Mailbox
Today in Mailbox: New Year’s greetings, the Czech words for “to marry”, Czech Radio’s documentary on lullabies, Radio Prague’s Christmas competition. Listeners quoted: Ashraful Islam, Jonathan Murphy, Gary Glaser.
Hello and welcome to Mailbox.
Many thanks for all the lovely Christmas and New Year’s greetings you’ve been sending us from across the globe. To quote just a couple of them, Ashraful Islam from Bangladesh sent us these wishes:
“I pray and hope that 2009 will be a good year with health, peace and progress for everyone. Have a memorable year 2009!”
And here is a quote from an e-card sent to us by Jonathan Murphy from Ireland:
“2009 will be an interesting year with the Czech presidency of the EU bringing more positive exposure to Radio Prague, I trust. I'll certainly be sending a link to your site for news and comment when I’m asked in university for sources of information. It'll be lots of work for sure but very good for the Czech Republic.”
And we hope that 2009 will be a very good year for our listeners all around the world and that you will find the time to tune in to Radio Prague’s programmes.
Last week I encouraged you to send in questions you might have regarding the Czech language. Here is an interesting query from Gary Glaser from the United States.
“In the US a big issue of the day is ‘gay marriage’. I was just curious about one thing. In Czech when one says they are getting married, one would use one of two words depending on whether they are marrying a male or a female. Maybe the issue doesn't come up in the Czech Republic, but it seems like it could lead to some interesting situations for anyone speaking Czech. How would such a situation be handled in Czech?”
There are indeed two different words for “to marry” in Czech depending on your gender. If you’re a woman and you are marrying a man, you use the verb “vdát se”. If it’s the other way round, the verb “oženit se” is used. However, there is also a gender-neutral verb “vzít se”, basically “to take one another”. Gay marriage is most usually referred to as “registrované partnerství” or registered partnership in Czech, so such a couple would probably use the wordy, yet accurate expression “uzavřeli jsme registrované partnerství” – “we closed a registered partnership”.
A change of subject now:
Czech Radio is running an unusual project. It is putting together a documentary on lullabies from different parts of the world. What you’ve just heard was an example from Argentina. The authors of the programme have assembled a number of samples from different countries and cultures and they have also turned to the different language sections of Radio Prague for further help.
If you would like your favourite lullaby to be featured on the programme, you are most welcomed to send us a recording of you or your family singing it. Technical quality is not important, it is the authenticity that counts. Also we would be very much interested to hear the story behind the song. Do you know a lullaby you’d love to share with others? Just send us your home recording in any format and it will be made immortal by Czech Radio. Here is another taste, this time from Germany:
And it is not lullabies but rather Czech Christmas music that you can win a CD of if you take part in Radio Prague’s Christmas competition which is still running for another three days.
All you need to do is fill in the Christmas crossword puzzle on our website http://www.radio.cz/en/html/crossword.html. The mystery phrase it contains is the name of a prominent Czech artist whose best-known work is closely related to Christmas. If you have difficulties filling in the crossword puzzle check out Radio Prague’s Christmas pages which contain all the answers. Please send the completed crossword puzzle to Radio Prague by the end of December by using the window below the puzzle. Ten winners will be awarded a CD with Czech Christmas music and other small gifts.
And there are also three days until the deadline of our mystery Czech competition:
“This time we would like to know the name of the Czech doctor who first classified human blood groups into the four types that are used today.”
Your answers need to reach us by the end of the month at [email protected] or Radio Prague, 12099 Prague, which are also the addresses for your questions, comments, reception reports and – lullabies – if you’d like to share them with us. Now it’s time for me to say good-bye, thank you for staying faithful to Mailbox throughout the year and see you in 2009.
