Black people sometimes complain that the Czechs are staring at them. This may not be a sign of hostility, but rather curiosity as many Czechs, especially the ones from small villages, have actually never met a black person in their lives. Imagine a white-blond or Asian guy suddenly appearing in a remote village in the middle of African savana. People would stare just as well.
Well honestly, have you ever seen our Czech internet? I highly guarantee Czechs are not one of the most tolerant and open minded people when it goes to other cultures and people. British fine, Spanyards yea, but Czechs tend to be 1/3 open minded mostly young people, 1/3 of who are not racist but they see other ethnicities in a very weird way, 1/3 is openly hostile.
It took me like six months to suppress the urge to look at black people in Metro or the bus, I was so not used to it and the curiosity was surprisingly strong. I was always thinking this could be uncomfortable for the person
In my (strictly czech) opinion it´s pure curiosity. Under communist government Czechoslovakia was from 1948 practically isolated from the free world. Our olny expirience with black people was in 1945, when american army libarated the western part of our land. There was no racism, no hostility in our aproach to black american soldiers, just curiosity. Many Czechs didn´t believe there could be people with realy dark skin. The rumour says the next yrear there was a considerable number of dark coloured babies. After that, our only experience with black people was when Czechoslovaria founded "Universitity fo 17th november" opened for african and asian students. Our students treated foreign students as younger brothers, theay sort of patronized them. Guided them trough the study. And again - no racism, no hostility. The same applied to Vietnamese, invited to study in Czechoslovakia in the 70eth. No hostlility, just some patronizing.. The Roma problem is quite different. With the Roma problem we are where the US were with blacks in the 60th. n Not understanding the problem, lacking a real plan how to deal with it ..... A long way to go.
When I was kid in Liberec, I remember I started at a black person everytime I saw one. Mostly because I saw a black person maybe twice a year at max. I was just curious. When I lived in China in I had the same experience. There were maybe only 10 white ppl in a city of 100 000 so we definitely stood out. People would take pictures of us in a bus, etc. And yeah, I had not idea so many Czech ppl are so racist until a certain demographic started using Facebook. But still, I think 2/3 ppl are chilled. That leaves 1/3 of people with prejudice.
@@ruzzaruzza its only a habit. From when i was small i travelled to Murica, Canada, Sri Lanka. I got used to ppl looking different, i can walk with Indians, Afroamericans and Chinese ppl and have like zero surprise how they look :D
Even if you never master the Czech language, we always appreciate the affort that goes into learning it. The different accent and imperfection is going to be loved and not hated, because we see the struggle and determination behind.
Yep! People will giggle and have a bit of fun at the person's expense, that's Czech humor for ya - but behind that there's always so much respect. Czechs are well-aware of just how difficult the language is so even a little eagerness to learn a few words and speak is held in a high regard. Even more so coming from native English or German speaking folks, who often take Czechs generally good proficiency in both languages for granted and don't even bother with a dobry den.
Just for the sake of this comment, I was born in Prague - and the thing about our country is that seeing ONLY Prague is in my opinion one of the mistakes people make when they come here. Because even though we're a small country, people throughout our land are very diverse. Nothing against my fellow Prague citizens, but if you go for example to Morava (Moravia), people there are perhaps a 90 degree turn from what you see in here. Also their accent is somewhat different. But generally they are much more "traditional" and warm and welcoming. The peak of Czech culture can be seen much more over there, as they perform traditional celebrations, they even usually wear traditional clothes... Check the edges of Czech Republic, too, it's worth it. And you can go to wine tastings. :) Loved the video. :)
I somewhat agree, living in Brno, when you sit in a cafe/restaurant they immediately come to you, but regarding friendliness and small talk, I'm finding the locals a little bit cold and difficult to befriend.
@@PetarOnRUclips they probably more scared of you than you are of them. Its pretty unusual to befriend strangers randomly. Its not people being cold, they just probably just dont know what to do
@@matox01tekk Interesting, I actually have a friend that's from around there and told me they still actually do the traditions :) Yeah, I guess it depends.
Hold on. That can be said about basically any smaller city or village in Czech Republic that is not Prague. Moravia is certainly not the peak of the Czech culture. You are diminishing other parts of the Czech republic, because (for example) western Czech Republic (Chodsko) has its own customs and accent too.
@@Roy-nd1tp Majority of us are not racist (bad apples are everywhere), we don´t have problems with other people who respect our rules and can integrate to our society. We are racist for those, who see racism everywhere. I heard forexample that ID cards in America are racist XD. So we really don´t care about this people. Also we love dark humour so maybe because of it some people can see as racist and bad people. I am glad that you like us. Greetings from Czech Republic.
@@Roy-nd1tp The Bohemian lands were always multicultural. You had many Germans in Cheb and Plzeň (before they were kicked out); even during the medieval age this was the case. Many Poles can also be found in Bohemia, and many Czech People can speak German, such as Albrecht z Valdštejna for instance. It‘s good to know that the Bohemians are open for every culture.
This randomely popped up on my feed. Generally I tend to avoid videos about czech people or czech republic from foreigners, but this one was a pleasant surprise. It is so nice, relaxing and was delivered with kindness and a huge portion of tolerance. It was a pleasure to listen to.
@@teatous7444 It was beautiful walking with you on Vyšehrad which i know-and love I Iam born in Prague and your “diagnosis “ on our way of life is spised with love. Thank you. Enjoy and have a good time in beautiful Prag
There is a pretty simple reason, why there is almost no diversity in the Czech republic in general or in any other Eastern European countries. We never had any ties with Africa, or any other distant foreign countries. We have never colonized or enslaved anyone. Nobody speaks our language. Clashes and wars we had in the past were pretty much only with our neighbours. Also, the Iron Curtain has been doing it's thing for decades. Therefore, we just feel that Africans don't really belong here (but don't confuse it with racism please...). There is a big community of Vietnamese people though, one of the largest in Europe. And I have never heard of anyone having a problem with them. They are usually nice people just minding their business. Also, we have a lot of people from Eastern Europe here. You just won't be able to recognize them :) And the rest - I think you pretty much nailed everything.
@@respectmahauthoritah4918 Uživatelské jméno. Když jsem zakládal tento účet a zkoušel různý jména, správce je stále odmítal přijmout s odůvodněním, že "uživatelské jméno není v pořádku". Nakonec mi došla trpělivost a zkopíroval jsem tedy tu hlášku, která nakonec prošla :) Ale už jsou to léta, možná se to od té doby změnilo.
Most Vietnamese in Czech came from northern Vietnam, the communist part. But more Southern Vietnamese are residing in the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France etc.
Czech stock greeting: Czech A: "Dobrý den!" Czech B: "Dobrý den!" American stock greeting: American A: "Hey, how are you doing? American B: "I'm doing well. How are you doing? American A: "Doing goood." Czech version is shorter and more effective.
I agree totally! Actually some of my English-speaking Czech friends get really impatient with me when I try to open every interaction with the standard American exchange. The Czech way saves time and breath and I've started to realize that I don't miss asking strangers how they're doing dozens of times every day :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I don't know about others but I was baffled when I found out the "how are you" exchange is a greeting and NOT an actual question even though it has a structure of a question. Now that I know that I've come to see how odd it sounds in situations when for example a cop in US stops you and would like to say a couple of things to you real quick but is obligated to go through that long greeting process.
@@Greghouse Well, it can be treated purely as a greeting, or as a question that can be answered in as much detail as you want. The choice depends on how well you know the person and how much time you have to talk. It's something that American people learn to calibrate from a very young age, perhaps a bit like the vykat/tykat calibration for Czechs?
I always consider it so fake and dishonest when everyone at the street pretends to be your friend but asks you those questions only because it is considered polite but they actually aren't interested in your reply. It is really weird standard of politeness. Our Etiquette is actually quite complex and many things foreigners often do is considered rude. For example raising hand or shouting to call a waiter in a restaurant. Eye contact should be enough. Also you should pay attention to your surrounding when you travel by public transport. Foreigners like to block doors or passage through vehicle and you have to elbow through them.
I find the Czechs a fascinating people. I've been to Prague many times. Every time I arrive I always find that distance, but by the time I leave I find them to be some of the most interesting people I've met. It helps that I go there to watch puppet shows. And if you want to get inside of the Czechs you could do much worse than go to the absurd puppet shows of Buchty a loutky (Cakes and Puppets) at the Švandovo divadlo or watch a crazy puppet film by Jan Švankmajer. I find that the Czechs have perhaps the most developed sense of black humor of any people I've ever met. And once you've figured that out it opens a lot of doors. Also I find that Czech sounds conspiratorial in its tone. Every language has a color and a rhythm. And the Czech language sounds to me like the language of people who have whispering dark jokes about their masters for years. (And yes I know the history.) American English on the other hand is the exact opposite. It is completely open. We speak strongly, confidently, too loudly, stupidly sometimes, for everyone to hear. Whereas the Czechs are best understood talking in low sarcastic tones and laughing about the Germans, Russians, Austrians, Poles, Americans, etc.
These are incredibly insightful observations, and I agree completely. What you say about Czech humor and language is something I have noticed myself many times, but never been able to articulate so clearly. Thank you!
@@skeletonkeysprague21 In Czech is a sentence: Black humour is like legs - someone has it and someone not. Realy dark and black humour is an essence we are living from. It helps us overcome anything in almost every situation, you could find it in floods or with tornado also. One of the very first jokes with floods was: I am selling a cottage. It has floating floor, water bad, hot and cold water. Possible to see at 12 hours in Tábor, 13 hours in Týn nad Vltavou, 14 hours by Orlik dam... It is pure Czech. It helps us even to stand our politics we hope now we finaly get rid of them.
@@drakulkacz6489 What about the tornado in South Moravia? A day after the catastrophe I have seen the joke: A: Hey, how are you doin? B: Oh, well enough, at least we have roof over our heads. A: Yeah, I know, I have seen it flying around. The blackest raw humour seen on main, the thing that helps Czechs through terrible situations.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere.... But I suspect it has also strong roots in soviet occupation era, where everyone was potential informant. Even members of your own family or VERY close friends could be ratting on you, so people are suspicious by default. Currently people you are talking to (born in 90's) inherited this "fear" from their own parents.
Yeah, it's considered as invasion of privacy... And reason is language again. In engl. It sounds natural and fine... In Czech, natural response to how are you doing is automatically... Why do you care? 😀😀
Same shock for me when I was in US for the first time... I remember the time in elevator, some guy just told me that phrase - how am I doing... I assumed he really care (like we do in Czech republic), so I started discussion like what I did in the morning, how I miss my girlfriend and this stuff... My colleague just told me, that they expect just to get answer like "good and you?" :D :D. It was quite funny. Btw. I hope you enjoyed our country and nothing bad happened to you :).
Native English speakers are weird, in that some of them really do want to know all of those details and some of them literally don't even expect a response. After years in the US, most Americans just get a "feel" for it. But awkward interactions still happen almost every day. Thanks for your kind thoughts :)
Plus One. I take this as" Dishonest". They really dont care how are you. Its just pretending how "good and nice" I am. Simply you care and ask, or dont care so stf and care about your stuff. Why to pretend something?
@@mach2223 Coz it's the standard polite phrase - one part of a greeting. It can be even more interesting in some other countries. In Barma / Myanmar for example the Burmese language didn't have an equivavalent of Czech "dobry den". They were using a phrase (very funny for a foreigner) "did you already had your rice today?". They had to invent a new phrase suitable for a greeting so they are using "mingalabar" (= be blessed) today when speaking to a foreigner (and to some extent even among local people as this phrase is more and more popular).
I think most of the Czech people accepts anyone who is working and it is polite. Lot of foreigners from all over the world (Erasmus) decided to stay and are IMHO now fully Czech. No slavery in history = no black people, No colonies = obscure language. Therefore we do not have any incentive our guilt towards minorities. SOME of gypsies in the CZ are exploiting the imported white guilt from west. My fist experience with racism = being physically attacked by the gypsies because I am white at the age of 5 years and being beaten regularly. Same goes for many of my childhood friends. Luckily, I was able to make some friends in the gypsy community and beatings stopped. If I dont, I would ended up whit shaven head as a lot of my former friends from my childhood. Experience from small town, where lot of communities were moved.... However I have friends from Africa, Asia, America and all around the world. The situation with the gypsies makes me sad, however, bad reputation is deserved in many cases. Sorry to say that.
@@lollitaprague Well ok, but what is your personal experience? How many friends do you have in the Roma community? How many years did you live amongst or next to them? I am not saying, that I disagree with what you have mentioned above. But the topic is so much more complicated. Why Jews were allowed in the cities and Roma not in the past? Why should we care so much, that the state is purposely unfair towards the majority? We did not enslave them in the past. How is the holocaust Czech problem? By the Generalplan Ost we were also a target for 50% extermination and massive deportation. Let us talk about Czech history and Roma, not world history and Roma. Why we do not have any problems with the Vietnamese? Why there is almost no racism towards them? Cloud it be, they want to integrate and work? You cannot generalize victimhood as well as racist assumptions. I was born in Broumov and I had many eye-opening and bruising-causing experiences. I know a few fantastic people from the Roma community, one really tight friend. They mostly agree with me. Honestly, to be able to find a common ground, we would need a long time face to face. Not a comment section on youtube.
@@lollitaprague Well then, why we should accept the responsibility for this? Every nation/race/people had to move and struggle in history. There were multiple migration waves and pressures. Am I blaming the current people from Austria for dismantling the Kindom of Bohemia and losing its territory? No. Am I blaming, current Russian people for occupation? No. Am I blaming the current German people for atrocities done in our country? No. Do I expect to be compensated for stuff, that happened before my birth? No. Am I physically attacking German, Russian or Austrian people in public? No. Do they have a bigger country? Yes. Do they have a better life, wage, in the west? Yes. If I want to have a German wage, I would go and work in Germany = I would integrate into their society and if I want to keep it, I would not cause any trouble. Victim mentality does not help. Attacking small white children because of the color of their skin and calling them "zasranej gadžo" is racist and causes trauma, which could lead to extremism in adulthood. This attitude will not solve anything. It only creates hate, that can be justified, which is extremely dangerous. Change needs to happen from the inside, not only from the outside. I would not be writing this if I and my friends were treated with common human decency by the Roma community when young... I would be completely agreeing with you if the attitude of the Roma community was noble, but it is simply put NOT. How can I stand for your point of view in my position? Czechs were also mistreated, and marginalized in our history, but we get up on our own feet a proven to the world, that we are here and we are here to stay. Even after nearly 300 years of forced Germanization. Clear examples from recent history: Czechoslovak legions in WW1 and operation Anthropoid in WW2. Without these, we might not have a country today. It was our initiative nobody was pulling our hand to do this. I know there were many attempts to create a Roma monarchy and state. It failed multiple times and correct me if I am wrong, the main issue was always internal divisions between your own people. Even the word Roma is not preferred by some of my friends....
@@lollitaprague Wow. It is so great to find a common ground in the comment section. I agree completely with your comment. I sincerely hope, that one day, we can all come together and be stronger for it. I am really sorry that people especially like you, had to have a lot of unpleasant experiences. I think we could have a really pleasant and interesting conversation in real life. Judge people by the contents of their character. What you wrote, makes me hopeful and that is exactly, what we need to fix the situation. Even if it takes generations. Positive experiences with each other. There is lot to give and learn, if we can be good to each other. Since I make a music, I have to say, it is something else to jam with Roma musician. Let us hope that our people can "jam" together and be good towards each other more and more.
We had slavery, but nowadays many people think slavery = black people, and thats bullshit. We had white slaves, Great Morava was one place where they have been.
Exactly my point we might seem cold and distant but we are just not overly dramatic and fake in way. With us what you see is pretty much what you get. Czech people are warm just not immediately.
@@MTT365 been here for 19. I know plenty xD you just kinda need to integrate yourself and not be overly obnoxious. Go to pubs, start doing a social sport. Youll see many cheerfull and warm people
As a czech person-I felt you when you talked about the closedmindedness. I am still getting pretty hard time for being an abstinent. My interpretation is that so many people just made the beer, the food and football their own identity and feel personaly attacked when you don’t share their passions.
It's pretty human to build an identity around things like that and to be threatened when someone doesn't share those affinities. I take it for what it is and just try to make connections anyway.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 You know, that was actually one of very few things I did not agree with you. As a czech, I don't like beer, pubs are not my thing either, I literally hate fotbal ... and list goes on ... and I am perfectly fine. I don't feel distance and I don't feel being judged. Of course, sometimes, but you can say that about pretty much anything. In fact, most people I know has similar attitude as I do - do whatever you want, eat (or don't) whatever you want, believe (or don't) in *put any diety here and we are fine. As long as you won't force me to share your point of view. Yes, in such case, we can become hostile pretty quickly. As I like to say: don't make me believe in your god, I will not deny him. This is my way of thinking and according to my experience, it is common here.
Im an abstinent too. I hate beer. I dont go to pubs. Hate football and hockey. Cant stand pork. And im perfectly fine. People around me never tried to force me into any of those things - i jist eat my chicken and drink some water and were good. Its about the social cicles you are in. Me and my bf are both university students, my friends are or were too. Find a thing you share with them and play it on that side.
We migh be sometines cold but we are very happy when someone visits our country and trying to speak Czech, it means for us that Czech Republic is really international and we are proud.
16:45 we actually tend to do "oči pičo" which i wouldnt recommend in a formal situation ofc, but once its with close friends it makes the whole act more fun I'd say.
Hi, Brendan, Sir Mac here, the local. I was thinking and wondering about the name of your channel "Skeleton keys"... It is inspired / taken from the game "Grim Dawn", where you craft or obtain the Skeleton key to enter very special and very dangerous locations... Am I correct? 1) Dobrý den thing - totally true. And while in US, the question "How are you?" is almost mandatory starter of the conversation, if in the Czech republic someone asks you "Jak se máš / máte?" he / she wants to really know! So you can tell him / her that you didn't sleep in the night because of your neighbours ... 2) Customer services - Brendan, you made me almost cry on this, because you are the first expat, who appreciates the "resistant approach" of the customer services... 3) Totally true about the Soviet occupation thing... Don't forget there are two universal tongues - music and food :) Those help make you friends... 4) The laughing thing - We are not laughing AT you, we are laughing WITH you... 5) OK, you don't like beer, you don't like sausages... What do you like then? :) Smažený sýr? Lední hokej? And the beer thing - you don't like all kinds of beer? I pretty much doubt it. 6)a) The different colour of skin and other "sensitive" topics - I would say there will be always a different opinions among the Americans and the Czechs about "BLM / MeToo / Racism / Political Corectness"... My personal perspective is that we never had those troubles, or if we did, it never was that huge topic like in the US. And in the US, you cope with it in some way. OK. But it is cultural, historical thing and it can't be spread all over the world the "american way". Those are definitely huge topics to be discussed in many videos for hours ... Because I believe both nations (CZECHS / AMERICANS) are going the right way from the very opposite directions.. 6)b) Our minorities are not the black people, but Roma, Vietnamese, Slovak and Ukrainian ones... And with the black people, which are the residents here, we don't have any trouble with them, if they don't make any troubles... Everything is about BALANCE, RESPECT and some sort of RESILIENCE :) The dog fawns with his tail, it isn't the tail fawning the dog. Minorities will be fully respected until they won't try to constantly damage the majority. But as I said earlier, this is a topic for a deep talk. 7) You are right, you probably will always be in a "foreigner category", but that doesn't mean you will not be or you are not already in someone's heart the most important one. Many Czechs will judge you by who you are. If you are good person. Point. If you know about the dividing people into two groups, the "peaches" and the "coconuts", the Czechs are definitely the coconuts. 8) The czech language... Huuh... I will try to describe it to you so you can see the logic "behind"... English is simple, straightforward language, where no declensions take place. So you have the "SWOMPT" word order. But czech has the declensions, which is some sort of tax / possibility to play with the word order as with some sort of brick-box for the kids. "S" can be almost anywhere it wants to be placed. The same goes with W-O-M-P-T. And the word endings are the way how to separate subject from object or another words... Imagine the hair-dryer. it is like 1st case of any word. And imagine all the addons, you can add to hair dryer to the end, so it makes different creations with your hair. And from 2nd to 7th case of the word, they are like the hair-dryer addons, serving to different purposes. It is the same with the declensions. They are specific addons for specific purpose, for specific usage... The variable word order also helps to emphasize, what you want to be emphasized. And yeah, czech language is very variable with immense word vocabulary... A tons of diminutives... english hasn't that much diminutives... spanish has more, but the czech has immense ammount of diminutives. 9) Till the day before yesterday, I thought we are country without tornados. But it came tornado of the EF4 level... Huh... Very alien, almost very american... But I realized one thing, czech houses are built from firmer materials - bricks, stones, panels... Not like in the US, where the dominant is plaster and wood. 10) If you have any questions, you can find me on Facebook under the name "Ondřej Voců"...
Hi Mac (Ondřej?), I've actually never heard of Grim Dawn, but the concept is similar. A skeleton is a key that has been modified so that it can open a wide range of locks. I've always liked the symbolism of this idea, and it seemed appropriate for a travel/expat channel centered on Prague, so I stuck with it. I mentioned somewhere else that some of my Czech friends get impatient with me asking them how they are all the time, lol. I guess Czech people aren't used to this, but I really mean it sincerely. The customer service thing is great until you really need help ASAP. Then it can be a bit frustrating :) You're absolutely right about music and food, especially music. I'm a musician (it's actually my main occupation and I have another channel for music stuff), and it has opened so many doors for me here. Talk about a "skeleton key"... I actually do enjoy some sour beers, but I don't drink much in general and when I do, I tend to prefer distilled spirits and cocktails. Beer makes me feel sluggish and full, which is the opposite of what I want when I'm trying to party :-D And when it comes to food, I'm a weirdo and a health nut, so most of the Czech cuisine is out of the question, lol. But I do really enjoy a good svičkova or gulaš on a cold winter night. I also love the traditional beef liver dumpling soup (I don't remember the Czech name for it). I've just never liked pork, even bacon, since I was a little kid. Americans also love their sausage and beer, so I'm a weirdo back home too. 😂 Thanks for your thoughts on minorities in ČR. It's a complicated issue and very different from the issues that the USA faces. I'm learning that I have a lot to learn about the topic :) Huh, maybe I brought the tornadoes from the US...Colorado is right next to Kansas, tornado capital of America. But you're right about Czech houses, they feel sturdy and permanent, whereas American houses feel like they could collapse with the next strong breeze. I'll look you up on Facebook! Thanks for contributing so much to the discussion. Cheers.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 OK, I will wait to your reaction on Facebook patiently... :) You are a musician? Which instrument? I used to play the piano and attended small choir for 12 years... By the way, we have something, what you can't find anywhere in the world - 1) ZUŠ - abbreviation for "Základní umělecká škola" (lit. Elementary artistic school), which is usually private (paid) institution for kids, where they can learn how to play various musical instrument, they can learn to draw, dance, sculpture ... 2) Taneční - "Dancing" (dancing classes), like with the ZUŠ, it is private, paid, but the young adults 15 to 20 attend this course to get very basics in dancing and "interacting with the opposite sex". beef liver dumpling soup - hovězí polévka s játrovými knedlíčky. And back to the music topic - I think some czech covers of american songs are better. In the terms of the quality of the singing or the lyrics ... :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I can agree with Sir Mac. I just add something: 1) We are like coconuts - that´s truth. Imagine living in times when anybody - even people you think you know - is a secret agent that can order your death. Yes, I am exaggerating just because you could understand it. It was during the war and later during the communist times. Before you open up to someone you had to know that it is safe. This is deep in our roots now - not so much with young people but still. In socialism we had to learn how to read between lines - methaphoricaly and literaly. So many directors made feirytales where they could express their ideas - there is sometimes more for adults than for children. That´s why are Czech people able to watch the fairytale just for fun because there is plenty of humour and wisdom in it. It is very characteristic here. And you can find that we extremely use lines from movies and fairytale - but different kind comparing to Americans. And lines from Czech movies because we know their truth meaning and has the connection. If you want to go deeper into our culture, that is the way. Or start with Švejk. 2) If you ask "How are you", it means that you realy want to know it - and it is common among friends and so on. And after that you will hear any of his/her problems. So if we answer the way it is common here, average American will be taken aback. And because most of the Czech people already know it, if you ask that nowadays, they will be taken aback considering what they ought to answer you - the truth or just "Thanks, I am fine"? That´s why you can almost see the gear in their head turning. :D 3) According to some minorities - we don´t have any problems with people if they are not making problems. We are able to live with a girafe when it acts ok, doesn´t steel our possetion, let us sleep and will be working to maintain itself. See the Vietnamies - they work more than Czech and they have their closed community just to keep their own culture because here is not problem to blend with ours. There is a lot of people from Ukraine and Russia here - but you probably are not yet able to separate them from Czech - a lot of American even don´t recognaze the difference of the language (You probably can because you are learning Czech). 4) I don´t know if you know - there is DreamPrague RUclips channel - the lady is living in Prague teaching English and she also likes that the waitress doesn´t ask her every minute what she wants. And if you find Tady Gavin, it is an American boy with Czech roots (his grandparent came from here), he is learning Czech for a few years nows. He still lives in the USA.
2) Customer services - Brendan, you made me almost cry on this, because you are the first expat, who appreciates the "resistant approach" of the customer services... I would agree on this :D this is what most irritates me in Czech :D
I like how every guy/girl when they're talking about czechs, They are in the Capital city Prague and nowhere else. Prague is filled with tourists and people who has the big works or high schools there. The true Czech experience is in Morava, i know that they hardly talk english in Morava but thats the point ALL the tourists go to Prague and nowhere else. For those kinds of people i would recommend Brno. Ostrava is like going to Ukraine. Now i noticed that u have Prague in the name and even have video about Bouzov so you litterally know how its like over here
I would love to explore the rest of the country a bit more. I have spent time in some of the small towns in the center of the country (check out my video on Svitavy), but I've never been to Ostrava and I've spent only one night in Brno. I know my experience is a bit limited as an English-speaking foreigner in Prague, but it will take time for me to delve deeper into the less tourist-frequented areas of the country :)
@@supernachomachoman4031 tak v Brně taky obvykle nemluví anglicky no? Měl jsem zkušenost, když poprvé jsem přijel do Brna a češtinu vubec jsem nemluvil Xd
Nice video. You seem like a nice and genuine person :) I think it's true that Czech people may seem cold and rude at first, while, in fact, they're rather friendly and warm. However, dispite popular belief I don't think that it has as much to do with the four socialist/communist decades in the 20th century. According to my experience, it's rather a Central European "thing". Austrians, for example, spent the second half of the 20th century quite differently, yet somehow they're pretty much the same in this aspect. Despite being a West Slavic nation, Czechs share some of these characteristics with Austrians and Germans, at least in my opinion. I love Vienna, but if someone finds Prague residents cold at first, he might actually find them friendlier after visiting Vienna :D As for "racism" etc.: I understand that from an American (or let's say, London or Paris) perspective, Prague might seem like a much less multicultural city. However, there're tons of Asian (Vietnamese) people living in Prague and in the Czech Republic in general, for example. In fact, as far as I know, Czech Republic has the biggest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. Also, there're hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, living and working in Czechia. They started as cheap labor workers from the East initially (Czech Republic has approx. three or four times higher GDP per capita than Ukraine), but many of them have gradually learnt the Czech language and found better jobs and opportunities for themselves. So basically, in many aspects the Czech Republic already IS multicultural, only its multiculturalism is different than in the U. S. (or in Great Britain, for instance) because of different history etc. I think this is something that these countries simply don't understand and sometimes it almost feels like they're pushing their opinions upon others. Of course, there're some true racists in every country, including Czechia. But let's be honest, many social problems and racial issues in the U. S. are so heavily covered by political correctness that they can't be discussed openly. It seems to me that we're living in an extremely divided age, almost as if the American/British two party system somehow became a new norm for every other aspect of life. Either we are far-right racists and bigots OR one of those hysterically liberal/multicultural creatures, refusing to see the reality (such as the muslim and African ghettos in cities like London and Paris, existing totally separately from the mainstream society etc.). I honestly believe that some modest "Central European approach" could be very helpful :)
Very interesting points about the central European culture/personality. I haven't spent much time in Germany or Austria, so I assumed it was a uniquely Czech thing. And to be clear, I haven't really found Czech people to be anything other than friendly and approachable. In this video I'm just addressing a stereotype that definitely exists among English-speaking expats in Prague. Regarding my comments about racism, I probably should have been a bit more nuanced in my language. I actually agree with everything you said. The American political spectrum is far too divided and both sides miss the nuanced and complex reality in between. And you are correct about the fact that political correctness in the US prevents many issues from being properly discussed. All that I really meant to say was that coming from America, it's a bit strange to see so few black people living in Prague. No doubt there are valid reasons for that that I simply don't understand. It doesn't mean that Czech people are necessarily racist. It's just something that I've noticed. And the Roma/gypsy topic is something I ought not to have touched at all. It's a situation I don't fully understand and I'm not qualified to say anything about it. But all I really meant to say is that coming from that environment of extreme political correctness in the USA, it's a bit of a culture shock for me to hear the way some Czech people talk about Gypsies. It's just something that I'm not used to. Whether they are right or wrong is not for me to say.
Agree. I'm Dutch and I think the Czech way seems to be a lot like the Dutch way. Also heard a lot of the same stereotypes about the Dutch. I imagine it's some kind of common cultural background (protestantism?) We just don't want to interfere. (Some day to say these things!!)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Thank you for your reply. I absolutely didn't mean to write that you said anything wrong. On contrary, you were very polite! :) I was just mentioning some general American/Canadian/British views, which have obviously much to do with British colonial history etc. As for the "Central European rudeness", here's one of the videos about Austrians: ruclips.net/video/cgIZnM-lVW8/видео.html And I really do like Austrians, in fact, part of my family is Austrian/Bavarian (there're also many videos and articles about "German rudeness" out there). It's just that you almost never find the same level of politeness here as in the U. S. However, most people are warm and friendly and in a way much less superficial, which is definitely a good thing in the long-term sense :)
@@ivogianfranco1633 I totally agree that the politeness of Czech people is much deeper and more genuine. There's a lot of fake politeness in America and it's very alienating and confusing to grow up in that environment. I'll check out that video, thanks :)
What an amazing video! The way you are so observant about Czechs and presenting your thoughts so kindly almost brought me to tears. I think that’s because of how small our country is, we really are not used to foreigners particularly care about our nation. But that could be just my personal experience. Oh and if you speak Czech to us, it is highly appreciated and yes, I too would probably laugh if you messed up some words, but it would not be in a mean way, more like “that sounded funny but omg, what an awesome thing for you to try to speak our hard language” and I would be SO delighted to hear you speak anything, as I am sure anyone else would! Anyway thank you very much for this wonderful video, you seem like such a great guy and I’ll definitely watch more! I hope you find living here as great as possible 🙂
This is one of the most thoughtful and accurate description of my country I have heard in a long time. Thank you for that. :) You managed really well to put in your thoughts the history of the country to explain what is today.
Being a Czech living abroad for a very long time, this was very interesting to me. I feel you have a good understanding of your situation which is key to making some worthwhile connections. In terms of language barriers, Czech is no picnic, but once you figure out that the 1600th century Czech you learn is not the 2021 language you hear people speaking, you will be fine. The good news, modern Czech is simpler. The bad news is, there are no text-books for it. I find the apparent bigotry in terms of race is 'inherited' by many, but felt only by few. People just don't really spend much time and energy thinking about that. Hopefully that will change. The Roma situation as as simple as peace in the middle east. There are no good guys there at this point. I don't know. Good luck.
Thank you! I've been learning Czech mostly from my Czech friends, so I understand what you mean. I've already had the awkward experience of saying something "textbook-correct" in an informal situation and having everyone stare at me like I just stepped out of the 17th century, lol. Thanks for your thoughtful comments about the Roma situation. I'm quickly learning that I should not bring up this topic in videos or in conversation with Czech people. It's a sensitive issue that I frankly don't understand well enough to speak intelligently about. I appreciate your patience :)
I'm always weary of watching videos made by fellow Americans voicing their opinion (in a tourist sense or otherwise) about Prague or Czechs, but this was so well done. You touched on everything that I've experienced and felt while living here over the years and for you not living here long, I'm impressed by how eloquently you were able to cover everything, including the inherent downsides of certain things. Bravo.
Glad to see, that you are loving your Czech journey :) Politeness and my insights on this very interesting topic? All the English speaking countries = You have to be polite to everybody in any situation regardless if you like the people or not. It's like a blueprint for any kind of social interaction. Also saying "How are you" literally means a way to say HI. But for Czech people "How are you" LITERALLY means, that they want to know, how are you doing and they will ask this ONLY a person they are really close with! So you need to understand, that there is a certain structure in Czech social interactions before diving into how are you's.. First of all, in Czech environment, you are not obligated to be super friendly and over polite with everybody. If you don't like somebody, or for whatever reason don't want to be close with them, it's ok to show it by ignorance. For us, it is NOT RUDE, it is HONEST and STRAIGHTFORWARD. That's how you let them know, you won't be friends. Pretended politeness in not welcomed and viewed like cringe fake thing. Then with people you actually really like and they like you, you start developing honest polite kind relationship and you can start with how are yous (and then listen to that 1 hour story of theirs, because you asked them how are they, because you want to know, because you like them, because you care for them). So it is like a natural selection. You avoid people, that you don't vibe with and you develop very deep relationships with people who are your cup of tea :) That is Czech social interactions in a nushell. I am pretty sure after you'll dive deeper into this, you'll fall in love with how deep, loving and truly caring relationships you can have with Czech people when the fake politeness is put aside, where it belongs. I won't even be surprised if you dump your US passport and stay with us forever :D All the best ;-)
Hi Brendan! Thank you so much for your video. As a Czech woman married to a Canadian and currently living in Canada, I've experienced a great deal of culture shocks you've mentioned here, just from the opposite perspective. I still get slightly annoyed when random people ask me how it's going and my husband likes to make fun of me for it. Growing up, I would always get a little sad coming back home from holidays abroad, as I would miss the "warmth" from strangers. However, living in North America, I can't help but notice how superficial this warmth is. Being used to "coldness", I get excited for a second that the person I'm talking to cares, however I quickly realize that that's often not the case and it almost makes me feel worse. Living abroad makes me appreciate what I've "lost" and I wish Czech people could see things in a different light sometimes and weren't so critical of themselves / their countrymen. There are things we as a nation need to work on, but every nation has its quirks and it doesn't make them better or worse, just different. I think your observations are on point. Czech people are also very blunt, which is what my husband struggles with a little bit whenever we're in Prague. Whenever he's offered something, he likes to say "I'm good, thanks" and I've had to "translate" for him multiple times as people don't understand it means "no". He's getting better at just saying no nowadays though. ;) I hope you don't give up and keep trying to connect with Czechs. They're complicated but generally good people. Also, I wish you can one day overcome the feeling of being an outsider. That is my one fear for my husband (we're considering moving back) but I'm sure if you're open and understanding, people will accept you as one of them eventually :)
Your description of the false American "warmness" is spot on. It can be a very alienating place to live for that reason, especially for open and empathetic people who genuinely love to share and connect with other people. However, after a lifetime of living in the US I gradually learned to calibrate my responses to the stock greetings and interactions, using my intuition to feel out who was sincere and who wasn't. It requires a whole different dimension of social awareness that other languages maybe don't demand, because they more clearly and firmly distinguish between cold, impersonal politeness and genuine, friendly warmth and curiosity. "I'm good, thanks" is the most confusing way to say "no" imaginable, but everyone in America does it. My dad sort of trained this out of me, because he thought it was funny to respond with, "I know you're good, but do you want ________?" I'll never give up as long as I'm living here. The language barrier has proven to be a difficult obstacle in some situations, but even through that I've managed to feel accepted and supported here. Thanks for your thoughts :)
Totally agree with you. Though, living in the UK for 23 years, having UK passport, I still feel I am not really british at all. The superficiality is not as bad here as in the US, but, I still can't read people here if their frienldiness is meant or just social play. I much prefer the Czechs. They are straightforward, but you know exactly what they think of you, no game. I also miss so much the little Czech words or sayings that don't exist in English. It makes the convesations so much richer, depper and funnier.
I think that czechs care more about inviduals than groups. And bevause of this they are able say ugly things about group but have very good friends in that same group. But of course there are also meh people. Every czech person has ritual of accepting strangers and if you are able to make it you are in with full friendness.
That's an interesting point. One valid criticism of the modern American worldview is that it is too focused on group identity at the expense of individual identity. And I agree completely that if you make it past a Czech person's initial barriers, you are welcomed with open arms.
This was so helpful for us to understand your experiences living there during the past year!! You have such an articulate way of expressing your ideas in a thoughtful and intelligent way.
This was probably the nicest description of Czechs I've ever seen ;-) And with a heavy heart, I have to admit that the "close mindedness" part was also true, maybe not so much in terms of beer and sausages, but in general, yeah... Hopefully, as I see it, it's getting better and better!
(Czech here) - what others consider "Czech politeness" can actually turn into ignoring or straight up passive hostility and, in my opinion, sometimes our country could use some of "sticking nose into other people's lives" attitude - for example when you're clearly in distress in public (troubles with buying tickets, lost someone in the crowd, etc etc), usually (at least in Prague) nobody will approach you to ask if you need help and you're left to run around and ask for help people who clearly don't want to have anything in common with you.
I don't have this experience in Czechia. Though when I asked a stranger standing next to me in New York City where is XY street, he uttered "Don't know" and gave me a very disgusted look :-D Czechs are just generally more introverted, that's all. In reality we are very polite - greeting when entering and exiting a shop, making room for old/pregnant on public transport, not shouting on public transport... If you ask someone for help in 9 cases of 10 they will help you. You just need to make the move first and be polite as well.
I live in Prague all my life (70+). I have a quite different experience. I am always willing to help, to Czechs or foreigners, it does´nt matter. But often before I manage to interfere, there is anohter Czech offering his help. The foreigners seem to underestimate us - they are usually quite surprised, if you offer your help. Sort of suspicious, as I see it.
Well, I once bought older German couple tickets (for a metro) because they came up straight from Airport without having any Czech Crowns. I directed many tourists or Czechs that asked for a street or such. Trying to blame uniquely Czechs for a common social phenomena (bystander effect) sounds super evil to me. Pls no selfhate.
Got to this video through recommended love it. Especially how you point out our culture and mentality, and especially our close-minded mindset. Many people outright judge us as xenophobic racists, but you went deeper especially into history. I do not think you will have problems with integration, especially in Prague where are people more open-minded and used to foreigners. I would just like to explain why we are so distrustful of Romani. The thing is that they are as a minority in Europe since 14th century and they were never integrated into society. This was either because of their nomadic lifestyle or racism from Europeans. Throughout history, they were enslaved or attempted to be assimilated by monarchies, but because of that and their nomadic lifestyle, they became isolated from the general population. But most cruel was the 21st century. Nazi regime sought to exterminate them as a whole and later communist regime resorted to forced sterilization and most importantly forced assimilation into cities. Through their communities, they kept their culture, but as a result, did not adapt to modern systems and standards which were most of the history against them. Romani families have the reputation of thieves, burglars, drug users and pimps. The worst thing is that this mostly comes from personal experience. Comparing them to African Americans is not equal, because their history just is not the same by far. I am not teasing you for this by any means, I just want you to understand.
Thank you for an intelligent and thoughtful response. It definitely helps me understand the situation better. I appreciate you taking the time to patiently explain instead of reacting negatively. Cheers and thanks for commenting :)
I think it would be good to mention that BECAUSE it comes to Czech people from personal experience, that they do not mind black people, as fat as I have seen.
The video was so moving that I couldn't help myself but cry... it was describing the Czech nation very clearly, fairly and truly. Thanks for such a moving video, indeed.
Its not a permanent limitation it just takes time. Talking from personal experience (20 years in CZ then another 18 in UK and returned to CZ in October last year). Last 10 years during my occasional visits to CZ i often felt like I know how to exactly express my feelings or exactly how to say this or that in English but struggled to remember czech alternative even during casual talks with family. Nowdays my Czech is starting to overtake English again. It just takes time and plenty of interactions just like with any language/culture.
That's interesting, thank you for your perspective. I'm still at a very beginner level with Czech, so maybe my feelings will change as I get more confident in the language. I hope so. But for now, English does serve me quite well, even here :)
Hey there! I'm an African American living in the Czech Republic. I've been here since the summer of 2007. There are a handful of blacks here, but mostly from different parts of Africa and Latin countries. When I first arrived I had dreadlocks and boy, talk about staring and looks! I've lived in 3 different cities (Prague, Ostrava, Karlovy Vary) and boy, do I have stories. Let me know if you'd like to connect and hear some.
I am czech and I like listen to foreigners talking about czech people and mentality and habits :D I am just 25, so I am not really representative of normal czech guy with belly who likes beer, football and sausages (I really dont and I dont even like people who like these things, cause would say they are primitive) but we got that cynical quirky humor. Asking us how we are doin feel invative - like why do you care? You want to hear "good" to be sure that everything is cool or do you want to start bigger conversation or wanna know something about me? Why you think I wanna you about myself with you? Why I even need to think about this sh*t? :D U got me know! And for me - hearing foraigne speaking czech is funny in a positive way. I truly like to hear it.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I agree with your points, I find the Czechs to be very warm and welcoming, despite the fact that I'm Russian and I always worry that people will have that historic resentment toward me. And for some older people that is still true, perhaps they don't dislike me but they feel very free to express how much they dislike my country. But the younger generation doesn't pay that much attention to this historic relationship between our countries and I can always a very pleasant interaction. And yes, most young people speak very good English which helps a lot since some Russian phrases and words are pretty much the same as in the Czech language, some are fundamentally different which has led me into uncomfortable situations. And overall again I agree that if you are able to laugh at yourself in these situations then the locals will embrace you.
I've often wondered how Russians (and to a lesser extent maybe Ukrainians) feel living in the Czech Republic. I know there is a somewhat messy history and some "historic resentments", as you put it, that I don't have to deal with as an American. In fact, I think my reputation as an American greatly increases the likelihood that people will react positively to me, because many Czechs seem to have a certain fascination, admiration, and respect for Americans that they don't necessarily display towards other foreigners. It's certainly an advantage in many situations and I have a huge amount of respect for people that have made a home in this country under more difficult circumstances. Thanks for your thoughts :)
I think most Czechs like ordinary Russians, we can also appreciate certain aspects of Russia, like its nature, some cities, historical sites, rich history, art, hockey team (not fans perhaps but we know it's always been one of the best) etc. But we don't like your government very much, partially because of the past combined with the fact the current government haven't distanced themself enough from the actions of its predecessor (USSR). And also (perhaps mostly nowadays) because of actions of the current government, specially towards other countries. Again let me stress that it's mostly the government we don't like, not the people, we do make that distinction I think. For example I had a russian teacher at my high school and she was one of my favourites :) With that said I'm aware I don't represent a general opinion of all Czechs so take what I've just typed with a grain of salt. :)
Skeleton Keys Prague It's actually not that bad being a Russian in Prague...LOL, sure some people might have a negative attitude towards Russia as a country due to the bad blood of the past or Russia's current geopolitical games, but most Czechs are able to stay professional and practical if you know the language who the f. cares if you a Russian or Estonian for example if you respect people and behave decently.
I'm czech, but I don't like beer (any kind of it) and I'm not too excited about sausages and other notorious czech specialities either. But nobody never look at me weird. When friends drag me to the pub, I just order kofola :) I think that all expats are still in the "tourist" category, and there's the notion of "why would you came here if you don't want to try beer?"
Kofola ftb :D I second that. I am not even Czech, I am Slovak living here for a long time. And its the best place to live :D. As Švejk said - we can argue with that, we can disagree, but that is all that we can do :D.
It is like you coming to someone´s house and you dont even try their cake and chlebíčky. If people see you as a guest, they are going to treat you that way.
@@TheTenzen12 There's always over twenty different kinds of sausage in my local supermarket and outdoor markets have at least four stands full of sausages every hollyday all around a year. And jitrnice is definitely czech thing.
Wow! I am impressed! Being from Czechia and living most of my life abroad, I really appreciate that someone can grasp on the essence of the country so accurately and so nicely. Thank you for that!
Great video! I appreciate the nuanced perspective you've presented. I hope to be moving there in a few months, and it's nice to hear these things from your viewpoint. Cheers
Hi, I very much enjoyed "walking with you" and listening to you talking about "my" people. I appreciate your perspective and it warmed my heart. I've lived in the US for 21 years now. The culture differences are huge and it's hard to explain. But you did great job of it.
Overall, I think your observations are spot on! The only thing I wish that foreigners stopped call themselves "expats". When you move to the USA from any country, you are an "immigrant". But if you move FROM US (or UK for that matter), to Prague, you're all of the sudden an "expat". No. You're an immigrant. If only the people moving from the east to the west are called immigrants, it puts a negative connotation to the meaning of that word. And vice versa.
I actually agree with you completely, but I use the word "expat" so that people searching for this keyword will find my videos, simple as that. Totally agree that it's a dumb word and a dumb semantic distinction between white, wealthy "expats" and brown, poorer "immigrants."
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I understand your reasoning. Nobody is searching for immigrants in Prague. 😂 I also didn't mean it against you personally. It's just something that irks me. See, I live in the USA since 1999 and even though I'm US citizen, I'm still an immigrant. I can see we are thinking very similarly. I really like your channel, because even though you lived in ČR relatively short time, your observations and judgment are more precise than some other youytubers who lived there much longer. BTW, I was quite surprised by your czech pronunciation. In such a short time, it's truly an achievement. And I can relate, because when I moved here to the US, I knew very, VERY little English. I wish you luck and have fun in my old country and I hope you won't get disillusioned like I have. 😉
Hi, your view is actually pretty accurate:) It's so nice that you are that interested in our country and people and you take the time to really get to know it all. Have fun!
"When you don't like sausage, beer and watching football in pub, you are an alien." this is so true :-) But this is valid mostly for older generations, I think today young people are very different, beer culture is slowly disapearing, I don't know if it's good or bad, but I was never part of it so I don't really care, I always prefered take some coffee and sit in some peacefull place and not in noisy pub. And yes, I had real problems because of that because when you don't want sit in pub for 5 hours and drink beer, nobody wants to be friend with you. :-) I always hated when we were on some trip or just walking around city and friends had full backpack of alcohol, it was so annoying for me. I think it's because of half of my family are alcoholics so I had always complicated relation ships with alcohol, I just see what it does to you. Czechs can be nice people, but it's true that they just can't have fun without beying drunken which I don't really like. PS: You can actually see black people in Prague relatively commonly now, but I am not sure if they are tourists or realy live there.
As someone who doesn't eat pork and doesn't really like beer, I can relate. But it seems that Prague culture is diversifying very quickly. Now there's great coffee places everywhere, vegan restaurants, farmer's markets, techno clubs if that's your thing...in general it seems like the culture is becoming more international and cosmopolitan, absorbing influences from the rest of Europe. I also don't know whether that's good or bad in the long run, and some people would say that Prague is becoming less distinctly Czech and more like a smaller Berlin or just an amalgam of big cities all around the world. But I personally appreciate having social and culinary options beyond the traditional Czech pub.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Honestly, people from other parts of Czechia (especially Moravians) were always saying Prague is some western spy city, importing US culture here etc...that's nothing new, but today it's maybe true. :-) Older people hate it, especially that half of things are in English now, but I think it's just natural evolution and it's not new thing again, before WWII it was like that too, Czechoslovakia was literally created in USA, our first president had american wife etc...people just don't remember, this is only return to old ways how it was before WWII.
@@Pidalin I had no idea the old Czechoslovakia had such close ties to the USA. That's super interesting. But I agree, I think it's a part of a natural progression towards a more globalized culture. You see it all over the world, except in the major communist societies (China, North Korea, to some extent Russia) that are actively resisting this influence.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 You can see it in old black and wthite movies from 20s and 30s, first republic was western type country with free market (nothing to do with later communist Czechoslovakia). Before 1918, we were under influence of German/Austrian language and culture, after 1918, it was mainly English, US and French influence.
@@Pidalin To label German culture as western is debatable. Our Czech culture is in fact German culture. What you see in old movies from 20s and 30s isn't different from what you can see in the German movies of that time. All the cities and towns in Moravia were German (Austrian) at the time and a lot of towns and cities (including Prague) in Bohemia (excluding Sudetenland) had a large German minority. Czechs and Moravians are like Austrians. We have the same culture, people are the same.
As a Czech I have to say that you described Czech people really well. I think your observation of us is really spot on. Thank you for this video, because this video can help foreigners to understand us better and connect with us more. I personally wish u the best, so good luck and enjoy your time here in Czech Republic :)
WOW! That's amazing! I'm a Czech guy living in Arlington, VA currently and this is the first video of yours I've seen but I feel you already really got our nature spot on which is extraordinary. Except for 3 things. Non-white people are not that sparse in Prague (especially city center) and some other bigger cities - this is of course not true in the country side, it's totally czechs there oh and vietnamese :) I wonder if you know why. Second, roma or gypsies have this "label" for a reason, almost every czech person knows a gypsie that tried to steal from them, bullied them at school or simply tried to rip them off. Third, Czechs are totally able to accept you as one of theirs. I have a american friend in Prague who is from Seattle and he speaks very good czech but not as a native speaker and still, he's much more czech now and really integrated into the community. And I really consider him to be a czech friend :) Good luck, this is amazing!
Okey I dont want to start any arguments here, ofc its a complex issue, but the "gypsy" minority situation from outside mide seem like a matter of race and hate towards other races, which on surface level it is people use color based insults and so on, there are other minorities in czech republic that get along just fine, great example would be minority of vietnamese immigrants, who you may hear people make fun of or whatever for their accent or something, but there is no hate or serious harmful intention behind it. The rome minority is such a problem for such a long time because of their culture, in which the concept of ownership doesnt exist, which for individuals who dont care to adapt the czechish culture translates to taking whatever you want whenever you want, aka stealing. You may be tempted to think how they were born poor or how they have no other choise to live, but this isnt the USA and this is nothing like the african american minority situation, in here you get free education up to your 26 year including college degree, full free health care, and you get support money if you are a) unimployed b) having kids c) physically unable to make living for yourself. If you cannot afford to send your kids to school the state will pay for all their needs to go to school, and yet many of them choose to stay unemployed forgoing all of these rights (even though the state finds the job for you if you cant) choose not to send their kids to school even though its illegal, choose to steal for a living. The hate that exists in czech republic has got nothing to do with race, its all about culture and lifestyle and unfortunetely I think it will stay this way for quite the while. I am open to discussion but I truly believe that we have done as much as possible from our side to help every citizen integrate into society, but if thats met with breaking the law its understandable that the people who pay with their taxes for your living would get mad.
Also according to one EU study, gypsies in the Czech Republic have the highest quality of life in the EU. In the western european countries it is not uncommon that gypsies are banned to reside near the city or work there, so they have to constantly move. In Czechia they are provided with free heathcare, accomodation, education and welfare payments.
Hi, I just discovered your channel. I enjoyed this video from my birth place. There are two things I'd like to say. 1 - You don't need to be a foreigner to be treated like an alien here. I'm treated as one for being a vegetarian and not drinking ;-) 2 - The situation with Roma can't be judged from the American's perspective. Roma people wandered into our lands a few centuries ago and decided to stay. There's no slavery or any other wrong-doing involved.
I absolutely love this video. I’m Czech 30yo and I’ve lived in the US for the past 7 years. You nailed it, there is definitely lot of people who are not open minded as far as other cultures and races, just because they don’t know any better most of the time or are quick to judge
From those few Czech words, you said during the video it seems your pronunciation is actually pretty good. Oh, and by the way, I'm impressed how accurate and to the point your observations are. Like all of them... An amazing job for the guy who says he hasn't met a lot of people so far due to covid lockdowns :))
It is very interesting to hear what someone from abroad thinks about us. When I lived in the UK, I couldn't get used to having everyone ask you ,, how are you´´. :-) thank you for this nice video.
A smart and OPEN-MINDED young man I’ve just "come across" today and, immediately decided to follow his vlogs. Just a small (definitely not mind-blowing) comment of mine: From my long-time experience, the most essential and decisive rules to differentiate people are their intelligence, culture, philosophy, personal preference and attitude to the world. As for me, this mental kinship means much more than any (German, Czech, English, Polish, American, ...) nationality of the man/woman I am just talking with.
I admire people like you. People who experience that cultural shock and still keep fighting that unbreakable barrier of foreign language, culture,.. I dont think I could handle that. Greetings from Slovakia (brothers of Czech).
Your videos make me regret not taking a job in Prague when it was offered to me. It is such a beautiful city, and your description of living there as an ex-pat sounds like exactly the culture I enjoy.
I don't mind foreigners in Prague but when I see someone moving here with intent to stay, I just always have to think for myself 'but why?' We're really not used to have people from overseas here :) (we're allright with Italians, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, blahblahblah though) And then I see channels like yours or Dream Prague and I'm enchanted that you guys see what I ignore all the time.
This video made me really happy since I sometimes struggle to share certain aspects of me and my country with my American friends. I shared the video with them and praised you on how much of a good job you did trying to explain and understand why some things might be the way they are. Atop of that I appreciated you walking and showing a bit of the city rather than being stationary in the comfort of your home and that you actually called us out on our weaknesses, instead of just mentioning the easy positive stuff.
I live here for 5 years. Czech people are very blunt and direct that sometimes makes you feel uneasy. However, you will break that boundary if they know you more.
I’ve been living abroad for a long time so I am grateful for anyone making videos about my country. On the other hand, the cold, resentful Czech is still embedded deep inside me and the beginning of the video is the manifestation of the Czech stereotypes about the Americans … “Hi, there is some kind of a hotel I know nothing about (although I could have googled it in a minute) and I am going to take half an hour talking about people that I haven’t really met yet.” But I guess the Czechs are not the target audience anyway and what you say later on in the video is quite spot on…
♥♥♥ omg you're such a nice person, thank you for sharing this video. I completely agree with you! I'm Czech and I lived in Japan for studying for a while and I couldn't agree more. Sadly, Czech people IN GENERAL, my friends included, are just sooo close minded. They just think that one way is accurate and when you introduce different ways of view, they laugh at you and just bombard you with their one way of looking at things. And you're the wierd one. Your observations are spot on. :) ♥
Very nice and honest insight bro, appreciate it! As for your opinion on being accepted as a Czech, I think you're quite right, BUT, I've got to know a LOT of people from the US / different none Slavic countries living here for a long time, and I think it is ultimately up to the person and the perspectives of living, not the people around (although it's got a huge effect too ofc) to establish yourself here. With a positive and an open approach on both sides, I believe that Czechia will become more and more open to foreigners wanting to live here, which is going to enrich our culture and the world culture as well :)
it can be hostility too. I live in Plzen. Last winter I was on tram with my kid, we were speaking English to each other. Some idiot behind us began to parrot our talk and make threatening gestures. In another instance, an officer at immigration ranted for 15min in Czech and I still don't know why she yelled at me (most likely because my Czech was bad and she didn't speak English). In another instance, a Penny saleswoman yelled at me because she couldn't understand what I wanted (although I said it in Czech and her only problem was in fact the fact that I wasn't local)!
I have also had a few negative experiences that I chose not to highlight because I feel like they have more to do with specific individuals and less to do with the overall character of the Czech people as a whole. The notable thing in my experiences is that there was always some very kind and helpful bystander who stepped in to defuse the situation and help translate, so I always came away with a positive impression of Czech people overall.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I agree with you. Most people here are nice, but there are some cases in which folks are extremely rude and unwelcoming. I guess my bad luck is I moved to Czech during Covid and most people were grumpy and overreactive because of the epidemic. Nevertheless, in winter I even considered leaving. As summer arrived and things improved, I encounter less of that hostility.
I really enjoyed your thought process and how you verbalise things in the context. I teach Czech as a foreign language in London and relate to many of the things you are talking about - as an immigrant and also having Czech heritage. Thank you. Hopefully you will continue meeting more wonderful Czechs along the way. Enjoy Prague, I miss it.
I have pierced ears (the biggest thing I've ever worn is some small black or gold studs), and some Czech people have reacted very strangely to this. It took me by surprise the first few times because it's something that's rather commonplace in the US, but I've been asked more than once about my sexual orientation on the basis of my ear piercings alone. 😂 That's part of where my opinion about Czech "close-mindedness" comes from, among other things.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 That's probably because, as I've been told, there was a time where it was very popular among gays to pierce their ears, especially the right ear. I learned this the hard way, when my mom and brother started laughing at me when I pierced my right ear without knowing this. And I was like "Well fuck, guess I'm gay now".
Hello :) I got here through the recommended section, and I have to say I really loved your video. I'm Slovakian, but I've been living in the Czech Republic for almost 7 years now and considering the relationship between our countries, I am not really seen as a foreigner, so I'm speaking more from the local point of view (many things you mentioned more or less match Slovak people, since we share a lot of history). I have to say Czech people are a little bit more close-minded, even compared to Slovaks. But then again, I wouldn't say they are generally racist or hostile. It's just like you said - our parents and grandparents never really had the chance to interact with foreigners, maybe the other Slavic nations which are often of very similar mindset and with similar culture. In my opinion, you can see that this is one of the main reasons for this when you compare the attitude of younger and older people. My generation and all the other generations born after the Velvet Revolution have grown up in a very different environment than our fathers and grandfathers. We've been taught English or German (but mostly english) since the very young age of 6-7, often even earlier. Unlike our parents, we've had access to foreign movies, cartoons, music and other things basically since birth. We are free to travel all over Europe without the need to even show our ID and we can easily get to the rest of the world (if we have the funds that is 😅). Not to mention student exchange programs etc. We've also had access to internet since fairly young age and we had been there and active during the rise of social media, which had opened milliosns of new possibilities. Our parents and their parents have never had the chance to do any of those things. They've been taught censored, propagandist lie presented to them as history. They could get imprisoned and sometimes unfortunately killed if they tried to travel anywhere else than Russia or ex Yugoslavia (and needed a special permit for that too). After 1989 everything changed very quickly and I imagine it must've been very hard to learn how to live in the new world, especially for people who were in their 40s and above at the time. That's why czechs come off as cold or racist. We don't stare, we are curious. We're not racist or hostile (mostly), we're wondering about people, where they came from and why (again, not in a hostile way) and most of the time we' re excited that someone wants to vidíte our country. Older people might be scared, since even though they'd learnt to live in the new culture, they've had propaganda hammered into them since birth, always saying foreigners are big bad and out to kill and exterminate us. So even if they consciously don't believe it, it's still rooted deep in them. Younger people are much more open due to the reasons I mentioned above, and me personally, i always try to be extra nice to black people and other foreigners, since I understand that our culture(s) are very different and it can be hard to navigate and understand. Hopefully that makes their experience and life here a little better. Thank you again for this great video and for your unbiased point of view, I appreciate that you acknowledged the good and the bad in our culture. And let's be honest, no nation is perfect, we all have some good and bad traits, and every individual is different in one way or another. I hope you'll continue to have a great experience here! :) P.S. don't worry about beer. As an Eastern Slovak I very much prefer spirits and liquor, but I've learnt to appreciate beer since living here. I know Czech people that hate beer. And yes they really exist, just no one talks about them q😁
Love your insightful videos. Refreshing to listen to/read someone clever with loads of common sense talking about my country, mostly in a positive way. Far too many people complain about everything nowadays. Having travelled a bit and taught a lot, I do not take anything for granted and appreciate what my country has to offer, as well as meeting people who are as smart, kind and open-minded as you are. Keep on the hard work, unless you are already overwhelmed. Hope you will stay here for a long time. Looking forward to more from you 🙂.
This was honestly the best look i saw so far on the Czech culture, as a Czech living in Prague i can tell that it was on point. I admire you for trying to learn the Czech language as it is a very tricky language, and even if you learn all the textbook stuff its just the first half of it as a LOT of words just have completely different meaning in normal day to day conversation and many slangs are used instead of the literal terms and some words are just traps when said a bit out of context. The Czech humor as you mentioned is very dark and might seem racist but we don't mean it in a bad way, might just be that we don't like being censored and as you said, dark humor helps us through bad times. And for the way that Czechs look at Americans, especially the older generation looks at America as the rescuers from WW2 (rightfully so, but sometimes completely ignoring the part USSR played because we got occupied by them right after that ) and the image we have of America is from big part shaped by TV,Movies,Games and Internet, would honestly be interested in learning about how much of that is true. Would invite you for a beer but i gotta wait a few more months to be able to do that. Also i am sorry for my bad English.
Your English is perfect. Thanks for the kind words and your perspective on the history. I'd love to get a beer when it's possible...I'm planning to make an Instagram page soon, so check back for that and then you can easily contact me personally there :)
First of all, thank you for making this video. I really appreciate hearing your point of view about my country and my people and I will definitely use it in the future when foreigners ask me what are Czech people like 😅 As a Czech living abroad myself I hope you’ll encounter lots of hospitality and enjoy your time in our tiny but beautiful country :) All the best! And if you find yourself in Krakow, let me know, I am more than happy to show you around :)
I have been recommended your channel by RUclips, and I am glad to have clicked on the video. It's intriguing to hear what foreigners think of us, and what you have said made a lot of sense. As per the lack of black people, as others have brought up, the minorities in the Czech Republic generally come from different countries: Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam. Hence, just like you, they often, with the exception of Vietnamese, "look like us" even though they are immigrants. The simple reason for why there are so few black people is that a) unlike Great Britain, France, Belgium, and other western countries, we have never had colonies in Africa (nor anywhere else), and b) unlike the US, we have no experience with black slavery. For these reasons, the sensibilities concerning minorities are fairly different to those in the US, too. We do not have the same experience with systematic oppression of ethnic minorities like the US. Strangely enough, one of the minorities which were treated the worst by Czechs were the Germans in the aftermath of WWII and that was more of a one-off thing rather than a long-lasting process. By the way, it makes me a little sad that you feel you may be always stuck in the foreigner category, no matter how long you live here. I used to live abroad some time ago, and one of the things I appreciated the most about my adoptive homeland was that it made me feel like a local, not like an outsider. I hope you may feel adopted one day by us, too.
That's very interesting, thank you for filling in some gaps in my knowledge about the history of minorities in the Czech Republic. I figured there must be a logical reason for the overwhelming "whiteness" of the Czech population, and you've explained it quite well. Strange to hear that there was such conflict between Germans and Czechs at one time, but I guess that goes to show that skin color is not always the most important factor. I think one day I will feel more like an adopted citizen, if I stay long enough, but I imagine that will take many years and a much deeper knowledge of Czech culture, history, and language. I already feel quite comfortable here, but I wouldn't presume to call myself anything but a foreigner/outsider until I've proved that I can learn the language, at a minimum. In any case thank you for the kind wishes :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 The reason for the conflict between Czech and Germans was fairly understandable: Germany, under the Nazi leadership, effectively occupied Czechoslovakia between 1938 and 1945, starting with the the German annexation of the Sudetenland (the border regions) in 1938 and continuing with the full-blown invasion of the country in 1939, resulting in the formation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Czechs resisted the German occupation - the most notable act of resistance was the Operation Anthopoid, during which Reinhard Heydrich, the German Protector of Bohemia and Moravia and the man behind the plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", was assassinated by Czechoslovak soldiers in 1942. (In the aftermath, two Czech towns, Lidice and Ležáky, were razed by Nazis, and all men in Lidice and all men and women in Ležáky were murdered.) Hence, when the war ended in 1945, there was a strong anti-German sentiment in Czechoslovakia, which gave the Government power to enact laws (called the Beneš decrees). These laws led to the deportation of 2.5 million (!) ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia. Many of those expelled had settled in the country long before the war. Many lost their property in Czechoslovakia and their citizenship was revoked. Some (approximately 20-30k) died during the expulsion due to violence and brutality perpetuated by mobs and public authorities, poor conditions in internment camps, hunger, illness, and suicide. The Beneš decrees are highly controversial even today. I remember that Karel Schwarzenberg, the 2013 presidential candidate, said the decrees would be considered a war crime today (I do agree), which provoked a ton of criticism and may have been of the the reasons for why he lost in the presidential race against Miloš Zeman.
I really got you in the part about "you just mind your own business, you don't have to explain yourself when walking through a store" MAN. That annoys me so much, I'm from Argentina and you just cannot enter any store without being persecuted and disturbed. Not even mention that in Argentina people kiss each other to greet. I'm moving to Prague very soon cannot wait to join that beautiful country and society. Great video! New sub :)
It's not so much different from the Germans, generally open minded and friendly, but little more introverted or reserved then Americans, you need an ice breaker to get in contact.
Very nice and calming video of you walking through the city. Dont worry, every normal czech citizen will be glad to help you out if you need something. We appreciate your effort and excitement. Sorry for my english and btw there are lot of other places to visit in here, that are really worth it.
Great analysis of the Czech people, but I would like to point out as a Slovak that the looking in the eyes during "cheersing" isn't about bad luck, that's pure bullshit, it's actually a matter of courtesy and respect. You have to look the person you are "cheersing" with OR shaking hands in the eyes, because you actually MEAN IT, you are acknowledging that person in those unique moments, if you look away it's like you don't care... For example, in the US it's very common for people to shake your hand and look in another direction or just talk to a different person while doing it. To us that's just extremely rude and disrespectful, because that's like the person doesn't give a damn about you - the gesture alone becomes absolutely pointless and hollow.
Great points...yeah, I think the superstitions are just funny and playful ways to reinforce the tradition of being present and connected to the people you’re spending time with. One of the things I love about Czech culture.
An honest and fair assessment. I have been to Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (post 1993). The Moravian Czechs are a little more curious about strangers and the Slovaks even more so. They are all hospitable, intelligent and elegant. As an example, I was on a concert tour in Slovakia and my bandmates pointed out some guys at an outdoor cafe and said they looked threatening. I said, let's meet them first, you never know. Turned out these guys spoke elegant Slovak and were personable and witty. You are spot on about the Czech humor being very dry and offbeat. Thanks for an excellent video.
There are some black youtubers who live in Czech and making content about their lives here. All of them (at least those I saw) thing that Czech is great place for them and people are really nice and have no rasist experience. Most of them are from USA and they appreciate that they feel really safe here.
Man this is amazing video about Czech soul, I am living in the Philippines for 5 years and more I love outside Czechia more I understand what Czech soul really is and you're very accurate....cheers and let me know if you ever come to Palawan island, Philippines
Very much on point. The only thing I have to disagree with is the "sausage, beer, and football" thing. As Moravia is famous for wine, many Czech actualy don't even drink beer and prefer wine. Not all Czechs like football, but prefer ice hockey, and plenty of people like formula 1 or tennis. Sausages aren't actualy that popular in CR, it's more of a German thing. Most of my friends don't eat sausages including me. Avocado and coffee have become a big thing with the younger gen. Teas are super popular and there are many tea houses where you can smoke shisha (yes and they are not Turkish places). It's been this way for a long time, always surprises me that actualy no foreigners know this. Buddhism is also popular but in general CR is one of the least religious countries out there. Otherwise, great insights 👍
Very nicely portrayed and a very balanced view. I guess its the same in every country and it takes a lot of effort to be accepted in their community. Liked your video and very helpful.
To be honest. I met people here in my life more rude than nice. So I understandably made that quiet personality when I am rather alone, thinking about stuff, writing book and if I am somehow on party, I am that kind who sits in corner and watches. Still, thank you for going to our country. Make sure to read about History, it is interesting.
TIMESTAMP 21:00 ... Not being accepted as a non-Czech. Yes, many, many expat friends leave after a couple - or even 10 - years. And 90% tell me the same thing : "No matter how long I am here, I never feel accepted, and so I'm leaving". Bear that in mind if you are an expat dating a Czech.
@@Czechbound I mean, from your comments, it shows why you would feel like that. About Roma situation, think about why most of the ppl have problems with them on such scale, but not for example with vietnamies or other minorities, maybe then you will learn something.
Thank you for the very polite and cultivated characteristics of my nation. I smack my hat :-). (Hats off). I'm from an older generation, I can't speak English. My peers love America very much, our parents experienced US aid in World War II, they saw American soldiers liberating from German Nazism. At the same time they saw Russian soldiers. But the communist coup and other years of lack of freedom came. Czechs can come together at critical moments. For a while. They make fun of official authorities, they don't like extremes. So we live most comfortably on average. Our humor is really sarcastic, ironic and incomprehensible to some foreigners. We like old friendships and sometimes we think about ourselves too much. We are very careful, musical and we are definitely not bad for the most part. Our hopes belong to young people. They have the opportunity for education, languages and travel. We elders were very limited in this by the regime. Therefore, we believe that young Czechs will take the opportunity and our small nation will have another good future.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Thank you very much for the compliment. I wish you many more great videos for us. And most importantly: good health and a long and satisfied stay in the Czech Republic. Make it your home. And only meet nice and cheerful people. Good luck!
Wishing you only the best, have a good time in place we call home...I like how you see us, how you are able to reflect ... We are happy to have you here... 😊
This was a really interesting video. I’ve never been to Czechia but hope to visit next year. My ancestry is Czech, so I’ve always wanted to visit the villages from where my family immigrated. I admire how you place your observations in context, keeping in mind Czech history. I’ll keep your observations in mind when I visit. Though I’ve often been fine when visiting cultures Americans sometimes find rude. Maybe it’s because I have Czech blood. Ha! I’m rather introverted and quiet so the more formal, clipped European style of greetings and social graces suits me. Thank you for the vid. You delivered your thoughts with great kindness.
This video gave me great memories of Prague, where I lived in 2018 as a university exchange student. You walked down that awkward flight of stairs by Vysehrad station, and past the apartment I lived in on Krokova. While there, I made an effort to hang out with some local students, in contrast to many exchange people who mostly kept to non-Czechs. I agree with everything you say about the Czech personality. They are truly genuine people with a great sense of humor, with whom I shared many endearing moments. Not going to lie, but suspicion against foreign students is pretty high... but not entirely undeserved due to our tendencies of copious drinking, sometimes obnoxious behavior, our courses being less academically demanding compared to Czech classes, etc. Breaking the ice can be difficult, and sometimes flat-out unsuccessful, but giving it a shot is totally worth it.
As a Czech person, I have to agree unfortunately with all the negatives you mentioned. Also, your Czech pronunciation is very good, one of the best I have heard. Maybe an interesting point to the English and the ability to express yourself in your second language. Sometimes I feel I can express my emotions better in English (also my vocabulary is obviously lacking), I feel a bit disconnect from the language so it feels less personal and embarrassing to say something emotional in English compared to Czech. Anyway thanks for all the nice videos you are making about our country.
2:45 this is one of the few things that bug me about Czech Republic, everyone minds their own business and doesn't care about the other people, thanks to this, people tend to be more introverted, because they simply don't talk enough to be used to it. They are not used to talking with foreign people, which tends these people to have less friends etc. Thats why they might feel cold hearted, they were simply never learned how to talk to people they have never seen before. This might look awkward to people from country like the USA, where they have like a friendship with cashier they meet like 5 times a week.
LOVE your video. Your observations are presented in a such kind, respectful and tolerant way. And I have to say that they're pretty accurate. Of course, when you go to Southern Bohemia or Moravia, people are completely different. But as you say, Czechs greatly appreciate even tiny effort by a foreigner to understand and respect their culture. I'm so happy that you enjoy living in Prague. And honestly, I think you could easily be accepted as a Czech if you live there long enough and if that is what you want. But I think being an American living in Prague is pretty cool. BTW, your Czech pronunciation is quite impressive. Wish I would pronounce english words at that level. All the best and I look forward to watching more of your videos. Cheers!!
Just as you mentioned our language changes and shapes our general mindset a lot. There is a saying "You are as many times a person as many languages you speak." - for example translating Japanese to Czech is quite impossible because it sounds so generously and honestly that Czech person takes it as offense because it sounds just like a strong sarcasm or irony yet it was really meant the kind way.
For that "How are you doing?" question, you are 100% correct. It's not that we don't say it at all - we are saying it pretty often actually, but just among family members or good friends, because when u say it as Czech, you REALLY want to know how that person is doing, what's on his mind etc. and u r expecting longer, honest talk. When some stranger asks me this question, it pisses me off, because I know that it's only fake phrase and he don't care at all how I'm doing... so, WTF he asks me in the first place? :) When we don't care about somebody, we just don't care and we don't try to sugarcoat it by shitty fake discussion about nothing. But, if you are a friend, we really care about you. It's just different mindset.
It is a neaningless question that requires a meaningless answer. The answer "Fine" or I'm well" is all that is required. In fact, no one actually wants you actually to respond with an answer in detail.
Black people sometimes complain that the Czechs are staring at them. This may not be a sign of hostility, but rather curiosity as many Czechs, especially the ones from small villages, have actually never met a black person in their lives. Imagine a white-blond or Asian guy suddenly appearing in a remote village in the middle of African savana. People would stare just as well.
Well honestly, have you ever seen our Czech internet? I highly guarantee Czechs are not one of the most tolerant and open minded people when it goes to other cultures and people. British fine, Spanyards yea, but Czechs tend to be 1/3 open minded mostly young people, 1/3 of who are not racist but they see other ethnicities in a very weird way, 1/3 is openly hostile.
It took me like six months to suppress the urge to look at black people in Metro or the bus, I was so not used to it and the curiosity was surprisingly strong. I was always thinking this could be uncomfortable for the person
In my (strictly czech) opinion it´s pure curiosity. Under communist government Czechoslovakia was from 1948 practically isolated from the free world. Our olny expirience with black people was in 1945, when american army libarated the western part of our land. There was no racism, no hostility in our aproach to black american soldiers, just curiosity. Many Czechs didn´t believe there could be people with realy dark skin. The rumour says the next yrear there was a considerable number of dark coloured babies. After that, our only experience with black people was when Czechoslovaria founded "Universitity fo 17th november" opened for african and asian students. Our students treated foreign students as younger brothers, theay sort of patronized them. Guided them trough the study. And again - no racism, no hostility. The same applied to Vietnamese, invited to study in Czechoslovakia in the 70eth. No hostlility, just some patronizing..
The Roma problem is quite different. With the Roma problem we are where the US were with blacks in the 60th. n
Not understanding the problem, lacking a real plan how to deal with it ..... A long way to go.
When I was kid in Liberec, I remember I started at a black person everytime I saw one. Mostly because I saw a black person maybe twice a year at max. I was just curious.
When I lived in China in I had the same experience. There were maybe only 10 white ppl in a city of 100 000 so we definitely stood out. People would take pictures of us in a bus, etc.
And yeah, I had not idea so many Czech ppl are so racist until a certain demographic started using Facebook. But still, I think 2/3 ppl are chilled. That leaves 1/3 of people with prejudice.
@@ruzzaruzza its only a habit. From when i was small i travelled to Murica, Canada, Sri Lanka. I got used to ppl looking different, i can walk with Indians, Afroamericans and Chinese ppl and have like zero surprise how they look :D
Even if you never master the Czech language, we always appreciate the affort that goes into learning it. The different accent and imperfection is going to be loved and not hated, because we see the struggle and determination behind.
I really appreciate the encouragement, thank you!
So true.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 true we do that
Yep! People will giggle and have a bit of fun at the person's expense, that's Czech humor for ya - but behind that there's always so much respect. Czechs are well-aware of just how difficult the language is so even a little eagerness to learn a few words and speak is held in a high regard. Even more so coming from native English or German speaking folks, who often take Czechs generally good proficiency in both languages for granted and don't even bother with a dobry den.
Is that so ? When I tried speaking Czech all I've got was looks of pure horror like I was massacring their language. So I stopped trying.
Just for the sake of this comment, I was born in Prague - and the thing about our country is that seeing ONLY Prague is in my opinion one of the mistakes people make when they come here. Because even though we're a small country, people throughout our land are very diverse. Nothing against my fellow Prague citizens, but if you go for example to Morava (Moravia), people there are perhaps a 90 degree turn from what you see in here. Also their accent is somewhat different. But generally they are much more "traditional" and warm and welcoming. The peak of Czech culture can be seen much more over there, as they perform traditional celebrations, they even usually wear traditional clothes... Check the edges of Czech Republic, too, it's worth it. And you can go to wine tastings. :) Loved the video. :)
I somewhat agree, living in Brno, when you sit in a cafe/restaurant they immediately come to you, but regarding friendliness and small talk, I'm finding the locals a little bit cold and difficult to befriend.
@@PetarOnRUclips they probably more scared of you than you are of them. Its pretty unusual to befriend strangers randomly. Its not people being cold, they just probably just dont know what to do
I havent seen traditional clothing here in morava for like 20 years but i suppouse it depends where you go, if you seek it you might find it
@@matox01tekk Interesting, I actually have a friend that's from around there and told me they still actually do the traditions :) Yeah, I guess it depends.
Hold on. That can be said about basically any smaller city or village in Czech Republic that is not Prague. Moravia is certainly not the peak of the Czech culture. You are diminishing other parts of the Czech republic, because (for example) western Czech Republic (Chodsko) has its own customs and accent too.
It warms my heart to hear someone from abroad talking about my country like this. Thank you
It warms my heart to know that it's appreciated! Thank you for watching!
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Czech people they are so nice full of sense of humour, very sociable. .I don't feel any racist since I'm Asian as Filipino.
@@Roy-nd1tp Majority of us are not racist (bad apples are everywhere), we don´t have problems with other people who respect our rules and can integrate to our society. We are racist for those, who see racism everywhere. I heard forexample that ID cards in America are racist XD. So we really don´t care about this people. Also we love dark humour so maybe because of it some people can see as racist and bad people. I am glad that you like us. Greetings from Czech Republic.
@@Roy-nd1tp The Bohemian lands were always multicultural. You had many Germans in Cheb and Plzeň (before they were kicked out); even during the medieval age this was the case. Many Poles can also be found in Bohemia, and many Czech People can speak German, such as Albrecht z Valdštejna for instance. It‘s good to know that the Bohemians are open for every culture.
@@larochejaquelein3680 almost every ;)
When you don't like beer drink Kofola and you are fine :D
Excellent advice :))
ow my teef
Or vinea :)
@@katechaste There are many options :)
Or you could choose to not care that some czechs disagree with the liquid of your choosing :D
Someone in czechia doesn´t like beer: "Slavic folk music stops"
actually no, folk music is more typical for moravia and those folks are more into wine.
i wonder what "slavic folk" music means for you.... we are not cultists or something lol
@@Dn0s0 As a Moravian with many moravian friends, we are into Slivovice, not wine.
@@sneezy3233 ano, a taky víte jak pokazit vtip co ?
Yeah, I am a Czech and I do not drink alcohol at all. I should get my citizenship revoked ASAP.
This randomely popped up on my feed. Generally I tend to avoid videos about czech people or czech republic from foreigners, but this one was a pleasant surprise. It is so nice, relaxing and was delivered with kindness and a huge portion of tolerance. It was a pleasure to listen to.
I really appreciate that, thank you so much for the feedback :)
Right? This guy is great.
@@teatous7444 It was beautiful walking with you on Vyšehrad which i know-and love I Iam born in Prague and your “diagnosis “ on our way of life is spised with love. Thank you. Enjoy and have a good time in beautiful Prag
There is a pretty simple reason, why there is almost no diversity in the Czech republic in general or in any other Eastern European countries. We never had any ties with Africa, or any other distant foreign countries. We have never colonized or enslaved anyone. Nobody speaks our language. Clashes and wars we had in the past were pretty much only with our neighbours. Also, the Iron Curtain has been doing it's thing for decades. Therefore, we just feel that Africans don't really belong here (but don't confuse it with racism please...). There is a big community of Vietnamese people though, one of the largest in Europe. And I have never heard of anyone having a problem with them. They are usually nice people just minding their business. Also, we have a lot of people from Eastern Europe here. You just won't be able to recognize them :) And the rest - I think you pretty much nailed everything.
Můžu se jen zeptat, co Není Vpořádku?
@@respectmahauthoritah4918 Uživatelské jméno. Když jsem zakládal tento účet a zkoušel různý jména, správce je stále odmítal přijmout s odůvodněním, že "uživatelské jméno není v pořádku". Nakonec mi došla trpělivost a zkopíroval jsem tedy tu hlášku, která nakonec prošla :) Ale už jsou to léta, možná se to od té doby změnilo.
@@Antierd haha to je dobrý
And also please don't forget another reasons for our ethnic homogenity - the Holocaust and the Expulsion of Czech Germans..
Most Vietnamese in Czech came from northern Vietnam, the communist part. But more Southern Vietnamese are residing in the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France etc.
Czech stock greeting:
Czech A: "Dobrý den!"
Czech B: "Dobrý den!"
American stock greeting:
American A: "Hey, how are you doing?
American B: "I'm doing well. How are you doing?
American A: "Doing goood."
Czech version is shorter and more effective.
I agree totally! Actually some of my English-speaking Czech friends get really impatient with me when I try to open every interaction with the standard American exchange. The Czech way saves time and breath and I've started to realize that I don't miss asking strangers how they're doing dozens of times every day :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I don't know about others but I was baffled when I found out the "how are you" exchange is a greeting and NOT an actual question even though it has a structure of a question. Now that I know that I've come to see how odd it sounds in situations when for example a cop in US stops you and would like to say a couple of things to you real quick but is obligated to go through that long greeting process.
@@Greghouse Well, it can be treated purely as a greeting, or as a question that can be answered in as much detail as you want. The choice depends on how well you know the person and how much time you have to talk. It's something that American people learn to calibrate from a very young age, perhaps a bit like the vykat/tykat calibration for Czechs?
I always consider it so fake and dishonest when everyone at the street pretends to be your friend but asks you those questions only because it is considered polite but they actually aren't interested in your reply. It is really weird standard of politeness. Our Etiquette is actually quite complex and many things foreigners often do is considered rude. For example raising hand or shouting to call a waiter in a restaurant. Eye contact should be enough. Also you should pay attention to your surrounding when you travel by public transport. Foreigners like to block doors or passage through vehicle and you have to elbow through them.
@@qwe5qwe566 I have been guilty of a few of these things in the past! Still learning every day. Thanks for the tips :))
I find the Czechs a fascinating people. I've been to Prague many times. Every time I arrive I always find that distance, but by the time I leave I find them to be some of the most interesting people I've met. It helps that I go there to watch puppet shows. And if you want to get inside of the Czechs you could do much worse than go to the absurd puppet shows of Buchty a loutky (Cakes and Puppets) at the Švandovo divadlo or watch a crazy puppet film by Jan Švankmajer. I find that the Czechs have perhaps the most developed sense of black humor of any people I've ever met. And once you've figured that out it opens a lot of doors. Also I find that Czech sounds conspiratorial in its tone. Every language has a color and a rhythm. And the Czech language sounds to me like the language of people who have whispering dark jokes about their masters for years. (And yes I know the history.) American English on the other hand is the exact opposite. It is completely open. We speak strongly, confidently, too loudly, stupidly sometimes, for everyone to hear. Whereas the Czechs are best understood talking in low sarcastic tones and laughing about the Germans, Russians, Austrians, Poles, Americans, etc.
These are incredibly insightful observations, and I agree completely. What you say about Czech humor and language is something I have noticed myself many times, but never been able to articulate so clearly. Thank you!
@@skeletonkeysprague21 In Czech is a sentence: Black humour is like legs - someone has it and someone not. Realy dark and black humour is an essence we are living from. It helps us overcome anything in almost every situation, you could find it in floods or with tornado also.
One of the very first jokes with floods was: I am selling a cottage. It has floating floor, water bad, hot and cold water. Possible to see at 12 hours in Tábor, 13 hours in Týn nad Vltavou, 14 hours by Orlik dam...
It is pure Czech. It helps us even to stand our politics we hope now we finaly get rid of them.
@@drakulkacz6489 What about the tornado in South Moravia? A day after the catastrophe I have seen the joke:
A: Hey, how are you doin?
B: Oh, well enough, at least we have roof over our heads.
A: Yeah, I know, I have seen it flying around.
The blackest raw humour seen on main, the thing that helps Czechs through terrible situations.
@@lenkapetrekova6220 That's perfect! 😁
Did you see Rocky by Buchty and Loutky ? :) If not, you should ....
If you ask a stranger in Czech republic how is he doing it would be considered as a rude and invasive personal question. Not a greeting :)
I have learned this the hard way a couple of times 😂
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere.... But I suspect it has also strong roots in soviet occupation era, where everyone was potential informant. Even members of your own family or VERY close friends could be ratting on you, so people are suspicious by default.
Currently people you are talking to (born in 90's) inherited this "fear" from their own parents.
Yeah, it's considered as invasion of privacy... And reason is language again. In engl. It sounds natural and fine... In Czech, natural response to how are you doing is automatically... Why do you care? 😀😀
I watch a lot of culture shocked Americans on RUclips. This reaction to American small-talk is very common in Europe (Germany, Iceland, Finland etc.)
@@hominidan yes but you dont come up on a random guy in Lidl and ask how hes doing.
Same shock for me when I was in US for the first time... I remember the time in elevator, some guy just told me that phrase - how am I doing... I assumed he really care (like we do in Czech republic), so I started discussion like what I did in the morning, how I miss my girlfriend and this stuff... My colleague just told me, that they expect just to get answer like "good and you?" :D :D. It was quite funny. Btw. I hope you enjoyed our country and nothing bad happened to you :).
Native English speakers are weird, in that some of them really do want to know all of those details and some of them literally don't even expect a response. After years in the US, most Americans just get a "feel" for it. But awkward interactions still happen almost every day. Thanks for your kind thoughts :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 That's just so dumb, why would you even ask if you don't want to hear it lol
Plus One. I take this as" Dishonest". They really dont care how are you. Its just pretending how "good and nice" I am. Simply you care and ask, or dont care so stf and care about your stuff. Why to pretend something?
@@mach2223 Coz it's the standard polite phrase - one part of a greeting. It can be even more interesting in some other countries. In Barma / Myanmar for example the Burmese language didn't have an equivavalent of Czech "dobry den". They were using a phrase (very funny for a foreigner) "did you already had your rice today?". They had to invent a new phrase suitable for a greeting so they are using "mingalabar" (= be blessed) today when speaking to a foreigner (and to some extent even among local people as this phrase is more and more popular).
From my experience the proper response to 'how are you doing' in the US is 'great'. They sure don't want to hear that it's your bad hair day. 😁
I think most of the Czech people accepts anyone who is working and it is polite. Lot of foreigners from all over the world (Erasmus) decided to stay and are IMHO now fully Czech. No slavery in history = no black people, No colonies = obscure language. Therefore we do not have any incentive our guilt towards minorities. SOME of gypsies in the CZ are exploiting the imported white guilt from west. My fist experience with racism = being physically attacked by the gypsies because I am white at the age of 5 years and being beaten regularly. Same goes for many of my childhood friends. Luckily, I was able to make some friends in the gypsy community and beatings stopped. If I dont, I would ended up whit shaven head as a lot of my former friends from my childhood. Experience from small town, where lot of communities were moved.... However I have friends from Africa, Asia, America and all around the world. The situation with the gypsies makes me sad, however, bad reputation is deserved in many cases. Sorry to say that.
@@lollitaprague Well ok, but what is your personal experience? How many friends do you have in the Roma community? How many years did you live amongst or next to them? I am not saying, that I disagree with what you have mentioned above. But the topic is so much more complicated. Why Jews were allowed in the cities and Roma not in the past? Why should we care so much, that the state is purposely unfair towards the majority? We did not enslave them in the past. How is the holocaust Czech problem? By the Generalplan Ost we were also a target for 50% extermination and massive deportation. Let us talk about Czech history and Roma, not world history and Roma. Why we do not have any problems with the Vietnamese? Why there is almost no racism towards them? Cloud it be, they want to integrate and work? You cannot generalize victimhood as well as racist assumptions. I was born in Broumov and I had many eye-opening and bruising-causing experiences. I know a few fantastic people from the Roma community, one really tight friend. They mostly agree with me. Honestly, to be able to find a common ground, we would need a long time face to face. Not a comment section on youtube.
@@lollitaprague Well then, why we should accept the responsibility for this? Every nation/race/people had to move and struggle in history. There were multiple migration waves and pressures. Am I blaming the current people from Austria for dismantling the Kindom of Bohemia and losing its territory? No. Am I blaming, current Russian people for occupation? No. Am I blaming the current German people for atrocities done in our country? No. Do I expect to be compensated for stuff, that happened before my birth? No. Am I physically attacking German, Russian or Austrian people in public? No. Do they have a bigger country? Yes. Do they have a better life, wage, in the west? Yes. If I want to have a German wage, I would go and work in Germany = I would integrate into their society and if I want to keep it, I would not cause any trouble. Victim mentality does not help. Attacking small white children because of the color of their skin and calling them "zasranej gadžo" is racist and causes trauma, which could lead to extremism in adulthood. This attitude will not solve anything. It only creates hate, that can be justified, which is extremely dangerous. Change needs to happen from the inside, not only from the outside. I would not be writing this if I and my friends were treated with common human decency by the Roma community when young... I would be completely agreeing with you if the attitude of the Roma community was noble, but it is simply put NOT. How can I stand for your point of view in my position? Czechs were also mistreated, and marginalized in our history, but we get up on our own feet a proven to the world, that we are here and we are here to stay. Even after nearly 300 years of forced Germanization. Clear examples from recent history: Czechoslovak legions in WW1 and operation Anthropoid in WW2. Without these, we might not have a country today. It was our initiative nobody was pulling our hand to do this. I know there were many attempts to create a Roma monarchy and state. It failed multiple times and correct me if I am wrong, the main issue was always internal divisions between your own people. Even the word Roma is not preferred by some of my friends....
@@lollitaprague Wow. It is so great to find a common ground in the comment section. I agree completely with your comment. I sincerely hope, that one day, we can all come together and be stronger for it. I am really sorry that people especially like you, had to have a lot of unpleasant experiences. I think we could have a really pleasant and interesting conversation in real life. Judge people by the contents of their character. What you wrote, makes me hopeful and that is exactly, what we need to fix the situation. Even if it takes generations. Positive experiences with each other. There is lot to give and learn, if we can be good to each other. Since I make a music, I have to say, it is something else to jam with Roma musician. Let us hope that our people can "jam" together and be good towards each other more and more.
We had slavery, but nowadays many people think slavery = black people, and thats bullshit. We had white slaves, Great Morava was one place where they have been.
"SOME of gypsies in the CZ are exploiting"... more accurate -> MAJORITY.
Exactly my point we might seem cold and distant but we are just not overly dramatic and fake in way. With us what you see is pretty much what you get. Czech people are warm just not immediately.
Been here five years. Show me where is the warm people
@@MTT365 been here for 19. I know plenty xD you just kinda need to integrate yourself and not be overly obnoxious. Go to pubs, start doing a social sport. Youll see many cheerfull and warm people
@@MTT365 If everybody seems cold to you maybe it's not them, lol.
As a czech person-I felt you when you talked about the closedmindedness. I am still getting pretty hard time for being an abstinent. My interpretation is that so many people just made the beer, the food and football their own identity and feel personaly attacked when you don’t share their passions.
It's pretty human to build an identity around things like that and to be threatened when someone doesn't share those affinities. I take it for what it is and just try to make connections anyway.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 You know, that was actually one of very few things I did not agree with you. As a czech, I don't like beer, pubs are not my thing either, I literally hate fotbal ... and list goes on ... and I am perfectly fine. I don't feel distance and I don't feel being judged. Of course, sometimes, but you can say that about pretty much anything.
In fact, most people I know has similar attitude as I do - do whatever you want, eat (or don't) whatever you want, believe (or don't) in *put any diety here and we are fine. As long as you won't force me to share your point of view. Yes, in such case, we can become hostile pretty quickly. As I like to say: don't make me believe in your god, I will not deny him. This is my way of thinking and according to my experience, it is common here.
@@OslikusPrime *slavic music stops*
So so true. If you don't drink with them you are not good. Or agree with them.
Im an abstinent too. I hate beer. I dont go to pubs. Hate football and hockey. Cant stand pork. And im perfectly fine. People around me never tried to force me into any of those things - i jist eat my chicken and drink some water and were good. Its about the social cicles you are in. Me and my bf are both university students, my friends are or were too. Find a thing you share with them and play it on that side.
We migh be sometines cold but we are very happy when someone visits our country and trying to speak Czech, it means for us that Czech Republic is really international and we are proud.
Souhlasím
16:45 we actually tend to do "oči pičo" which i wouldnt recommend in a formal situation ofc, but once its with close friends it makes the whole act more fun I'd say.
This was one of the first phrases that I learned, on my first night in Prague :)
As a Moravian I've never heard this expression :)
@@slouberiee I live near Brno and hear this all the time :D
I was born in Ostrava and I heard this phrase for the first time when I was 27.
Works well with Police and any government official Who is wasting your time
Hi, Brendan,
Sir Mac here, the local.
I was thinking and wondering about the name of your channel "Skeleton keys"... It is inspired / taken from the game "Grim Dawn", where you craft or obtain the Skeleton key to enter very special and very dangerous locations... Am I correct?
1) Dobrý den thing - totally true. And while in US, the question "How are you?" is almost mandatory starter of the conversation, if in the Czech republic someone asks you "Jak se máš / máte?" he / she wants to really know! So you can tell him / her that you didn't sleep in the night because of your neighbours ...
2) Customer services - Brendan, you made me almost cry on this, because you are the first expat, who appreciates the "resistant approach" of the customer services...
3) Totally true about the Soviet occupation thing... Don't forget there are two universal tongues - music and food :) Those help make you friends...
4) The laughing thing - We are not laughing AT you, we are laughing WITH you...
5) OK, you don't like beer, you don't like sausages... What do you like then? :) Smažený sýr? Lední hokej? And the beer thing - you don't like all kinds of beer? I pretty much doubt it.
6)a) The different colour of skin and other "sensitive" topics - I would say there will be always a different opinions among the Americans and the Czechs about "BLM / MeToo / Racism / Political Corectness"... My personal perspective is that we never had those troubles, or if we did, it never was that huge topic like in the US. And in the US, you cope with it in some way. OK. But it is cultural, historical thing and it can't be spread all over the world the "american way". Those are definitely huge topics to be discussed in many videos for hours ... Because I believe both nations (CZECHS / AMERICANS) are going the right way from the very opposite directions..
6)b) Our minorities are not the black people, but Roma, Vietnamese, Slovak and Ukrainian ones... And with the black people, which are the residents here, we don't have any trouble with them, if they don't make any troubles... Everything is about BALANCE, RESPECT and some sort of RESILIENCE :) The dog fawns with his tail, it isn't the tail fawning the dog. Minorities will be fully respected until they won't try to constantly damage the majority. But as I said earlier, this is a topic for a deep talk.
7) You are right, you probably will always be in a "foreigner category", but that doesn't mean you will not be or you are not already in someone's heart the most important one. Many Czechs will judge you by who you are. If you are good person. Point.
If you know about the dividing people into two groups, the "peaches" and the "coconuts", the Czechs are definitely the coconuts.
8) The czech language... Huuh... I will try to describe it to you so you can see the logic "behind"... English is simple, straightforward language, where no declensions take place. So you have the "SWOMPT" word order. But czech has the declensions, which is some sort of tax / possibility to play with the word order as with some sort of brick-box for the kids. "S" can be almost anywhere it wants to be placed. The same goes with W-O-M-P-T. And the word endings are the way how to separate subject from object or another words... Imagine the hair-dryer. it is like 1st case of any word. And imagine all the addons, you can add to hair dryer to the end, so it makes different creations with your hair. And from 2nd to 7th case of the word, they are like the hair-dryer addons, serving to different purposes. It is the same with the declensions. They are specific addons for specific purpose, for specific usage...
The variable word order also helps to emphasize, what you want to be emphasized. And yeah, czech language is very variable with immense word vocabulary... A tons of diminutives... english hasn't that much diminutives... spanish has more, but the czech has immense ammount of diminutives.
9) Till the day before yesterday, I thought we are country without tornados. But it came tornado of the EF4 level... Huh... Very alien, almost very american... But I realized one thing, czech houses are built from firmer materials - bricks, stones, panels... Not like in the US, where the dominant is plaster and wood.
10) If you have any questions, you can find me on Facebook under the name "Ondřej Voců"...
Hi Mac (Ondřej?),
I've actually never heard of Grim Dawn, but the concept is similar. A skeleton is a key that has been modified so that it can open a wide range of locks. I've always liked the symbolism of this idea, and it seemed appropriate for a travel/expat channel centered on Prague, so I stuck with it.
I mentioned somewhere else that some of my Czech friends get impatient with me asking them how they are all the time, lol. I guess Czech people aren't used to this, but I really mean it sincerely.
The customer service thing is great until you really need help ASAP. Then it can be a bit frustrating :)
You're absolutely right about music and food, especially music. I'm a musician (it's actually my main occupation and I have another channel for music stuff), and it has opened so many doors for me here. Talk about a "skeleton key"...
I actually do enjoy some sour beers, but I don't drink much in general and when I do, I tend to prefer distilled spirits and cocktails. Beer makes me feel sluggish and full, which is the opposite of what I want when I'm trying to party :-D
And when it comes to food, I'm a weirdo and a health nut, so most of the Czech cuisine is out of the question, lol. But I do really enjoy a good svičkova or gulaš on a cold winter night. I also love the traditional beef liver dumpling soup (I don't remember the Czech name for it). I've just never liked pork, even bacon, since I was a little kid. Americans also love their sausage and beer, so I'm a weirdo back home too. 😂
Thanks for your thoughts on minorities in ČR. It's a complicated issue and very different from the issues that the USA faces. I'm learning that I have a lot to learn about the topic :)
Huh, maybe I brought the tornadoes from the US...Colorado is right next to Kansas, tornado capital of America. But you're right about Czech houses, they feel sturdy and permanent, whereas American houses feel like they could collapse with the next strong breeze.
I'll look you up on Facebook! Thanks for contributing so much to the discussion. Cheers.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 OK, I will wait to your reaction on Facebook patiently... :)
You are a musician? Which instrument? I used to play the piano and attended small choir for 12 years... By the way, we have something, what you can't find anywhere in the world -
1) ZUŠ - abbreviation for "Základní umělecká škola" (lit. Elementary artistic school), which is usually private (paid) institution for kids, where they can learn how to play various musical instrument, they can learn to draw, dance, sculpture ...
2) Taneční - "Dancing" (dancing classes), like with the ZUŠ, it is private, paid, but the young adults 15 to 20 attend this course to get very basics in dancing and "interacting with the opposite sex".
beef liver dumpling soup - hovězí polévka s játrovými knedlíčky.
And back to the music topic - I think some czech covers of american songs are better. In the terms of the quality of the singing or the lyrics ... :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I can agree with Sir Mac. I just add something:
1) We are like coconuts - that´s truth. Imagine living in times when anybody - even people you think you know - is a secret agent that can order your death. Yes, I am exaggerating just because you could understand it. It was during the war and later during the communist times. Before you open up to someone you had to know that it is safe. This is deep in our roots now - not so much with young people but still. In socialism we had to learn how to read between lines - methaphoricaly and literaly. So many directors made feirytales where they could express their ideas - there is sometimes more for adults than for children. That´s why are Czech people able to watch the fairytale just for fun because there is plenty of humour and wisdom in it. It is very characteristic here. And you can find that we extremely use lines from movies and fairytale - but different kind comparing to Americans. And lines from Czech movies because we know their truth meaning and has the connection. If you want to go deeper into our culture, that is the way. Or start with Švejk.
2) If you ask "How are you", it means that you realy want to know it - and it is common among friends and so on. And after that you will hear any of his/her problems. So if we answer the way it is common here, average American will be taken aback. And because most of the Czech people already know it, if you ask that nowadays, they will be taken aback considering what they ought to answer you - the truth or just "Thanks, I am fine"? That´s why you can almost see the gear in their head turning. :D
3) According to some minorities - we don´t have any problems with people if they are not making problems. We are able to live with a girafe when it acts ok, doesn´t steel our possetion, let us sleep and will be working to maintain itself. See the Vietnamies - they work more than Czech and they have their closed community just to keep their own culture because here is not problem to blend with ours. There is a lot of people from Ukraine and Russia here - but you probably are not yet able to separate them from Czech - a lot of American even don´t recognaze the difference of the language (You probably can because you are learning Czech).
4) I don´t know if you know - there is DreamPrague RUclips channel - the lady is living in Prague teaching English and she also likes that the waitress doesn´t ask her every minute what she wants. And if you find Tady Gavin, it is an American boy with Czech roots (his grandparent came from here), he is learning Czech for a few years nows. He still lives in the USA.
2) Customer services - Brendan, you made me almost cry on this, because you are the first expat, who appreciates the "resistant approach" of the customer services...
I would agree on this :D this is what most irritates me in Czech :D
I like how every guy/girl when they're talking about czechs, They are in the Capital city Prague and nowhere else. Prague is filled with tourists and people who has the big works or high schools there. The true Czech experience is in Morava, i know that they hardly talk english in Morava but thats the point ALL the tourists go to Prague and nowhere else. For those kinds of people i would recommend Brno. Ostrava is like going to Ukraine. Now i noticed that u have Prague in the name and even have video about Bouzov so you litterally know how its like over here
I would love to explore the rest of the country a bit more. I have spent time in some of the small towns in the center of the country (check out my video on Svitavy), but I've never been to Ostrava and I've spent only one night in Brno. I know my experience is a bit limited as an English-speaking foreigner in Prague, but it will take time for me to delve deeper into the less tourist-frequented areas of the country :)
The true Czech experience is everywhere outside of Prague and Brno*
FTFY
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Jedna noc v Brně a stále naživu .Co si víc si přát .... :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 You don;t really want to go to Ostrava. No sane person goes there. Olomouc, on the other hand, is quite a beautiful city.
@@supernachomachoman4031 tak v Brně taky obvykle nemluví anglicky no? Měl jsem zkušenost, když poprvé jsem přijel do Brna a češtinu vubec jsem nemluvil Xd
Nice video. You seem like a nice and genuine person :) I think it's true that Czech people may seem cold and rude at first, while, in fact, they're rather friendly and warm. However, dispite popular belief I don't think that it has as much to do with the four socialist/communist decades in the 20th century. According to my experience, it's rather a Central European "thing". Austrians, for example, spent the second half of the 20th century quite differently, yet somehow they're pretty much the same in this aspect. Despite being a West Slavic nation, Czechs share some of these characteristics with Austrians and Germans, at least in my opinion. I love Vienna, but if someone finds Prague residents cold at first, he might actually find them friendlier after visiting Vienna :D As for "racism" etc.: I understand that from an American (or let's say, London or Paris) perspective, Prague might seem like a much less multicultural city. However, there're tons of Asian (Vietnamese) people living in Prague and in the Czech Republic in general, for example. In fact, as far as I know, Czech Republic has the biggest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. Also, there're hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, living and working in Czechia. They started as cheap labor workers from the East initially (Czech Republic has approx. three or four times higher GDP per capita than Ukraine), but many of them have gradually learnt the Czech language and found better jobs and opportunities for themselves. So basically, in many aspects the Czech Republic already IS multicultural, only its multiculturalism is different than in the U. S. (or in Great Britain, for instance) because of different history etc. I think this is something that these countries simply don't understand and sometimes it almost feels like they're pushing their opinions upon others. Of course, there're some true racists in every country, including Czechia. But let's be honest, many social problems and racial issues in the U. S. are so heavily covered by political correctness that they can't be discussed openly. It seems to me that we're living in an extremely divided age, almost as if the American/British two party system somehow became a new norm for every other aspect of life. Either we are far-right racists and bigots OR one of those hysterically liberal/multicultural creatures, refusing to see the reality (such as the muslim and African ghettos in cities like London and Paris, existing totally separately from the mainstream society etc.). I honestly believe that some modest "Central European approach" could be very helpful :)
Very interesting points about the central European culture/personality. I haven't spent much time in Germany or Austria, so I assumed it was a uniquely Czech thing. And to be clear, I haven't really found Czech people to be anything other than friendly and approachable. In this video I'm just addressing a stereotype that definitely exists among English-speaking expats in Prague.
Regarding my comments about racism, I probably should have been a bit more nuanced in my language. I actually agree with everything you said. The American political spectrum is far too divided and both sides miss the nuanced and complex reality in between. And you are correct about the fact that political correctness in the US prevents many issues from being properly discussed. All that I really meant to say was that coming from America, it's a bit strange to see so few black people living in Prague. No doubt there are valid reasons for that that I simply don't understand. It doesn't mean that Czech people are necessarily racist. It's just something that I've noticed.
And the Roma/gypsy topic is something I ought not to have touched at all. It's a situation I don't fully understand and I'm not qualified to say anything about it. But all I really meant to say is that coming from that environment of extreme political correctness in the USA, it's a bit of a culture shock for me to hear the way some Czech people talk about Gypsies. It's just something that I'm not used to. Whether they are right or wrong is not for me to say.
Agree. I'm Dutch and I think the Czech way seems to be a lot like the Dutch way. Also heard a lot of the same stereotypes about the Dutch. I imagine it's some kind of common cultural background (protestantism?) We just don't want to interfere.
(Some day to say these things!!)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Thank you for your reply. I absolutely didn't mean to write that you said anything wrong. On contrary, you were very polite! :) I was just mentioning some general American/Canadian/British views, which have obviously much to do with British colonial history etc. As for the "Central European rudeness", here's one of the videos about Austrians: ruclips.net/video/cgIZnM-lVW8/видео.html And I really do like Austrians, in fact, part of my family is Austrian/Bavarian (there're also many videos and articles about "German rudeness" out there). It's just that you almost never find the same level of politeness here as in the U. S. However, most people are warm and friendly and in a way much less superficial, which is definitely a good thing in the long-term sense :)
@@ivogianfranco1633 I totally agree that the politeness of Czech people is much deeper and more genuine. There's a lot of fake politeness in America and it's very alienating and confusing to grow up in that environment.
I'll check out that video, thanks :)
@@leunisvandewege9651 Dutch people are great! Groeten aan Nederland :)
What an amazing video! The way you are so observant about Czechs and presenting your thoughts so kindly almost brought me to tears. I think that’s because of how small our country is, we really are not used to foreigners particularly care about our nation. But that could be just my personal experience. Oh and if you speak Czech to us, it is highly appreciated and yes, I too would probably laugh if you messed up some words, but it would not be in a mean way, more like “that sounded funny but omg, what an awesome thing for you to try to speak our hard language” and I would be SO delighted to hear you speak anything, as I am sure anyone else would! Anyway thank you very much for this wonderful video, you seem like such a great guy and I’ll definitely watch more! I hope you find living here as great as possible 🙂
This is one of the most thoughtful and accurate description of my country I have heard in a long time. Thank you for that. :) You managed really well to put in your thoughts the history of the country to explain what is today.
Thank you so much!
Being a Czech living abroad for a very long time, this was very interesting to me. I feel you have a good understanding of your situation which is key to making some worthwhile connections.
In terms of language barriers, Czech is no picnic, but once you figure out that the 1600th century Czech you learn is not the 2021 language you hear people speaking, you will be fine. The good news, modern Czech is simpler. The bad news is, there are no text-books for it.
I find the apparent bigotry in terms of race is 'inherited' by many, but felt only by few. People just don't really spend much time and energy thinking about that. Hopefully that will change.
The Roma situation as as simple as peace in the middle east. There are no good guys there at this point. I don't know. Good luck.
Thank you! I've been learning Czech mostly from my Czech friends, so I understand what you mean. I've already had the awkward experience of saying something "textbook-correct" in an informal situation and having everyone stare at me like I just stepped out of the 17th century, lol.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments about the Roma situation. I'm quickly learning that I should not bring up this topic in videos or in conversation with Czech people. It's a sensitive issue that I frankly don't understand well enough to speak intelligently about. I appreciate your patience :)
Titi fatal - on the spot!!! 👍👍👍
One of the best comments under this video that perfectly reflects my thoughts as well.
I'm always weary of watching videos made by fellow Americans voicing their opinion (in a tourist sense or otherwise) about Prague or Czechs, but this was so well done. You touched on everything that I've experienced and felt while living here over the years and for you not living here long, I'm impressed by how eloquently you were able to cover everything, including the inherent downsides of certain things. Bravo.
Glad to see, that you are loving your Czech journey :) Politeness and my insights on this very interesting topic? All the English speaking countries = You have to be polite to everybody in any situation regardless if you like the people or not. It's like a blueprint for any kind of social interaction. Also saying "How are you" literally means a way to say HI. But for Czech people "How are you" LITERALLY means, that they want to know, how are you doing and they will ask this ONLY a person they are really close with! So you need to understand, that there is a certain structure in Czech social interactions before diving into how are you's.. First of all, in Czech environment, you are not obligated to be super friendly and over polite with everybody. If you don't like somebody, or for whatever reason don't want to be close with them, it's ok to show it by ignorance. For us, it is NOT RUDE, it is HONEST and STRAIGHTFORWARD. That's how you let them know, you won't be friends. Pretended politeness in not welcomed and viewed like cringe fake thing. Then with people you actually really like and they like you, you start developing honest polite kind relationship and you can start with how are yous (and then listen to that 1 hour story of theirs, because you asked them how are they, because you want to know, because you like them, because you care for them). So it is like a natural selection. You avoid people, that you don't vibe with and you develop very deep relationships with people who are your cup of tea :) That is Czech social interactions in a nushell. I am pretty sure after you'll dive deeper into this, you'll fall in love with how deep, loving and truly caring relationships you can have with Czech people when the fake politeness is put aside, where it belongs. I won't even be surprised if you dump your US passport and stay with us forever :D All the best ;-)
Hi Brendan!
Thank you so much for your video. As a Czech woman married to a Canadian and currently living in Canada, I've experienced a great deal of culture shocks you've mentioned here, just from the opposite perspective. I still get slightly annoyed when random people ask me how it's going and my husband likes to make fun of me for it.
Growing up, I would always get a little sad coming back home from holidays abroad, as I would miss the "warmth" from strangers. However, living in North America, I can't help but notice how superficial this warmth is. Being used to "coldness", I get excited for a second that the person I'm talking to cares, however I quickly realize that that's often not the case and it almost makes me feel worse. Living abroad makes me appreciate what I've "lost" and I wish Czech people could see things in a different light sometimes and weren't so critical of themselves / their countrymen. There are things we as a nation need to work on, but every nation has its quirks and it doesn't make them better or worse, just different.
I think your observations are on point. Czech people are also very blunt, which is what my husband struggles with a little bit whenever we're in Prague. Whenever he's offered something, he likes to say "I'm good, thanks" and I've had to "translate" for him multiple times as people don't understand it means "no". He's getting better at just saying no nowadays though. ;)
I hope you don't give up and keep trying to connect with Czechs. They're complicated but generally good people. Also, I wish you can one day overcome the feeling of being an outsider. That is my one fear for my husband (we're considering moving back) but I'm sure if you're open and understanding, people will accept you as one of them eventually :)
Your description of the false American "warmness" is spot on. It can be a very alienating place to live for that reason, especially for open and empathetic people who genuinely love to share and connect with other people. However, after a lifetime of living in the US I gradually learned to calibrate my responses to the stock greetings and interactions, using my intuition to feel out who was sincere and who wasn't. It requires a whole different dimension of social awareness that other languages maybe don't demand, because they more clearly and firmly distinguish between cold, impersonal politeness and genuine, friendly warmth and curiosity.
"I'm good, thanks" is the most confusing way to say "no" imaginable, but everyone in America does it. My dad sort of trained this out of me, because he thought it was funny to respond with, "I know you're good, but do you want ________?"
I'll never give up as long as I'm living here. The language barrier has proven to be a difficult obstacle in some situations, but even through that I've managed to feel accepted and supported here. Thanks for your thoughts :)
Totally agree with you. Though, living in the UK for 23 years, having UK passport, I still feel I am not really british at all. The superficiality is not as bad here as in the US, but, I still can't read people here if their frienldiness is meant or just social play. I much prefer the Czechs. They are straightforward, but you know exactly what they think of you, no game. I also miss so much the little Czech words or sayings that don't exist in English. It makes the convesations so much richer, depper and funnier.
I think that czechs care more about inviduals than groups. And bevause of this they are able say ugly things about group but have very good friends in that same group. But of course there are also meh people. Every czech person has ritual of accepting strangers and if you are able to make it you are in with full friendness.
That's an interesting point. One valid criticism of the modern American worldview is that it is too focused on group identity at the expense of individual identity. And I agree completely that if you make it past a Czech person's initial barriers, you are welcomed with open arms.
When you’re a foreigner in CZ and know exactly where he’s walking about.
*insert leonardo di caprio pointing meme*
:-DD
Di caprio is here but not pointing
This was so helpful for us to understand your experiences living there during the past year!! You have such an articulate way of expressing your ideas in a thoughtful and intelligent way.
This was probably the nicest description of Czechs I've ever seen ;-) And with a heavy heart, I have to admit that the "close mindedness" part was also true, maybe not so much in terms of beer and sausages, but in general, yeah... Hopefully, as I see it, it's getting better and better!
(Czech here) - what others consider "Czech politeness" can actually turn into ignoring or straight up passive hostility and, in my opinion, sometimes our country could use some of "sticking nose into other people's lives" attitude - for example when you're clearly in distress in public (troubles with buying tickets, lost someone in the crowd, etc etc), usually (at least in Prague) nobody will approach you to ask if you need help and you're left to run around and ask for help people who clearly don't want to have anything in common with you.
Based!
I don't have this experience in Czechia. Though when I asked a stranger standing next to me in New York City where is XY street, he uttered "Don't know" and gave me a very disgusted look :-D Czechs are just generally more introverted, that's all. In reality we are very polite - greeting when entering and exiting a shop, making room for old/pregnant on public transport, not shouting on public transport... If you ask someone for help in 9 cases of 10 they will help you. You just need to make the move first and be polite as well.
I live in Prague all my life (70+). I have a quite different experience. I am always willing to help, to Czechs or foreigners, it does´nt matter. But often before I manage to interfere, there is anohter Czech offering his help. The foreigners seem to underestimate us - they are usually quite surprised, if you offer your help. Sort of suspicious, as I see it.
Well, I once bought older German couple tickets (for a metro) because they came up straight from Airport without having any Czech Crowns. I directed many tourists or Czechs that asked for a street or such. Trying to blame uniquely Czechs for a common social phenomena (bystander effect) sounds super evil to me. Pls no selfhate.
Man, you are so spot on. Been learning and speaking Czech as a British man for over 15 years. So much of what you say resonates. Subscribed.
So glad to hear it, thanks man!
Got to this video through recommended love it. Especially how you point out our culture and mentality, and especially our close-minded mindset. Many people outright judge us as xenophobic racists, but you went deeper especially into history. I do not think you will have problems with integration, especially in Prague where are people more open-minded and used to foreigners.
I would just like to explain why we are so distrustful of Romani. The thing is that they are as a minority in Europe since 14th century and they were never integrated into society. This was either because of their nomadic lifestyle or racism from Europeans. Throughout history, they were enslaved or attempted to be assimilated by monarchies, but because of that and their nomadic lifestyle, they became isolated from the general population. But most cruel was the 21st century. Nazi regime sought to exterminate them as a whole and later communist regime resorted to forced sterilization and most importantly forced assimilation into cities. Through their communities, they kept their culture, but as a result, did not adapt to modern systems and standards which were most of the history against them. Romani families have the reputation of thieves, burglars, drug users and pimps. The worst thing is that this mostly comes from personal experience.
Comparing them to African Americans is not equal, because their history just is not the same by far. I am not teasing you for this by any means, I just want you to understand.
Thank you for an intelligent and thoughtful response. It definitely helps me understand the situation better. I appreciate you taking the time to patiently explain instead of reacting negatively. Cheers and thanks for commenting :)
I think it would be good to mention that BECAUSE it comes to Czech people from personal experience, that they do not mind black people, as fat as I have seen.
I've never seen such a honest and insightful opinion on Czechs from a foreigner. Hats off! Also, your Czech pronunciation is just splendid.
Thank you so much!
have to say i kinda felt bad for you walking around lost when the Vysehrad complex is like 5 min from the metro station where you started :D
I know 😂 I’m not sure how I didn’t find it sooner haha
I thought it was intentional to get more time :D
The video was so moving that I couldn't help myself but cry... it was describing the Czech nation very clearly, fairly and truly. Thanks for such a moving video, indeed.
Its not a permanent limitation it just takes time. Talking from personal experience (20 years in CZ then another 18 in UK and returned to CZ in October last year). Last 10 years during my occasional visits to CZ i often felt like I know how to exactly express my feelings or exactly how to say this or that in English but struggled to remember czech alternative even during casual talks with family. Nowdays my Czech is starting to overtake English again. It just takes time and plenty of interactions just like with any language/culture.
That's interesting, thank you for your perspective. I'm still at a very beginner level with Czech, so maybe my feelings will change as I get more confident in the language. I hope so. But for now, English does serve me quite well, even here :)
I am Czech living in the UK last 15 years. It was rather fun watch this video. Pretty spot on observation. Well done.
Glad to hear you liked it!
@@skeletonkeysprague21 absolutely. Enjoy the stay. I miss my home time a lot, but I found a new home here in UK.
Hey there! I'm an African American living in the Czech Republic. I've been here since the summer of 2007. There are a handful of blacks here, but mostly from different parts of Africa and Latin countries. When I first arrived I had dreadlocks and boy, talk about staring and looks! I've lived in 3 different cities (Prague, Ostrava, Karlovy Vary) and boy, do I have stories. Let me know if you'd like to connect and hear some.
I don't know about Brendan, but I would be really interested.
@@vulgoalias4050 you can email me at tpolk2ndact@gmail.com
Would like to hear more
I am czech and I like listen to foreigners talking about czech people and mentality and habits :D
I am just 25, so I am not really representative of normal czech guy with belly who likes beer, football and sausages (I really dont and I dont even like people who like these things, cause would say they are primitive) but we got that cynical quirky humor.
Asking us how we are doin feel invative - like why do you care? You want to hear "good" to be sure that everything is cool or do you want to start bigger conversation or wanna know something about me? Why you think I wanna you about myself with you? Why I even need to think about this sh*t? :D U got me know!
And for me - hearing foraigne speaking czech is funny in a positive way. I truly like to hear it.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I agree with your points, I find the Czechs to be very warm and welcoming, despite the fact that I'm Russian and I always worry that people will have that historic resentment toward me. And for some older people that is still true, perhaps they don't dislike me but they feel very free to express how much they dislike my country. But the younger generation doesn't pay that much attention to this historic relationship between our countries and I can always a very pleasant interaction. And yes, most young people speak very good English which helps a lot since some Russian phrases and words are pretty much the same as in the Czech language, some are fundamentally different which has led me into uncomfortable situations. And overall again I agree that if you are able to laugh at yourself in these situations then the locals will embrace you.
I've often wondered how Russians (and to a lesser extent maybe Ukrainians) feel living in the Czech Republic. I know there is a somewhat messy history and some "historic resentments", as you put it, that I don't have to deal with as an American. In fact, I think my reputation as an American greatly increases the likelihood that people will react positively to me, because many Czechs seem to have a certain fascination, admiration, and respect for Americans that they don't necessarily display towards other foreigners. It's certainly an advantage in many situations and I have a huge amount of respect for people that have made a home in this country under more difficult circumstances. Thanks for your thoughts :)
I think most Czechs like ordinary Russians, we can also appreciate certain aspects of Russia, like its nature, some cities, historical sites, rich history, art, hockey team (not fans perhaps but we know it's always been one of the best) etc. But we don't like your government very much, partially because of the past combined with the fact the current government haven't distanced themself enough from the actions of its predecessor (USSR). And also (perhaps mostly nowadays) because of actions of the current government, specially towards other countries. Again let me stress that it's mostly the government we don't like, not the people, we do make that distinction I think. For example I had a russian teacher at my high school and she was one of my favourites :) With that said I'm aware I don't represent a general opinion of all Czechs so take what I've just typed with a grain of salt. :)
Skeleton Keys Prague It's actually not that bad being a Russian in Prague...LOL, sure some people might have a negative attitude towards Russia as a country due to the bad blood of the past or Russia's current geopolitical games, but most Czechs are able to stay professional and practical if you know the language who the f. cares if you a Russian or Estonian for example if you respect people and behave decently.
Excellent observations! Definitely in line with what I’ve experienced here also. I’m really enjoying your videos!
Thank you! Glad to hear I’m not totally off the mark.
I'm czech, but I don't like beer (any kind of it) and I'm not too excited about sausages and other notorious czech specialities either. But nobody never look at me weird. When friends drag me to the pub, I just order kofola :) I think that all expats are still in the "tourist" category, and there's the notion of "why would you came here if you don't want to try beer?"
Kofola ftb :D I second that. I am not even Czech, I am Slovak living here for a long time. And its the best place to live :D. As Švejk said - we can argue with that, we can disagree, but that is all that we can do :D.
It is like you coming to someone´s house and you dont even try their cake and chlebíčky. If people see you as a guest, they are going to treat you that way.
Bear is one thing, but sausages are not really chzech thing.
@@TheTenzen12 There's always over twenty different kinds of sausage in my local supermarket and outdoor markets have at least four stands full of sausages every hollyday all around a year. And jitrnice is definitely czech thing.
@@mirilike3965 I can't deny that, but it's not common or iconic thing to eat. We just have it, but not doing lot about it.
Wow! I am impressed! Being from Czechia and living most of my life abroad, I really appreciate that someone can grasp on the essence of the country so accurately and so nicely. Thank you for that!
Great video! I appreciate the nuanced perspective you've presented. I hope to be moving there in a few months, and it's nice to hear these things from your viewpoint. Cheers
Thank you! I hope you do make it to Prague. Hit me up when you get here and I'll show you around a bit :)
Czech people sound like my kind of people! 🙌 I have always wanted to go there and now I’m even more drawn to it. Thank you for making this video!
This was great! Please make more of these :)
Thank you so much! I'm working on another one right now, stay tuned :)
Hi,
I very much enjoyed "walking with you" and listening to you talking about "my" people. I appreciate your perspective and it warmed my heart. I've lived in the US for 21 years now. The culture differences are huge and it's hard to explain. But you did great job of it.
Overall, I think your observations are spot on! The only thing I wish that foreigners stopped call themselves "expats". When you move to the USA from any country, you are an "immigrant". But if you move FROM US (or UK for that matter), to Prague, you're all of the sudden an "expat".
No. You're an immigrant.
If only the people moving from the east to the west are called immigrants, it puts a negative connotation to the meaning of that word. And vice versa.
I actually agree with you completely, but I use the word "expat" so that people searching for this keyword will find my videos, simple as that. Totally agree that it's a dumb word and a dumb semantic distinction between white, wealthy "expats" and brown, poorer "immigrants."
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I understand your reasoning. Nobody is searching for immigrants in Prague. 😂
I also didn't mean it against you personally. It's just something that irks me. See, I live in the USA since 1999 and even though I'm US citizen, I'm still an immigrant.
I can see we are thinking very similarly. I really like your channel, because even though you lived in ČR relatively short time, your observations and judgment are more precise than some other youytubers who lived there much longer.
BTW, I was quite surprised by your czech pronunciation. In such a short time, it's truly an achievement.
And I can relate, because when I moved here to the US, I knew very, VERY little English.
I wish you luck and have fun in my old country and I hope you won't get disillusioned like I have. 😉
Hi, your view is actually pretty accurate:) It's so nice that you are that interested in our country and people and you take the time to really get to know it all. Have fun!
Thank you so much!
"When you don't like sausage, beer and watching football in pub, you are an alien." this is so true :-) But this is valid mostly for older generations, I think today young people are very different, beer culture is slowly disapearing, I don't know if it's good or bad, but I was never part of it so I don't really care, I always prefered take some coffee and sit in some peacefull place and not in noisy pub. And yes, I had real problems because of that because when you don't want sit in pub for 5 hours and drink beer, nobody wants to be friend with you. :-) I always hated when we were on some trip or just walking around city and friends had full backpack of alcohol, it was so annoying for me. I think it's because of half of my family are alcoholics so I had always complicated relation ships with alcohol, I just see what it does to you. Czechs can be nice people, but it's true that they just can't have fun without beying drunken which I don't really like.
PS: You can actually see black people in Prague relatively commonly now, but I am not sure if they are tourists or realy live there.
As someone who doesn't eat pork and doesn't really like beer, I can relate. But it seems that Prague culture is diversifying very quickly. Now there's great coffee places everywhere, vegan restaurants, farmer's markets, techno clubs if that's your thing...in general it seems like the culture is becoming more international and cosmopolitan, absorbing influences from the rest of Europe. I also don't know whether that's good or bad in the long run, and some people would say that Prague is becoming less distinctly Czech and more like a smaller Berlin or just an amalgam of big cities all around the world. But I personally appreciate having social and culinary options beyond the traditional Czech pub.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Honestly, people from other parts of Czechia (especially Moravians) were always saying Prague is some western spy city, importing US culture here etc...that's nothing new, but today it's maybe true. :-)
Older people hate it, especially that half of things are in English now, but I think it's just natural evolution and it's not new thing again, before WWII it was like that too, Czechoslovakia was literally created in USA, our first president had american wife etc...people just don't remember, this is only return to old ways how it was before WWII.
@@Pidalin I had no idea the old Czechoslovakia had such close ties to the USA. That's super interesting. But I agree, I think it's a part of a natural progression towards a more globalized culture. You see it all over the world, except in the major communist societies (China, North Korea, to some extent Russia) that are actively resisting this influence.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 You can see it in old black and wthite movies from 20s and 30s, first republic was western type country with free market (nothing to do with later communist Czechoslovakia). Before 1918, we were under influence of German/Austrian language and culture, after 1918, it was mainly English, US and French influence.
@@Pidalin To label German culture as western is debatable. Our Czech culture is in fact German culture. What you see in old movies from 20s and 30s isn't different from what you can see in the German movies of that time. All the cities and towns in Moravia were German (Austrian) at the time and a lot of towns and cities (including Prague) in Bohemia (excluding Sudetenland) had a large German minority. Czechs and Moravians are like Austrians. We have the same culture, people are the same.
As a Czech I have to say that you described Czech people really well. I think your observation of us is really spot on. Thank you for this video, because this video can help foreigners to understand us better and connect with us more. I personally wish u the best, so good luck and enjoy your time here in Czech Republic :)
Thank you so much, best wishes to you as well!
WOW! That's amazing! I'm a Czech guy living in Arlington, VA currently and this is the first video of yours I've seen but I feel you already really got our nature spot on which is extraordinary. Except for 3 things. Non-white people are not that sparse in Prague (especially city center) and some other bigger cities - this is of course not true in the country side, it's totally czechs there oh and vietnamese :) I wonder if you know why. Second, roma or gypsies have this "label" for a reason, almost every czech person knows a gypsie that tried to steal from them, bullied them at school or simply tried to rip them off. Third, Czechs are totally able to accept you as one of theirs. I have a american friend in Prague who is from Seattle and he speaks very good czech but not as a native speaker and still, he's much more czech now and really integrated into the community. And I really consider him to be a czech friend :)
Good luck, this is amazing!
bro, I have to say you make us look nicer sometimes than I ever would, but some thing you have spot on!
good job bro!
Thanks :)
Okey I dont want to start any arguments here, ofc its a complex issue, but the "gypsy" minority situation from outside mide seem like a matter of race and hate towards other races, which on surface level it is people use color based insults and so on, there are other minorities in czech republic that get along just fine, great example would be minority of vietnamese immigrants, who you may hear people make fun of or whatever for their accent or something, but there is no hate or serious harmful intention behind it. The rome minority is such a problem for such a long time because of their culture, in which the concept of ownership doesnt exist, which for individuals who dont care to adapt the czechish culture translates to taking whatever you want whenever you want, aka stealing. You may be tempted to think how they were born poor or how they have no other choise to live, but this isnt the USA and this is nothing like the african american minority situation, in here you get free education up to your 26 year including college degree, full free health care, and you get support money if you are a) unimployed b) having kids c) physically unable to make living for yourself. If you cannot afford to send your kids to school the state will pay for all their needs to go to school, and yet many of them choose to stay unemployed forgoing all of these rights (even though the state finds the job for you if you cant) choose not to send their kids to school even though its illegal, choose to steal for a living. The hate that exists in czech republic has got nothing to do with race, its all about culture and lifestyle and unfortunetely I think it will stay this way for quite the while. I am open to discussion but I truly believe that we have done as much as possible from our side to help every citizen integrate into society, but if thats met with breaking the law its understandable that the people who pay with their taxes for your living would get mad.
Also according to one EU study, gypsies in the Czech Republic have the highest quality of life in the EU. In the western european countries it is not uncommon that gypsies are banned to reside near the city or work there, so they have to constantly move. In Czechia they are provided with free heathcare, accomodation, education and welfare payments.
Thanks for making these videos . I like your point of view and the way you think and speak about your impressions of my country and the people.
Thank you so much :)
Hi, I just discovered your channel. I enjoyed this video from my birth place. There are two things I'd like to say. 1 - You don't need to be a foreigner to be treated like an alien here. I'm treated as one for being a vegetarian and not drinking ;-) 2 - The situation with Roma can't be judged from the American's perspective. Roma people wandered into our lands a few centuries ago and decided to stay. There's no slavery or any other wrong-doing involved.
My girlfriend is also a non-drinking vegan and she says the same thing. :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I second that!
I absolutely love this video. I’m Czech 30yo and I’ve lived in the US for the past 7 years. You nailed it, there is definitely lot of people who are not open minded as far as other cultures and races, just because they don’t know any better most of the time or are quick to judge
From those few Czech words, you said during the video it seems your pronunciation is actually pretty good.
Oh, and by the way, I'm impressed how accurate and to the point your observations are. Like all of them... An amazing job for the guy who says he hasn't met a lot of people so far due to covid lockdowns :))
Thank you very much, I appreciate it :)
My thoughts exactly.
By the way. You are an excellent speaker. It's joy listening to you.
It is very interesting to hear what someone from abroad thinks about us. When I lived in the UK, I couldn't get used to having everyone ask you ,, how are you´´. :-) thank you for this nice video.
Thank you!
A smart and OPEN-MINDED young man I’ve just "come across" today and, immediately decided to follow his vlogs. Just a small (definitely not mind-blowing) comment of mine:
From my long-time experience, the most essential and decisive rules to differentiate people are their intelligence, culture, philosophy, personal preference and attitude to the world. As for me, this mental kinship means much more than any (German, Czech, English, Polish, American, ...) nationality of the man/woman I am just talking with.
Great point. Thanks for your kind words and for following the channel. Hope to see more comments from you in the future. :)
I admire people like you. People who experience that cultural shock and still keep fighting that unbreakable barrier of foreign language, culture,.. I dont think I could handle that. Greetings from Slovakia (brothers of Czech).
Your videos make me regret not taking a job in Prague when it was offered to me. It is such a beautiful city, and your description of living there as an ex-pat sounds like exactly the culture I enjoy.
I don't mind foreigners in Prague but when I see someone moving here with intent to stay, I just always have to think for myself 'but why?' We're really not used to have people from overseas here :) (we're allright with Italians, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, blahblahblah though) And then I see channels like yours or Dream Prague and I'm enchanted that you guys see what I ignore all the time.
Glad I can help you see your homeland from a different perspective. We all need that sometimes :)
This video made me really happy since I sometimes struggle to share certain aspects of me and my country with my American friends. I shared the video with them and praised you on how much of a good job you did trying to explain and understand why some things might be the way they are. Atop of that I appreciated you walking and showing a bit of the city rather than being stationary in the comfort of your home and that you actually called us out on our weaknesses, instead of just mentioning the easy positive stuff.
Thanks for the great feedback. I’m glad I could help you connect a little more with your American friends :)
I live here for 5 years. Czech people are very blunt and direct that sometimes makes you feel uneasy. However, you will break that boundary if they know you more.
Good observation...I've found that to be generally the case as well.
I’ve been living abroad for a long time so I am grateful for anyone making videos about my country. On the other hand, the cold, resentful Czech is still embedded deep inside me and the beginning of the video is the manifestation of the Czech stereotypes about the Americans … “Hi, there is some kind of a hotel I know nothing about (although I could have googled it in a minute) and I am going to take half an hour talking about people that I haven’t really met yet.” But I guess the Czechs are not the target audience anyway and what you say later on in the video is quite spot on…
♥♥♥ omg you're such a nice person, thank you for sharing this video. I completely agree with you! I'm Czech and I lived in Japan for studying for a while and I couldn't agree more. Sadly, Czech people IN GENERAL, my friends included, are just sooo close minded. They just think that one way is accurate and when you introduce different ways of view, they laugh at you and just bombard you with their one way of looking at things. And you're the wierd one. Your observations are spot on. :) ♥
Very nice and honest insight bro, appreciate it! As for your opinion on being accepted as a Czech, I think you're quite right, BUT, I've got to know a LOT of people from the US / different none Slavic countries living here for a long time, and I think it is ultimately up to the person and the perspectives of living, not the people around (although it's got a huge effect too ofc) to establish yourself here. With a positive and an open approach on both sides, I believe that Czechia will become more and more open to foreigners wanting to live here, which is going to enrich our culture and the world culture as well :)
it can be hostility too. I live in Plzen. Last winter I was on tram with my kid, we were speaking English to each other. Some idiot behind us began to parrot our talk and make threatening gestures. In another instance, an officer at immigration ranted for 15min in Czech and I still don't know why she yelled at me (most likely because my Czech was bad and she didn't speak English). In another instance, a Penny saleswoman yelled at me because she couldn't understand what I wanted (although I said it in Czech and her only problem was in fact the fact that I wasn't local)!
I have also had a few negative experiences that I chose not to highlight because I feel like they have more to do with specific individuals and less to do with the overall character of the Czech people as a whole. The notable thing in my experiences is that there was always some very kind and helpful bystander who stepped in to defuse the situation and help translate, so I always came away with a positive impression of Czech people overall.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 I agree with you. Most people here are nice, but there are some cases in which folks are extremely rude and unwelcoming. I guess my bad luck is I moved to Czech during Covid and most people were grumpy and overreactive because of the epidemic. Nevertheless, in winter I even considered leaving. As summer arrived and things improved, I encounter less of that hostility.
I really enjoyed your thought process and how you verbalise things in the context. I teach Czech as a foreign language in London and relate to many of the things you are talking about - as an immigrant and also having Czech heritage. Thank you. Hopefully you will continue meeting more wonderful Czechs along the way. Enjoy Prague, I miss it.
I have pierced ears (the biggest thing I've ever worn is some small black or gold studs), and some Czech people have reacted very strangely to this. It took me by surprise the first few times because it's something that's rather commonplace in the US, but I've been asked more than once about my sexual orientation on the basis of my ear piercings alone. 😂 That's part of where my opinion about Czech "close-mindedness" comes from, among other things.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 That's probably because, as I've been told, there was a time where it was very popular among gays to pierce their ears, especially the right ear. I learned this the hard way, when my mom and brother started laughing at me when I pierced my right ear without knowing this. And I was like "Well fuck, guess I'm gay now".
Hello :)
I got here through the recommended section, and I have to say I really loved your video.
I'm Slovakian, but I've been living in the Czech Republic for almost 7 years now and considering the relationship between our countries, I am not really seen as a foreigner, so I'm speaking more from the local point of view (many things you mentioned more or less match Slovak people, since we share a lot of history).
I have to say Czech people are a little bit more close-minded, even compared to Slovaks. But then again, I wouldn't say they are generally racist or hostile. It's just like you said - our parents and grandparents never really had the chance to interact with foreigners, maybe the other Slavic nations which are often of very similar mindset and with similar culture. In my opinion, you can see that this is one of the main reasons for this when you compare the attitude of younger and older people. My generation and all the other generations born after the Velvet Revolution have grown up in a very different environment than our fathers and grandfathers. We've been taught English or German (but mostly english) since the very young age of 6-7, often even earlier. Unlike our parents, we've had access to foreign movies, cartoons, music and other things basically since birth. We are free to travel all over Europe without the need to even show our ID and we can easily get to the rest of the world (if we have the funds that is 😅). Not to mention student exchange programs etc. We've also had access to internet since fairly young age and we had been there and active during the rise of social media, which had opened milliosns of new possibilities.
Our parents and their parents have never had the chance to do any of those things. They've been taught censored, propagandist lie presented to them as history. They could get imprisoned and sometimes unfortunately killed if they tried to travel anywhere else than Russia or ex Yugoslavia (and needed a special permit for that too). After 1989 everything changed very quickly and I imagine it must've been very hard to learn how to live in the new world, especially for people who were in their 40s and above at the time. That's why czechs come off as cold or racist. We don't stare, we are curious. We're not racist or hostile (mostly), we're wondering about people, where they came from and why (again, not in a hostile way) and most of the time we' re excited that someone wants to vidíte our country. Older people might be scared, since even though they'd learnt to live in the new culture, they've had propaganda hammered into them since birth, always saying foreigners are big bad and out to kill and exterminate us. So even if they consciously don't believe it, it's still rooted deep in them.
Younger people are much more open due to the reasons I mentioned above, and me personally, i always try to be extra nice to black people and other foreigners, since I understand that our culture(s) are very different and it can be hard to navigate and understand. Hopefully that makes their experience and life here a little better.
Thank you again for this great video and for your unbiased point of view, I appreciate that you acknowledged the good and the bad in our culture. And let's be honest, no nation is perfect, we all have some good and bad traits, and every individual is different in one way or another. I hope you'll continue to have a great experience here! :)
P.S. don't worry about beer. As an Eastern Slovak I very much prefer spirits and liquor, but I've learnt to appreciate beer since living here. I know Czech people that hate beer. And yes they really exist, just no one talks about them q😁
Love your insightful videos. Refreshing to listen to/read someone clever with loads of common sense talking about my country, mostly in a positive way. Far too many people complain about everything nowadays. Having travelled a bit and taught a lot, I do not take anything for granted and appreciate what my country has to offer, as well as meeting people who are as smart, kind and open-minded as you are. Keep on the hard work, unless you are already overwhelmed. Hope you will stay here for a long time. Looking forward to more from you 🙂.
This was honestly the best look i saw so far on the Czech culture, as a Czech living in Prague i can tell that it was on point.
I admire you for trying to learn the Czech language as it is a very tricky language, and even if you learn all the textbook stuff its just the first half of it as a LOT of words just have completely different meaning in normal day to day conversation and many slangs are used instead of the literal terms and some words are just traps when said a bit out of context.
The Czech humor as you mentioned is very dark and might seem racist but we don't mean it in a bad way, might just be that we don't like being censored and as you said, dark humor helps us through bad times.
And for the way that Czechs look at Americans, especially the older generation looks at America as the rescuers from WW2 (rightfully so, but sometimes completely ignoring the part USSR played because we got occupied by them right after that ) and the image we have of America is from big part shaped by TV,Movies,Games and Internet, would honestly be interested in learning about how much of that is true.
Would invite you for a beer but i gotta wait a few more months to be able to do that. Also i am sorry for my bad English.
Your English is perfect. Thanks for the kind words and your perspective on the history. I'd love to get a beer when it's possible...I'm planning to make an Instagram page soon, so check back for that and then you can easily contact me personally there :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Okay, I'll make sure to be on a look out for that.
First of all, thank you for making this video. I really appreciate hearing your point of view about my country and my people and I will definitely use it in the future when foreigners ask me what are Czech people like 😅
As a Czech living abroad myself I hope you’ll encounter lots of hospitality and enjoy your time in our tiny but beautiful country :)
All the best! And if you find yourself in Krakow, let me know, I am more than happy to show you around :)
I have been recommended your channel by RUclips, and I am glad to have clicked on the video. It's intriguing to hear what foreigners think of us, and what you have said made a lot of sense.
As per the lack of black people, as others have brought up, the minorities in the Czech Republic generally come from different countries: Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam. Hence, just like you, they often, with the exception of Vietnamese, "look like us" even though they are immigrants. The simple reason for why there are so few black people is that a) unlike Great Britain, France, Belgium, and other western countries, we have never had colonies in Africa (nor anywhere else), and b) unlike the US, we have no experience with black slavery.
For these reasons, the sensibilities concerning minorities are fairly different to those in the US, too. We do not have the same experience with systematic oppression of ethnic minorities like the US. Strangely enough, one of the minorities which were treated the worst by Czechs were the Germans in the aftermath of WWII and that was more of a one-off thing rather than a long-lasting process.
By the way, it makes me a little sad that you feel you may be always stuck in the foreigner category, no matter how long you live here. I used to live abroad some time ago, and one of the things I appreciated the most about my adoptive homeland was that it made me feel like a local, not like an outsider. I hope you may feel adopted one day by us, too.
That's very interesting, thank you for filling in some gaps in my knowledge about the history of minorities in the Czech Republic. I figured there must be a logical reason for the overwhelming "whiteness" of the Czech population, and you've explained it quite well. Strange to hear that there was such conflict between Germans and Czechs at one time, but I guess that goes to show that skin color is not always the most important factor.
I think one day I will feel more like an adopted citizen, if I stay long enough, but I imagine that will take many years and a much deeper knowledge of Czech culture, history, and language. I already feel quite comfortable here, but I wouldn't presume to call myself anything but a foreigner/outsider until I've proved that I can learn the language, at a minimum. In any case thank you for the kind wishes :)
@@skeletonkeysprague21 The reason for the conflict between Czech and Germans was fairly understandable: Germany, under the Nazi leadership, effectively occupied Czechoslovakia between 1938 and 1945, starting with the the German annexation of the Sudetenland (the border regions) in 1938 and continuing with the full-blown invasion of the country in 1939, resulting in the formation of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Czechs resisted the German occupation - the most notable act of resistance was the Operation Anthopoid, during which Reinhard Heydrich, the German Protector of Bohemia and Moravia and the man behind the plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", was assassinated by Czechoslovak soldiers in 1942. (In the aftermath, two Czech towns, Lidice and Ležáky, were razed by Nazis, and all men in Lidice and all men and women in Ležáky were murdered.)
Hence, when the war ended in 1945, there was a strong anti-German sentiment in Czechoslovakia, which gave the Government power to enact laws (called the Beneš decrees). These laws led to the deportation of 2.5 million (!) ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia. Many of those expelled had settled in the country long before the war. Many lost their property in Czechoslovakia and their citizenship was revoked. Some (approximately 20-30k) died during the expulsion due to violence and brutality perpetuated by mobs and public authorities, poor conditions in internment camps, hunger, illness, and suicide.
The Beneš decrees are highly controversial even today. I remember that Karel Schwarzenberg, the 2013 presidential candidate, said the decrees would be considered a war crime today (I do agree), which provoked a ton of criticism and may have been of the the reasons for why he lost in the presidential race against Miloš Zeman.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Nothing here has something to do with a skin tone. Just only with historical experience.
I really got you in the part about "you just mind your own business, you don't have to explain yourself when walking through a store" MAN. That annoys me so much, I'm from Argentina and you just cannot enter any store without being persecuted and disturbed. Not even mention that in Argentina people kiss each other to greet.
I'm moving to Prague very soon cannot wait to join that beautiful country and society. Great video! New sub :)
It's not so much different from the Germans, generally open minded and friendly, but little more introverted or reserved then Americans, you need an ice breaker to get in contact.
Very nice and calming video of you walking through the city.
Dont worry, every normal czech citizen will be glad to help you out if you need something. We appreciate your effort and excitement. Sorry for my english and btw there are lot of other places to visit in here, that are really worth it.
Your English is perfect, thank you so much for the comment!
Great analysis of the Czech people, but I would like to point out as a Slovak that the looking in the eyes during "cheersing" isn't about bad luck, that's pure bullshit, it's actually a matter of courtesy and respect. You have to look the person you are "cheersing" with OR shaking hands in the eyes, because you actually MEAN IT, you are acknowledging that person in those unique moments, if you look away it's like you don't care... For example, in the US it's very common for people to shake your hand and look in another direction or just talk to a different person while doing it. To us that's just extremely rude and disrespectful, because that's like the person doesn't give a damn about you - the gesture alone becomes absolutely pointless and hollow.
Great points...yeah, I think the superstitions are just funny and playful ways to reinforce the tradition of being present and connected to the people you’re spending time with. One of the things I love about Czech culture.
An honest and fair assessment. I have been to Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia (post 1993). The Moravian Czechs are a little more curious about strangers and the Slovaks even more so. They are all hospitable, intelligent and elegant. As an example, I was on a concert tour in Slovakia and my bandmates pointed out some guys at an outdoor cafe and said they looked threatening. I said, let's meet them first, you never know. Turned out these guys spoke elegant Slovak and were personable and witty. You are spot on about the Czech humor being very dry and offbeat. Thanks for an excellent video.
There are some black youtubers who live in Czech and making content about their lives here. All of them (at least those I saw) thing that Czech is great place for them and people are really nice and have no rasist experience. Most of them are from USA and they appreciate that they feel really safe here.
That's interesting to hear, thank you :)
Man this is amazing video about Czech soul, I am living in the Philippines for 5 years and more I love outside Czechia more I understand what Czech soul really is and you're very accurate....cheers and let me know if you ever come to Palawan island, Philippines
Very much on point. The only thing I have to disagree with is the "sausage, beer, and football" thing. As Moravia is famous for wine, many Czech actualy don't even drink beer and prefer wine. Not all Czechs like football, but prefer ice hockey, and plenty of people like formula 1 or tennis. Sausages aren't actualy that popular in CR, it's more of a German thing. Most of my friends don't eat sausages including me.
Avocado and coffee have become a big thing with the younger gen. Teas are super popular and there are many tea houses where you can smoke shisha (yes and they are not Turkish places). It's been this way for a long time, always surprises me that actualy no foreigners know this. Buddhism is also popular but in general CR is one of the least religious countries out there.
Otherwise, great insights 👍
Very nicely portrayed and a very balanced view. I guess its the same in every country and it takes a lot of effort to be accepted in their community. Liked your video and very helpful.
Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful!
To be honest. I met people here in my life more rude than nice. So I understandably made that quiet personality when I am rather alone, thinking about stuff, writing book and if I am somehow on party, I am that kind who sits in corner and watches. Still, thank you for going to our country. Make sure to read about History, it is interesting.
TIMESTAMP 21:00 ... Not being accepted as a non-Czech. Yes, many, many expat friends leave after a couple - or even 10 - years. And 90% tell me the same thing : "No matter how long I am here, I never feel accepted, and so I'm leaving". Bear that in mind if you are an expat dating a Czech.
and yet its so simple, if they try to speak czech no matter how bad or good, people will appreciate that.
You need to re-read what I wrote.
@@Czechbound I mean, from your comments, it shows why you would feel like that. About Roma situation, think about why most of the ppl have problems with them on such scale, but not for example with vietnamies or other minorities, maybe then you will learn something.
Thank you for the very polite and cultivated characteristics of my nation. I smack my hat :-). (Hats off). I'm from an older generation, I can't speak English. My peers love America very much, our parents experienced US aid in World War II, they saw American soldiers liberating from German Nazism. At the same time they saw Russian soldiers. But the communist coup and other years of lack of freedom came. Czechs can come together at critical moments. For a while. They make fun of official authorities, they don't like extremes. So we live most comfortably on average. Our humor is really sarcastic, ironic and incomprehensible to some foreigners. We like old friendships and sometimes we think about ourselves too much. We are very careful, musical and we are definitely not bad for the most part. Our hopes belong to young people. They have the opportunity for education, languages and travel. We elders were very limited in this by the regime. Therefore, we believe that young Czechs will take the opportunity and our small nation will have another good future.
Your English is wonderful!
@@11katerinasofie33 Thank you :-), haha - you are very generous :) :-)
I second what Katie said, your English is great! Very eloquent description of what makes Czech people unique. Thank you for your thoughts.
@@skeletonkeysprague21 Thank you very much for the compliment. I wish you many more great videos for us. And most importantly: good health and a long and satisfied stay in the Czech Republic. Make it your home. And only meet nice and cheerful people. Good luck!
Wishing you only the best, have a good time in place we call home...I like how you see us, how you are able to reflect ... We are happy to have you here... 😊
This was fairly deep and borderline philosophical even! Unexpected and pretty good.
This was a really interesting video. I’ve never been to Czechia but hope to visit next year. My ancestry is Czech, so I’ve always wanted to visit the villages from where my family immigrated. I admire how you place your observations in context, keeping in mind Czech history. I’ll keep your observations in mind when I visit. Though I’ve often been fine when visiting cultures Americans sometimes find rude. Maybe it’s because I have Czech blood. Ha! I’m rather introverted and quiet so the more formal, clipped European style of greetings and social graces suits me. Thank you for the vid. You delivered your thoughts with great kindness.
So beautiful. I just appreciate someone, who really wants to connect and interact and who thinks well of us.
I appreciate your comment, thank you!
This video gave me great memories of Prague, where I lived in 2018 as a university exchange student. You walked down that awkward flight of stairs by Vysehrad station, and past the apartment I lived in on Krokova. While there, I made an effort to hang out with some local students, in contrast to many exchange people who mostly kept to non-Czechs. I agree with everything you say about the Czech personality. They are truly genuine people with a great sense of humor, with whom I shared many endearing moments. Not going to lie, but suspicion against foreign students is pretty high... but not entirely undeserved due to our tendencies of copious drinking, sometimes obnoxious behavior, our courses being less academically demanding compared to Czech classes, etc. Breaking the ice can be difficult, and sometimes flat-out unsuccessful, but giving it a shot is totally worth it.
I think you actually nailed it. You described us pretty good. haha
Thanks :)
As a Czech person, I have to agree unfortunately with all the negatives you mentioned. Also, your Czech pronunciation is very good, one of the best I have heard. Maybe an interesting point to the English and the ability to express yourself in your second language. Sometimes I feel I can express my emotions better in English (also my vocabulary is obviously lacking), I feel a bit disconnect from the language so it feels less personal and embarrassing to say something emotional in English compared to Czech. Anyway thanks for all the nice videos you are making about our country.
2:45 this is one of the few things that bug me about Czech Republic, everyone minds their own business and doesn't care about the other people, thanks to this, people tend to be more introverted, because they simply don't talk enough to be used to it.
They are not used to talking with foreign people, which tends these people to have less friends etc.
Thats why they might feel cold hearted, they were simply never learned how to talk to people they have never seen before.
This might look awkward to people from country like the USA, where they have like a friendship with cashier they meet like 5 times a week.
Are you talking bout the whole republic or just bohemia?
LOVE your video. Your observations are presented in a such kind, respectful and tolerant way. And I have to say that they're pretty accurate. Of course, when you go to Southern Bohemia or Moravia, people are completely different. But as you say, Czechs greatly appreciate even tiny effort by a foreigner to understand and respect their culture. I'm so happy that you enjoy living in Prague. And honestly, I think you could easily be accepted as a Czech if you live there long enough and if that is what you want. But I think being an American living in Prague is pretty cool. BTW, your Czech pronunciation is quite impressive. Wish I would pronounce english words at that level. All the best and I look forward to watching more of your videos. Cheers!!
Thank you for the nice feedback, cheers!
Just as you mentioned our language changes and shapes our general mindset a lot. There is a saying "You are as many times a person as many languages you speak." - for example translating Japanese to Czech is quite impossible because it sounds so generously and honestly that Czech person takes it as offense because it sounds just like a strong sarcasm or irony yet it was really meant the kind way.
For that "How are you doing?" question, you are 100% correct. It's not that we don't say it at all - we are saying it pretty often actually, but just among family members or good friends, because when u say it as Czech, you REALLY want to know how that person is doing, what's on his mind etc. and u r expecting longer, honest talk. When some stranger asks me this question, it pisses me off, because I know that it's only fake phrase and he don't care at all how I'm doing... so, WTF he asks me in the first place? :) When we don't care about somebody, we just don't care and we don't try to sugarcoat it by shitty fake discussion about nothing. But, if you are a friend, we really care about you. It's just different mindset.
It is a neaningless question that requires a meaningless answer. The answer "Fine" or I'm well" is all that is required. In fact, no one actually wants you actually to respond with an answer in detail.