Šprechtíme project promotes German teaching in ČR

Prague, Sept 27 (CTK) - The aim of the Sprechtime project is to further promote the teaching of the German language in the Czech Republic, its authors said when presenting it at the Austrian embassy Tuesday.

The German embassy and other diplomatic and commercial institutions also participate in the project that is also supported by Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg who spent a big part of his life in the German-language environment.

The Sprechtime project offers a number of cultural events across the Czech Republic.

Schwarzenberg said students sometimes find learning German more difficult than Italian or Spanish.

He said, however, German is very important from the point of view of economy and culture and the traditional mutual cultural influences.

Schwarzenberg added that German used to be much more spread in the Czech Lands in the past.

"Tuesday, the common tongue is 'bad English,' or a sort of new central European language, but this does not mean that German is losing its importance for us," Schwarzenberg said.

He said its knowledge will raise people's opportunities in the job market and will promote tourism.

The event was also attended by Austrian ambassador to the Czech Republic Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff and German ambassador Detlef Lingemann.

Lingemann said German and Austrian firms have created more than 100,000 job opportunities in the Czech Republic.

English was the most widely studied language in the Czech Republic in 2009. Three-quarters of elementary school pupils and 100 percent of secondary school students studied it in 2009.

It was followed by German that was studied by 16 percent of elementary school pupils and 61 percent of secondary school students.