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    PL-CZ

The Polish-Czech border region (Upper Silesia) 

The border region at a glance

  • Silesia is divided into two parts: Upper Silesia and Lower Silesia.  Our focus is on the southern border region, specifically Upper Silesia and the so-called Cieszyn Silesia, which is located partly in Poland and partly in the Czech Republic.  
  • ~8 million inhabitants in Silesia (~4.6 milion in Upper Silesia, including ~800,000 inhabitants in Cieszyn Silesia [ ~450,000 on Czech side and 350,000 on Polish side ].) 
  • Official languages: Polish, Czech 

Language situation

  • The official language on the Polish side of Silesia is Polish, and on the Czech side, it is Czech.  In addition to these national languages, the Silesian dialect is spoken (based on Polish grammar with Polish, German and Czech vocabulary). A variation of this dialect, the Cieszyn Silesian dialect, is used on both sides of the border. Other languages spoken include minority languages such as German. 
  • In May 2024, there were intensive efforts to legalise the Silesian dialect as regional language. Despite a positive decision by the Polish Parliament, the President refused to sign the law.  
  • Neither of the neighbouring languages, Polish or Czech, has official status as a neighbouring language in the sense that they are used in daily life or in official communication. Further, Czech, for example, is rarely taught in schools. 
  • Particularly on the Polish side of Silesia, recent efforts have focused on providing language and cultural support to Ukrainian citizens, whose numbers rapidly increased after the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian war. This has led to the creation of many new language and cultural programmes, courses, meetings and various kinds of support. While the similarities between Polish, Czech and Ukrainian enable mutual communication, they can also demotivate people from learning the languages, as communication is often possible without formal study. 

 

Bibliography

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. [Programme 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 European Union]

Annotated bibliography

Non-verbal communication in the teaching of Polish as a foreign language using the example of Asian groups: the difficulties, challenges and solutions (2019)

Oberschlesien – Sprache und Identität, 2011

Polish and French politeness. Differences and similarities