Prague supports language courses for foreigners

The Prague City Hall has allotted 40,000 crowns to support Czech language courses that have been running in the newly-opened House of Ethnic Minorities since October, Prague councillor Jiri Janecek (Civic Democrats, ODS) told CTK today.

"The course that will last till December includes 25 lessons. We firmly believe that in this way we will help better adaptation of foreigners or asylum holders who have decided to connect the next part of their lives with Prague," Janecek said.

If there is interest in the courses and if they prove useful they might continue also in the future, he said.

The courses will not be fully free of charge for foreigners. The participants will pay 50 crowns for one two-hour lecture.

The Prague City Hall opened the House of Ethnic Minorities in June. The house hosts the representation offices of Bulgarians, Hungarians, Germans, Poles, Russians, the Greek, Slovaks, Serbs, Ukrainians, Russinians and Romanies.

The ethnic minorities can hold there exhibitions, concerts, film projections and organise conferences and seminars.