Learning Natural Languages

Tonchi · 10-23-2005, 01:28 AM

Hi, Grant! My grandfather immigrated to the US in 1906, and I have no idea how they were writing things in those days. The country was called Bohemia then (you're right, Czechoslovakia was a gerrymander), it was an ancient kingdom which every empire in Europe seems to have conquered at one time or the other. We spent very little time visiting him because he remarried and the wicked stepmother cut his natural children out of their lives. I only found out that he never learned to write in English (and his excuse for that) from my mother a few years ago. Naturally the people who live in the CR speak Czech, 12 million at last count, you say? (Thought you were planning on learning it here in the US and not going over immediately.) But my family also spoke German in their homes here.

The Czech girl in our club ended up in Slovakia when they partitioned the country, but she is 100% Czech and was born just outside Brno, where my grandfather came from; she even remembers hearing our family name all the time. But they ended up on the Slovak side because of where her father was working at the time of the partition. At least they got it done without any fighting and killing.

Everything I ever heard about the Czech people has been good (not that I'm prejudiced or anything, hee hee). They do love to make Polack jokes though, seems to be a real aversion between them and that nationality. Between the Germans seeping across the border and then seizing the country in both World Wars, and then the Communist puppet government, the cities looked really shabby by the 1970's, until they finally could take charge of their own destiny again. Mom says education was always very important there, music too, and I remember that even under the Communists the Czech film industry was the most impressive and innovative in Europe. So you could definitely do worse, and if you get a good offer I hope you'll accept it. My Czechs are educated and happy people, it's the Hungarians who hate everything about their country. Unfortunately, we got 10 Hungarians and only 2 Czechs

10-23-2005, 01:28 AM	#11
Tonchi Victim of gravity Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Hiding in plain sight Posts: 1,412	Hi, Grant! My grandfather immigrated to the US in 1906, and I have no idea how they were writing things in those days. The country was called Bohemia then (you're right, Czechoslovakia was a gerrymander), it was an ancient kingdom which every empire in Europe seems to have conquered at one time or the other. We spent very little time visiting him because he remarried and the wicked stepmother cut his natural children out of their lives. I only found out that he never learned to write in English (and his excuse for that) from my mother a few years ago. Naturally the people who live in the CR speak Czech, 12 million at last count, you say? (Thought you were planning on learning it here in the US and not going over immediately.) But my family also spoke German in their homes here. The Czech girl in our club ended up in Slovakia when they partitioned the country, but she is 100% Czech and was born just outside Brno, where my grandfather came from; she even remembers hearing our family name all the time. But they ended up on the Slovak side because of where her father was working at the time of the partition. At least they got it done without any fighting and killing. Everything I ever heard about the Czech people has been good (not that I'm prejudiced or anything, hee hee). They do love to make Polack jokes though, seems to be a real aversion between them and that nationality. Between the Germans seeping across the border and then seizing the country in both World Wars, and then the Communist puppet government, the cities looked really shabby by the 1970's, until they finally could take charge of their own destiny again. Mom says education was always very important there, music too, and I remember that even under the Communists the Czech film industry was the most impressive and innovative in Europe. So you could definitely do worse, and if you get a good offer I hope you'll accept it. My Czechs are educated and happy people, it's the Hungarians who hate everything about their country. Unfortunately, we got 10 Hungarians and only 2 Czechs __________________ Everything you've ever heard about Fresno is true. Last edited by Tonchi; 10-23-2005 at 02:46 AM.

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