Diversity in language: Outdoor terminology in the Czech Republic and Britain

Abstract

This paper reviews literature related to outdoor terminology as it is used within the languages of British English and Czech. It provides the background to the outdoors in the Czech Republic where terminology has adopted and adapted many English language outdoor terms. The paper analyses the differences and similarities between terms and deals with the problems associated with defining and explaining outdoor terms and translating the British English terms into Czech and vice versa. Semi structured interviews were conducted with British and Czech academic experts. The findings suggest that as the outdoor field develops there is a need for more understanding of the cultural, historical, and geographical differences between concepts" and terminology used in both English and non-English speaking countries, for example, the specific indigenous nature of the Czech turistika activities.

Embodiment and social and environmental action in nature-based sport: spiritual spaces

“…Nevertheless as Turcova, Martin, and Neuman (2005) highlight there continue to be variations and ambiguities in the ways in which these sorts of activities are termed. For example, educators tend to refer to the more accessible activities as outdoor or adventurous activities (see Allin & Humberstone, 2010) or in Scandinavian context friluftsliv (Gurholt, 2008).…”

The dramaturgy approach to education in nature: reflections of a decade of International Vacation School Lipnice courses, Czech Republic, 1997–2007

“…Over the past decade there has been limited publication in journals in the field (AJOE, JEE, JAEOL) of non-English-language perspectives (Thomas, Allison, & Potter, 2009), although there has been acknowledgement of non-English-language terminology (Turčová, Martin, & Neuman, 2005), for example, friluftsliv in Scandinavia (Henderson & Vikender, 2007) is about touching and being touched by free nature (Faarlund, 2009). Similarly, the indigenous nature of the Czech turistika activities and the dramaturgy methods of creative course design has attracted recent attention (Bartůněk, Neuman, & Martin, 2008;Kudláček, Bocarro, Jirásek, & Hanuš, 2009;Martin, 2001b;Turčová, Neuman, & Martin, 2003, particularly the research-based text Outdoor and Experiential Learning (Martin, Franc, & Zounková, 2004), which describes the dramaturgical methods and activities in more detail.…”

“…In Czech, education in nature (výchova v přírodě) involves turistika activities, travelling for fun and playing games with the aim of learning about nature and its beauty. Turčová et al (2005) point out that while the English term 'outdoor education' is accepted in Czech, as výchova v přírodě, its translation is 'education in nature'. The original form of turistika involved active movement on foot (walking, hiking), but now includes cycling, canoeing, skiing, and mountaineering.…”

“…However, turistika also involves other outdoor and cultural activities (learning about nature; local history and sights; life of local people; mushroom and berry picking; music, artistic creativity, and social entertainment). Some tourism definitions do involve travelling and movement away from normal environments (Mason, 2003), but turistika is specific to the Czech context (Turčová et al, 2005). Scouting and stays in nature connected with camping can also be included as turistika .…”

Experiential and outdoor education: the participant experience shared through mind maps

“…This is problematic: the difficulty with concepts, terms and their connection to ideas is that they become more complicated when used internationally. Thus, due to differences in cultural understanding, even in this field, outdoor terminology is used differently in British English and Czech (Turcova, Martin, and Neuman 2005). We can see a sort of development in the Czech Republic from the roots of recreation in nature through outdoor education (education in nature, from the end of the nineteenth century), to intensive recreational regimes and the modern form of outdoor education (the so-called experiential project in the 1970s utilizing outdoor education together with games as well as cultural, creative, psychological and other programs) to 'holiday' education (in the 1980s) and finally to the term used today, experiential education (Jirásek and Svoboda 2015).…”