Abstract
The article deals with one of the so far unexplored issues - how strong is the position of non-standard varieties of Czech from the perspective of teaching Czech for foreigners. The paper looks at the competition between standard and non-standard varieties of Czech in teaching the language to foreigners, with a focus on two basic areas: first, there is the controversial question of colloquial speech as characterized by the increasing use of Common Czech, and second is the question as to whether and to what extent it is advisable to familiarize non-native students of Czech with non-standard varieties of the language.
The paper takes into account the fact that the internal diversity of Czech influences basic principles of how to present Czech to non-native speakers. The main goals are to discuss the appropriateness of using a non-standard language code when teaching Czech to foreigners, and to evaluate selected textbooks from this point of view.
On this basis, the authors put forth methodological recommendations concerning the use of non-standard phenomenain language classes as well as their use in Czech textbooks for foreigners. These aspects do not only have a considerable impact on practical teaching but they are also a central problem today in the areas of Czech for foreigners and Czech as a foreign language.