In October 1998 an English teacher put the following question to forty-six students of the second year (16-17 years old):
"What do you imagine when you hear - the name of the partner country in project Comenius?"
The students did not know they would be asked this question, they were not prepared and they did not have much time to think (about ten minutes).
The results were surprising, sometimes amuzing (mountains in Denmark, German writer V.Hugo, Loch Ness in Ireland, Vienna and Bern in Germany etc.) Do not laugh! Try the same about the Czech Republic.
The number in the brackets indicates the number of the respondents who gave this answer.
"What do you imagine when you hear DENMARK?"
Copenhagen (19) cold climate (13) Jutland (11) kingdom (11)
sea (9) Legoland (9) Danish crown (8) numerous islands (7) fishing (5)
ferries, lowlands, Schmeichel (3)
Andersen, Little Sea Fairy, Hamlet, Vikings, clogs, North, cheese (2)
meat products, ice cream, a small country, snow, ice, beautiful landscape, brown colour, orange colour, Greenland, big ports, narrow roads, Sweden, night illumination of Copenhagen, ships, tulips, mountains, a member of EU, a member of NATO, timber mining, football, ice hockey, FED CUP 97, Intercross 1996, Red Dynamite (football), Tor A. Floo, B.a.M. Laudrup, Limfjord (basketball), cycling, elks, reindeer, WW II. (1)
Five respondents did not imagine anything.
"What do you imagine when you hear BELGIUM?"
Brussels (19) Benelux (18) monarchy (7) the seat of EU (6) the court in the Hague (5)
NATO (5) a small country (5) Flemings and Walloons (5)
sea, Antwerp (4)
United Nations, flowers, plains, football (3)
cheese, Manneken Piss, Hercule Poirot, chocolate (2)
Amsterdam (!), Arden, Ostende, battle at Arnhem(!), ferry to UK, Maginot Line, Eben Emael, Lokeren, a song by "Boyz to Men", calvinism, free sex, conservatism, parks, grey weather, diamonds in Antwerp, Brussels lace, red colour, green colour, clean environment, advanced country, football league in Andezlecat, dinosaurs in Bernissart, Mons, franks, Museum of miniatures, no member of NHL, Championship of Europe in 2000, Hitler broke neutrality (1)
Nine respondents did not imagine anything.
"What do you imagine when you hear Germany?"
Adolf Hitler (28) Berlin (27) Deutsche Mark (13) World War Two (12)
high standard of living and advanced economy (11) nazism (10) beer (9) Berlin Wall (8)
Mercedes (7) our neighbour (7) football (6) BMW (6)
H.Kohl, WW I, federal state, Rhein, Hamburg, Bonn, Baltic Sea (4) car industry, football champions 1996, Alps, chocolate, Opel (3) Sudeten, Frankfurt a.Main, Vienna, Elbe, Autobahnen, Messerschmitt, Audi, World Champions 1990, Hakenkreuz, concentration camps, Otto von Bismarck, Jews, member of EU, bad-sounding language (2)
Sachsen, Bayern, Ruhrland, Regensburg, Passau, Düsseldorf, Kassel, Nürnberg, München, Warnemünde, Heidelberg, Heilbronn, Bern (!), Schumacher, R.Herzog, Andy Müller, H.Heine, T.Müntzer, B.Becker, Lessing, Goethe, V.Hugo (!), Einstein, Karl IV., Heisenberg, N.Bohr (!), Oppenheimer (!), F.J.Strauss, farmaceutical industry, ships, ports, noisy language, Protektorat, DSF, reformation, speeding in our country, tennis, Munich agreement, Summer of Love 1998, the largest airport, das Dritte Reich, Berchtesgaden, Mauser, Heckler & Koch, cyclone B, gas chambers, Schindler´s List, Schalke 04, the largest state in Europe, reunion in 89/90, ice hockey, athletics, Trabant, Wartburg, Ford, VW, Rhona (!), bad cooking, atheism, Olympic Games in Munich 1972, SPD, CDU-CSU, CERN (!), Holy Roman Empire, NATO, strudel, sausages, Lorelei, letterpress, computer games, order, high prices, fatman, my aunt (1)
"What do you imagine when you hear IRELAND?"
Dublin (16) whiskey (10) Catholics (7) religious conflicts (7)
IRA (7) beautiful green countryside (6) rain (5)
sea, cold climate (4)
horses, St.Patric, independence, fog, Celts, island, Kelly Family (3)
sheep, green colour, believers, Scarlett, dramatic history, fishing, pounds (2)
European Competition of the Red Cross 1999, shamrock, pot full of gold, beer, glaciers, salt lakes, Channel, British Isles, oil, mountains, Leighton (the oldest footballer), Cork City, danger, pride, came into existence at the end of the WW I, squash, riding schools, Lochness, speed skating, Druids, ruins, Sinnead O´Connor, The Comets, football, tea, sights, English, terrorism, town Novan, shire Meath, rebels, red-haired and freckled children, pastures, rocks, the poorest member of EU, awful names, film making, timber mining, Braveheart (1)
Two respondents did not imagine anything.
"What do you imagine when you hear NORTHERN IRELAND?"
religious conflicts (12) terrorism (11) Belfast (10) IRA (9)
part of Great Britain (9) cold climate (7) Protestants (5) Catholics (5)
sea, kigdom (3)
pounds, Elizabeth II, Celts, Island of Ireland, green country, whiskey, driving on the left, Nobel Prize for peace, horse-keeping (2)
fog, green colour, rocks, small churches, rain, Orange Order, Diana, Kelly Family, Golf Stream, Sinn Fein, sheep, beer, shamrock, St. Patric. (1)
Three respondents did not imagine anything.