Moving to a new country can certainly be a very strong life experience. No matter how much I was travelling before, and all the knowledge and experience I had accumulated on intercultural learning, culture shock and stuff like that, the fact of actually moving to Prague, Czech Republic in 2015 still hit me like a truckload of bricks.
Granted, Prague is a wonderful place to live in (and one of the main tourist destinations in Europe) and I don’t regret at all my decision. Still, at times it may be hard. That’s why I decided to write this post which will be a bit more silly than the rest of the stories I publish on this blog.
Hope is, this may help others not to make the same mistake and never leave home to adapt more easily when moving to a different country. Or maybe not, but it feels very liberating to be able to put these thoughts in plain text. And anyway, learning about a different culture is also the best way to learn about our own culture, and ourselves.
A bit of a disclaimer here: I certainly don’t want to offend anybody. The post intends to be humourous and has to be read with a bit of a satirical tone in mind. Plus, if you think that my observations are not complete and comprehensive, it’s because they aren’t. They are just that: observations.
If in the post there is something that offsets you – hey, peace. We can breathe the same air and have different opinions on stuff. Hard to believe, but it’s possible. Maybe you don’t like the music, but please don’t shoot the pianist.
Edit (after 3 days and about 5,000 visits):
A BIT MORE DISCLAIMING. As I feared, the first wasn’t enough. The post got an unexpected visibility (great!) and with visibility, come people who read quickly and are willing to get offended even more quickly (not so great!). To hopefully end the arguments, the meaning of the word “satire” can be found here.
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Anyway, ready for the list? Here we go!
1) For Czech Republic, Prague is “The Capitol” from The Hunger Games.
In Italy, Rome is the political capital, but there are many main cities with their own distinct identity, and sometimes something interesting happens there too (except in Viterbo, because nothing ever happens there). It’s like the country has more than one centre of gravity, and it’s fine.
But here in the Czech Republic, Prague is really THE city. Everything happens there, and all the power seems to be concentrated in one place. Politics, culture, media, jobs, opportunities. People just live different lives than in the rest of the country, can do strange things like being vegan or have an Asian brunch, they wear fancy clothes and have blue or purple hair.
Prague natives are also somewhat proud of their local accent (which to me sounds funnier, slower, with longer vowels, and seems to be really hated by everybody else in the country).
Salaries are way higher than anywhere else, but so is rent (like two, three times more), eating out and basically everything else.
But if you travel just outside of the city, you will enter a different country. Small-town Czech Republic will present different challenges of course (be prepared to attract puzzled looks as a foreigner, and almost nobody will understanding a word of English, for example), but it will also provide with unique rewards and many hidden gems.
Like having a full meal or a round of beers for an incredible price. Or meeting people who love to live a simpler, slower life and will be genuinely interested in hearing about you. I had experiences especially in the area around Brno and Ostrava. New companies, farms, NGOs and the local university are very active to create an alternative to the “Capitol City” lifestyle.
If you love art and history, the country has the highest concentration of perfectly preserved castles in Europe, apparently. And the nature is also really diverse, peaceful and beautiful.
Seriously, plan a trip to explore Czech Republic outside Prague, when you have a chance. You will be rewarded.
2) A lot of people seem to be in a bad mood. Always.
Aaah, there is something true in every stereotype, isn’t there?
The average Czech you meet in the street will most likely be in a great hurry to be somewhere else than in your presence (see point #7, below), and will look like they just had a very bad day. Even if it’s early in the morning – maybe even worse. This grumpiness extends to driving (= no patience at all for the slightest hesitation or mistake) and public transport (= if you stand in the wrong line or place, someone will correct that. Probably by pushing, elbowing or stomping on your feet). At least, in Prague. Having to rely on a random act of kindness by a stranger can be an experience that requires patience. For your own good, try never to be confused by the bureaucracy in a public office, and never, ever get stuck with your car on the side of the road.
In a way, it’s a very encouraging learning environment. In the sense that you are encouraged to learn fast. Or die.
3) Language is hard. I mean: real hard.
No, seriously. Sources disagree, but I read that it’s one of the hardest in Europe, and possibly in the world. It’s estimated that a person needs about 4 years of study to reach fluency (and I am not studying).
First of all, there are some factors that don’t encourage you to learn it at all. You can live in a social bubble that doesn’t speak Czech, for example. Or, you can just panic and stop going out altogether. I would know, I tried it.
But if you try to learn the beautiful language, at the beginning you feel like everything is against you. Accents and digraphs make for a stunning 42 characters in the alphabet (nice, uh?). Some sounds are also very specific to learn, with the terrible Ř that will give me troubles until the end of my life. It sounds like a drrj, by the way.
And then, grammar starts.
7 cases (for the first time in my life I am happy I studied all that Latin at school) and 4 genders (!): masculine, feminine, neutrum and masculine inanimated. The latter still doesn’t make any sense at all to me – as well to anybody else I asked, including native speakers. It’s for objects that are not objects enough to get the neutrum, maybe. I don’t know. The word for car (auto) is neutrum, while the train (vlak) is masculine. Go figure.
There are also (a few) good news. At least there are no articles, thanks to the cases. Which explains why many Czechs don’t know what to do with articles in languages like English or French. And the verbs and prepositions are not such a horrible mess as in Italian.
Not only Czech is a slavic language, but it’s considered the model for many other languages of the group. Which means, more “pure” and with less foreign interferences. Arranging an appointment or a date is a challenge, since you have to learn even the names of the week days and the months from scratch. Your only hope for help is if you speak Polish or Slovak, and that’s not exactly helping my case here.
The longest sentence without a vowel seems to be: Strč prst skrz krk (“stick your finger through your throat”). Try that next time, as a tonguetwister!
Edit: as Petr E commented, the longest sentence without a vowel seems to be different. “Blb vlk pln žbrnd zdrhl hrd z mlh Brd skrz vrch Smrk v čtvrť srn Krč.” (A dumb wolf full of bad drinks proudly excaped from the mist of Brdy forest through Smrk hill into the deers’ district Krč).
“Full of bad drinks” surely indicates that the wolf is not Czech. Polish, probably.
4) Eating & Drinking habits can be equally intense.
Czech Republic is famous for its beer, and rightly so. Czechs are well aware of it. They seem to be the biggest beer drinkers in the whole world (followed by the Seychelles. Which makes sense. What else are you supposed to do, if you live on a paradise island? Drink until you explode, obviously).
A Czech drinks an average of 142 litres of beer in a year, which makes for almost a pint a day, each day, for every man, woman or child living in the country. Not bad at all.
This helps to put a lot of things in context, for example the first time I met my father-in-law, and we all ended up totally drunk, before having dinner. But no worries, Czechs also love drinking wine, as well as everything else with alcohol. All in the name of health (na zdraví) of course. Of course.
When you are at it, try Kofola. It’s the national alternative to Coca Cola. I find it more refreshing!
Same for the food. Czech traditional cuisine is like other parts of the culture: rich, solid, intimidating. It’s a paradise for high protein, meat eaters. Bara, my wife, has approximately half my body mass. And yet she never ceases to surprise me when she digs into her Svíčková (roasted beef with onion, double boiled in cream and served with dumplings) like it’s a piece of cake. But then, she would never eat fruit after a meal, because “it’s bad for digestion”. Makes sense.
5) People like to be naked and to go around just like that.
Now, nothing could prepare me for this. Czechs have a very casual approach to nudity (which somehow extends to sexuality at least in part, but that’s another story). Be warned when you accept an invitation to go to sauna, for example. In most places it’s actually forbidden to enter with your swimming suit on!
A visit to a “Beer Spa” however (picture above) is one of the things you have to do, before you die. Yes, you are actually bathing in beer. No, the girls are not always there.
But not only. My friends here have absolutely no problem at all getting naked for a quick swim in the local river or lake, even with people having their picnics all around. It’s just a thing they do.
If I can imagine a scale going from total prudishness to absolute love for nudity, it would probably look like this:
And I was thinking to be more or less in a comfortable middle position.
But actually, I still feel terribly embarassed about that one time I had to take a swim in my underwear…
Being in the Czech Republic and engaging in social activities here, challenged me on how prude I really am.
6) Xenophobia is on the rise. Except, maybe not really.
Now that’s worrying, when talking about Central Europe. Don’t take me wrong, it could be much worse (think Hungary, or Poland). Things here are still much softer, and Czechs don’t like to take an extreme point of view on racism – just as on many other topics. It’s not a culture of strong, radical opinions.
The country, and Prague in particular, has a very strong international vocation and is right in the middle between Eastern and Western Europe, which is why it has always been a natural crossroads of cultures.
But here is the thing, the whole place is a paradox. The international presence in the country is strong (about 4.5%), and in Prague, almost 10% of residents are non-Czech. And yet, politicians and opinion leaders manage to pull out incredibly racist or aggressive stunts, like President Zeman who manages to insult someone with every other speech, or like that time when a group of “activists” held an event in the Old Town Square involving a jeep, a camel and firing shots in the air with a fake kalashnikov – creating general panic to “warn against the danger of a Muslim invasion”. Crazy.
Also, to add to the general confusion, two of the most visible political leaders in the somewhat-nationalist-area are Tomio Okamura (Czech, of Japanese origins) and Andrej Babiš (Slovak), media tycoon, Finance Minister and possible next Prime Minister. One would think that the country must be really welcoming towards foreigners, except… they try to convince everybody that it isn’t so.
To make a comparison: imagine a Canadian citizen who moves to USA, manages to join the Republican Party and becomes a member of the US Government; then, on top of that, he makes a coalition with the Democratic President, and together they work to warn people against the danger of a “Mexican invasion”.
It’s not a perfect example (and Zeman certainly is not Obama), but it more or less gives an idea of how intricate things look.
Look. I don’t want to sound too strict or ungenerous. The truth is that the vast majority of the people I have met here have a big heart, a strong sense of hospitality, and are generous beyond words. And every time I try to remind them that I, too, am an immigrant indeed, the comment I receive is “naa, you are fine“.
And after all, I guess that’s the bottom line about racism. People from a different background look and feel scary at first, but after you meet them in person, you realise that naa, they are just fine. And this is valid everywhere.
(The fact that one of them may end up marrying your daughter has probably also a role in how fast you accept that fact, I guess).
So my final opinion on this is: maybe because of the media pressure or the general international situation, Czechs would like to portray themselves as intolerant and unwelcoming. Just to feel like everybody else.
But they fail, because… they aren’t!
7) Time keeping and planning stuff is not a habit. It’s a national obsession.
Now this came from the words of Sabrina, a German (I said, German) volunteer who was in Prague for a period. “Czechs are totally obsessed with time!“, she cried. As I found out, it’s completely true.
Czechs are almost always in a hurry getting someplace or another, and they just love to keep their agendas as packed as possible, and then some. From the (early) morning till sunset, they just need to be busy. Work, leisure, culture and social time, everything is organised and planned and the more details, the better. When you are 5 minutes late, you are late (and people will be grumpy, see #2).
This is also reflected as they travel. When abroad, if things are not super organised, clearly described and planned to the tiniest detail, they will feel slightly lost and without direction. Which will result in more grumpiness and some (always polite) passive-aggressive complaining.
One of the first sentences I learned is “máte plán na vikend?”, which means “what’s your plan for the weekend?“
I came to fear the sound of these words, since when I am not somewhere working I love to keep my weekends as empty as possible, like desolate desert islands where only dead projects and ideas lay, shipwrecked. A space for reflection, inspiration and pure and simple lazyness.
But Czechs always have a plan for their weekends. Sports (the harder, the better: see point 8 below), trips, family meetings, events. When they really have nothing else to do, they move to their little country houses, where they spend saturday and sunday “relaxing”: that is, working their ass off to repair the roof, fix an old bicycle or weed out the garden. And then, have barbecue.
8) EVERYBODY is sporty and outdoorsy.
Aaaand – I am not.
Please take a second to appreciate how hard this must feel, sometimes. Really, every Czech is a natural born sportsperson and they all – I haven’t found an exception yet – love physical activity. Whether it be cycling, skating, running, swimming, parachute, indoor gym, martial arts – it doesn’t matter, as long as it involves moving, and sweating. And they do it with enthusiasm and total commitment.
This also applies to outdoors activities. Czechs love and respect their nature, and try to spend time in it as often as they can.
A hike that lasts less than 6 hours is not even considered being outside. They all seem to be mushroom and berries experts. In summer (and I suspect, in winter too) the rivers are packed with canoe and kayak enthusiasts. Entire families, babies included.
And a certain disregard for anything even remotely related to safety and prevention of risks contributes to making it a very exciting picture.
Czechs love their outdoor equipment and keep it in perfect efficiency. It’s a second skin for them, and in fact they consider it normal to walk in the city streets dressed as they would be in a forest: boots, backpack, packed lunch, 2 different sport bottles, and all the rest. Which for me is, like, the opposite of “sexy”, but certainly must have some advantages too.
Really, if a zombie apocalypse or if nuclear war breaks out, I would feel really relieved to be surrounded by Czechs. These people are natural survivors. And they can always spare a sandwich.
9) Public transport takes you everywhere, but people still take their cars.
This must be one of the few really good things that Socialism has left in the country. The public transport is excellent: rides are frequent, the system is organised and efficient. I take my car maybe once, twice in a month (how does it feel compared to Italy, I leave to your imagination).
In Prague metro and tram tickets are still a bit of a funny business, relying (incredibly) on the little obsolete, yellow machines which are out of order 50% of times, and only accept coins. Weird. But since I have my yearly pass, I feel I can get anywhere, simply and reliably. This includes extra-urban transport, and every little town seems to be connected to the network in somewhat of a satisfying way. Again, the comparison with Italy is brutal – there, if you live in a small town, you simply need a car to get anywhere; and if you live in a big city, better forget the public transport and take your car anyway.
So why do Czechs still own – and drive – cars? Finding a parking place in Prague is as hard a job as in Napoli, and that simply doesn’t make sense to me. Probably the answer has something to do with #7 of this list, the time obsession. I hear people saying: “Sure, I can go to work by tram, but if I take the car it will save me 12 minutes“.
I still can’t help but smile, every time. In Rome, if you can save 12 minutes by taking a car, it still means you will probably be 48 minutes late for your appointment.
Edit: in the comment section, Vladimir helped me to get a more complete view on this topic. He writes:
“Perhaps if there really is a special Czech affinity for cars, it’s not because of obsession with time, but rather status. This is a common thing for whole central and eastern Europe. We had to (and most still have to) live in relative poverty, therefore we want at least not to FEEL poor. Average Czech would drive to work even if it takes twice as much time as with public transport, because, you know, public transport is for losers. Very common derogatory nickname for public transport is “socka”, as in “social case”. Go figure”.
It’s also true however that, Czechs being the nature lovers that they are, the environmental awareness is growing really fast all over the country. I have seen in person a lot of brave and progressive projects to reduce CO2 emissions and switch to renewable energies, or to reduce the environmental footprint of life in general.
So, let’s not lose hope, becase Times, they are a-changing!
10) Czech Republic is a place where Etiquette still matters. A lot.
This was a big surprise for me, and it can be very important in a relationship, so listen up, don’t repeat my mistake and don’t underestimate this aspect.
The Czech culture is based on a certain level of conformism. Traditions are important and nobody is expected to cause any trouble. There is no such thing as “speaking in a loud voice” (a common discussion between two Italians on what to have for dinner would appear like an incredibly aggressive brawl, here) and I have never heard people shouting – except when drinking too much, of course.
In CZ, people really care for things to be – and look – proper. You go to theatre, you dress up. There is no limit “up”. But you just don’t walk in a theatre (or God forbid! Opera) in your jeans, unless you want to attract a lot of attention of the wrong type.
As well, men are supposed – no, expected! – to perform little actions such as opening a door, holding the chair, helping ladies with their luggage or taking on and off their coats. Apparently in the local understanding, there is no “gender inequality” value attached to it. So don’t try to judge it with your metrics: it’s just the way things work. If you want to blend in, you just adapt to it.
All boys and girls take ballroom dancing lessons as part of their education, and many companies and organisations hold balls in the festive season, which are attended with enthusiasm. Also, in a country that is surprisingly not attached to any religion, people still follow traditional festivities, go to church on Christmas eve, visit the cemetery to pay their respects.
All this, combined with what I said in #2, can be dangerous to the unsuspecting foreigner. In a tram, failing to leave your seat to an elder will attract so many bad looks, you will wish to disappear. Equally bad is when you mess up with the tipping in a café or a restaurant.
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And that was my decalogue this time. Thank you for reading! You can follow our facebook page here. It means a lot to us!
Edit: an article with my reflections and comments on the insane success of this post can be found here.
Again, my point was not to offend anybody with this post. This is not a scientific study and has not been validated by a panel of experts (although if you made it reading so far, you probably got that).
I will be happy to react and edit any information that might be incomplete or wrong. Writing was mainly my way to celebrate my almost 1 year and a half in Prague. I love the city and the life here, and I continue to discover more and more parts of its rich and fascinating culture.
And how is it for you? Did you have a similar experience when moving to a new country? I would love to have a little discussion in the comments section. All stories are the welcome!
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2018 Edit: this article is still getting a lot of clicks, it’s awesome! Thank you!
In the meantime, I started my activity as a stand-up comedian! If you want to check out my activity in Prague (and elsewhere), you can follow the page https://www.facebook.com/carminestandup/.
I would really appreciate it!
Maybe you want to check out also the follow-up story, about ways Czech people love to spend their free time:
5 very Czech ways to spend a weekend
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To say nothing of the cat 
I think it is generaly quite good description and I agree with a majority. However I would make my personal comments or views on two assertion.
First about that gender and “masculine inanimated” … I am czech and right this question from czech language seems to me to be quite easy… generally you have masculine gender and later you look at if the subject in the sentence is alive or not. There are some exceptions but it works like that in general. When you have a subject like stone: “kámen” – it is not alive so “masculine inanimated” when you have dogs “psi” – they are alive… so “m. animated”. That´s all. Well it could be more complicated when we add some exceptions or the fact that czech gender (I mean now masculine or feminine) sometimes differ from e. g. spanish and probably other (not just Romanic) languages. However this is thing you should learn as well as I should learn gender in spanish (btw according to me the gender is very often the same in the both languages).
Second, the story about czechs and that “they like to be naked”, I think it is not exactly like that and it depends quite enough on each person. Of course there is the rule not allowing swimming suit into sauna, however, you can go there with towel and also quite often men and women are separated (even though it is not the rule). And about swimming in the “lakes”, I think it is personal and gender question… I guess that to see woman swim naked somewhere on public place or even somewhere at more hidden place you should have lots of luck (?). With guys it may be a bit different story but I think it is more personal question.
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Zdar lidi (hey guys):) I generally agree with all that Tomáš wrote. For example the nudity – it has to be indeed a thing that differs from one person to another – because here in this article it was for the first time I saw something like that… :D And the masculine inanimated gender is really not so hard to understand as Tomáš wrote… personally I can´t even remember any of those exceptions right now :D Also the plans for the weekend… well I personally give a **** about it :D – yes, sometimes I do plan something but I really don´t fell anxious or in hurry during it :D However, I live and grown up in Ostrava, which is of course different from Prague (damn their gay-long vowel accent :D :D -ne, dělám si srandu :) – podle přízvuku lidi opravdu neškatulkuju – just a kind explanation for my Prague fellows) Czech people can be really different from each other – though we share a lot in common of course. But do not write that we are so grumpy :) – maybe on the surface… but try to get to know us and I believe, that you will (okay, not always but at least you “can”) experience more than just a reserved, poker face :D And – really watch out in a village or a little city – Take at least a small, pocket or smartphone dictionary with you – you can be lucky but it may happen, that you will have to speak with your bare hands and feet :D :D Also be prepared, that the local inhabitants can – (but also do not have to) act kinda “hostile” against you as a foreigner – don´t take me wrong – you really do not have to fear of your life, not at all :D – just some of the villagers aren´t used to meet foreigners… – many of them – especially the elder ones haven´t seen a foreigner in their entire life! Well, maybe it is similar in the other countires as well but I don´t really have a comparison right now… but this leads me to ask my german friends about it :D So my piece of advice during travelling would be – just stick to the (popular) tourist destinations and do not hope that you will reach to a village or small city (lets say but with a little adition to it – it is only 6 kilometers away from the 3rd largest city :D, so kinda “wider suburbs” :D naaah which leads me to the last point – try to talk to the younger people in locations mentioned above – the attendance to English classes at high and even primary schools is mandatory so you should be able to squeeze something out of them :D
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Yeah and – I also don´t think that those who use the public transport are treated or named differently – maybe by some “richer” people… Yeah, I use that form of transport as well :D but it has never come to my mind…
And – for those who are maaaybe suffering around on in Ostrava, let me know, I can help… but right now not in person becasue I am in Germany until the end of February 2017…
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Gosh. That’s so true. Plans for the weekend, being in a hurry, being a gentleman. All are true. It might be shocking but once you know these basics, world is simple and life is smooth here ;-)
My husband from Korea sayed many times czech guys have an ugly face when I am at the cashier. When he tries to speak Czech the waiters are discouraging and asking for English anyway. You can count many bad things but for me as a Czech woman it is something I can understand. For example it is hard to understand to the person pronouncing something wrongly and if it doesn’t make any sense it’s even worse. So just don’t be shocked when someone tells you to just use English. It’s for your own good and to make the request happen faster.
I would like to thank you that you have chosen CZ and that you are so open to share this.
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I am really happy I live in Czech Republic. I think I like the country since I was a boy.
Because there is a triangle in the flag, I remember. Not many countries can afford to have that. Just one little sign of how really weird things are :)
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I moved here in 2015 too (from the US) and have found many similar revelations :) though I live very securely in an Expat Bubble (common symptom of the Expat English Teacher), and it’s not easy to break out.. my mission is make at least One Czech Friend in the next year in Prague. And who knows, maybe my third year here I will tackle Czech language :P
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Hi, you want to help with directions? :-) just send me a message lehmann.vojtech@gmail.com
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Dear Elliott, youre welcome to come and make friends at the Parlor Cafe in Prague’s Karlin. Were Czech but we appreciate everyone no matter what nationality so come and have a drink with us. And for the language, your English speaking bubble is much larger than you thinkand you only need to tackle the language if you really want to :-)
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I can only say, get out of the bubble. It will be hard, it will be frustrating, it will be really rewarding.
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You haven’t made a single Czech friend for the whole time you’re here? Are we really THAT grumpy and intimidating? :D
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Well, I’ve had friendly acquaintanceships with Czechs – it’s not that you’re all grumpy! But I’ve never had a scenario where it felt right or appropriate to hang out with anyone – most of the adult Czechs I know are or were my students, mostly middle-aged businessmen. I did form a friendship with one student near my age… but she’s Slovakian!
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Nice article. Just about that racism and xenofobia. We are fine with people who work, try to blend in and are – you know – just fine. But hell – if you want to parazite on the social payments and try to change our way of living, by taking your native customs outside your house – then we have a problem. Its not about race or fear of foreign. Its about making sure, our own traditions are preserved. We like it the way it is, the foreigners who came to live here are believed to be here just for that way it is…if you want change something here, why you went here in the first place? Hope that explains the mentality about that. Once we know you are cool, we are just fine, but generally we are suspicious bunch of people. Mostly because everytime foreigners came here, they brought bad times – Russians, Germans, Austria-Hungary, and others before them.
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I don´t think it is actually about being a parasite or a threat to traditions. More like that Czechs are very much conformists who hate if anyone is different. That is true for colour of your hair and the way you dress (not just to the theater), but also for the colour of your skin and public displays of different customs. Still, this is mostly true for places outside of Prague, even though even Prague is not as free as it would seem. We don´t like people to be different (during communism, it would cause trouble for the person and for anyone associated with them).
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I respectfully disagree Kristna.
Im from part of Prague, where there is huge Vietnamesee comunity, along with Ukrainans and others. Most of them learned the language and activekly use it, fall in with czech customs (eg. the here-born vietnamese children are lazy as czech ones, not like the first generation – I have chances to see it during some activities with highschools im involved in :) )
Same in villgaes – its the working vietnam guy, who has open untill 8PM, every day, so when Jednota store closes at 4PM, you have where to buy milk etc….I even had chance to see vietnam owner and bartenteder in village pub. That hardwork earned them respect, even in rural areas.
To the conformist issue – as the Kmeny showed, there are many “different” subcultures in czech – do you think these would exist in such numbers if we were so conform?
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I totally agree. I moved in Prague because I simply love the city and its people. I am doing my best to learn the language and the culture and I have NEVER had any issue with any native concerning the fact that I am an expat. And honestly I would be as unwelcoming as any Czech and I will always take their side against “immigrants” that have no wish to integrate and want only to parasite and impose a different culture.
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Thats the attitude! :)
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Lok´thar, friend! And welcome.
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I understand that. But opposing change is like opposing gravity. Take a walk in the centre of Prague and tell me how much of “Czech traditions” are preserved there. Yet I don’t see a lot of people complaining.
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maybe it’s because of the city center has almost no Czechs :-)
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I loved to read your points. Being expat itself, it was fun to compare.
However, you totally misunderstood one thing:
“that time when a group of “activists” held an event in the Old Town Square involving a jeep, a camel and firing shots in the air with a fake kalashnikov – creating general panic to “warn against the danger of a Muslim invasion”.”
That group performed a theater play “Declaration of sharia law” as it happened in many cities and towns across the Islam world. The point was to show stupidity and danger of Islam law. There was no intention to create panic. And it did not happen. People including well informed police standing around did not panic. It was clear it was just a performance.
It was not the first nor the last such performance of this group. They arranged for example “stoning of woman” too. During that performance many people got to know for the first time that stoning is a legal punishment in many Islamic countries. It is not very funny that Czech authorities and a small part of the society (since vast majority sees Islam as real threat) attack people who point out idiocy and cruelty of Islam.
I do not know who helped you to get so skewed picture. Do not believe him everything what he says. Czechs just hate Islam – a hateful ideology. That is in conformity with their general peacefulness.
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There is actually a video from a restaurant nearby, where people are panicked and running from the square over each other. People who saw it first hand say that if you were close enough, you could see that it was just stupid theater, but those who were a little further got scared.
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Well, you shoot with a fake gun in such a crowded place, you are looking for trouble. I am surprised police authorised such a stupid idea in the first place. It speaks well of Czech freedom of speech system, I guess.
The thing was well reported on a number of independent media. I checked, I don’t blindly trust “somebody” that tells me a story. I work on media and communication since 15 years now.
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There is a video of a man running into a restaurant not so near and making panic. Hard to say if he was scared by a camel, bunch of laughing people, policemen around or fake gun (which does not sound like a real gun at all). It is unclear in what phase he ran there. Sorry, you can discredit anything by this.
I agree, the declaration of sharia law is scary. Millions of people in Muslim world have such an experience. However, there is no point not to depict it. Performances are done for many other reasons. One could say that a publicly displayed cage depicting a Cuban prison could be scary too. That’s the point of the performance – show something which people should get to know, show it in a bit disturbing way in order to attract an attention to the problem.
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Just to clarify, it is completely absurd to call it a “theatre play”, most people here do consider the stunt to be grossly stupid and its police asssitance outright outrageous, and that people taking part in it thought it funny (in their simple minds) does not mean everybody else did. There are videos available on the of people running into nearby restaurants to hide, in obvious panic. As you would expect when you exhibit masked men with weapon replicas in crowded public space.
Just making sure any foreign readers here do not get the skewed picture – not everyone here is a “Konvička” supporter generalizing about Islam like the OP.
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I do not know what is “here”. Could be your “here” is really small.
I have commented the video above.
Masked man? On camels? People laughing around? Seriously? Or you just repeat what somebody told you?
Most of Czechs have a strong opinion about Islam. And the Islamic terrorism is not the only reason. The main reason is inequality in that political system. Czech women are very independent (actually I am a bit surprised it was not mentioned in the blog since it is a major feature of the Czech society). No wonder people do not like a system where women is treated as undermen. Konvička did not create this widely accepted opinion. If you asked about the same in 90s, you would hear the same opinions. The only difference is that it is a public topic now.
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I cannot agree with you..I am Czech and as I am I don’t hate islam, because There is a big difference between islam and terrorists..So please don’t Tell that “Czech just hate islam” cause it’s not true..and also I know people who did this “theater play” in person, and they are extremists and I also met a few foreigners who were frightened by that..
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Yes, there are many people in Czechia who thinks Islam is acceptable. Vast majority does not have this opinion.
Sure, saying Islam is evil, is considered by some as extremism. But they are not a voice of Czechs.
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I take note of your comment. I completely disagree with your opinion on Islam. Extremists of any religion or ideology put hate and suppression as their priority. I know in first person a lot of people who follow Islam and just work for a better world, not supporting stoning or jihad.
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Interesting. You disagree with my opinion on Islam. And then you comment Muslims. There is a significant difference between Islam and Muslims. Muslims are people. Islam is an ideology. Do not mix them.
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I will try to rectify the statement with a more precise language. It’s not about hate to islam as a religion, but as an ideology. (iaai) iaai has close relationship with nazism, and we don’t really love nazism. Muslims as people are probably ok to live with, but you must have noticed, that terror and sharia happen only in countries with a dominant muslim population. The intent of the shows is to view what may come if you welcome higher muslim population in the country. It’s like if you say that people who do not smoke have very little chance of getting lung cancer, amd people who smoke, are much more likely die of it. Then you bring a smoker, who is dying of cancer. It may offend you, but it does not change your decision to smoke or not, if you are willing to take the risks and benefits of smoking are greater than this. Panic was appropriate, it was some israeli pub and the aytacks are real there. Anyway, this one incident was kind of blown out of proportion.
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Hi, realy nice one! I laught a lot! Most of the things are 100% spot on. Like a mirror. Will sent to all my friends! Cheers Milan
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Thanks for posting this, it was very interesting experience to read about us(Czechs) from a view of someone else. 😁 You made me laugh approx. 10 times.
I would like to point out that we are not racists as Jiří said! At least not all of us. Or not to all minorities. I would say that we have no problem with anybody from foreign countries if he/she finds job and live as we do.
Unfortunately not all of us know the real idea of Islamic religions and this leads to irracional fear of muslims. But this topic is quite tabuized among Czechs.
To get back to your post, keep posting because i would love to read some more!!! 😊
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Thank you for your words. No need to apologise. I am aware of the state of the debate and it’s not very different from other countries (Italy included). Positions are polarized, and nobody changes opinion during a discussion on a blog :)
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You just made my day sir. It quite made me proud on my fellow citizens .))))
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Hey,
thank you for the article, it was really inspiring for me as a native Czech. I laughed a lot and it’s just great to see things from perspective from others.
And just one thing I feel is everywhere here…
Like you said, Czech tend to be polite and calm in conversations, not like two Italian guys shouting about their dinner. We’re not shouting, but we’re arguing a lot. More specifically always. We tend to always have opinions on everything and we like to tell them to others, usually creating an argue. (If you just look at the comments :) ) Whe we say something, we usually expect someone to not agree with us, we’re ready for it even before it happens. I feel like the Italian guys, even though they are shouting, they are not really arguing. They are just loud, outgoing, passionate… Did you noticed something like this?
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oh yes, exactly. Also, when I ask to a Czech friend an opinion or feedback on something, usually the negative comments come first. It’s like the education and upbringing are designed in such a way to put negative comments always in the first place.
But this can change :)
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I am Czech, expat in Brussels, CZ is paradise
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Hello Carminerodi,
I can’t resist commenting on your article. It was definitely funny and a great eyeopener, I liked the light tone and uncomplicated point of views. I do agree with many of your facts but I also believe that you are going to explore lots of new depth; Czech culture, as well as Czech language and Czech thinking, has very wide pallet, the longer you live there, the deeper you dive into our world. I am a czech woman who lived in Karlovy Vary as well as Prague but I also stayed years in America, England, Ireland and now I live in Canada. There are things I love about our culture and things I strongly dislike. There were many people here who tried to, slightly, correct certain misunderstandings and they are right. The masculine inanimated grammar puzzle is simple, it is for masculine objects who do not live, breath etc. And yes, we have also exceptions from this rule and other grammar rules but that appears in every language. Would like to add that although Czech man are brought up in the way that they “perform” those little courting acts, they are also very macho. There is still some stigma from the communistic past and the fact that the working class was in charge of making decisions but not many men are great gentlemen at home. They also do not appreciate the fact that they have one of the most beautiful women in the world who can do so much work and are modest, well educated etc. Obviously, there are some exceptions. You are absolutely right about our strong culture roots and this is one of the most fantastic thing about Czech Republic. Christmas, Easter etc., that’s wow. I have never experienced such intensity in any other country I have lived in. People are generally very hospitable and they love to hear your life story, they are naturally intelligent, curious with good education. Czech Republic has one of the best educational and health care system in the world. They are also extremely hard working! In comparison to Canada, what five people do here, in Czech does one person! You are also right about our grumpiness and being and a bad mood but you have to understand that we have been oppressed by so many different countries and political systems in the past so we are quite suspicious about our future and working so hard and not being rewarded adequately is something what doesn’t make you feel happy. The rushing and time obsession is more visible in big cities, it’s not that extreme in small towns but we do have lots of things to do. According to using a car even though our transportation is wonderful, that’s completely about social status as well as what kind of car you have, what clothes you are wearing, how big is your house. Again, this is very important in Prague, small towns are bit more relaxed. There is lots of envy involved in our culture, this is very sad and that’s something I really dislike as well as the fact that it seems that Czech people love to complaint, especially in the pub while drinking beer. Speaking about this, consumption of alcohol is very high in Czech and yes, we drink a lot, a lot! But we have also huge amount of foreigners who come to our country to drink! I find that Irish people drink actually much more. So I just have to say that every country has something amazing and something not so amazing but it’s all worth trying and experiencing. Take care and keep writing :)))
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thank you very much for the very detailed feedback. Yes, I agree with your description of virtues and vices of the Czech people. It’s definitely a culture that attracts me and everything I say, I say it with a lot of respect from the bottom of the heart.
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Such great article. A czech leaving abroad, person from Ostrava region who lived years in Prague, i agree with many staff. Like bad mood face, which makes me nuts at services. Punctuality, time and planning is our thing but it would be too long to explain. We really like social rules, but living abroad you will feel blessed to have clean, quiet, friendly, helping czech neighbour. And yes outside of Prague is different world, people are less in hurry, more in drinking mood, more helpful, more shy, more ashamed their english is not good enough to talk to foreigner.
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I’m Czech and I have to say that you have observed very well how czech society is…and even described it better than a Czech citizen would. And, as I’m not xenophobe, sportive, time-organisation obsessed, beer trinker or outdoor lover, I prefer to live in France
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ahahahah :) well, to each their own!
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Laughed so many times :D Quite accurate.
Just about the etiquette: helping ladies with coats/door/seat in “socka”/whatever has nothing to do with gender equality or so, this is just a way, how we pay respect to our women. They make the “svíčková” in return :)
Had a girlfriend who was very strong, helped me in a few fights and still I held door for her etc. :)
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“helped me in a few fights”… I would just have loved to be a fly on the wall of that bar!
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wow, just wow. At the beginning I was just surfing on the internet and Facebook and did not expect an article that would force me to think about how do we (czechs, czechs from Prague as you differentiate us) act. I actually haven’t thought about it any deeply yet, so article like this really suprised me… In a great way. It was subjective but I could have found myself in most points you’ve mentioned. Maybe I also expected a bigger part of our religion. Oh I meant absence of people with some belief. But it’s surely pretty tought to write about something that is missing.I agree with our glumness-when you meet some stranger in streets or just in metro, he won’t probably be kind to you. But when you taste how do they [we]really are private nd how do we behave to our friends, then you can see their exact indentity. I loved your contribution and keep making articles like this. People will love it just as I do.
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One of my biggest frustrations is the Czech paranoia about signing anything because that involves taking personal responsibility and during the regime people learnt the hard way never to express a nonconformist viewpoint or to make any decisions that might come back to bight you on the bum.
When I turned 65 I became eligible for an Australian pension. It is means tested meaning the more you earn, the less you get. It took me 4 months to get my school’s accountant to sign a simple letter outlining my pay structure. HER fear? If I get it wrong I will get arested. When I pointed out that it’s unlikely an international arrest warrant will be issued for a mistake in a letter she finally signed it.
The procedure for acquiring a legally acceptable ‘certified copy’ also reflects the Czech obsession with YOU being responsible not ME. what happened in my case was I stood in front of a judge and swore it was a true copy and she affirmed my oath meaning the responsibility lies with me. IN every other country I’very visited or lived on the legal fraternity do the certifying.
I have lived here for 9 years and enjoy my life here but the stubborn refusal to sign anything that implies responsibility drives me mental.
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In Italy this particular reform was introduced in the late 90s or early 2000s, if I remember well. Before that, the bureaucratic attitude was exactly the same. It’s typical of countries that have been dominated by foreign powers.
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Hey there! I love the article. Im Czech, born and living in Kladno which is nearby to Prague industrial town and I think you nailed it. Its been a great fun to read it yet at the same time there is nothing I would disagree with. The funnies part for me personally is that I have been living with a French girl since 5 years and actually a lot of her comments and impressions match yours 100%. I cannot get how anyone could have felt offended, I think you described the culture and country in a very nice and funny way; thanks for that!
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Hello, I enjoyed reading your article. I think you should not change anything in it. They are you observations and you should not apologise for them. There is no reason to feel some kind of need not offend anyone.
Of course your observations are not accurate, but neither are those of Czechs who comment it because they (we) are biased.
Let me add some comments too.
5) If you think Czechs are nudists you would be probably shocked by Germans and Austrians.
6) Racism and xenophobia is a real problem. I believe it has to do with a kind of political immaturity. In the West there has been a lot of campaigning, arguing and battles on these issues since the 1950s. There has been none in the Czech Republic. Most people are ignorant of those issues.
Also Czech tend to make themselves look worse than they really are. If you just listened to the conversations about recent influx of Middle Eastern refugees to Europe you would think death camps are about to be opened in the Czech Republic. What you hear in Czech media, even public owned, sounds like a fascist political broadcast to the ears of a Western European or American.
But the same people who say things almost anybody in the West would be deeply ashamed of saying would help a refugee if they met one. It is really hard to understand and explain that phenomenon. It is not that Czechs want to be like anybody else. They seem to want to look worse than anybody else.
9) I think people use cars even though they can get more easily to their destination by public transport for two main reasons: One, they are very individualistic and do not want to be around other people, especially strangers, who may be smelly and so on. Second, the car is the only place they really feel in charge, kind of empowered.
10) There are just some little aspects of Etiquette that somewhat matter, but not really very much. You were able to spot basically all of them.
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about German and Austriand nudists (a lot of people seem to comment on that): well, they also shock me. They shock me even more :D But it’s my problem, not theirs.
About democracy – a little serious note here. I think you hit the nail on the head. Italy had Fascism, and we had a World War and a very bloody civil war to get out of it. The country is still pretty much divided (since then) but at least most people have been educated with a solid respect for republican and democratic values. This is fading away, but that’s another story.
In CZ nothing like that happened. Reading the story about the 1968 revolution is inspiring, but I am left to wonder what has remained of those ideals. The repression must have been really effective. Then, the wall goes down, a lot of money arrive, but with it didn’t come all the (painful) educational process that lead to the democratisation of societies like Spain, Portugal, Italy or Greece.
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Yes, and one thing Czechs really hate in some other countries is garbage in the streets and public places. The very fact that people in some countries are incapable of using a garbage bin is incomprehensible for most Czechs, I guess.
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It reminded me this stand up :D (Slovakia here, but I study in cz)
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3 minutes of my life wasted.
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There was no negative connotation in your post really, I’m surprised that you mentioned receiving such comments at the beginning. Did you maybe edit it later on?
As per the two cz types: ‘religiously’ exercising and pivo-fanatics :), it will be interesting if these two could be combined into one person only. Personally, for me heavily drinking excludes physical activities.
For the nudity part, someone stated above, it might be more applicable for men, either way it could only make them look more human :).
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The parts I edited were adding more disclaimers, and integrating a couple of comments from readers. I didn’t “soften” or change the tone. Some people still misinterpret it, for example reading “Czechs are xenophobic” while I write exactly the opposite. It’s ok. It’s the risk or writing something and publishing on the internet nowadays.
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This is nice article, however I think different.
Well, I respect Czechs for building a safe place for themselves and others like me (from west africa). After all the invasions they went through I fully understand them. I used to complain about those details about Czech being different etc.. But one thing i realised is that no mather where you chose to live ( Czech America UK Canada etc.. ) even if you are different:
1-Racism and cultural differences will always exist. Just like everywhere there are stupid people and prisons. Juste take it that way and live your life. Theu good things is that if you are so upset you can alway go home. So personally I don’t give a shit about that racism or any other sick attitude.
2- It’s sadly human nature to protect his house. Just imagine you leave your food on a table and someone is going around what would be your first reaction? Even though you would happily share with them?
3- About language it’s true it’s maybe hard but nothing can be harder if you have the will..
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Absolutely loved your blog, Carmin. Bar none, one of the best I have read in a very long time!
Just a few notes based on my personal findings as an Expat who has lived in the Capital just over 2 years now. These are in no particular order.
1. With regard to Czech being a difficult language. Yes, any Slavic language is difficult if you are a native English speaker or speak any language that does not have inflection (so any romance language). Knowing Latin, Greek or German or any other language with cases is helpful but still only to a certain point. In addition to Latin and German, I learned Polish in university and I can assure you that it’s far more complex. I’ve been told independently by several Slavic speakers that Polish is the hardest Slavic language there is. I cannot judge that as my first language is English. However, after taking one semester of intensive Czech language at the university here, I can say that Czech is not as hard as Polish. As an aside, somehow I doubt that Finnish, Estonian or Hungarian are easier. I think it really depends heavily what your native language is. I read somewhere that Czech has been simplified over the past century. Sadly, for the poor foreigners trying to learn the language, those simplifications actually make it harder to master. In Polish, for example, adjectives have three distinct forms in the singular (-a, -y, -e) depending on the gender. In Czech, however, some of the adjectives are the same ending for all three genders i.e. “í” like in hlavní instead of -a -y & -e. The adjective ending should help a foreigner learning a language to remember (or “confirm” the correct gender of the noun. If you are not sure if it’s masculine or neuter, you can look at the adjective and then you know in 99% of the cases whether your guess was correct. If it’s the same form, however, you’re simply guessing. I’m sure whoever came up with this idea meant it to help people but honestly, I find it more frustrating than helpful. The same goes for the fact that case endings are sometimes the same for the dative and locative. For me it would be much more helpful if there were distinct and different.
2. Regarding the tram comment: “failing to leave your seat to an elder will attract so many bad looks, you will wish to disappear”. Well, I have witnessed enough young Czechs who do not seem to know about or respect this rule of respecting the elders, especially young females. It is I who gives them the dirty look when I see a poor granny standing and some saucy teenager continues to sit there with her smart phone completely oblivious to what is going on around. And honestly, most people do not seem to care if an elderly person is standing. I have rarely witnessed this “look”.
Further on the note of tram, I think it’s very important to note how trams have right of way over pedestrians. But why is that? I will never understand this. Tram drivers seem to think it is in their god given right to hit/run over tourists if they don’t know this. If you don’t read Czech, it’s not very helpful to see these signs posted everywhere, is it? How many accidents and fatalities occur each year because of this? Cars are supposed to yield to pedestrians but oftentimes they do not either. I have even witnessed car drivers yelling at people because they (the pedestrian) did not stop for them (the car driver!) Does this tie in with the point raised that having a car is considered a luxury item and therefore a status symbol and that if you choose to walk, you are considered low life pond scum who deserves to be run over?
3. Re: “Really bad is when you mess up with the tipping in a café or a restaurant.” If the service is passable, I will do like the Czech and round up moderately. If the service is abysmal, I give nothing. That is my rule in every country I visit. I make no real distinction here.
4. re. Prague being “the city”. I have not travelled much within CZ but I did visit Karlovy Vary several years back. I know that this is basically only a spa town and there will never be any call centres there but Prague is certainly not the only expensive city in CZ. You could say the same about Amsterdam. Yes, there is Utrecht and Maastricht and Den Haag but when anyone says anything about Holland, it’s almost always about Amsterdam.
5. As for the Czech always being in a bad mood. I prefer to refer to this is as being stoic. And it’s way worse still in Hungary and Poland.
6. Re: xenophobia or the Czech hating foreigners. I agree with a lot of bloggers who disagreed with this point. Generally, if you make an effort to conform, you will not have any problems. I have, however, met with some resistance, because I refuse to accept the status quo of certain things, like the general lack of customer support I have experiences in some places, mainly in big shops like Datart (probably the worse shop in this country! They basically are breaking EU consumer law with their “policies”) or the Post Office. If I had a nickel for all the times I have heard “bohužel“ in the time I have lived here, I’d be pretty rich. I cheerfully remind them that if it were so and things cannot be changed, they’d still have Communism here and if they would like to have that back, they can always apply to move to China. You cannot have your cake and eat it too, folks.
7. Regarding the Czech being obsessed with time. This is not unique. The Dutch are exactly the same. I lived there for 15 years and was always shocked (and disheartened) at how it’s nearly impossible to plan anything last minute with a Dutchie as they invariably always have plans—sometimes for the next 2 months!!! What I really don’t like is when they (the Dutch) double book or book two appointments one after another like it were a business meeting (but it’s not), thereby leaving no time in case the first event runs over. The Czech are not as bad but it’s not uncommon for them to say that they cannot stay long as they have another appointment to get to. For me it undermines the idea of having a social night out (or in) if this is their mind set and they are already thinking of the next event in their busy agenda.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents on the matter. Peace out, folks.
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Concerning the tram part, It is because it cannot stop practically on spot as the cars can. The mass and its momentum resulting from it do not make it possible for the tram to stop fast enough safely. The rule is actually protecting the pedestrians, not the contrary, try requiring a train to stop because of you crossing the rails…
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Really love it. Excellent observations, very funny, very true and yet so gracious.
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Hey there!
To the Czech language I have one note, which could make it clear to the autor :) – we have just 3 genders, not 4 officially.
But! One of them is divided into two :-D As you already mentioned, we have a masculine and masculine inanimated.
Masculine is for men, judge etc. – they need to be alive :-D.
And then there is masculine inanimated which could be also translated as “lifeless” and here are presented castle, train, table etc… I know it’s complicated, but still it has some logic :-D
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I don’t doubt that there is a logic. The language is very structured. I just don’t understand it :)
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This article is really nice. I have one complain, though. It is not sarcastic as claimed, it is highly realistic! Well, obviously not everything is as you see it (I would mainly disagree with the “naked” paragraph, as many already said). But generally this is a true picture of the Czech republic.
Speeking about the sarcasm, you forgot one very important aspect of Czechs. We LOVE humour. Humour and sarcasm has always been an inseparable part of our culture. It was a way of defense from our occupants (Austrians, Germans, Russians, … ourselves). One of the well known examples is Dobrý voják Švejk (The Good Soldier Švejk – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk) by Jaroslav Hašek. Or from recent production – Jára Cimrman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1ra_Cimrman). Have you ever seen a country, where an imaginary, theatrical character wins the contest of their greatest (wo)man? Check the “Greatest Czech contest” paragraph ;-)
So don’t worry, Czechs have a great sense of humour, you can “push on the saw” even much more. But I understand that as an immigrant, you’re trying not to be too much controversial. (Though believe me, whatever you write, there will always be people looking for any occasion to get insulted, the best thing is to calmly ignore them.)
Thank you for your text and good luck living here with us!
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Nice article. As I Prague inhabitant, I really enjoyed this look from outside. Thanks :)
(P.S. words “everyone”, “nobody” and “always” make such a story way more amusing, but way less true. Just remember all the exceptions, people you met who weren’t grumpy or sporty. By saying “everyone” instead of “majority”, you just discriminate those exceptions.)
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I take your point, thank you. That’s why I had 2 or 3 disclaimers at the beginning about the satirical tone of the post.
I am well aware of majority / minority and how stereotypes are just nonsensical generalisations.
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I love it! Laughed so many times! Very apposite… Enjoy your living here, Carminerodi!
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This article is really nice. I have one complain, though. It is not sarcastic as claimed, it is highly realistic! Well, obviously not everything is as you see it (I would mainly disagree with the “naked” paragraph, as many already said). But generally this is a true picture of the Czech republic.
Speaking about the sarcasm, you forgot one very important aspect of Czechs. We LOVE humour. Humour and sarcasm has always been an inseparable part of our culture. It was a way of defense from our occupants (Austrians, Germans, Russians, … ourselves). One of the well known examples is Dobrý voják Švejk (The Good Soldier Švejk – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk) by Jaroslav Hašek. Or from recent production – Jára Cimrman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1ra_Cimrman). Have you ever seen a country, where an imaginary, theatrical character wins the contest of their greatest (wo)man? Check the “Greatest Czech contest” paragraph ;-)
So don’t worry, Czechs have a great sense of humour, you can “push on the saw” even much more. But I understand that as an immigrant, you’re trying not to be too much controversial. (Though believe me, whatever you write, there will always be people looking for any occasion to get insulted, the best thing is to calmly ignore them.)
Thank you for your text and good luck living here with us!
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Ciao Carmine!
I loved this article :)
About being “racist” maybe you could add something regarding renting a room or a place.
It appears that many landlords, are not keen to rent a place to foreigners because they could literally just leave without paying and they wouldn’t be persecuted.
That’s why sometimes Czech and private landlords ask for 2 months of deposit or they simply want to deal with Czech people only.
Which means that if you’re a foreigner you probably only speak English and your native language and you need to deal with estate agents that ask a big amount of money for their commissions.
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It’s also my experience. That’s a sad fact, especially in an economy which is booming fast, there are always people looking for some easier profit.
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This article is really nice. I have one complain, though. It is not sarcastic as claimed, it is highly realistic! Well, obviously not everything is as you see it (I would mainly disagree with the “naked” paragraph, as many already said). But generally this is a true picture of the Czech republic.
Speeking about the sarcasm, you forgot one very important aspect of Czechs. We LOVE humour. Humour and sarcasm has always been an inseparable part of our culture. It was a way of defense from our occupants (Austrians, Germans, Russians, … ourselves). One of the well known examples is Dobrý voják Švejk (The Good Soldier Švejk, check wiki) by Jaroslav Hašek. Or from recent production – Jára Cimrman (check wiki again). Have you ever seen a country, where an imaginary, theatrical character wins the contest of their greatest (wo)man? ;-)
So don’t worry, Czechs have a great sense of humour, you can “push on the saw” even much more. But I understand that as an immigrant, you’re trying not to be too much controversial. (Though believe me, whatever you write, there will always be people looking for any occasion to get insulted, the best thing is to calmly ignore them.)
Thank you for your text and good luck living here with us!
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thank you. It’s what I am trying to do :)
The “satirical” tone is mainly in the sense that if I write “Everybody likes to be naked” – THAT is obviously an exaggeration and must be taken with a pinch of salt. Right?
And yet so many comments are trying to point out that “not everybody is like this or that…”. It’s just natural. We need to have our specific identity seen and understood as different, but then we laugh when others are generalised :)
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I enjoyed reading your article and the impressions you’ve taken from living here.
I’ve been an expat in the Czech Republic for a bit over 12 years and have spent all that time in Brno, so my own impressions of Czechs and the culture differ in some ways to yours. The South Moravian ways of doing things are my main influence and they can be rather different from other places in the country.
I must disagree a bit with you on your point that everything happens in Prague. A lot of companies keep an administrative presence in Prague, but keep the main facilities for doing the company work elsewhere. I’ve found this particularly true of the IT sector; Brno has a huge number of IT related businesses and they are ALWAYS hiring. For many of those companies, their Brno offices are larger in physical size, employee number and production output; it’s like they have small offices in Prague which make the decisions but Brno is where the actual work gets done.
Brno has the nickname of “The Biggest Village in the Country”, but it is a quite dynamic place for business and has changed a lot in time I’ve been here. In some ways, I hardly recongize the place.
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it is coool, thanks
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Absolutely spot on. The comments about Czechs not being racist starting with “We’re not racist but we like people who are like us” are as telling as the ones I about sexism: “We’re not machos because we open door for our women and then want them to cook a two hour meal for us in exchange.” CarmineRodi, you’ve got a new fan. Me!
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Thank you for sharing your insights.
Everything can change :)
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I’ll go to Prague for New Year .If meets all of the above fact, I think I will feel like a fish in water))
(I am from Minsk, Belarus)
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This is such an amazing article!!! Thank you for that!! I was laughing out loud, especially when reading about the czech/italian comparisons…..I’m Czech and my partner Italian- spot on comments😂😂😂I realized how much I miss home a all the stuff, you are talking about in such a funny and true way👍👍thank you
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Nice article! It’s always interesting to see how someone else perceives the local habits (I myself am from Slovakia, living in Prague for 8th year). I don’t know if anyone mentioned this before me as I haven’t read all the comments, but this might be useful info to someone. Those tricky yellow machines for tickets are slowly being replaced with new ones, which function correctly and of course accept cards. Also, you can even pay for your tickets in special small machines in some trams, also by card :)
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Haha, what a great article! It’s really interesting to see Czech republic from such a different point of view. Thank you for that :)
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hi, loved your article! I am Czech, actually “Pražák ” who traveled a lot and lived in few different countries. Your “description ” put a big smile on my face and must admit, most of your observations are accurate ; -) oh just a note – Svíčková – the base for the sauce is more likely roasted veg such as carrot, parsley and celery with roasted beef, but maybe it may varies
:-D
Good luck with more articles like that!
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So I didn’t read the whole thing … Mostly went through the titles and some of the details. Not sure if I get the whole point of it. Maybe the overall title is misleading. But if you want to know some interesting facts from an interesting guy who lives in this interesting city … here are a few that comes to mind:
1. No one says ‘hi’ in elevators, but everyone says “bye”. Like they are not happy to see you come in, but glad when you leave :)
2. Gym showers are like prison’s. You see more dicks than your entire life prior to the Czech.
3. In and around the centre, no matter where you stand, everywhere you look, there is a clock around you in sight.
4. Czechs drink like fish and do sport like the other animals. They are genetically designed for both which is amazing.
5. They might appear cold and cunty, but my best friends are Czech. So you need to learn how to get close to them and anyone who says otherwise, it’s their lack of social adaptability.
6. You have the right to run over and kill other people who stands on the “wrong” side of the escalators as soon as you enter this country. The permission is given with your visa :D
7. You can pretty much set your meetings based on the MHD schedules. That’s how fucking accurate they are … with very few exceptions of course like when the tram driver forgets to change the tram number half way through the journey (this happened to me)
8. Homeless people are the most integrated amongst the rest of the people. Never seen anywhere else with so many of them living and walking around with “normal” people. Must be due to cheap costs of living and availability/accessibility of MHD.
9. Everyone who doesn’t have an iphone or a Dr. Dre Beat headphones, has the same set of headphones with those little cushions on top of their ears! What is that? Do they give them out in schools or what? :D
10. Czechs have a significant impact on changing the English language as they so confidently translate Czech words and phrases in English that make you believe it’s an actual English term …. e.g. Let’s go to wellness. What is this for a car? Etc.
11. And last but not least, yes! the language is hard. But it’s interesting. You can use the same amount of words as in English, but give much more information without a need for any follow-up questions. That’s why Czech conversations are much shorter than in English. You get all you need to know in the first sentence ;)
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I didn’t really read your comment, mostly went through the paragraphs, but thank you for it!
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Hey, the cars problem: A lot of people have a car for going out of the city and big shopping trips only… It’s still very usable on weekends and out of rush hours if you do not live in the center of The Center ;-)
And not everyone is sporty. Really… ;-)
But I will share it since it’s so bloody funny, we are the greatest, deal with it ;-)))
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I am dealing with it :)
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There are too many comments to read them all, and maybe somebody wrote the same. But there is one point of view, which is a very important from my opinion. Czech people takes very few things as realy important, and when they says or do something publicly, they automaticaly do it with some exaggeration, which other people automatically reduced for themselves, and some of them perceive it as funny. The example with camel, jeeps and rifles, was a bit extrem example of it. It should be funny reminder that we are not safe against terrorists. But some people faster runs than thinks, and a sheep flock effect have raised a panic. That’s a difference between local uninteresting show for a couple of people passing the square, or first row news in the papers. The same is the problem with xenophobia. People says they don’t like foreigners, but it means kind of people. But each foreigner individualy is ok and they easy start to like him, if he personally don’t present any trouble. And so on…
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Reading this, and especially the driving bit, I realised that you obviously didn’ t live in Belgium :-) I enjoyed reading this, esp. being an expat myself, though it’ s somewhat painful to see how we Czechs are seen as unhelpful grumpy hurrying lot… But what I wanted to comment on was that car was and still is a status symbol in what used to be called the ‘West Europe’ as well – 70s are still in people’s minds and thus car is more often than not often the symbol, rather than necessity. Hodně štěstí v Čechách! :-)
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Really interesting article. Actually during the reading I was wondering from which country the author is. Then I understood your point of view better. Because Czech and Italian culture are really different. And I think you are right in many points (yes, Czechs are mostly grumpy and “the grumpiest of all is probably the president, Milos Zeman”). But I don’t think Czech people are more sporty than other nations. For example I’m not sporty at all (except ski and yoga I’m not really into sports) and I’m Czech. Also the thing with planning and organizing. We may seem to be more organized in comparsion with Italians but if you compare us with Germans for example I think we’re not organized at all. :)
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and then again, it was a German girl who first told me about the “time obsession”.
Generalisations are always funny and stereotypes are a good subject for comedy. It’s clear that when we start discussing single persons as individuals, everybody is different and infinite details appear in the picture. That was not the point I wanted to make in my post :)
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And yet you said it yourself “except of ski and yoga”. I mean.. it’s written to generalize and in author’s point of view you are into some sports… I think this is very truth to Czech nation. It’s not like everyone would be sportsman but almost everyone does some sport or outdoor activity. With computer games generation and smartphone generation growing up it may not be so any-more but that’s for different discussion :D.
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Yes, you’re right. But I’ve never considered us as the nation of sportmen. But probably it’s true. I don’t think it is going to be so bad with this “smartphone generation” as you call it. Because people still sport a lot even if they use smartphones (and they use many apps for it as well). It will change nothing I think.
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Ive been living in Brasil for some time, to be exact in the north, and one thing that I miss here are reasonable outdoor activities. I never considered myself a sportsman, but ocasionally, mainly at the weekends, I liked to go out biking to the mountains, go to the swimmimg pool, go to climb the wall, call friend to bowling, billiard, paintball or lasertag, simply DO SOMETHING! Here in this region the main activity that you are actually by all the conditions allowed to do is to go to the bar, to the shopping or to eat somewhere, but thats pretty much it. There are no bike trails, just messy and heavily used highways. To go camping in the forest = asking to get robbed or attacked by a wild animal, even though its around 30°C almost every day, there are no public swimming pools. The only option, if you want to do some sports, is practically to join some sport club of football, basketball or something like that, which lacks the time flexibility and just doesnt have the variability.
In different regions in Brasil its different. Going to the south the big cities of the south the options widen. But thats not where Im living now … :)
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So yes, as a Czech guy living in the north of Brasil, I can well say that czechs are more sporty than local people.
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What about feminine inanimated (brána, svíčka) and neutrum inanimated (kolo, město?)
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I don’t know, what about them?
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There is not such a thing in a Czech language from a grammatical point of view. As I mentioned in a separated comment there are just 3 genders and masculine one differs because of grammar where feminine and neutrum doesn’t do that. There are patterns (or models?) which helps you to determine how to use words in mentioned 7 cases. In feminine and neutrum it doesn’t matter if it’s inanimated or not, if it fits a pattern you go with that. But in masculine there are patterns that could mess with you and you wouldn’t know which one to use (there is “muž” and “stroj” which would be same in 2nd case which is used to determine which pattern to use) so you have to find out if it’s living thing or if it’s an object. If you find out your word is an object, you use “stroj” if it’s animated you use “muž”…
There is more to it as for example (in plural) you use “y” on end of words when talking about masculine inanimated (stroje běžely) but “i” when talking about masculine animated (muži běželi) where in feminine you just use “y” (svíčky hořely, brány se zavíraly) and in neutrum you use “a” (kola jela, města hořela). That’s why it’s so important to make a difference between masculine animated and masculine inanimated.
It’s hard… I mean even we have to study it 9 years minimally (elementary school) and another 4 years if we study a high school and yet there is plenty of us that fails in writing something down so I can imagine that it could be impossible for some foreigners to write in Czech language even if they can speak Czech.
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Really funny article) But there is one thing, that for me шы number 1 – Czech People blow their noses everywhere and very very noisy. It’s the worst thing ever for me) I agree with time and plans – like they ask about plan for a weekend on Monday. My bf even once said that he can’t go to Kutna Hora on next day because “we need to plan such trips in advance” :) But being from Russia I need to disagree with one thing – men here are pretty ignorant about helping women, opening the door and so on. So yeah, it depends from where you are from a lot. Thank for sharing)
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What’s wrong with masculine inanimated? :D I mean it’s not even consider a gender. We have 3, this one is just a part of a masculine. It’s not about objects (that would be English way to look at it) it’s about what gender that whatever is (I think that Spanish has it very similar (eg. LA camiseta). So train is a masculine even tho it’s object. As well as chicken is neutrum despite the fact that it lives … or lived for a brief time … there is also a rose which would be feminine. BUT if it’s masculine AND it’s inanimated these 7 cases (that you mentioned) differs from animated masculine.
I would imagine this is problem for Germanic languages to copy, but Latin languages can learn this quicker.
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Maybe I should white similar blog about Czech girl moving to England :D I like your points, there are exact!
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I have to say I agree with the initial observation regarding the obsession with cars – it is mainly about time. I know people that has purchased “year public transportation ticket”, but still go to work by car, because it saves them 5 minutes. ;-) But it is also about comfort – for example when you want to buy food on the way from work, it’s convenient when you do not have to carry it in a tram or bus. ;)
Anyway thank you for this article, it is sooo true in many cases (of course it cannot be applied for all) and I see it even more now, when I am in international environment in Denmark. ;)
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:D Im living abroad for some years and seeing my home country from the perspective of a foreigner is really amusing :D I had a good laugh!
As for the Czech language, when I was at university, one of our friend from the foreign parallel course, that was studying czech as a part of the school curriculum, once declared that czech language is not a language, but a psychiatric diagnose! :D
Other thing is that czech people are studying grammar in a completely different way than the foreigners and many times the locals (including me) dont know how to answer the foreigner’s question about this or that grammar rule. And my wife, when she was studying czech always told me that she hated when the answer for her grammatical questions were almost always starting with: “Well, hmmmmmmmmm, thats complicated … ” :D
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