PEOPLE AND LANGUAGE.
The majority of inhabitants of Prague are Bohemians (Čechs) belonging to the great Slav race; only 7 per cent. are Germans.
The names of streets, the names on tramears, are inscribed in Čech: náměstí = square, ulice = street, třída avenue, silnice = road, sady = park, zahrada = garden, nádraží = station, divadlo = theatre, radnice = Town Hall, kostel = church.
Prof. Monroe wrote in his: “Bohemia and the Čechs“: “The striking vocal contrasts, which the Čech language presents to the foreigner, are aptly referred to by F. Marion Crawford as: “the undefinable character of the Bohemian language, in which tones often softer than those of the softest southern tongue alternate so oddly with rough gutturals and strident sibilants“.
“Traveller will find-no more difficulty with the language problem than in any other, countrys German, French and English are widely spoken. The Bohemians are natural linguists and courteous and attentive to strangers, and English folk seem to be particularly welcome“.
The Bohemians are anxious to be known in other countries at first hand, and not, as at present is largely the case, through German spectacles.
The number of good English scholars among all classes is remarkable and there are numerous reading circles for English literature, while the Bohemian university has lately equipped an English seminary. Great interest is taken in English municipal and social institutions and English plays are translated and presented on the stage of Prague.