Anybody done the backpacking/hostel thing through Eastern Europe?

[Lief 🗽]

Czech is basically the same as Polish.

In the same way that Dutch is basically the same as German.

No, Czech and Polish are mutually intelligible in many cases, while Dutch and German (or High German at least, I'm sure there are some northwestern dialects that are similar) are not at all.

[GMantis]

Czech is basically the same as Polish.

In the same way that Dutch is basically the same as German.

No, Czech and Polish are mutually intelligible in many cases, while Dutch and German (or High German at least, I'm sure there are some northwestern dialects that are similar) are not at all.

"Mutually intelligible in many cases" (and those cases often have favorable factors behind them) is very far from being practically the same. You could make the case for Czech and Slovak being practically the same, but then many Czechs claim nowadays that they don't really understand  Slovak.

[memphis]

The nationalist language thing in Eastern Europe is getting absurd. If I speak the same language as people in Yorkshire, than so do the Czechs and the Poles, and ditto for a lot of the people in former Yugoslavia.

[GMantis]

The nationalist language thing in Eastern Europe is getting absurd. If I speak the same language as people in Yorkshire, than so do the Czechs and the Poles, and ditto for a lot of the people in former Yugoslavia.

Correct regarding parts of Yugoslavia, incorrect regarding the Czechs and Poles. Have you actually spent some time comparing to those languages? Perhaps you should at least learn the actual speakers of those languages think instead of making stereotypical assumptions.

[memphis]

The nationalist language thing in Eastern Europe is getting absurd. If I speak the same language as people in Yorkshire, than so do the Czechs and the Poles, and ditto for a lot of the people in former Yugoslavia.

Correct regarding parts of Yugoslavia, incorrect regarding the Czechs and Poles. Have you actually spent some time comparing to those languages? Perhaps you should at least learn the actual speakers of those languages think instead of making stereotypical assumptions.

Are you familiar with how different various forms of English are? I needed subtitles for much of Billy Elliot
Here's a good video of the local African-American dialect here. It's still English, but it's nothing like the standard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hv8NIj2cBM

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Czech and Polish are much more different than any two dialects of English.

[GMantis]

The nationalist language thing in Eastern Europe is getting absurd. If I speak the same language as people in Yorkshire, than so do the Czechs and the Poles, and ditto for a lot of the people in former Yugoslavia.

Correct regarding parts of Yugoslavia, incorrect regarding the Czechs and Poles. Have you actually spent some time comparing to those languages? Perhaps you should at least learn the actual speakers of those languages think instead of making stereotypical assumptions.

Are you familiar with how different various forms of English are? I needed subtitles for much of Billy Elliot
Here's a good video of the local African-American dialect here. It's still English, but it's nothing like the standard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hv8NIj2cBM

I had difficulty understanding this, but then again I'm not a native speaker of English. But still these are mostly differences in pronunciation. There are no substantial lexical differences, like there are even between close languages like Polish and Czech. And even similar words can have quite different meanings in different languages. For example, I don't advise you to use the Polish word Szukac ("search") in the Czech Republic, as it might have quite a different effect than the one you were expecting.
Again, I don't think you have actually compared even how the two languages sound, because the differences are pretty obvious.  So here is a sample of  Polish and Czech. As you have learned some Polish, you can see how much you understand the Czech one. Incidentally, as a speaker of a Slavic language, though very distant from both Czech and Polish, I can tell you that I can understand quite a bit more Czech than Polish, so at least from my point of view, they're not practically the same.

[memphis]

Sorry. I have not learned anywhere near enough Polish to get a word of either. I'm just working on being able to produce very simple greetings and functional questions. And I'm having a great deal of trouble with the word for excuse me, przepraszam. My neurons do not like that word at all Aside from vocabulary, African American English does have some key grammatical differences, but I've grown up hearing them and I'm not sure how they would affect the comprehension of somebody unaccustomed to them. I am curious as to how the Brits find the language in youtube video I posted earlier. As I mentioned earlier, I have a great deal of trouble understanding people from the North of England.

[GMantis]

Sorry. I have not learned anywhere near enough Polish to get a word of either. I'm just working on being able to produce very simple greetings and functional questions. And I'm having a great deal of trouble with the word for excuse me, przepraszam. My neurons do not like that word at all Aside from vocabulary, African American English does have some key grammatical differences, but I've grown up hearing them and I'm not sure how they would affect the comprehension of somebody unaccustomed to them. I am curious as to how the Brits find the language in youtube video I posted earlier. As I mentioned earlier, I have a great deal of trouble understanding people from the North of England.

You can't get a word of either language, yet you presume to lecture others that they're practically the same and to say otherwise would be a "nationalist language thing"? Considering that the general stereotype of Americans in this part of the world is that they are arrogant, your efforts to look less American doesn't seem to be going very well

[Bacon King]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hv8NIj2cBM

I didn't have any problem understanding this.

Is it actually hard to understand for some people?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Perhaps a good example might be with the Scots language (not "Scottish" referring to the Gaelic one, which is a completely different language.) It's clearly based on English, but isn't quite English. Wikipedia gives this example from the Bible:

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Here's the NIV version:

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Of course I'm not too familiar with Polish and Czech to comment on how similar they are, but it's a good example to an English speaker for something that's similar but not quite the same language.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

OK here's an experiment, translate this awesome and classic opebo post into both Polish and Czech and compare:

No, no, no.  If you are a poor, and you have a job at the Electric Company, you stay there, and say 'yes sir' and 'no sir, and just batten down the hatches and wait.  It will all be over soon enough.  No need to rush it by getting conned up the a**s by some Kiwi b******s and ending up living under a bridge.

Seriously, I know poors who work at the Power Company (true they're from the previous unionized generations so they made $70,000/year, but still), and they survived.  Every one of them - and they will get to die in hospitals with medical treatments.  Yes, Public Utilities are not government jobs, but they're the next best thing.

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...Looks pretty different to me actually.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And here's Tweed's classic rant:

ok, Inks, I won't curse you out.  just don't do that anymore.  because you want the numbers to look a certain way.  we all do.  but hey, it doesn't work out like that.  let me tell you a story, Inks.  back in the summer I hung out with this group.  we called it, The Group.  we hung out from mid-afternoon everyday to past midnight.  but then this girl came in.  well, she was there anyway, but she ed sh**t up hardcore.  and one of my friends was in love with her, but it was painfully obviously he'd never get with her.  then another of my friends fell in love with her around August 10th.  and she actually liked him.  but there was a problem.  my two friends that were in love with the same girl, they had been best friends forever.  literally.  so the friend that.  oh who cares.  the point is, it ed sh**t up.  and now The Group is no longer.  and I've tried to wink towards my past, but winking towards it doesn't work.  I've become obsessed with it.  and I want The Group back, but it's no longer.  I want the numbers to look a certain way.  but they don't.  sorry Inks.  it happens.  so don't mess with my entries and I won't mess with yours.  it's better that way.

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[Simfan34]

Not really.

Now, it's not quite the same thing, but I always wanted to go a "grand grand tour" by land across Europe. I'd take the QM2 to Portsmouth and stay in London, go to Paris and wander around France for a while, meander around Italy, back through Switzerland, through the Benelux, on to Denmark, a ferry to Norway, around Scandinavia, back to Germany, to the East, then on to Moscow, then down the Dnieper to Kiev and then Romania, then to Bulgaria, then to Istanbul, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, etc, to Morrocco, back to Spain, Portgual, France, and a plane home. I once worked out an itinerary- about a year, all by train or ferry. I'd probably take it after I finished my education for good- whatever advanced degree that would be. It's been a dream.

[Tender Branson]

If you are in the Salzburg area during your trip, check out this brochure about hostels in the state:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/interactivist/frontend/downloadDoc.asp?file=Brochure%5FJunge%5FHotels%5Fen%5F%2Epdf&typ=.pdf&id=00102&chk=296310

Especially the Seespitz-Hostel in Zell am See is pretty good. They are directly at the lake and there's a big sports park nearby incl. a soccer and tennis place. Also a boating club.

The prices are cheap as well:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/en/preise/index.asp

[bore]

I watched True Grit about a year ago and I couldn't understand anything anyone was saying, although that was (as others have said) almost entirely due to the accent and not the grammar.

[memphis]

I watched True Grit about a year ago and I couldn't understand anything anyone was saying, although that was (as others have said) almost entirely due to the accent and not the grammar.

How did you understand the black people in the video I posted?

[Simfan34]

If you are in the Salzburg area during your trip, check out this brochure about hostels in the state:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/interactivist/frontend/downloadDoc.asp?file=Brochure%5FJunge%5FHotels%5Fen%5F%2Epdf&typ=.pdf&id=00102&chk=296310

Especially the Seespitz-Hostel in Zell am See is pretty good. They are directly at the lake and there's a big sports park nearby incl. a soccer and tennis place. Also a boating club.

The prices are cheap as well:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/en/preise/index.asp

I do plan to visit Salzburg, but I would like to stay in hotels. I'm not so sure how I'm going to bring my luggage around the continent though.

[bore]

I watched True Grit about a year ago and I couldn't understand anything anyone was saying, although that was (as others have said) almost entirely due to the accent and not the grammar.

How did you understand the black people in the video I posted?

Reasonably well, but that's probably because they were talking quite slowly, I wouldn't say I could translate it word for word, but I got the gist of it quite easily. The main barrier for understanding for me is speed, especially if its in an unfamiliar accent.

[memphis]

If you are in the Salzburg area during your trip, check out this brochure about hostels in the state:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/interactivist/frontend/downloadDoc.asp?file=Brochure%5FJunge%5FHotels%5Fen%5F%2Epdf&typ=.pdf&id=00102&chk=296310

Especially the Seespitz-Hostel in Zell am See is pretty good. They are directly at the lake and there's a big sports park nearby incl. a soccer and tennis place. Also a boating club.

The prices are cheap as well:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/en/preise/index.asp

I do plan to visit Salzburg, but I would like to stay in hotels. I'm not so sure how I'm going to bring my luggage around the continent though.

You can't pretend to be an Edwardian aristocrat, but expect to carry your own luggage.  You pay a poor to do it for you. Obviously.

[Tender Branson]

If you are in the Salzburg area during your trip, check out this brochure about hostels in the state:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/interactivist/frontend/downloadDoc.asp?file=Brochure%5FJunge%5FHotels%5Fen%5F%2Epdf&typ=.pdf&id=00102&chk=296310

Especially the Seespitz-Hostel in Zell am See is pretty good. They are directly at the lake and there's a big sports park nearby incl. a soccer and tennis place. Also a boating club.

The prices are cheap as well:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/en/preise/index.asp

I do plan to visit Salzburg, but I would like to stay in hotels. I'm not so sure how I'm going to bring my luggage around the continent though.

How about only taking 1 or 2 pieces of luggage ?

Or are you a woman ?

Or if you REALLY need more, take a rental car.

[Franknburger]

By what means do you plan to travel? We made a Czech Republic holdiay in 2011 by train, which worked out really well.

If you have sufficient time, I suggest not going Peague-Vienna directly, but stop in [url:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD_Krumlov]Cesky Krumlov[/url] - it is one of the most beautiul small towns I have ever seen. Takes you a day to get there from Prague by train (you can stop for a few hours in Budweis). Spend at least 2 nights there, so you have a full day for the town.. From Cesky Krumlow there are bus shuttles to various places in Austria - not sure about Vienna, but definitely Salzburg and Linz.

When I worked in Budapest back in the 1990s, Polish tourists were ordering their drinks in German. By now, it has probably switched to English, but German is still widespread in Hungary (it used to be the number 1 foreign language in school), so you should be able to get around very well by using either English or German. German might also help you a bit in Poland, especially with older people (the younger ones will have a pretty good command of English).

[Simfan34]

If you are in the Salzburg area during your trip, check out this brochure about hostels in the state:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/interactivist/frontend/downloadDoc.asp?file=Brochure%5FJunge%5FHotels%5Fen%5F%2Epdf&typ=.pdf&id=00102&chk=296310

Especially the Seespitz-Hostel in Zell am See is pretty good. They are directly at the lake and there's a big sports park nearby incl. a soccer and tennis place. Also a boating club.

The prices are cheap as well:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/en/preise/index.asp

I do plan to visit Salzburg, but I would like to stay in hotels. I'm not so sure how I'm going to bring my luggage around the continent though.

You can't pretend to be an Edwardian aristocrat, but expect to carry your own luggage.  You pay a poor to do it for you. Obviously.

Bring my valet, in other words? Yes, Tender, two sounds about right. Not entirely sure how I'll fit in a dinner jacket though- I read a book that advised bringing one, especially in Europe. Running through train stations is bound not to be fun.

My tour probably looks something like this.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=216130118169479123988.0004d48df9acf5bc948f5

[Tender Branson]

If you are in the Salzburg area during your trip, check out this brochure about hostels in the state:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/interactivist/frontend/downloadDoc.asp?file=Brochure%5FJunge%5FHotels%5Fen%5F%2Epdf&typ=.pdf&id=00102&chk=296310

Especially the Seespitz-Hostel in Zell am See is pretty good. They are directly at the lake and there's a big sports park nearby incl. a soccer and tennis place. Also a boating club.

The prices are cheap as well:

http://seespitz.hostel-zellamsee.at/en/preise/index.asp

I do plan to visit Salzburg, but I would like to stay in hotels. I'm not so sure how I'm going to bring my luggage around the continent though.

You can't pretend to be an Edwardian aristocrat, but expect to carry your own luggage.  You pay a poor to do it for you. Obviously.

Bring my valet, in other words? Yes, Tender, two sounds about right. Not entirely sure how I'll fit in a dinner jacket though- I read a book that advised bringing one, especially in Europe. Running through train stations is bound not to be fun.

My tour probably looks something like this.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=216130118169479123988.0004d48df9acf5bc948f5

"Dinner jackets" are not needed in Europe. They are only for snobs.

BTW: Your tour takes about half a year !

It's almost impossible to do this in 2 weeks or so.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Tender, you forget that Simfan does not need to worry about trivial things like a "job."