Prague, July 25 (CTK) – The 59th Summer School of Slavonic Studies, within which 140 people from 31 countries will study Czech language in the next four weeks, started at Charles University (UK) in Prague on Saturday.
“This year, we have nobody from Australia, but there are students and other people interested in Czech from Asia, Africa, North America, South America and Europe,” the summer school’s director Jiri Hasil told CTK.
The students will get acquainted with Czech literature and history. Their programme will also include visits to concerts, museums and galleries as well as film screenings and trips.
The youngest student is 17 years old, the oldest one is 82. Some people take part in the summer school regularly.
Takumi Shimada, who studies Czech at university in Tokyo, arrived in Prague for the first time. “I am interested in Czech history and Czech culture, Czech music, and this is why I decided to study Czech,” he said.
Shimada said he liked president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk in Czech history the most. He said his Czech is not fluent yet.
Another participant in the summer school, 24-year-old Bolor Tumendalai from Mongolia, was in the Czech Republic already before.
Tumendalai said she liked European languages.
She tried first German and then Czech, which she studied in the Marianske Lazne spa town. “So I began to learn Czech, it is a beautiful language,” she said.
Hasil said the students will have 120 lessons of seminars and lectures, which corresponds to one semester at foreign universities. The students who attend the Summer School of Slavonic Studies receive eight international credits that are recognised by their universities, he said.
The summer school ends on August 20.
