A few months ago I interviewed a group of university students to discover how Czechs see themselves. This revealed some interesting answers, so I decided to ask a similar set of questions to expats.

I interviewed 25 people — aged from 24 to 80 —who had been living in the Czech Republic from one month to 15 years. The respondents came from all over the world: the USA, Turkey, Syria, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Russia, Canada, Bulgaria, and the UK.

Before we look at the answers, two quick disclaimers. First, 70% of respondents said the questions had forced them to ‘generalize,’ and some of their experiences in the Czech Republic contradicted their own answers. And second, this is not a serious piece of research. I was simply interested in how my experience of living in the Czech Republic compared to other expats.

Question 1: How would you describe the personality of Czechs?

The word “cold” came up a lot, but most used this stereotype as a jumping-off-point for further discussion:

“Czechs might seem cold, but they are friendly when you get to know them.”

“The Czechs have a reputation for being cold, but our experience has been completely the opposite. In fact, we have many more Czech friends than any other nationality, and we have found them to be friendly and warm. I’m convinced that people who complain about the Czechs being cold or unfriendly simply don’t try.”

“Unfriendliness” received similar treatment, with respondents digging deeper into the stereotype and suggesting it could be related to age or work:

“Czechs might seem rude, but I don’t think they are. In general, the old generation does not like foreigners while the young generation does.”

“It depends on the age and if you really get to chatting with them. For example, the older checkout lady at Albert might not be too friendly, but the 25-year old man whose dog you’re petting might strike up a nice conversation with you in English.”

“A breakthrough revelation I had is that Czech people are two totally different people at work and in social settings — the stereotypes of them being unfriendly and grumpy are all true: if YOU are work. So if they are behind a counter and serving you, you are not going to get service with a smile. They do not have positive attitudes about work and they do not like doing their job — so when you come in and you are the job they have to do, then they don’t treat you well.”

Attitudes to work came up a lot. Over forty percent of respondents mentioned some variation of: “It seems like Czechs think the less they work the better.”

Other adjectives used to describe the personality of Czech people were “funny” (good sense of humour), “reserved,” “introverted,” and “pragmatic.”

“Stoic” was also mentioned several times, or, as one respondent put it – “Czechs expect a lot of crap from life and they’re not surprised when they get it.”

Over thirty percent mentioned that Czechs tend to focus on the negatives. For example, “They are proud of their country and history, yet bitch incessantly about it (one Czech friend joked that bitching is the national pastime).”

There were also some more light-hearted observations: “Czechs seem to have a nationwide love for vinegar. Like, seriously, it’s everywhere!”

Question 2: What pre-conceptions do your foreign friends have of the Czech Republic?

Apparently a lot of people think the Czech Republic is still called Czechoslovakia, and they are not exactly sure where it is:

“Basically, they [my friends] just express geographical ignorance. They call it Czechoslovakia (still!), ask if it’s cold here (they’re thinking Russia), are perplexed when you tell them it was never part of the USSR, and call it Eastern Europe. That last point is not technically ignorance as it IS part of Eastern Europe according to most of the rest of the world, and most of the rest of the world does not recognise a region called “central Europe” — even though it is an extremely important region to Czech people.”

Other preconceptions were: “Beautiful women,” “beautiful architecture,” “Czech beer,” “communism,” and “Prague.”

A few respondents mentioned differing reactions depending on the person’s age:

“My Grandma thought I had moved to communist Czechoslovakia and was concerned. My young friends know Czechia as a hip European country.”

Finally, over half the American respondents said their American friends the Czech Republic is much cheaper than it actually is:

“Most Americans envision the scene from the movie Eurotrip, where the characters scrape together $1.25 and feast on lobster and live in luxury.”

Question 3: What are the best things about the Czech Republic?

The same answers came up time and again: “Czech beer”, “Czech nature”, “Prague architecture,” “free cultural events and activities”, “it’s safe”, “access to affordable healthcare,” and “free education.”

Many respondents mentioned the quality of life and the cost of living; some even claimed that in terms of cost-benefit it is one of the best places to live in Europe (and possibly the world).

Thirty percent of respondents mentioned the public transport system (nearly all were talking about Prague).

Another item that came up a lot was the the ease of travelling to nearby European countries:

“You can go by train, car, bus… many things! For me, as an American, that’s the best part. I’m so used to everything being far away in my country. But now it’s all in the palm of my hand.”

A few respondents mentioned the level of personal freedom in the Czech Republic, explaining that people don’t bother you unless you’re bothering others.

Others mentioned that “Prague is very dog-friendly”, which can be viewed as positive or negative, depending on your view of dogs.

Question 4: What are the worst things about the Czech Republic?

A whopping ninety percent of respondents mentioned “bureaucracy.”

“I hate dealing with the government,” wrote one respondent. “The bureaucracy is awful. No one wants to help, no one cares about you or even pretends to.”

This was closely followed by “terrible” customer service:

“Unemployment is not a big issue here and this brings indifferent employees. I don’t like the services here, such as restaurants. The waiters and waitresses just don’t care.”

Others complained about a more general lack of standards:

“From time to time, I complain about the quality. I’m worried about the quality of schools. The teachers are taking their jobs for granted and not interested in improving themselves. Computer labs are out of date. There are posters about floppy disks (if you remember them). People are indifferent and always looking for the cheapest options.”

Elsewhere, over fifty percent mentioned “horrible and dangerous drivers”, and a similar number pointed to the current political situation which — as one respondent put it — “seems a bit hopeless.”

Twenty percent of respondents mentioned “the difficulty of the Czech language:”

“I hate the language. It is baroque in its complexity, and yet it is ambiguous and often leaves a ton of assumptions. There’s no grammatical way to even distinguish a statement from a question, just in terms of word order or anything. Most Czechs speak nothing else, and Czech is extraordinarily hard. I’ve studied French, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Swedish, Japanese, Mandarin, and dabbled in others. Czech is by far the hardest of all of them.”

Question 5: How do Czechs respond to you as a foreigner living in the Czech Republic?

Items that repeatedly came up were: “Giving,” “helpful,” “curious about life in other countries,” and “appreciate that my work here is helping to develop the society.”

A small percentage of respondents mentioned negative reactions. For example, “They don’t see foreigners as a resource which brings money, culture, openness to grow the country (as actually is happening), but as a threat. They just don’t care about you and they often seem irritated to have to deal with you because of the language barrier.”

Around forty percent of respondents mentioned that Czechs seem confused as to why anyone would want to come and live in the Czech Republic. One respondent hypothesised that this could be because Czechs tend to “compare themselves to other countries, and seem both defensive and self-deprecating.”

Does communism still have an impact on the Czech Republic?

The responses in this section were much longer: clearly this is a topic that Czech expats think about and discuss. The answers varied, making it difficult to group them together, so I have included a selection below:

“Many people keep their heads down and try to mind their own business. The reserved nature of Czech people probably has a bit to do with the times when people were screwing each other over in order to achieve a higher social status within the party.”

“When I talk with Czechs who are old enough to remember socialism, many talk about how it didn’t pay to have too many friends or to know your neighbours particularly well. I’ve known many Czechs who say they’ve been living next door to the same people for 20 years or more — and still barely know each other.”

“The buildings are so Soviet. [Also] the furniture.”

“The people don’t take full responsibility for their quality of life. Not enough people have the balls to rely on themselves and instead expect “them” (the government, the institutions…) to do “it” (raise them, secure their salary, fix global warming…).”

“I think communism has made many young people more politically aware, and it encourages voters to vote intelligently.”

“The most noticeable relic of Communism today is the customer service culture (left over from a time when there was no competition).”

“I can still see the “If I can’t have it you shouldn’t be able to have it either” mentality – some enviousness remains”

“It has made Czechs untrusting and cold towards foreigners… Better to be safe than sorry, as they say.”

“There is a tendency to go to the ‘chata’ on the weekend (private life) instead of staying in the city and visiting cafes or museums (public life)…”

“Some people are skeptical of engaging in public life, or mistrust “activists” because they are reminded of the mandatory participation in certain clubs or groups or unions under communism. And they are skeptical of “idealists” who want to make the world a better place.”

“The bureaucracy remains. It is absolutely ridiculous. I think the government is just making up rules as they go. Everything has to be submitted in paper and they have no way of actually filing information about you.”

“The very quick transition to a capitalist system has had an impact. Referencing back to the Communist model of everyone having the same thing no matter the job or effort, the new model has swung pretty far in the other direction, leaving a lot of people behind. This often makes them feel like failures and has created a potentially dangerous nostalgic attitude toward Communist times. My wife and I have heard more than one Czech wax poetic about Communist times, stating “At least they took care of you and you didn’t have to worry about finding a flat or keeping your job”. And the people making these comments are educated professionals in white collar jobs making (I would guess) good salaries.”

“It shows in their behaviour and way of thinking: Czechs are only able to follow clear and specific rules, they do not show any proactivity or any open-minded approach in any situation.”

“People went so long without that they always kept their items forever, fixing them and not replacing them (which isn’t bad). A perfect example is that my father in law’s 25-year old microwave broke — and instead of buying a new one he spent over two weeks trying to fix it. Czech people take very good care of everything, from tea cups, to clothes, to cars. I think it’s because these items were difficult to get during communist times so they are just used to taking care of them.”

Finally, some respondents believe today’s Czechs use communism as a crutch:

“People here have got used to blaming communism for any small details in their behaviour — and personally, I don’t agree with that.”

*Click here for a similar article with Czech respondents.