Czech language instructional video lesson

Central European Studies Program

Central European Studies Program

The Central European Studies Program at Masaryk University is an interdisciplinary program designed for students at the upper Bachelor’s and Master’s degree levels who are seeking a challenging educational experience in the heart of Europe.
CESP brings together a stimulating mix of students from the United States and all parts of Europe.

Courses include studies of the social, economic, political and cultural transformations that have shaped Central Europe and the Czech Republic in particular at the end of the 20th century and the changes facing this region at the beginning of the 21st century.¨

The program includes Czech language classes. The aim of the classes is to provide participants with basic communicative competency through classes focused on grammar and conversation. Students are placed according to language ability.

Website of the Program: http://czs.muni.cz/en/in/students/studies/xprogram-cesp

Czech language courses in the Czech Republic

There are a variety of Czech language classes for international students offered at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.
Brno is a pleasant vibrant city, second largest in the Czech Republic, abounding in fascinating architecture, both historical and modern (functionalism exemplified by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe's Villa Tugendhat).
Every year the Department of Czech for Foreigners of Masaryk University organizes short-term (monthly) and long-term (semester, year-long) courses of Czech for foreigners - beginners (on the basis of English, French and German), intermediate and advanced students.

The courses offered include:
- A two-week Intensive Course of Czech for Foreigners
- Bachelor Degree in Czech for Foreigners
- Summer school of Slavonic Studies (a monthly intensive Czech language course - recommended for its long-standing quality and tradition!)


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Another option is to choose from a range of Czech classes for foreigners availabe at Palacky University in Olomouc. Olomouc is a beautiful medieval university city, a true jewel yet undiscovered by the hords of tourists flocking to Prague (and un-fortunately nowhere else).

Palacky University offers the following tuition of Czech language:
- Super-Intensive Course of Czech for Foreigners
- An Intensive Course of Czech for Foreigners
- General Czech for Foreigners Course
- Course for Foreign Lecturers

More information is available by clicking here.

Czech Language online dictionary

The best online dictionaries currently available are http://www.slovnik.cz/
and Slovník seznam - http://slovnik.seznam.cz
Choose from a variety of languages to translate into Czech.

Czech Translation

Are you looking for Czech language translators?
Try the database of professional translators at http://www.bohemica.com
czech translation free translation czech translate online czech
You can also try the following free service for one word Czech into English translations:

Online translator Czech Slovak MultiLanguage Direction: Into English From English © Ectaco, Inc Electronic Dictionary

Czech Grammar, Abreviations

If you wish to find out how a particular word is inflected or congugated there is an exhaustive search-supported listing of proper grammatical forms of Czech words available at www.pravidla.cz

Puzzled by the complicated way of writing "y" and "i" in Czech words? Check the grammatical rules here (in Czech only).

Czech Academic Titles

Have you ever wondered why so many Czechs tend to include their academic titles (e.g. B.A., M.A.) in their names in official as well as informal communication? Do you find it strange if your Czech neighbour has his name on the doorbell in the following format? -
Ing. Mgr. Jan Koutek, CSc.

Czechs will do their utmost to advertise their academic titles. A strange phenomenon, if you consider that this tradition thrived during communism which preached equality amongst people and looked suspiciously at intelligentsia. One of the reasons for this peculiar sticking to titles could be the plebeian character of Czech society - a society that virtually lacks any native nobility or aristocracy and where titles, if only academic, may supplant the desired social status. Czech society still tends to give a great value to academic titles and whoever can boast of any title gained at an insignificant institution in an obscure field will be granted, or rather expects, respect from the others. The fact is that there are still too few people going to universities due to limited availability of university education and universities continue to be accessible only for a relatively small number of young people. Czech Republic has thus one of the lowest proportions of university educated populace in Europe (approx. 12%).

Below are some of the most common academic titles that anybody with a more serious interest in familiarizing with Czech culture should understand:

Mgr. - magistr – MA
RNDr. - doktor – specialization in sciences
Ing. - inženýr – MSc
CSc. - kandidát věd –after name, not awarded anymore
PhDr. - doktor – a "lesser" form of PhD, doctor of philosophy
DrSc. - doktor věd –after name, not awarded anymore
JUDr.- doktor juris – legal specialization
Doc. - docent – associate professor
MUDr. - doktor – medical doctor
Prof. - profesor - professor

For full listing of Czech academic titles click here.