The official language of the Czech Republic is Czech. It is a Slavik language most similar to the neighbouring languages of Slovak and Polish. Although there are differences between the Czech and Slovak languages, they are generally mutually understandable. Czech uses the Roman alphabet but has some letters and sounds that English doesn’t (ě, š, č, ř, ž etc.).
In the Czech Republic basic English is spoken by many and German is also a common second language. As Prague is popular with tourists, a good level of English is spoken by many especially in the city centre. So it is possible to get by without knowing any Czech. It is also not necessary to know Czech in order to teach Czech students English; our goal is to immerse the students with English and teach them only using English, so knowing the students first language is not necessary. However, learning some Czech will be useful and if you plan to stay here for a while and teach after the course it can help you understand why Czechs make certain mistakes in English. Czechs will also appreciate you learning at least a few phrases of their language.
Our trainer, Paul, tells us about his experience with the Czech language in the video below.
