Do Czechs Hate Foreigners? Part 3

Is this antagonism somehow – at least in part – our own fault? Whatever the truth of the matter, some locals certainly see it this way. Just look at the comment made by Praguer (who we can safely assume is Czech) in response to the last article in this series: “Every time I am in Prague center I can see loads of arrogant foreigners who behave like some kind of superior race. Maybe they consider us to be primitive tribe. And then they wonder that we are hostile.”

Has Praguer merely identified a small minority of loud, big-headed expats who behave as though they own the Golden City just because they get a fat salary from their corporate employer? You don’t have to be Czech to find such types obnoxious. That said, are the rest of us truly willing to learn from our hosts or are we too eager to bitch about the natives with our new buddies? Do too many of us isolate ourselves in an expat bubble while simultaneously attacking a culture with which we have only superficial familiarity?

Put simply, couldn’t we all do a bit more to fit in?

Learn the local language.

So is the struggle with those infamous four genders and seven cases really worth it –especially when it seems every other waiter in Prague is hell-bent on showing the world he’s a polyglot?

“I go out […] with English speakers be they English or Czech. Yes I go to the shops […] I am capable of putting things in a basket.” The British football fan saves the best until last though: “If I need a plumber the wife will call them.”

Not all our readers subscribe to the do-nothing approach: “Another close minded expat that has to get the wife to organize everything for him, got it.” This user is clear on his motivations for making the effort: “It’s up to you if you learn it or not but you are missing half the experience of living here if you have no idea what is going on around you. Unless of course you always have a Czech friend/wife to babysit and explain.”  

It seems reasonable to expect those planning to stay in the Czech Republic for good to master the language.

However, what about so-called transit expats: TEFL teachers working their way around the globe or corporate executives doing a stint in the Prague branch of a multinational company?

If you fall into this category, isn’t it all too likely that you’ll end up focusing your limited time and energy into setting up home, dealing with bureaucracy and making friends rather than language lessons?

I’ve even heard one long-term British expat resident claim that his reason for not learning Czech and fully integrating was that to do so would somehow mean compromising his own culture and mindset – a view I do not subscribe to.

Total integration might not be achievable or even desirable – after all, not everyone wants to eat pork, cabbage and dumplings, wear slippers at work or become a die-hard atheist – but the fact that too many expats leave the Czech Republic having sampled little of the host culture beyond the beer seems a crying shame.

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