Expats welcome: Prague 3 launches English edition of district newsletter

International residents of Žižkov and parts of Vinohrady can now follow local news from Prague 3 in English, as the district becomes the first in the capital to translate its entire municipal newsletter.

Prague 3 has launched an English-language edition of Radniční noviny, its monthly publication covering local government decisions, neighborhood developments, cultural events and practical information for residents.

The English edition will initially run as a four-month pilot, after which the district will assess readership and decide whether to continue the service.

According to Prague 3, it is the first of the capital's municipal districts to make its complete local newsletter available in English rather than translating only selected information.

The district says the move reflects a population that has become increasingly international. Prague 3 is home to sizable Ukrainian, Slovak, Russian and Vietnamese communities alongside residents from dozens of other countries.

Czech Statistical Office data also shows that Prague 3 has one of the capital's higher shares of residents from countries outside the largest established foreign communities, making English a useful common language for reaching a broader group.

"Prague 3 is now home to people from all over the world," Mayor Michal Vronský said. "If we want them to understand what's happening in their city district, we need to be able to communicate with them."

The initiative isn't aimed solely at foreigners officially registered as Prague 3 residents. The district also wants to reach international residents who rent locally but maintain permanent residence elsewhere, as well as people who work, run businesses, have children attending local childcare facilities or regularly spend their free time in the area.

Unlike shortened English summaries sometimes provided by public authorities, the new version is a complete translation of Radniční noviny.

That means English-speaking readers will have access to the same mix of municipal and neighborhood information available in the Czech edition. The publication is available as a downloadable PDF through the Prague 3 website.

The first English edition arrived in early September, with Vronský acknowledging in its introduction that many newcomers to Prague communicate primarily in English and may not yet know enough Czech to follow practical developments in their neighborhood.

The experiment comes as Prague authorities increasingly look for ways to communicate with a large international population that may live in the city for years without being fluent in Czech.

For now, however, Prague 3 is treating the English edition as a test. The district will monitor interest during the four-month pilot before deciding what comes next.

For international residents of Žižkov and Vinohrady, it offers something comparatively simple but still unusual in Prague: the opportunity to read the same local-government publication delivered to their Czech-speaking neighbors, without having to reach for a translation app.