en fr de

Enhancing language education in cross-border vocational education

Poland - Czech Republic

The geographical region of Silesia, located in Central Europe, is primarily situated in Poland, with small parts of its territory extending into Czechia and Germany. It is divided into two parts: Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia. This section focuses on the southern border region, Upper Silesia, as well as the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, which is located partially in Poland and partially in Czechia.
Around 8 million inhabitants populate Silesia, which comprises around 4.6 million in Upper Silesia and approximately 800,000 in Cieszyn Silesia. The latter count is divided into 450,000 individuals on the Czech side and 350,000 on the Polish side. The official languages of Silesia are Polish and Czech.

Polish is the official language on the Polish side of Silesia, while Czech is spoken on the Czech side. In Upper Silesia, the Silesian dialect is prevalent, and the Cieszyn Silesian dialect is used on both sides of the border. Additionally, minority languages such as German are also spoken in the region.
Neither Polish nor Czech hold official status in the region where they are not the official language.
Particularly on the Polish side of Silesia, there has been a recent surge in linguistic and cultural support for Ukrainian citizens. The influx of Ukrainians, prompted by the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian war, has led to the creation of various language and culture-focused initiatives, including courses, meetings, and other forms of support. Although the linguistic similarities between Polish, Czech and Ukrainian facilitate mutual communication, they can also act as a disincentive for language learning, as communication is often possible without formal language instruction.

References in Polish

Gajda S. et al. (1999), ”Ustalenia konferencji Polska polityka językowa na przełomie tysiącleci”, in Mazur J. (ed.), Polska polityka językowa na przełomie tysiącleci, Lublin. [Decisions of the conference Polish language policy during change of millennia.]
Gajda S. (1999), ”Program polskiej polityki językowej”, in Mazur J. (ed.), Polska polityka językowa na przełomie tysiącleci, Lublin. [Program of Polish language policy]
Pawłowski A. (2008), ”Zadania polskiej polityki językowej w Unii Europejskiej”, in Warchala J. and Krzyżyk D. (eds), Polska polityka językowa w Unii Europejskiej, Katowice [Errands of Polish language policy in Eurpean Union]

Annotated bibliography

Download pdf

Projects:

Slavic Network (2004-2006)
Europodians (2007-2009)
German-Polish lexical similarities in contemporary Silesian spoken ethnolect. (2017-2020)
The Silesian ethnolect: between Polish and German, bridging the gap between autochthonous dialects and the Polish standard language. (2018-2021)

	Barbara Morcinek-Abramczyk bmorcinek1gmail.com
	Anna Gałęziowska-Krzystolik anna.galeziowska-krzystolik@us.edu.pl