Czech Republic Languages

Map showing the location of Czech Republic

The Czech language is the official language in the Czech Republic. It is from the West Slavic family of languages and specifically from the Czech-Slovak group. It is so close to the Slovak language that the two are mutually intelligible, that is, speakers of the two languages can understand each other with little effort. It goes back to the 10th Century when along with other Slavic languages, it separated from the Ancient Slavic. There are a total of 14 different dialects within the regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. The language is based on the Latin alphabet and has 42 letters with some of the letters having accents.

Czech is spoken by about 96% of the population. A census conducted in 2011 reported the following breakdown of ethnic groups in the population: 64% Czech, 5% Moravian, 1.4% Slovaks, 0.4% Poles, 0.2% Germans, 0.1% Silesians and 26% who did not specify their nationality. The country also has about 440,000 foreigners of whom Ukrainians make up the most at 140,000 followed by Slovaks, Polish, Vietnamese, and Russians.

The Czech language is among the most difficult languages to learn for foreigners, with complicated conjugations and pronunciation. English speakers may find the process of learning Czech particularly hard as there are not words who share root words.

The Czech Republic also officially recognizes the following 14 minorities; Slovaks, Russians, Romanis, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Croatians, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Poles, Serbians, Rusyns, Serbians, Vietnamese, and Germans. This means that these minorities are allowed to use their languages to communicate with authorities, and if the authority is unable to understand the language, then it is upon it to get a translator at its own expense. They can even have their children taught in these languages at school. These are minority groups who have lived within the territory for a long time.

This page was last modified on May 1st, 2018

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Published on 2019-11-06


Capital	Prague
Languages	Czech (official) 95.4%, Slovak 1.6%, other 3% (2011 census)
Ethnic Groups	Czech 64.3%, Moravian 5%, Slovak 1.4%, other 1.8%, unspecified 27.5% (2011 est.)
Religion	Roman Catholic 10.4%, Protestant (includes Czech Brethren and Hussite) 1.1%, other and unspecified 54%, none 34.5% (2011 est.)
Government	Parliamentary republic
Independance	1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia); note - although 1 January is the day the Czech Republic came into being, the Czechs commemorate 28 October 1918, the day the former Czechoslovakia declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as their independence day
Area	78,867.00 km²
Water Area	1,620.00 km²
Land Area	77,247.00 km²
Population	10,644,842.00 A fairly even distribution throughout most of the country, but the northern and eastern regions tend to have larger urban concentrations
Location	Central Europe, between Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and Austria
No. Bordering Countries	4
Bordering Countries	Austria 402 km, Germany 704 km, Poland 796 km, Slovakia 241 km
GDP(PPP)	$351,000,000,000.00 (USD)
GDP (Per Capita)	$33,200.00 (USD)
Export Partners	Its major export partners are Germany, Slovakia, and Poland.
Export Commodities	Its main exports are machinery and transport equipment, raw materials, and fuel.
Import Partners	Its major import partners are Germany, China, and Poland.
Import Commodities	Its major imports include machinery and transport equipment, raw materials, and chemicals.
Climate	Temperate; cool summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters
Terrain	Bohemia in the west consists of rolling plains, hills, and plateaus surrounded by low mountains; Moravia in the east consists of very hilly country
Learn More	Czech Republic

Czech Republic Languages

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