Why Learn Czech?
That’s a good question, especially if you are deciding which foreign language you would like to learn. The Czech Republic may be a small country, but its influence reaches far beyond its borders. It is home to famous beer brands enjoyed on many continents, as well as the car manufacturer Škoda Auto, whose vehicles travel the roads of dozens of countries. The Czech language also gave the world the word “robot,” introduced by the writer Karel Čapek and adopted by many languages worldwide.
For Polish citizens, the Czech Republic is a southern neighbor, so it is not far away. People, especially from the Silesian border region, encounter both languages daily because the population in this area is mixed. You may also be considering an exchange program through Erasmus, or planning to work in the Czech Republic. The motivation to learn the language may be different depending on life circumstances—or you may simply want to read a few books and watch some films in Czech.
History of the Language
Czech has developed over centuries, and its history is full of significant figures and influences from neighboring countries. A key figure was Jan Hus, who at the beginning of the 15th century reformed the spelling system and introduced diacritics, making written Czech more closely reflect pronunciation. Later, Jan Amos Komenský contributed to the preservation and development of the language, and his pedagogical and literary works strengthened the position of Czech in education and culture, even though the language faced pressures of Germanization after the Battle of White Mountain.
Throughout its history, Czech has also been influenced by surrounding languages: it borrowed many terms related to urban life and crafts from German, literary and religious terminology from Polish, and, especially in modern times, new words from Russian related to politics, technology, and ideology. These influences enriched Czech while also demonstrating its ability to adapt, allowing the language to remain a living means of communication and a symbol of Czech identity.