We are [the] Czech Republic. We are Czechs. Czechia has now been accepted by the United Nations and the European Union, as well as by tech giants Google and Apple. Indeed, the UN claims that its origins go far further back, with its first reference in Latin coming in , while Czechian and Czechish were commonly used by English-language speakers in the 19th century. The Czech Republic is certainly not alone in having more than one name, there are many nations that have both a geographical and political name: When referring to the French Republic, for example, people typically use the name France.
It also only remains an issue amongst English and Czech speakers. In Germany, it is a little more controversial. The more natural-sounding Tschechei was used to describe parts of the country occupied by the Nazi regime after , and so the less historically-tainted Tschechien is now used.
Indeed, the history of the Czech lands is somewhat a history of semantic disputes, and when Czech nationalism developed in the late 19th century it was largely based upon language. They also said that it would cost a lot of money, which is not true. It is unclear why the government has not promoted the usage of Czechia in sports, because almost no other countries in the world use formal names in that area. Of course, we disapprove of this wait-and-see approach.
By not using it at all, the government then claims that the name did not catch up abroad. Do you think Czechia will eventually become the most common way to name the country? How much time do you think it might take? Of course, Czechia will become the most common way to name the country in the future because it is much more practical than the Czech Republic.
We would have given up a long time ago if we were not convinced that Czechia would eventually prevail. We love this country and that is why we are doing it since the Czech state has almost completely failed in this regard.
The length of time will depend on whether and when the Czech government will change its attitude. What more can be done to promote its use among the Czech population? Start using it wherever other countries use their short names.
Start using Czechia in an international sporting competition, international exhibitions, conferences, Czech English-speaking media, etc. Start teaching Czechia at schools.
English teachers here in Czechia keep teaching their students that Czechia is a wrong word and are marking it as a mistake when students use it. Fortunately, young Czechs are starting to use Czechia despite obstacles they face. They see it on their phones in country settings, on Google Maps, Google Earth, Apple maps, TomTom navigation, international coronavirus statistics and maps, etc.
Czechs also see Czechia on the web sites and publications of the United Nations and its institutions, on the web sites of the European Union and all its new publications and statistical data published since the end of Eventually many Czechs will realize that Czechia makes a lot of sense in a similar way Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, Indonesia, Australia and other short country names do.
Just wait and see. For more information about Civic Initiative Czechia and their fight for the correct short country name, feel free to check out their website or follow them on social media! Thanks a lot, Jules for this great summary, Prof. Pavlinek is right! On Eurovision its called Czechia but on my insurance documents it was still called Czech Republic just like they had Macedonia instead of North Macedonia.
Thank you! Completely agree with Petr. Unfortunately, and despite the thorough and detailed report, the name Czechia remains most unpopular amongst us expats. The name itself will be very often confused with Chechnya and will always lack identity. Understanding the Czech Republic vs. Czechia debate Czechia. Many thanks for this article. The country name issue has to be reminded more often. We are not any Plech Republic. The short geographic name of a country cannot be substituted by its formal political name, which is transient and ignores the historic continuity of a given state territory because it is limited only to the existing state form.
While the Czech Republic has only existed since , the Czech state has existed in various forms and under different political names for more than one thousand years. As such, the political name can never fully replace a permanent geographic name that does not change in response to changing state forms in a particular territory.
The need for a proper short name is demonstrated by the fact that the Czech Republic is often erroneously shortened to Czech, Czech rep. Despite their break-up, the Czech Republic and Slovakia remain more closely linked than any other two countries in Europe.
Although the dissolution was experienced as a defeat and a failure for many people, no one is seriously pleading for reunification. Their relationship to their common past remains highly asymmetrical and strained by long-running prejudices on both sides. While the Czech Republic celebrated the centenary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia in style and with great pomp, no event of such magnitude was held in Slovakia.
October 28 is one of the major Czech public holidays to celebrate the independence and statehood… of a country that no longer exists.
However, to mark the centenary, the country instead decided to implement a one-off public holiday on October 30 this year. Pingback: Czech Republic vs. Czechia: A linguistic riddle — Kafkadesk. Pingback: Czech Republic to celebrate th anniversary of its flag — Kafkadesk.
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