Poll: Three quarters of Czech parents and students say learning English is vital

Prague, Jan 8 (CTK) – Roughly one-half of Czechs share the view that the best way to learn a foreign language is to have a study stay abroad, according to a poll conducted by the STEM polling institute released today.

About one-fifth believe that instruction at school is efficient.

Three-quarters of Czechs say the knowledge of English is vital and the state should contribute to language education also outside the school curricula.

The poll was conducted on a sample of 306 parents with at least one child aged 13-25 and 306 students aged 15-25.

Some 76 percent of the parents and 82 percent of the children share the view that the knowledge of a foreign language influences prosperity of society, due to which the state should sponsor language education, e.g., in the form of loans for language stays.

In a similar way, language education is sponsored by Sweden, Denmark and Finland whose population excels in the knowledge of foreign languages.

English is by far the most useful language for foreign trips, career and studies, most Czechs say.

Three-quarters of parents want their children to manage a foreign language at least on the level of communication. Around one-quarter share the view that thanks to modern technologies, the knowledge of languages will be less necessary soon.

One-half of both students and parents believe that the stay in the country in which the language in question is spoken is the most efficient form of instruction. Some 85 percent are ready to pay over 20,000 crowns for such a stay.

On average, parents annually spend about 5,000 crowns on language education of their children.

The average gross salary is now about 33,700 crowns a month.

For 75 percent of students, Britain is the most desired destination. It is followed by the USA (67 percent) and Canada (37 percent).

Britain is also preferred by 76 percent of parents, followed by the USA with 48 percent and Canada and Australia with 23 percent each.

In a recent international comparison conducted by EF Education First, Czech students fell from the 20th to the 23rd place in their knowledge of English in the ranking.