The Mysterious People of the Czech Republic

People in the Czech Republic are not just about being rude and drinking lots of beer. Delve into how expats describe the Czech culture and people.

Let us know in the comments how you would describe Czech mentality.

If you liked the video, I would highly appreciate a like, subscribe, or sharing one of my videos. And I hope to see you in the next video.

✨Our mental health guideline on Spring

🔗Affiliate Links

✨Affiliate partnership with Babbel

[james_harcombe]

As an immigrant of 15 years here in CZ I recognised that most of those questioned were in Prague. There is a large dose of 'capital city culture' involved.

[Winner]

A few things:
(1) Czechs generally do not respond well to "overt friendliness" in the North American style, like being all smiles, super friendly, positive etc. To Czechs, this seems fake, not genuine, like the foreigners are trying to cheat them. Don't rush anything. Be polite. Stop trying to be friends with people you've only just met. Take things slow and easy.
(2) Being "friends" with someone in Czechia is MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than people from many English-speaking cultures realise. A friend is someone who will help you, do things for you even if they're an inconvenience to them. In the West, people sometimes act all friendly, but they don't know you the next day. In Czechia, if you make a friend in the pub one evening, there's a chance he will get up at 7 a.m. the day after and go help you move heavy furniture despite terrible hangover. Because Czechs do stuff for their friends (and expect you to do the same).
(3) Drink beer. Seriously. It's the number 1 opportunity to socialise with Czechs.
(4) When you get to know a Czech person or two, chances are they will invite you to various activities, often outdoor (hiking and skiing (in winter) is very popular). ACCEPT and go. Bonding over shared misery when you get soaked on a hike and have to spend half a day in a rural pub trying to dry your clothes is what forms friendships here.
(5) Grow a skin. Czechs are often very direct about things Westerners tend to be very "correct" about. Their favourite style of humour is so dark it could pick cotton. If you got offended by this, you'll have a hard time in Czechia.

[peepa]

The thing that people dont look at you and ignore you, that is only in Prague. In small towns and villages, everybody stares at you 😀

[anotherhuman]

My friend who is english and lived in Prague for a long time once explained to me the trick how to engage with Czech people. He told me you can't be too positive or too friendly right from the start if you meet someone. It is best to start conversation with something like 'today the weather is rubbish, or I'm too tired today, life sucks and so on...then you connect, and you can have a normal conversation.

[brainwashed]

I really love the people! My best friends are Czechs and I also have a lot to do with them at work. Absolutely reliable people, very good beer brewers and always up for fun. The Czechs are our Brothers and Sisters! historically and culturally, especially for us Bavarians. Much love from Germany/Bavaria 🇩🇪🇨🇿

[dosquintoiuos]

I’m Serbian, this is my experience : Prague: VERY FRIENDLY, very fast, very ‘come try this, try that’. South Chechia : muuuuch slower, much more chill, less trying to cater to tourists. Overall : some of the best people on planet Earth. Safe, fun, beautiful!

PS. As for the food, some of the best cuisine- quality meats, sauces, cheeses, beer, and yes potatoes! I love the mixture of salty-sweet.

[janzizka]

That part about joining the group at the table. If you ask them, they will hesitate to refuse as they want to be polite, but unless you are invited, you can't expect to be welcome. We have a word for it "přisrat se".

[dustyrhodes]

I lived here in CZ for 18 years having moved from the UK. I never want to go back to the UK is all I can say!

[KMarik]

“Nu vidíš, králi: tak náš lid!
Má duši zvláštní - trochu drsná zdá se- však kvete po své v osobité kráse, . . . ach, přibliž k tomu lidu hled a přitiskneš svůj k němu ret a neodtrhneš více!”
Romance o Karlu IV.
- Jan Neruda, 1882

[gustavfalke]

Mentality of PRAGUE. CZECH VILLAGES ARE WAY DIFFERENT
🐄🐐🐔

[morbid.]

I'm Polish and I always liked Czech, they are chill out people.

[OrochiStrange]

Our humor is THE BEST! Nothing is sacred :D One of the things that I can be realy proud.

[theoutergod]

I personally always appreciate it when people try to speak our language, because I would've never expected foreigners to speak Czeck, because we are a small country and it is harder than English for example, so it is always a nice thing to see someone learning language. Which will subconsciously grant the person some bonus points.

[giacomoferrieri]

«if they want to get more salary in their companies, they wouldn't really ask for that, they would rather change the job» very interesting! So that's an aspect where my Czech origins come out

[Pidalin]

8:50 - this is exactly why Czech people are constantly banned on all social media, because in western cultures, such kind of dark humor is mostly not acceptable, or they don't even understand it as humor, they think you are talking seriously and another thing are today censoreship algoritms and AI, it's a serious problem, you can't really use humor on today internet if you are on these big american corporation sites like facebook or youtube.

[zdenekprisovsky]

Praha/ Prague where most foreigners are heading has always been like a country inside of country - different. No sense to judge all Czechs by Prague alone. I do not think this changed since I lived there.

[oORoOFLOo]

I cant imagine coming to work in France and expect all my colleagues would chat English with eachother just for me. Especially the French.

We Czechs are quite nice but one thing that I really don't like about us is that we are strangely very self-loathing. It, and that is purely my opinion, is the root of many of our problems.

[michaelkajnar]

It is not surprising that we are careful with foreigners. In history, when some foreigners came, they usually occupied us😂

[sthonape]

I lived in Czech republic Prague for two years. On of the best place to live and awesome people.