Welcome to another edition of SoundCzech our Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is by the group Chinasky. It is called 1970 and the phrase to listen out for is “jakej pán, takovej krám”.
Photo: Archive of ČRo 7
The Czech phrase “jakej pán, takovej krám” means “ a shop is like its master “ and it is something akin to the English phrase “like master, like servant”. If you consider that the song is called 1970 and the lyrics describe the so-called normalization era when hardline communists regained their grip on power in then Czechoslovakia it is not hard to figure out what the phrase refers to. The master is the communist leadership, headed by then president Gustav Husak – and the shop is the entire country. Chinaski sing “we are Husak’s children” –a phrase still used when referring to the 70s generation. The refrain goes “my parents always taught me ‘don’t put out a fire that’s not burning you, watch things from a distance and never fight lone battles ” – some of the cautious lessons of the hardline 70s. And of course summing it all up is the phrase “jakej pán–takovej krám”.
Photo: Archive of ČRo 7
There are of course a number of other sayings used when you want to draw a comparison of some sort. Czechs also have the saying “like mother, like daughter” only in Czech the phrase is “jaká matka, taká Katka” a girl’s name Kathy is used in place of daughter purely for the purpose of getting the phrase to rhyme. Katka is one of the most common girls’ names. You can also say “jablko nepadlo daleko od stromu” which means “an apple never falls far from the tree” or “jsou si podobné jako vejce vejci” which is the equivalent of “they are like two peas in a pod” but in Czech you refer to the similarity of two eggs. They are “jeden jako druhý” or “one, like the other”. And that brings us to the end of today’s lesson – this is Daniela Lazarova saying thanks for learning Czech with me and na shledanou.
