Tuesday 16 November 2010

Who is Reading This?

Over the years that I have been writing this blog I have come to know some of my readers, through the comments they leave, emails they send me or from the profiles of those that follow the blog. They come from all over the world. Some, such as fellow blogger Karen of Empty Nest Blog, I now consider friends.

When I started this blog I had no idea really who would read it. As I say in my profile (right) I hope it introduces the Czechs to the British and vice versa. But I presumed my primary audience would, if only for language reasons, be British. I recently was interested to see in my Blogger stats that Britain only comes third in the list of countries sending me readers, the US is second and top of the list is the Czech Republic, which given the language barrier is remarkable. I am so pleased.

I attended the launch event for the Lost in Translation exhibition on Sunday (yes, I know the exhibition is almost over) and found myself chatting to some delightful young Czech expats and comparing notes. It was fascinating to hear from them about the things they like and dislike about living in the UK. Consistently they spoke about being straight-talking in a country where people hide what they mean. I gave them the reference for Kate Fox's excellent book Watching the English. They confessed to having secret stores of piskoty (a type of biscuit) and kofola (the Czech cola and infinitely superior), I confessed to carrying over to Czecho supplies of teabags and marmite. I was intrigued to hear their feelings and experiences and comparing them with my own. It helped me understand why so many Czechs are reading this.

13 comments:

McCabeandco said...

Kofola that's Czech for communist cola?! Hey, and what, no mention of your friends from Australia? :)

Zoe Brooks said...

According the stats my Australian friends make up 2% of my visitors

Anonymous said...

Hello, I read from the Czech Republic, but I am a French expat living in Brno. Thank you for all your valuable information.

Jana said...

Being a foreigner 'somewhere' I find it interesting to read what foreigners think of my home country ;-)
Thank you for sharing your perception and observations.

McCabeandco said...

Yes, 2% is 2%, that's about as much as our involvement with you guys in Afghanistan but 2% is still worth a mention...so too the French in Brno... :)

Wissy said...

I always read your blog and look forward to your insights into Czechs and their culture. I'm from England.

Zoe Brooks said...

I would count as a British visitor only when I am in the UK!

The stats I have are only of visits and even then not all of them. It does not give me the percentage based on return visits or length of visit.

If it were to be a percentage of comments, Australia would be right up there, thanks in part to your good self, McCabeandco.

Ana said...

Hi, Potok! What about readers from Buenos Aires, Argentina? I expect I'm not the only one! I'm half Czech since my mother is Moravian (my other half is a funny mix of Bask and Irish) but my heart is 100 % Czech. As I don't speak Czech currently (I did when I was a kid, but I lost practice when I grew up)I am glad I came upon your blog for it is delicious and I found a lot of information that surely will be very useful in my next travel to my heart's homeland. I promise I will try to speak some Czech by then. Carry on with your lovely blog, Potok!
Ahoj!

Zoe Brooks said...

Here are the top 10 countries according to Googlestats:

Czech Republic
USA
UK
Germany
Argentina
Russia
Australia
Canada
Netherlands
Poland

Why? I don't know (and my other statcounter says something different)

Anonymous said...

Hi Potok, just to let you know, that I am follower from Australia...
keep blogging.

Your czech observations interest me a lot, being Czech living in Australia.

Perth

Anonymous said...

Hi Potok, just to let you know, that I am a follower from Australia...
keep blogging.

Your czech observations interest me a lot, being Czech living in Australia.

Perth

Anonymous said...

When I first came here it was so interesting I had to read through all the several dozens of your older posts! Generally I like to see my country through the foreigners' eyes, but I also enjoy your writing style (quite unique among expat blogs) and choice of topics. So good job, thank you and keep up!

Jiří

Vivien said...

I love your blog about the Czech Republic, a country I visited in 1995 and loved. Central European culture has always fascinated me.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...