After nearly three decades of learning Slovak, you might think that understanding Czech would be easy. Czech and Slovak are famously similar — so why can I still get completely lost in a five-minute Czech phone call?

In this episode of the Blorecast, I look at my very strange relationship with the Czech language: from my first exposure to Czech at university and then on Slovak television, through years of increasingly irrational frustration, to finally deciding that perhaps I should perhaps get over myself.

I talk about Czech vs Slovak, how mutually intelligible the two languages really are, why exposure matters, and why Slovaks who grew up watching Czech television and cartoons often have a very different experience of Czech from someone like me.

Along the way, there are Czech pronunciation nightmares, Czech car vocabulary, the famous ř sound, strč prst skrz krk, Prague’s metro announcements, Petr Novotný’s pepř a sůl, Karel Gott, Tři oříšky pro Popelku, and the Czech words that I increasingly find rather wonderful.

So, after 28 years in Slovakia, can I speak Czech?

Well… no.

But I can sing it.

⸻

Chapters

00:00 Can I speak Czech?

01:40 My Slovak isn’t perfect either

03:03 My first encounters with Czech

04:06 Czech on Slovak television

04:44 The terrifying Czech ř

05:41 The greatest dad joke in the world

06:08 Slovak vs Czech exposure

07:03 My first trip to the Czech Republic

07:28 The tomato soup problem

08:35 Czech on the telephone

09:50 My Czech–Slovak grudge

10:11 The Quora Incident

10:49 The uncanny similarity of Slovakia and Scotland

11:35 Why I finally got over myself

12:20 Learning Czech with Duolingo

13:19 The lovely sounds of Slovak and Czech

13:58 Can I fool a Czech person?

14:43 Outtakes

Are Czech and Slovak really mutually intelligible? How much Czech can a Slovak understand? And what about the other way round? Let me know what you think in the comments.

If you enjoyed this video, subscribe to the Blorecast so you don’t miss the next one.

The previous video featuring me speaking Slovak: https://youtu.be/p_tZ1uKeNvc

#Czech #Slovak #CzechLanguage #SlovakLanguage #CzechVsSlovak #LearnCzech #Slovakia #Blorecast

⸻

📺 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@bloresk

📌 Find out more at: https://blore.sk/

📧 Contact: podcast@blore.sk

👍 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blore.sk

📸 Or instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blore.sk/

⸻

Picture Attributions

Most of the photos I use are from Wikipedia or they are my own. As the number of characters in these descriptions is limited, I've decided to start keeping a full list here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR6mYAXFBibF92HMHRMsuJkiHPqas5Fm-KBQA-_7pnn4mFYc3-rXmZdaS3dNlvhnQPh5Jh-bh9sijT7/pub

⸻

Music

Our theme tune is Ode to Joy – Heavy Edition, written specially for us by the most excellent dafteaux: https://youtu.be/rU6nLowrtmE

And the new funky beats are from here: https://samplefocus.com/samples/acoustic-rolling-drum-loop-cool-beat

A few weeks ago, I received a challenge from a viewer: speak Slovak for an entire video.

I was sceptical. After all, my Slovak is… not great, not terrible!

But after making a few videos about Slovak food, I started seeing some familiar comments about British cuisine: “British food is terrible”, “Brits don’t know how to cook”, and so on.

So I decided to kill two birds with one stone — zabiť dve muchy jednou ranou. I would accept the Slovak language challenge while also answering one of the internet’s favourite myths: is British food really that bad?

In this video, I speak Slovak (well… mostly Slovak!) while talking about:

🇬🇧 traditional British foods that deserve more respect

🇸🇰 what Slovakia does differently with food culture

🥔 Slovak zemiaky v pahrebe vs British baked potatoes

🍽️ why traditional food survives better in some countries

🌭 sausages, gravy, baked beans, and other food debates from the comments

After 28 years living in Slovakia, I’ve learned that you can genuinely love the food of the country where you live while still missing the flavours you grew up with.

A huge thank you to everyone who commented on my previous Slovak food videos — your corrections, suggestions and stories made this episode possible.

Chapters:

00:00 The Slovak challenge

01:10 The Slovak Begins

01:39 Defending traditional British food

02:19 Some things you just have to grow up with

02:44 Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)

03:31 The real problem with British food

04:00 Slovak baked potatoes: zemiaky v pahrebe

05:12 Food traditions and why they matter

06:01 Back to English: corrections from the last food video

08:06 Final thoughts

If you enjoyed this video, let me know:

What food from another country have you fallen in love with?

And please be kind with my Slovak corrections! 😄

Rasty's Deli and Butchery

https://rastys.sk/product-category/breakfast-sausages/

🇸🇰🇬🇧 More food from The Blorecast:

10 Slovaks Foods I Love https://youtu.be/Sp0uE2P1eN0

10 Unwritten Rules of Slovak Food https://youtu.be/r1zkxy8A-Sc

#Slovakia #SlovakLanguage #BritishFood #LivingInSlovakia #LearnSlovak #SlovakCulture

⸻

📺 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@bloresk

📌 Find out more at: https://blore.sk/

📧 Contact: podcast@blore.sk

👍 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blore.sk

📸 Or instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blore.sk/

⸻

Picture Attributions

Most of the photos I use are from Wikipedia or they are my own. As the number of characters in these descriptions is limited, I've decided to start keeping a full list here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR6mYAXFBibF92HMHRMsuJkiHPqas5Fm-KBQA-_7pnn4mFYc3-rXmZdaS3dNlvhnQPh5Jh-bh9sijT7/pub

⸻

Music

Our theme tune is Ode to Joy – Heavy Edition, written specially for us by the most excellent dafteaux: https://youtu.be/rU6nLowrtmE

And the new funky beats are from here: https://samplefocus.com/samples/acoustic-rolling-drum-loop-cool-beat

After nearly 30 years living in Slovakia, I think I've finally figured out the unwritten rulebook behind Slovak food — the stuff no cookbook tells you, but every Slovak grows up just knowing.

This is part two of my deep dive into Slovak vs British food. Last time I shared 10 Slovak dishes I love (and a couple I still can't get on board with) — and the comments made it very clear there's a whole set of unspoken rules I'd missed. So today: the results of my pastry-and-meat challenge, six more food rules, and one genuinely baffling mystery about Slovakia's relationship with potatoes.

🕒 Video Chapters:

0:00 Intro

0:22 Recap: soup, sweet lunches, and why one carb is never enough

2:03 The great pastry-and-meat challenge — results

4:22 Sweet things stay sweet in Slovakia

5:19 Savoury breakfasts vs British cereal culture

7:04 What makes a "real" sausage

8:10 Green might not be mint

8:29 The great cabbage obsession

8:56 Gravy & custard: the sauces Slovakia never needed

10:27 The biggest mystery in Slovak cuisine

If you're British, Slovak, or just someone who loves comparing food cultures, I think you'll enjoy this one. Let me know in the comments if I got anything wrong — or if you can solve the potato mystery at the end.

🇸🇰🇬🇧 More from The Blorecast:

10 Slovaks Foods I Love https://youtu.be/Sp0uE2P1eN0

#SlovakFood #Slovakia #BritishFood #FoodCulture #ExpatLife #Kosice #Blorecast

⸻

📺 Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@bloresk

📌 Find out more at: https://blore.sk/

📧 Contact: podcast@blore.sk

👍 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blore.sk

📸 Or instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blore.sk/

⸻

Picture Attributions

Most of the photos I use are from Wikipedia or they are my own. As the number of characters in these descriptions is limited, I've decided to start keeping a full list here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vR6mYAXFBibF92HMHRMsuJkiHPqas5Fm-KBQA-_7pnn4mFYc3-rXmZdaS3dNlvhnQPh5Jh-bh9sijT7/pub

⸻

Music

Our theme tune is Ode to Joy – Heavy Edition, written specially for us by the most excellent dafteaux: https://youtu.be/rU6nLowrtmE

And the new funky beats are from here: https://samplefocus.com/samples/acoustic-rolling-drum-loop-cool-beat

And the inspirational music is this:

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Music: Exalted by Aylex https://soundcloud.com/alexproductionsmusic

License: https://freetouse.com/license

Free Download / Stream: https://links.al/fXh

Music promoted by Audio Library: https://links.al/youtube

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––