Take our Czech quiz

I. Who's who in the Czech culture Match the name with the description:

Jaroslav Hašek	His inspiration for his stories of working-class life draw on his upbringing in a Nymburk brewery, his chequered career in factories and his nightly rounds of Prague’s watering holes.
Bohumil Hrabal	Robots and giant telepathic newts are his most famous creations, but he also wrote children’s books and detective stories.
Jaroslav Seifert	His classic versions of fairy tales are the definitive source for such peculiarly Czech beings as the midday witch and the water sprite.
Karel Čapek	Winner of the Nobel prize for literature, he is undoubtedly the Czechs’ best-known poet.
Karel Jaromír Erben	Soldier, anarchist, satirist and pub-goer, his most famous character, the good soldier Svejk, seems to land in misfortune every time he enters a pub or takes a drink.

Who is who? You'll learn the answers in your Level 2 course RUS248 'Readings in Czech Culture'.
II. Czech history: True or false?

1. A Czech king once ruled over Luxembourg, and the Czechs once almost had an Adriatic coastline.

2. The first ruler of the Bohemians is said to have been a ploughman, and their first queen a noble-born clairvoyant.

3. A protestant reformation occurred in the Czech lands, roughly 100 years before Martin Luther.

4. The founder of many modern teaching methods was a Czech, exiled during the wars of the 17th century.

5. Between the world wars, Czechoslovakia was the world’s most highly industrialised nation.

6. A Czech genius nearly invented the light-bulb, missed reaching the North Pole first by only seven metres, and foresaw by nearly a century the invention of the internet.

True or false? You’ll learn the answers in your Level 1 course RUS121-122 ‘Czech Language and Culture’

III. Buy Czech – buy… Hyundai?

Which of these companies have factories and branches in the Czech Republic? Match the name to the description:

DHL	All central and east European activities of this world-famous IT firm are managed from Prague.
HSBC	Owns many manufacturing subsidiaries in the Czech Republic producing a range of dry goods and foods.
Hyundai	This international bank has a large presence in the Czech Republic.
IBM	One of three global shipping centres, with over 1000 IT employees.
KPMG	Opened a 1m euro car plant in the Czech Republic employing 11,000.
Panasonic/Toshiba/Hitachi	This global auditing and financial services firm has over 850 employees in Prague.
Proctor & Gamble	This major American IT company has been investing in Czech IT.
Rolls-Royce	Engines by this British manufacturer are being supplied to power plants in the Czech Republic
Sun Microsystems	A joint venture to manufacture display screens is underway in the Czech Republic.
Henderson’s Relish	Still found only in Sheffield, England!

IV. What do the following Czechs have in common?

Author Emil Hakl, filmmaker Zdenek Zvonek, architect and memoirist Ivan Margolius, ambassador Jan Winkler, historian Pavel Seifter…?

Answer: all have recently been guests of the University and the Sheffield Czech and Slovak Society, and can be seen below meeting with students and the local community.