The spotlight is on one of the most quintessential features of the Czech language, the feminine ending ‘–ová’ on all women’s surnames. Strictly speaking, this grammatical rule indicates that wives ‘belong’ to their husbands, and that’s why many think it’s out of date. Czech women will soon probably be able to drop this suffix, as reported by Blesk.cz. The Lower House’s Committee on Public Administration and Regional Development has recommended changing the amendment to the law on birth registers, names, and surnames. A final decision will be taken between the end of May or the beginning of July. “Women should have an option to make their own choice, and a growing number of Czech women prefer to use the masculine form of their surname,” says Pirate Party MP Ondřej Profant. However, not everyone agrees with the change. The Czech linguists Karel Oliva says that “without the suffix –ová, we will be unable to express the gender and it could bring up some discrepancies in communication.” Until 2004, every woman who married in the Czech Republic and wanted to change her name had to adopt a feminine surname, unless her husband was a foreigner whose name ended in a vowel or she was a...
Group events indoors and outdoors will be allowed for a maximum of 300 people from 25 May. If the epidemic remains under control, the capacity will increase to 500 people from June 8 and to 1,000 from June 22, said Health Minister Adam Vojtech. However, it will be necessary to keep a safe distance. From 25 May, visits to hospitals and nursing homes will also be allowed. Inside the restaurant, the staff will have to wear a face mask and guests can take it off only while eating and drinking Establishments have to remain closed between 23:00 and 06:00. During this time, they can only operate through a window. In swimming pools, people will have to wear face masks – they will not be necessary only in water or on a lounger or towel. From 25 May, citizens will be able to visit the interiors of state castles and chateaux as well as zoos. Face masks, on the other hand, will not be mandatory outdoors, while maintaining a safe distance. “We still do not underestimate the situation,” said Rastislav Maďar. “The virus is still here and that is why people should follow the rules. Wear the face mask, and keep...
Today, the Commission presents a package of guidelines and recommendations to help Member States gradually lift travel restrictions and allow tourism businesses to reopen, after months of lockdown, while respecting necessary health precautions. The package also aims to help the EU tourism sector recover from the pandemic, by supporting businesses and ensuring that Europe continues to be the number one destination for visitors. On travel, the European Commission proposes an approach in phases which “starts by lifting restrictions between areas or Member States with sufficiently similar epidemiological situations.” So citizens of countries with similar levels of infections should be able to travel more freely. There should also be enough capacity in hospitals, as well as testing, surveillance, and contact tracing capacities in place for tourism to start again. The EU recommends buying tickets and doing check-ins online. Beyond this, the sanitising gel should be freely available during journeys. Food/drink should not be served aboard. The proposals say that in areas which would expect a big wave of tourists (such as island nations), that the areas have sufficient health system capacity “in place for local people and tourists so that in the event of a sudden increase in cases, primary care, hospital, and intensive care...
Minister of Finance Alena Schillerová left without a word from an interview in English with CNN Prima. According to Schillerova, she never claimed to be “the best in the world” in English and she’s working hard to improve her skills. “Thanks to my great team, I manage my work in Brussels without any problems and I am therefore very sorry for this media hunt,” she added. “In Brussels, I speak essentially English, I do not use an interpreter. I attend the meetings of the Eurogroup and the Ecofin Council quite regularly,” Schillerová answered on Twitter. In her public CV on the website of the Office of the Government, the Minister of Finance shows knowledge of English, German and Russian.
There is no challenge in the Czech language that you cannot overcome! “People often say that Czech is one of the most difficult languages in the world. I do not really believe in “difficult” and “easy” languages,” says Jakub Stiburek, freelancer with many years of experience in private language schools and institutes of language preparation at Charles University (UJOP). Jakub offers Czech language courses for groups (beginners A1, Intermediate A2, Advanced B1,) individuals and companies and his classroom is located at Na Harfě 916/9a, Prague 9-Vysočany. “There are 8 seats in my classroom, I provide disinfection and all the hygiene that is needed. You just need to show up with a face mask. Right now I’m focusing on Summer Courses. It lasts 3 months and I help students to get the Czech language to a level A1,” said Jakub. When A1 courses end there will be a long time course following. This course will get you as far as you wish. “After approximately half a year or one year, you’ll be fluent in Czech,” he added. Services: – Individual courses for people who need a flexible learning schedule, who don’t want to be slowed by a group or rushed by...
Group indoor cycling classes have become an exercise favorite over the past decade. Many have flocked to instructor-led spin classes as a way to shed off the stress of everyday life (while getting a kick-butt workout.) For Prague residents looking to break a sweat, Zoom Cycle opened a new spinning center in Prague 8 on May 8. The new spin center, located at Rohanské nábřeží 693/10, boasts 24 brand new Schwinn bikes, energetic instructors, a fully air-conditioned cycling room, and full locker room amenities. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the studio is using only 8 bikes per class spaced 2 meters apart. Weekend sessions are held outside weather permitting. Zoom Cycle is a 45 to 60-minute intense cardio and strength cycling training. The training will, of course, give you a workout physically– cycling is known to build cardiovascular endurance, strengthen leg and core muscles, boost your metabolism, and burn calories. But Zoom Cycle also places emphasis on the stress-relief experience of the workout. Cardio exercise releases endorphins, so cycling classes are a great way to relieve stress and boost your mood. Walking into a Zoom Cycle class, you will notice the dimmed lights and pulsing music in the cycling room. This...
There is so much to do when the decision is made to move to another country and take up permanent residency. Of course, there are all of the details – getting your passport and the initial Visa, finding housing, making arrangements to store or move your belongings, setting up banking, resolving any issues with driving (if necessary), telephone service, and more. And ultimately, you will have the responsibility for applying for permanent residency. What may be on the “back burner” initially will be schooling, especially if you have school-age children and you do not intend to home school them. If you have pre-planned well, you may have already checked out the options for education, either for your children or for yourself (if that is in your plans). If not, you will want to understand a bit about education in the Czech Republic, so that you know your options before you arrive and begin looking. Public Education Education is mandatory for all Czech children through the age of 15. Most stay in school until 18 and then either join the workforce or move on to vocational or academic post-secondary schools. The majority attend public schools, although there are plenty of private...
Since the COVID-19 spread at the beginning of March, many changes occurred in our daily life. Suddenly, cities had been empty, stores, cafés, and restaurants closed, and all of us were locked down at home going out only for essential things, remembering an apocalyptic scenario usually seen in Hollywood movies. Over time, we reset our mindset, relearned to live, the situation got better and now we are trying to return to the old “normal life”. However, definitely with these times emerges new challenges, and a lot of transformations are occurring in different economic markets. Real estate is no exception, and therefore we will expose to you some changes in this market in the Czech Republic and its regulations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Real Estate Supply & Demand At the moment, one of the main differences you can observe in the market compared to two months ago is the number of apartments to rent. Naturally, it is happening because once the borders had closed, tourism in the country stopped. As you know, in Prague a lot of apartments are rented through the Airbnb platform, and without tourism, the majority of the landlords are putting them on the market trying not...
Pawel Jurski, a Polish citizen, spent four days at Prague Airport. He tried to return to his homeland via Prague, but the Czech authorities prevented him from leaving the transit zone and entering Czech territory. His story recalls the movie The Terminal (2004) where Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) is an Eastern European forced to take up residence at a New York airport as his homeland has undergone a coup and ceases to exist. He quickly finds comrades to rely on, gets a job, and falls in love with an air hostess (Catherine Zeta Jones). On Thursday, May 14, Mr. Jurski was picked up at the airport by the consul of the Polish embassy in Prague, who will help him on his way to Poland. “The Polish consul picked up the passenger at the airport today,” Artur Lukiańczuk from the embassy told ČTK. Neither the embassy nor Jurski gave further details about what contributed to the solution of the case. On May 4, KLM resumed its operations on the direct route Prague-Amsterdam. Jurski told ČTK that he had flown to Prague from the Netherlands. He wanted to continue his journey to Poland from Prague, but the Czech authorities blocked him. This...
Prague is renowned across the world for its beautiful historic buildings and its picturesque winding streets. It is hardly a surprise then that the city is often chosen by major Hollywood studios to film popular movies and TV series. How is the film and television industry contributing to the area’s economy? Prague’s long-running service as a film set Prague has a long and rich culture when it comes to serving as a setting for popular movies and TV series. More recently, it was used as the backdrop for Jojo Rabbit, the irreverent black comedy set during WWII. Written and directed by Taika Waititi, it went on to win an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay and was enjoyed by movie fans all over the globe – contributing to Prague’s visibility across a wide international audience. It has also been the set for recent ambitious TV series such as The Wheel of Time, Carnival Row – produced by Amazon and starring Cara Delevigne and Orlando Bloom – and Marvel’s superhero mini-series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Besides Waititi, Netflix also chose Prague as the setting for its latest movie production called 473 Transatlantic. In previous years, blockbusters like Amadeus, which won eight Oscars in 1985 and saw Prague standing in for...
“Terezín became a victim of its own haunted past… with a future frozen in time like a soul trapped in the purgatory of history. Its collective memory would fade from a fortress of lies… to a city of ghosts.” – “Terezin: The Fortress Of Lies” Two expats, American Writer Rick Manore and Romanian Engineer Florin Radoi, were simply trying to occupy their time during the start of the relaxing of quarantine restrictions and decided to drive to the Garden of Bohemia to hike or explore nature, and maybe shoot some video with Florin’s drone. A stop in the town of Terezin changed not only their itinerary but in a way, their lives. Taken by the somber and lonely place, they began to quickly Google the history of a town with a very strange and dark past. “We just started shooting everything we could,” said Manore, the film’s writer and narrator, “then we came back the next week after doing more research on the Ghetto and the manipulative facade that the Nazi’s created with the town, and we started to put together a narrative.” They did it with no museum access due to the quarantine, and the thought of interviewing any...
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs will earmark financial aid worth 200 million korunas (€7.3 million) for developing countries hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The money will be used for projects focused on improving the health and resilience of the population in the priority countries of Czech development cooperation, which includes countries in Asia and Africa, the foreign ministry stated in a press release. In particular, the aid is intended to provide health care, support hygiene, and nutrition. The ministry expects that Czech companies will also be involved as the countries could use the money to buy needed supplies from the Czech Republic. According to the foreign ministry, this should help Czech companies at a time of economic weakness caused by a pandemic. Czech companies could thus gain access to foreign markets or strengthen their position in them. The Foreign Ministry will disburse the money to six countries, namely Bosnia, Moldova, Georgia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Zambia, which are among the priority countries of the Czech Republic’s development cooperation. The Czech Republic will also support projects in Africa in accordance with the joint activities of the European Union. “Specific attention will be paid to the wider area of the Sahel and...
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