Czech Subtitling Service

Everything you never needed to know about Czech

Some Czech words have no vowels
In the Czech language consonants can act as vowels so some words look like they haven’t any vowels at all. Czech words we use in English include robot, polka and pistol.

There’s a huge castle in Prague
Prague castle is the largest in the world. It is 570m long and 128m wide. In comparison Buckingham Palace in London is 108 metres long and 120m wide. There are over 200 castles in the Czech Republic, so if you love history this is the place for you.

The clock with horoscopes
Prague also has a huge clock which shows you the time, date and the astrological signs. It’s called the Astrological Clock and it’s the oldest of its type in the world.

Na Zdavi (cheers)!
The Czech people love drinking beer. They consume more beer per capita than anyone else in the world. Pilsner Urquell is the oldest pale lager. It was first brewed in 1842.

Seeing is believing
Those of you who wear soft contact lenses can thank a Czech chemist for the invention. They were manufactured in 1959. Soft contact lenses are popular because they are not as rigid as hard lenses, and they are more comfortable to wear.

Try a Spa with no water
If you fancy a spa day with a difference visit a beer spa in Prague. Apparently hop oil opens your pores and cleanses the skin. Whilst your soaking in the oak tubs you can also enjoy a refreshing beer and a chat with your fellow spa guests.

The street where you can’t meet in the Middle
There’s a street in Prague that’s so narrow pedestrians have to walk up and down it using traffic lights. This is because if two people are walking in opposite directions and meet in the middle there isn’t room to pass.

Sun and Ski
In the winter you can ski in the Czech Republic. Some of the most popular destinations are the Sumava National Park, the Giant Mountains, and the Ore Mountains. Despite the fact skiing conditions aren’t as good as most Alpine resorts the Czech Republic has an Olympic gold skier called Ester Ledecka.

Famous Faces
Every year there is an International Film Festival held in Karlovy Vary. The festival is held over 5 days, and you can watch over 200 films. It attracts stars from Hollywood and all over the world.

Czech by another name
The Czech language used to be called Bohemian which is a region in the Czech republic in the central and western parts of the country.

Czech is spoken in the Czech Republic by about 10 million people. You will also hear the language spoken in Poland, Germany and the United States. It is the most often used foreign language in Slovakia, according to the 2012 Eurobarometer survey.

The language is said to have come from the Boli tribe, who inhabited a place called Bohemia. The language was called Bohemian until it was changed in the early 20th century.

Although Czech literature first appeared in the 13th century, due to the fact that the country was ruled by the Austrians meant that most literature was actually written in German.

The language is closely related to West Slavic languages like Silesian and Polish and it shares its roots with German, Slavic and Romance language which originate from Latin.

Slovak was considered to be understood by Czechoslovakians and Czechoslovakian by Slovaks because both languages are extremely similar. However, this appears to be dying out now, since the younger generation do not have the close contact with Slovakia and vice versa, that people had before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.