Czech Citizenship Exam: Significant Personalities From the 19th Century to the Present

Here are the 10 study questions for the Czech Citizenship exam from section 29: Significant Personalities From the 19th Century to the Present. 

1.  Which of these musical works was composed by Antonín Dvořák?

Z Nového světa - From the New World.

2.  What is the name of the main character of Jaroslav Hašek's most famous novel?

Josef Švejk.

3.  Which Czech writer won the Nobel Prize for Literature?

Jaroslav Seifert.

4.  Which famous Czech director lived in the USA and received server Oscar film awards?

Miloš Forman.

5.  In 1959, Jaroslav Heyrovský was the first Czech to receive the Nobel Prize.  In which field did he get it?

In chemistry.

6.  In which field did František Kupka excel?

In painting.

7.  What was the name of the Czech businessman and founder of a major engineering company in Plzeň?

Emil Škoda.

8.  What did the Czech chemist Otto Wichterle invent?

Soft contact lenses.

9.  What is the name of the literary work written by Karel Hynek Mácha?

Máj.

10.  In which sport did Jaromír Jágr become famous?

In ice hockey.

Czech Citizenship Exam: Currency and Banking System

Here are the 10 study questions for the Czech Citizenship exam from section 12: Currency and Banking System.

1.  Which institution issues banknotes and coins in the Czech Republic?

Czech National Bank

2.  On this banknote is a well-known Czech writer - the author of the book Babička.  What is this woman's name?

Božena Němcová

3.  What is the currency of the Czech Republic called?

The Czech Crown.

4.  Mr. Svoboda wants to exchange Czech crowns for euros.  How many crowns will he pay for 1 euro at the current exchange rate?

Approximately CZK 26.

5.  What is the highest value of a valid Czech banknote?

5.000 Czech crowns.

6.  What is the lowest value of a valid Czech banknote?

100 Czech crowns.

7.  Mrs. Svobodová is buying a new car for 650,000 crowns.  She wants to pay in cash, but the seller cannot legally accept such a large sum of money.  What is the maximum amount of cash the seller can accept?

CZK 270.000

8.  Mrs. Nováková does not have a bank account and pays the rent to the landlord's account every month.  Which method of payment will she use to pay the rent?

A postal order.

9.  Mr. Svoboda wants to exchange Czech crowns for euros.  In the exchange office there is this board.

How many crowns will Mr. Svoboda pay for 100 euros?

2 600 Kč

10.  Which of the following situations describes a loan?

Mrs. Svobodová took out a mortgage at the bank.

Josef Čapek

Josef Čapek (23 March 1887 - April 1945) was a well known Czech artist.  He was best known as a painter but he was also a gifted writer and poet.  He even invented the word "robot" which his younger brother Karel Čapek introduced to literature.

Letadlo (1929)

He was born in Hronov in Bohemia.  As a painter he was from the Cubist school but eventually developed his own minimalist style.

He was critical of Hitler and the Nazis and he was arrested after the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939.  He died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

His Povídání o Pejskovi a Kočičce (All about Doggie and Pussycat) collection of illustrated stories are considered by most to be classics of Czech children's literature.

Out on YouTube I found an animated version of Jak pejsek s kočičkou dělali dort (How Doggie and Pussycat Make a Cake).  It's entirely in Czech but it's not too difficult to figure out what's going on.

©Filmy Český a Zadarmo

Brno is Musical

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network aims to increase the cooperation between member states which recognises culture as a strategic factor for sustainable development.  They recognise seven creative disciplines: Crafts and Folk Art, Design, Film, Gastronomy, Literature, Music, and Media Arts.

There are currently 180 towns, from 72 countries, in the network.  This includes the two new entires for Czechland.

Prague was recognised for Literature and Brno is now a UNESCO Creative City of Music.

František Palacký

František Palacký was a historian and politician and a very influential person in Czech history.  He was born in 1798 and died in 1876 when Czechland was still part of the Hapsburg Empire.

Along with Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, he is considered one of the three "Fathers of the Nation."

Along with Josef Dobrovský and Josef Jungmann he was active in the Czech National Revival.  His most important work was The History of the Czech Nation in Bohemia and Moravia.

Palacký is on the 1000 Kč banknote.

Czech National Revival

After the Battle of White Mountain, the Czech lands were basically Germanized by the Hapsburgs.  The Czech language was almost wiped out.  He was no longer used in state administration, schools, university or the upper classes.  Many Czech books were burned and Czech became the spoken language of mostly illiterate peasants.

The Czech National Revival, České národní obrození, was a cultural movement in Czechland during the 18th-19th centuries.  Its goal was to bring the Czech language, culture and a national identity back to life.

Some of the most influential people in the movement were Josef Dobrovský and Josef Jungmann who introduced the Czech language in schools.  Jungmann also wrote the first Czech-German dictionary.

Frantíšek Palacký was another leader in the movement.  He was a historian who wrote History of the Czech People.  Czech literature was championed by novelist Božena Němcová, poet Karel Hynek Mácha, and political columnist Karel Haylíček Borovský.

National Museum in Prague

In Prague, the National Theater opened in 1883 and the National Museum opened in 1890.

One side effect of the National Revival is that it made Czech an even more difficult language to learn.  By trying to make the language as "Czech" as possible many very old Slavic words were incorporated which lasts today.  For example, the word for theater in most Slavic languages today is "teatr".  But in Czech it is "divadlo".

"Music" in most Slavic languages is "muzyka" but in Czech the word is "hudba".


This is also one of the reasons why the names of the months in Czech are so different.

Here's a Pilsner Urquell commercial from 2010 that I found on YouTube.  It shows Josef Jungmann get inspiration for the revival.  But then he slips up and says "danke", thanks, in German.

Božena Němcová

Božena Němcová is considered to be the mother of Czech prose.  She was a major figure in the Czech National Revival movement and many of her works are required reading for Czech school children today.

She was born in 1820 in Vienna and died, at the age of 41, in Prague in 1862.  Her father was Austrian and her mother was Czech.

At 17 she had an arranged marriage to a 15 year old Bohemian patriot.  They had four children but the couple didn't get along.  She spent most of her life in harsh poverty and often had to receive charity.

Němcová wrote many short stories and fairy tales.  Her most famous novel is Babička (The Grandmother) about a young girl and her grandmother in the countryside.  She also wrote a version of Popelka.

There is some speculation on her origin.  Some think that she was actually the illegitimate daughter of Wilhelmine, the Duchess of Sagan, while others think that she may have been Wilhelmine's illegitimate niece.  Neither speculation has ever been proven.

Božena Němcová is featured on the 500 Czech Crown banknote.

The Good Soldier Švejk

The years 2014 to 2018 mark the 100th anniversary of WWI - the war to end all wars.  Out of the tragedy of the first world war comes one of the best books ever.

The Good Soldier Švejk, written by Jaroslav Hašek, was published in 1923.  The novel has been translated in to 58 languages making It is the most translated work of Czech literature.

Jaroslav Hašek

The original Czech title is Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války, which translates to The Fateful Adventures of the Good Soldier Švejk During the World War.  Czech artist Josef Lada did the original illustrations.

It is a satirical, black comedy on the futility of war.  The author intended for the story to cover six volumes but he only completed the first three, and started the fourth, when he died in 1923.

Švejk illustration by Josef Lada

The story is about Švejk whose main goal in life is to avoid the greater foolishness around him.  It's hard to tell if Švejk is a complete idiot, a wise fool, or the smartest person around as he goes from one situation to another.

Švejk is a part of Czech culture.  Many towns will have a Švejk pub.  The Czech language even has a verb, švejkovat, meaning "to švejk". 

Here's a clip from the 1957 movie adaption that I found on YouTube.