Along with the political and economical growth of China there is a growing interest in culture and language of this most populated country. And this applies also to Czech universities. Up until now, they have been teaching only classical Chinese philology, however, beginning this academic year, Chinese and other Asian languages are open to students of other programmes. Prague’s Charles University and Brno’s Masaryk University first came with the innovation.
“The region of South-East Asia is undergoing a large boom but speaking English is not enough to do successful business there. Should business be successful, it is necessary to have at least a Chinese-speaking ally,” said Jan Sýkora, director of the Department of Far Eastern Studies at Charles University’s Philosophical Faculty. In addition to the existing sinology and Japanese courses, the university students will have a choice of other language programmes beginning this year, including a four-semester class of Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese.
Demanding language exercises focusing on speaking and writing skills are limited to 15 attendants. “This is only the pilot phase. We will expand the classes if demand keeps growing,” said Sýkora.
Besides Prague, Asian language programmes are open at the Olomouc university; and the Brno university is also launching East Asian Philology studies. The university’s Faculty of Philosophy opened Japanese language and literature studies for up to 60 students last year and has began offering Chinese language this year. Thanks to European Union subsidies, the school last spring founded the Department for the Study of Religions of China and Japan.
“There is a significant interest in these cultures and languages, for example, as many as 600 students have signed up for the studies of Japanese language,” said the Masaryk University spokeswoman Tereza Fojtová. The University of Economics in Prague has been offering Chinese language courses for five years now and says demand has been large. “I started with a course of 15 students; now we are two teachers in charge of four courses,” said Martin Kříž, VŠE’s teacher and editor of the online portal cinsky.cz.
Not all of the students finish the course. Up to half of them give up for difficulties in learning Chinese. The most diligent students, however, have good working opportunities. Companies such as ČKD, Chemoprojekt or ZPA Industry Nejdek consider the market in South-East Asia as very strong. “We will need Chinese-speaking staff as we are planning to significantly expand our Home credit loan services,” said Milan Tománek of the PPF financial group.
“Demand will grow even more for workers who have been working in Chinese companies and now moving to the Czech Republic,” said human resources expert Pavel Lipovský, referring to the Pardubice-based IT plant Foxconn or the Nymburk-based TV maker Changhong. The trend is to continue, according to businesses addressed for the story and the Chinese embassy in Prague. “Our construction firms want to enter the local market although that’s something the EU does not allow yet. They are interested in road and motorway constructions,” said Yixiang Fei, an economic and commercial counselor for the Chinese embassy.
