titles and probably wanted everyone to know that... That addressing by title (especially the "inženýr" one) is not only common, but sometimes even necessary - there are many people who would be quite angry with you if you just called them "Mr/Ms Somename"... When we are talking about addressing, I recall one difference between Czech and English. In English, as far as I know, the titles such as "professor" or "minister" replace the Mr / Ms - you just say "Hello, professor Snape", or "Yes, minister" In Czech, you usually have to keep the Mr/Ms part (i.e. "pane" - Mr, "paní" - Mrs, "slečno" - Miss), plus add the title, plus (usually) remove the name. So the previous examples would be: Hello, professor Snape - Dobrý den, pane profesore. Yes, minister - Jistě, pane ministře (or paní ministryně, to be politically correct
I always thought that Mgr. refers to a manager and that's what you find in dictionaries as well. People in Czech use it to stress the fact they are the boss Magistr does apply to Master, as in Master's degree, and short versions are M, MAS, or mstr. Martina
Well, I`m one of those people who got that title. And it`s definitely due to the fact that I finished my master degree at University. I do not put it in front of my name, unless I`m at work. Then I think, the people should know they`re speaking to someone who is trained in that field. But I know about some people, who put their titles even on their wedding invitation cards!!! That really sucks.
I believe it's even with first manes and family names. I've heared somewhere that even friends tend to call each other by the family name, rather than surname. Can anyone give me feedback if this is true? An other interesting thing with names is that when friends do call friends with their surname, then they have many variants. Kind of like calling your friend by his nickname, or like a name for your lover, but more related to their surname, and not in that way. Very confusing, when you meet a group of people, finally know their names, and then it changes into a big mess of bynames. Some of this is due to the different cases in which the name is used, but apart from that I still don't understand. An other funny Czech thing !!
