Brno on the up and up, says guidebook author Michal Kašpárek
Michal Kašpárek is the perfect guide to the Czech Republic’s second city Brno. A life-long resident, he has in recent years used his extensive knowledge of the Moravian capital to write a very useful alternative e-book entitled Poznej Brno (Get to Know Brno), while he is also behind the English language listings site BrnoNow.com. When we met for a drink recently outside a café in the lively Veveří district, I began by asking Kašpárek what was distinctive about Brno people.
Which must make communication difficult, no?
“Yes, it does.”
One thing that really strikes me, especially where we’re sitting, outside a bar in a student part of town, is how much of a student city Brno is.
“There are like 80,000 students living and studying – actually living and in some cases even studying in Brno.”
Out of a population of less than 400,000?
“Yes.”
What does that mean in concrete terms? I guess you have a relatively high number of bars and cafés?
“Yes. Many people live in small apartments with many roommates and they need to get out and find some space. On the other side, there are many people that are desperate to make some money and being a bartender is an excellent way for students to make some extra money.”
I presume when the students aren’t here the city must be relatively dead?
“Yes. At the beginning of July there is a weekend when there are some Czech national holidays, for three or four days, and during that weekend you can easily stand on the main square and see no one. It is completely empty, with really not a single soul at 7 PM.”
Do a lot of the people who come here to study end up living here permanently?
“I don’t know any statistics supporting that, but I think…yes. Because there some companies like IBM and Infosys that employ graduates. So, yes, many of the students stay here.”
“I’ve never been looking for a job in Prague, so I can’t compare very well. But I think you have the same chance.”
But the pay I guess is lower here? Prices are lower here.
“The pay is lower and maybe rents are lower here. But you pay the same amount of money for beer and coffee and things like that.”
In general, what kind of relationship do Brno people have to the Big Smoke, to Prague?
“There used to be a joke. A man from Brno meets a man from Prague. And the man from Brno says, hey, do you know what we think about people in Prague? The man from Prague says, no, what? And the Brno man says, that you are mean and selfish and we don’t like you.
“And the man from Prague says, that’s interesting. Do you know what we think of people from Brno? Nothing. Nothing at all.
“Then, like last year, the joke changed. The man from Prague says, hey, do you know what we think about people from Brno? That you have [pranksterish anti-City Hall civic group] Žít Brno and so many great cafés and you are so funny and so creative.
“And the man from Brno says, do you know what we think about people from Prague? Nothing! Nothing all. So it switched.”
I heard a joke in which there was some guy from Prague drinking water out of a fountain on one of the squares in this city and so Brno guy started telling him that it was poisoned or dirty or something. And the Prague guy says, what? in a strong Prague accent. And the Brno guy says, just keep drinking.
“Yes, I think that joke is quite stupid, but people still love it.”
“[laughs].”
People say that Prague is a state within a state. Is Brno a state within Moravia, in a sense? Do you feel a bit cut off from the rest of the province?
“Totally. Totally. Just take a train to Adamov, it takes 15 minutes, and you will be in a completely different country. Maybe they even speak a completely different language.
“We live here in some sort of isolation from the rest of Moravia and from the rest of the country.”
What about Vienna, which is nearer to Brno than Prague is? Are there close ties? I know historically there have been.
“We love to say, yes, there are close ties. But I’m not sure whether that is correct, because just a few people I know in Brno work in Vienna or go there for shopping and concerts and so on. But many more people go to Prague, and come from Prague to Brno.”
Also I understand you Brno people have a crazy language all of your own called hantec, is that the name?
“Yes, hantec is the name. But it is almost forgotten. It is spoken mostly by people working in blue collar positions and not by many hipsters in the cafés downtown.”
Can you give me even one or two examples of this dialect?
“A word that is still used is šelina, which means tramway. It was created from the German elektrische linie, I guess, which means electric lines.”
But otherwise you speak the same… though you do have a different accent from people in Prague.
“Yes, especially after five or six beers. But it is not something that would strike you when you come to the town.”
“Yes, when you go to the countryside in Moravia, you will easily meet people who speak excellent, clean, spisovná…”
And in Brno?
“Not in Brno. Because there are people from so many parts of the Czech Republic coming here to study and to work that it’s all mixed. You’d have a hard job finding somebody who is a pure, natural-born Brno person.”
How has Brno changed over the years? I was last here maybe six years ago, and previously a few years before that, and frankly it seems to me to be cooler now.
“It is, it definitely is cooler than it was six years ago. Fifty or 100 cafés and pubs and other interesting places opened downtown and in this quarter called Veveří, and it has really changed the way the city feels and looks.”
What is Brno lacking?
“Maybe some self-confidence. I think people in Brno should remember that they have a really high quality of living and they could easily make it even higher. Like by turning some parking lots into parks and so on. I’m a driver but still I think that Brno is totally car-focussed and we should support some bike life and some pedestrian life. And I think that is all Brno is lacking, right now.”
Also I was saying that to me as an outsider Brno has become cooler, and it definitely has improved in terms of reputation, I think – at least among the Prague people I know.
How is Brno in terms of culture? For instance, live culture – theatre, music, that kind of thing.
“It’s still no Austin, Texas but there are three, four, maybe five good if not great concerts every week. You won’t get bored in Brno after one or two weeks. There is always something to do. Even though sometimes you need the sense of humour that is typical for Brno to enjoy the things that are going on.”
