BRATISLAVA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The first thirty students of bilingual Slovak Chinese study received their evaluation in Banska Bystrica, Central Slovakia, half way through the school year.
Slovak daily newspaper Pravda cited on Wednesday that the deputy gym director of the school, Judita Droppova, said students had achieved excellent results during the first half of the year.
"They know 174 Chinese characters now and can speak fluently about topics like family, school or shopping," said Droppova.
The Slovak daily said the Chinese language was becoming very popular in Slovakia.
"We register a huge interest in our students. Several Slovak banks want to hire them after finishing their studies," Pravda quoted Droppova as saying.
The bilingual study of Chinese in Banska Bystrica is the first of its kind, not only in Slovakia, but in all of Central Europe as well. Beginning the second year, students will take bilingual classes in mathematics, geography, biology, chemistry and physics.
