Post by Jaga on Oct 26, 2016 0:05:00 GMT -7
There is an article in Guardian saying that English-speaking people cannot call Czech republic by its proper name... Czechia
In Poland we call it "Czechy" for a long time already
www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/25/nobody-calls-it-czechia-czech-republic-new-fails-catch-on?CMP=fb_gu
With its imposing statue of the Czech patron saint and wide avenues leading toward historic Prague, Wenceslas Square should be the ideal place for defining a country’s national identity – or at least its name.
So when the authorities decided to tamper with Czech Republic’s official branding they may have done well to road test the idea here, where national aspirations have often been asserted, and occasionally crushed, in dramatic fashion.
Yet, six months after the shorter and supposedly punchier name of Czechia was officially adopted by the country’s leaders, citizens of the central European country of 10 million people seem in little doubt over what it should be called.
“The Czech Republic,” answered one person after another on being asked to name their country, some greeting the question with disbelieving stares.
Czechs agree to be 'Czechia' as catchy alternative
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“It’s a little confusing. Nobody calls it Czechia, I don’t know why,” said Lukas Hasik, 40, a software engineer hurrying through Wenceslas Square to an appearance by the Dalai Lama, who was visiting Prague. “People are used to the name Czech Republic by now and I would say we should stick with it.”
“It’s the Czech Republic,” agreed Zdenek Cech, 30, a medical student at Charles University in Prague. “I would like a shorter name but Czechia doesn’t sound nice. It sounds too small, or like some dialect.”
In April, Czech leaders, most prominently the president, Milos Zeman, who was the idea’s leading champion, announced that Czechia would supplant Czech Republic as the country’s everyday common moniker - in the same way most other nations are known by names that omit their official constitutional status.
While it would not disappear entirely, the Czech Republic tag, it was argued, was too long to attract attention on the global stage and woo foreign investment. Czechia would simplify things and be a more recognisable name.
Zeman used the shortened name throughout a recent interview with the Guardian. His initiative has now won the acquiescence of Britain and the US, among others.
The British government’s permanent committee on geographical names last month recommended that the country be henceforth called Czechia after the name was entered into the UN database. The US state department has also officially adopted Czechia as the short-form name, alongside the longer version.
The Czech president, Milos Zeman
The Czech president, Milos Zeman, championed the new name. Photograph: Matej Divizna/Getty Images
The shift has prompted dramatic coverage in some parts. An article last week headlined “The Czech Republic stopped being a thing while you weren’t paying attention,” declared: “The Czech Republic is mostly dead: long live Czechia.”
The trouble is, Czechia is not catching on. Czech authorities continue to use the term Czech Republic on official correspondence and English-language websites, including Zeman’s presidential site.
The president’s spokesman also used the longer name in a tweet this week criticising the Czech culture minister for meeting the Dalai Lama. And Andrej Babis, the finance minister and Zeman ally who is originally from neighbouring Slovakia and is tipped to be the next prime minister, referred to Czech Republic rather than Czechia in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
Miloš Zeman: the hardline Czech leader fanning hostility to refugees
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“The one-word name Czechia isn’t for official use by state organs,” explained Jan Urban, a professor and political analyst at New York University in Prague. “It’s for unofficial use, just as British journalists say Britain rather than Great Britain, or as the French Republic is called France.”
In Poland we call it "Czechy" for a long time already
www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/25/nobody-calls-it-czechia-czech-republic-new-fails-catch-on?CMP=fb_gu
With its imposing statue of the Czech patron saint and wide avenues leading toward historic Prague, Wenceslas Square should be the ideal place for defining a country’s national identity – or at least its name.
So when the authorities decided to tamper with Czech Republic’s official branding they may have done well to road test the idea here, where national aspirations have often been asserted, and occasionally crushed, in dramatic fashion.
Yet, six months after the shorter and supposedly punchier name of Czechia was officially adopted by the country’s leaders, citizens of the central European country of 10 million people seem in little doubt over what it should be called.
“The Czech Republic,” answered one person after another on being asked to name their country, some greeting the question with disbelieving stares.
Czechs agree to be 'Czechia' as catchy alternative
Read more
“It’s a little confusing. Nobody calls it Czechia, I don’t know why,” said Lukas Hasik, 40, a software engineer hurrying through Wenceslas Square to an appearance by the Dalai Lama, who was visiting Prague. “People are used to the name Czech Republic by now and I would say we should stick with it.”
“It’s the Czech Republic,” agreed Zdenek Cech, 30, a medical student at Charles University in Prague. “I would like a shorter name but Czechia doesn’t sound nice. It sounds too small, or like some dialect.”
In April, Czech leaders, most prominently the president, Milos Zeman, who was the idea’s leading champion, announced that Czechia would supplant Czech Republic as the country’s everyday common moniker - in the same way most other nations are known by names that omit their official constitutional status.
While it would not disappear entirely, the Czech Republic tag, it was argued, was too long to attract attention on the global stage and woo foreign investment. Czechia would simplify things and be a more recognisable name.
Zeman used the shortened name throughout a recent interview with the Guardian. His initiative has now won the acquiescence of Britain and the US, among others.
The British government’s permanent committee on geographical names last month recommended that the country be henceforth called Czechia after the name was entered into the UN database. The US state department has also officially adopted Czechia as the short-form name, alongside the longer version.
The Czech president, Milos Zeman
The Czech president, Milos Zeman, championed the new name. Photograph: Matej Divizna/Getty Images
The shift has prompted dramatic coverage in some parts. An article last week headlined “The Czech Republic stopped being a thing while you weren’t paying attention,” declared: “The Czech Republic is mostly dead: long live Czechia.”
The trouble is, Czechia is not catching on. Czech authorities continue to use the term Czech Republic on official correspondence and English-language websites, including Zeman’s presidential site.
The president’s spokesman also used the longer name in a tweet this week criticising the Czech culture minister for meeting the Dalai Lama. And Andrej Babis, the finance minister and Zeman ally who is originally from neighbouring Slovakia and is tipped to be the next prime minister, referred to Czech Republic rather than Czechia in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
Miloš Zeman: the hardline Czech leader fanning hostility to refugees
Read more
“The one-word name Czechia isn’t for official use by state organs,” explained Jan Urban, a professor and political analyst at New York University in Prague. “It’s for unofficial use, just as British journalists say Britain rather than Great Britain, or as the French Republic is called France.”
