Something about Czech Republic for a class of Finnish IT students
My presentation about my home country I was supposed to prepare for an English lesson with Finnish IT students. Just try to imagine you are a Finnish IT guy and start! :-)
• Bordering with Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Austria • EU (May 1, 2004), NATO, Schengen • EU presidency (2009) • Prague (Praha) • CET (Greenwich + 1) • 1 € [EUR] = 27 Kč [CZK], Czech crown (Koruna česká) • 78.800 km2 and 10.500.000 people (Finland: 340.000 km2 and 5.300.000 people)
language, 12 million native speakers • similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak, we can understand a bit Polish (when trained, we can understand quite easily a lot Polish) • Try to say Ř :-) • Dobrý den, Dobré ráno, Dobrý večer, Dobrou noc (Good day, morning, ...) • Ahoj, Díky, Prosím (Hello, Thanks, Please) • Jak se máš? (How are you?) • Jmenuji se Mika Häkinen. (My name is...)
Beer is a part of our national heritage • Today's type of beer was invented in Pilsen (Plzeň), 1842, Czech Republic • Pilsner Urquell = the world's original pilsener, golden beer • First Pilsener, first Budweiser • First in per capita beer consumption (160 l of beer by human per a year) • First Beer Museum in the world • Nearly 100 breweries, http://mapa.pivni.info/
be freely bought in every supermarket (all the day), every second kiosk (usually NONSTOP). • 1 beer (0.5 l) in pub … 0.8 EUR • Cheapest bottle of vodka … 2.5 EUR • Cheapest bottle of rum … 3.2 EUR • Cheapest 0.7 l of wine … 0.7 EUR • Usually consumed wine … 3.6 EUR • Shot of Absinth … 1.8 EUR
• We are one of the most atheist people in the world, and we are very proud of it. This is true especially in large cities. Don't assume that anyone from Czech Republic you don't know believes in God or has a passion for Christianity. • Respect that and your religion will also be respected :-)
us, please... • First people 700 000 BC • Than Celts, German tribes • Slavic kingdoms since the 6th century • Kingdom of Bohemia (1198 – 1918) • since 1526 under Habsburg rule (personal union with Austrian lands & Hungary) • Czechoslovakia since 1918 • Czech Republic since 1993
of Bohemia, patron of Czech Republic • Charles IV., king of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor, called as „father of the country“, 14th century • The Hussites, Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Hus (protestant reformation, but 100 years before the rest of Europe), never defeated by Crusaders, 1415-1434 • Habsburg Rudolf II., king of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperor, 16th and 17th century
in Prague, The Bohemian Revolt (Second Defenestration of Prague), 1618-1620 • John Amos Comenius, was a Czech teacher, scientist, educator, and writer, „teacher of nations“, father of modern education • Part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, wishing to have the same autonomy like Hungarians; Czechoslovak Legions were volunteer armed forces fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I • 1918 declaring independence, Czechoslovakia
1938, UK and France forced Czechoslovakia to cede the German-speaking Sudetenland to Nazi Germany • 1939 the rest of Czechoslovakia was invaded by Nazi Germany and divided into parts of Empire • CS was freed by Allied forces, part by US, but most of country by USSR • Country felt into communist power • In 1989 the country became democratic again through the Velvet Revolution • Václav Havel, Václav Klaus
• We have a lot (thousands) of wonderful medieval castles in whole our country, many of them are part of UNESCO! • We don't like Germany and Austria too much, however, we have a lot in common • We were always between powers of Germany, Austria and Russia. • Did you know the former US' Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright is born in Prague and speaks Czech fluently?
is really unique, but we have no reason to feel ashamed ;-) • Of course, we don't have a sea • Lot of mountains, rivers, vineyards, protected areas • 15 % of area protected • Highest mountain is Sněžka, 1602 m • Central European climate (average from 5 to 9°C, winter from -9°C to 2°C, summer from 20°C to 35°C)
• Invents, such as contact lenses, sugar cube and for the present the most effective cure of AIDS and Jaundice B (Antonín Holý) • Jan Janský, inventor of 4 groups of blood • J. G. Mendel, founder of genetics • Vladimir Remek, Czech cosmonaut • Composers Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana • Writers Franz Kafka and Jaroslav Hašek (The Good Soldier Švejk) • Writer Karel Čapek and his brother, painter Josef Čapek, who invented the international word – ROBOT • Movie directors Miloš Forman (Loves of a Blonde, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hair, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Goya's Ghosts), Jan Svěrák (Kolya, Dark Blue World), Jiří Menzel (Closely Watched Trains)
cars • Baťa shoes • Software: NetBeans, PSPad, Kerio Firewall (earlier, now it's Sunbelt), Avast! antivirus, AVG antivirus, WinSCP • PC Games: Original War, UFO After*, Fish Fillets, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis
for his amazing feat of winning three gold medals in athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki) • Kateřina Neumannová (skiing) • Martina Sáblíková (speed skating) • Jan Železný (greatest javelin thrower ever), Barbora Špotáková (first in javelin in Beijing) • Roman Šebrle (decathlete, records breaker)
ice hockey team is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world, currently ranked fifth by the IIHF • Gold medalists in World Championships 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 • Gold in Olympic Games 1998 Nagano (first games with hockey players from NHL), bronze in 2006 Torino • Jaromír Jágr, Dominik Hašek, Patrik Eliáš, … I am sure you know them :-)
place in Euro 1996. • Czechoslovakia was in the final match of the World Cup 1934 and 1962 and won Euro 1976 • Many of our football players are worldwide famous: Patrik Berger, Jan Koller, Tomáš Rosický, Pavel Nedvěd, Karel Poborský, Vladimír Šmicer, Petr Čech, Milan Baroš, ...
• Prague is called „stověžatá“ (means that has 100 towers), in fact, there are more than 500 towers • The Prague Castle is in the Guiness' book of records as the largest castle in the world • Klementinum in Prague is the only 250 years old meteorologic station in the world • Charles' University in Prague was the first university northern from Alps and eastern from Paris • Beer Barrel Polka (Škoda lásky) is the most known Czech song, it became famous during World War II ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Barrel_Polka) • Firm Gufex which produces one of the finest pucks was the only exclusive distributor for e.g. Olympic Games • Name of the coin from Jáchymov, tolar, is the origin of the name of US currency, dollar :-) • Strahov Stadium is the largest sporting place in the world (220.000 seats, 63.500 m2) • Punk-rock band Visací zámek (means „padlock“) and U2 are the only bands which are considered to be part of UNESCO for their long time of playing in the original formation
• Prague is very different from the rest of country • The largest, the capital, 1.200.000 people (with aglomeration nearly 2.000.000 people) • One of the most beautiful cities in Europe • Thousands of interesting sights • Very expensive
home university? • Brno, Second largest city in Czech Republic, 400 000 people • Earlier called „Manchaster of Austria- Hungaria“, today it's very modern and familiar city with lot of nature around • City of students – more than 6 universities, Masaryk University (second largest after Charles' in Prague) and Brno University of Technology (my school, mainly technical studies) • BUT has 20.000 students, 8 faculties and is considered by one of 500 best universities in the world by The Times
of flats, prefab; during communist times, millions of them were built in whole the country (nowadays we are trying to reconstruct them and give them colours :-) ) • Unstable government system, silly politics • Criminality (but it's the same like in all the central Europe, you know...) • Gipsy problem
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![CZECH REPUBLIC JAN JAVOREK, [email protected]](https://files.speakerdeck.com/presentations/4fb7403e62e942001f012f1b/slide_0.jpg){kind=link}
