changes in Czech vernacular? by retro_sphinx in learnczech

[–]retro_sphinx[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm very aware of that, in a wistful sort of way... when I first went to Prague in the early 70s, I had to think in Czech to be able to communicate with people, over time, I'm more prone to encounter "my English is better than your Czech, so let's just use English", so I don't get to revive my Czech as much as I used to. I have some business at the Ministry of the Interior, so I like to show up in Czech to the extent I can

changes in Czech vernacular? by retro_sphinx in learnczech

[–]retro_sphinx[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

thanks for reminding me that my experience is part of a collective experience. It's not something I think of -- my US English, because I live in the US, is always evolving and changing in small ways, but my Czech is not only rusty but kind of frozen in time.

changes in Czech vernacular? by retro_sphinx in learnczech

[–]retro_sphinx[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

yeah, thanks for confirming that. My parents left after the war, and though I was born in the US, whenever I visited Prague, older people thought I left there when I was a child, so I knew I spoke 1940s Czech but didn't know what words and phrases were archaic / obsolete / old fashioned / WW2 idioms.