Czech/ Slovak Language – Written & Spoken

Introduction:

Czech is a Western Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers. Czech comes from the Indo-European language family which includes also Balto- Slavic, Slavic, West Slavic and Czech-Slovak. Czech is the official language in the Czech Republic and European Union. There are Czech speakers in several countries like Portugal, Poland, Germany and the United States.

Previously, Czech language was known as the Bohemian language which is strongly influenced by Latin and German. It is closely related to Slovak and Polish.  Czech and Slovak languages are considered to be mutually intelligible. There are four main Czech dialects namely: Bohemian, Central Moravian (Hana), Eastern Moravian, and Silesian. Speakers of Czech and Slovak languages are able to communicate with greater ease when compared to any other West Slavic languages.

 

Importance & Opportunity:

After joining the European Union since 2004, Czech and Slovak Republics are the most rapidly growing markets. Given that there are less governmental restrictions and more accessibility to better work force, many businesses are migrated to Czech/Slovak.

As a matter of fact the world’s largest bank moved to the Czech Republic in 2006. With an expanding economy and various different fields, learning Czech language can help you when dealing with suppliers from these countries, thus good for business,

With so much development, large companies have started to outsource business activities in many countries such as Mauritius. Knowing the Czech/ Slovak language will give you opportunity to join these companies which will boost up your career.

Furthermore, if you are interested to learn other languages such as Polish and Russian and Slovak Czech is the gateway to these languages

Let’s not forget, if ever you are travelling to the Czech/ Slovak Republic, it will be more fun if you knew how to talk and read the language.

 

Course Content:

The core curriculum the language will be standardized based on the Common European Framework for Languages.

The competencies mentioned below will give learners all the abilities, skills, aptitude, and expertise needed to be a proficient and fluent speaker. Our goal for our students is to achieve full competency in four different fields of communication. This is what we call the 4SC’s.

Semantic competency: the speaker must know the linguistic systems: pronunciation, vocabulary, language structure and syntax. However, there should be no time limits when learning a language. This knowledge should be a natural result of the linguistic methods used in class and through daily interactive activities.

Speech competency: the selection, sequence and arrangement of ideas expressed must be eloquent and clear. It deals with the language structure, articulation and coherence of words.

Strategic competency: the speaker must have strategies that help fill in blanks in a conversation; that is, the way the person finds ways around gaps in understanding a speaker, or expressing an idea.

Social-cultural competency: related to extra-linguistic elements, social-cultural competency deals with style properties (voice inflexions, tone, etc.) and non-verbal language (hands or eyes movements, and, in general, how the body moves in a determinate conversation).

 

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