Quo vadis, DaF? Betrachtungen zu Deutsch als Fremdsprache in der Tschechischen Republik

Abstract

Im Jahre 2011 entstand eine Studie, in der die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in Tschechien von verschiedenen Blickwinkeln her beleuchtet wird. Ausgehend von der natürlichen Bildungsbiographie eines jeden Menschen widmet sich die Arbeit zunächst dem Bereich der Vorschulbildung, danach der Grund- und Mittelschulbildung und abschließend dem Tertiären Bildungsbereich. Gesondertes Augenmerk wird Deutsch in der Wirtschaft geschenkt. Für die Studie wurden zahlreiche aktuelle Untersuchungen und Statistiken zum Thema ausgewertet sowie eigene Forschungsergebnisse analysiert.

Observing the contemporary discussion in the Czech Republic, one might come to the conclusion that the Czechs are not well enough equipped with the language skills needed in today’s globalised world. Knowledge of English in many professions is a prerequisite, but in terms of German the situation is more complicated, e.g. the number of Czech students choosing German as a foreign language has been dropping year after year. This fact cannot be explained only by the disinterest of pupils and their parents but is also due to the framework conditions established by the Ministry of Education. According to these conditions, English has been strongly preferred to other languages and many questions have remained unanswered. The goal of this publication is to monitor the situation of the German language in the Czech Republic at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The base here was a natural educational biography of each person, starting at kindergarten and going through primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education, including lifelong learning. The Czech Republic has its longest border with German speaking countries. The Federal Republic of Germany is the biggest business partner of the Czech Republic, and Austrian companies are represented here in a large number. That is why one of the chapters in this book is devoted to the position of the German language in Czech economics. The work introduces legislative documents influencing Czech policy. In addition, current topical studies and surveys have been assessed as well as a large number of articles describing mainly examples of good practice. The work also includes results of research activities performed by the author and the students of the German for Business Administration program at Tomas Bata University in Zlín.