What are some cultural similarities between the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania?
I don’t know the Baltic countries to give any deep perspective in their similarities or differences.One thing I want to bring forth is that they all have an old sauna culture, just like Finland and Russia. Each of them have their own national features in this regard, but they all belong to the Northern sauna region with Finland and North-West Russia.Estonia:Latvia:Lithuania:
What are the main cultural differences between Czechs and Slovenes?
If Donald Trump were a Quoran, this would be an ideal question for him as he has been married to both a Czech (Ivana) and a Slovene (Melania).Historically, while both countries were considered Communist nations before the revolutions of 1989, they had radically different histories even within that era. When I visited Czechoslovakia in the early 70’s, shortly after their Prague Spring had been put down by the Russians, I got to know a number of students of that era. Although they were brought up speaking Russian and indoctrinated into Marxist-Leninist ideology, they had the mentality of resistors. They were more than receptive to a young American who spoke not Russian or Czech (we communicated mostly in German). The capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, has become a major EU destination in the post-communist era.Slovenia, on the other hand, was a Communist region of Yugoslavia, which was ruled through most of the Cold War by Tito. Never a part of the Soviet-controlled Warsaw Pact, it had relations with the West that exceeded those of most vassal states. When I did business in Belgrade in the 80’s, I met several Slovenes, who, even then, were very fiercely nationalistic although Slovenia was a province and not a nation. After the break-up of Yugoslavia, Slovenia aligned itself with Europe and is a rare former Eastern country that has adopted the Euro. I have since visited the capital, Ljubljana, in connection with work and find it to be a smallish but refreshingly vigorous city.Linguistically, although both Czechs and Slovenians speak languages of the Slavic family, they share a very low level of mutual intelligibility. Mutual Intelligibility of Languages in the Slavic Family. That means that young Barron Trump will have to speak English with Donald Junior even though these two of the five Trump children were brought up bilingually by their Slovenian and Czech mothers. President Donald Trump and his Multilingual Family
Is the Czech Republic (Czechia) more like Germany/Austria or the rest of the Slavic countries?
Germany and Austria are not really the same, as the question implies. But anyway…The Czech Republic is closest to Slovakia, definitely, which is a Slavic country. The cultures are very, very similar and many Slovaks and Czechs live in the other country more or less with no problem, not even linguistic problems as the languages are mutually intelligible.After that, it’s probably closest to Austria, due to historical reasons. Historically it was part of the Austrian Empire.My wife’s grandmother was an ethnic Moravian who was born and grew up in Vienna, serving a princess; she only left in 1918 when the Empire was broken up and there was pressure on ethnic Czechs and Moravians to leave, and a wave of Czech nationalism surged triumphant at about the same time; so her family came back to their ancestral homeland here in Moravia. Still there is an enormous amount of shops in Vienna with Czech surnames above the door, so not everyone left.Historically the Kingdom of Bohemia may have been part of the Austrian Empire, but due to the fact that East Germany was under communism as was the Czech Republic, perhaps it’s more similar to East Germany culturally nowadays, but with certain aspects the remind one of Austrian culture: the food, especially.German and Austria tend to be a little tidier than the Czech Republic or Slovakia; but by the same token countries “further east” tend to be a lot shabbier and more chaotic seeming.And I know it may be hard to imagine, but the truth is that the Czech Republic is somewhere in between the “German” west and the “Slavic” east: not only geographically, but culturally.
Why are Poland and Czechia so similar to Germany?
Most of the politicians pursuing the “National Agenda” spent last 150–200 years trying to define what makes them different from the guys living on the other bank of the river/side of the hill/other end of the potato field. It was great to electrify the crowds and pursue “National Interests”.Why are Sweden/Denmark/Norway so similar? Why Bangladesh/Pakistan/India are so similar? Why Canada and US are so similar? Why Zambia/Botswana/Zimbabwe are so similar?Why Canton of Zurich and Zug are so different? Why Austria and Germany are so different? Why Russia and Belarus are so different? Why South and North Korea are so different?I guess you can replicate this question in any geographic proximity and when you get down to the bottom in the 18th country the real division was between those having plenty and those struggling to get trough another day.Is Czech Republic/Germany/Poland similar? 200 years ago travelling merchant doing Krakow, Prague, Dresden route wouldn't notice major differences. Why last 100 years of conflicts, controlled boarders and different central government initiatives change something that lasted for 1000 years?
Is the Russian language close to the Czech Republic's Language?
My mother tongue is Slovak so I can give you an overall picture on this. Czech and Russian share about 40 % of vocabulary which is either the same or similar enaough to be recognized and understood. To give you a clue, I will throw in a couple of basic words in Czech and Russian (in latin transcript): tomorrow - zítra - závtra milk - mléko - malako clean - čistý - čístyj to give - dát - dať healthy - zdravý - zdaróvyj the day after tomorrow - pozítří - poslezávtra to find - najít - najtí I don´t know you - Já tě neznám - Ja tibja ne znáju What are you doing ? - Co děláš ? - Što délaješ ? As you can see, the similarities can be striking but they work only in just about those 40 times out of 100 and it works for basic words only. More advanced vocabulary is totally unrecognizable. Let´s see: Conscience - svědomitost - sóvjesť pronunciation - výslovnost - proiznošénije real - skutečný - nastojáščij precise - přesný - tóčnyj The bottom line is that you can make yourself understood in czech republic speaking russian but only on a basic level (for example asking for direction) but reading newspaper or having a more convoluted discussion is beyond reach. In fact, Czechs have nowadays hard time understanding even Slovaks whose language is 90 % the same. I hope I helped a bit
What are some important cultural differences between Czechs and Germans/Austrians?
In my observation, the Czechs have more cultural similarities with Austrians than Germans. But they don’t like each other so much. Because the Czechs have killed thousand of Sudeten Germans after surrender of Nazi Germany. They were more cruel to Germans than Nazis to Jews.
What are the main similarities and differences of Slavs, Celts and Germans?
How far back are you going? Or are you interested in the Roman Empire period? I would start with when they entered written records, mentioning where they may have come from and where they settled. Then speak about their customs - rulers, religion, everyday life. Were they warriors, or farmers, or nomadic hunter - gatherers? Were they peaceful or war-like with neighbors? Celts: http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html http://history-world.org/celts.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_peop... Slavs: http://www.ancientmilitary.com/ancient-slavs.htm http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Slavic_peoples http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_tribes Germanic (1st one with lots of links): http://www.archaeolink.com/germanic_tribes.htm http://www.rollintl.com/roll/germanics.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples I hope this isn't due Monday!
What are the major differences between the Czech Republic and Slovakia?
Czechs speak Czech, Slovaks Slovak (they are related but not identical languages) The topology of the Czech Republic is mostly rolling hills, with a few flat spots in the middle and higher hills along the borders. Slovakia has steep, rocky Alpine mountains in the north and is quite flat in the south. Czechs like to drink beer. Slovaks wine, slivovice (plum brandy) and borovička (something like gin). As a result, drunk Czechs have a tendency to get fumbly before they pass out; Slovaks, unfortunately, get a little rowdier (and violent) before overcome with drink. The Czech national dish is svíčková na smetaně - a slice of what is essentially Sauerbraten smothered in a pureed root vegetable cream and served with lignonberry compote and bread dumplings. The Slovak national dish is halušky s brynzou, little potato gnocchi with creamy goat cheese and sprinkled with fried bits of bacon. A relatively large Hungarian-speaking minority lives in Slovakia. A relatively large German-speaking minority used to live in what is now the Czech Republic, but almost all ethnic Germans were forced to leave the country at the end of World War II (because of the support many members of the German minority had expressed for Hitler, especially when he annexed Czechoslovakia in 1937). Czechs, especially in the western part of the country (Bohemia), are usually agnostic; Slovaks are churchgoing Catholics (in the very eastern part of the country they are churchgoing Orthodox Christians). Likewise, the history of the two areas up until 1919 are quite different (pls ignore the answerer who wrote some nonsense about the countries spending just two years together). But because of linguistic similarities (Czechs and Slovaks understand each other quite well), the desire to form their own strong country after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of WWI and strong senses of pragmatism, the Czechs and Slovaks managed to coexist - and, 74 years later, divorce - in peace.
Are Czechs a Germanic or Slavic people?
Linguistically - Slavic.Culturally - it is a mix of influences but mostly Slavic.Genetically - again, a mix, with some Germanic and Celtic genes tossed in - but mostly Slavic.I sometimes joke about how Czechs are half Germans, basically - but that is of course a gross overstatement…;-)There is a considerable Germanic and overall Western influence. It has always been traditionally stronger in Bohemia and Western Moravia than in the part of the country that I come from, but even there, it’s been quite considerable. Hardly a surprise, since we’ve been living next to each other and with each other for centuries. Not to mention Czechs were ruled by Habsburgs for almost 400 years and even before that, most of our political and religious ties were to the West.You could, for example, find a lot of similarities between how we and Germans celebrate Christmas, or between our cuisines.But that doesn’t make us a Germanic people.Despite the many germanisms, our language is a Slavic one.So is most of our folklore (víly, vodníci, rusalky and all that) and many of our customs. I think the very fact that we partly define ourselves *in opposition* to the Germanic element should be telling…:-) (Even though that kind of sentiment mostly originates in the 19th century nationalist movement.)Still, you could say that we share more with Germans than we do for example with Russians. It’s always tricky to discuss ethnicities and cultures as monolithic blocks, since they exist in a continuum and influences go across borders in both ways.Long story short: By most definitions we’re Slavs. Certainly not free of Germanic influences, but Slavs.