You will not face any sort of institutional racism. Vast majority of people will not give a damn about your skin colour or accent, but you can run into idiots anywhere. Even in small towns you should be fine. I would not be surprised if most slurs you hear come from drunks.
This. Idiots are everywhere.
Not only are Czechs pro-Israel, but antisemitism is seen as bad and the recent few pro-Palestinian demonstrations were largely unsupported.
I don't think I can distinguish Russian and Ukrainian accents in Czech. The society is polarised now between pro-Western pro-Ukrainian people (mostly educated, so the ones you are more likely to meet) and pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian people who are kind of against all foreigners. I don't think there are that many of them, but they tend to act loud.
Your kids shouldn't have problems integrating into the society. The Czech society is heavily language-based so being proficient in language is enough. I know several people from my surroundings with Middle Eastern parents, who are fully integrated.
Depends imo on how you define it: some people seem to define it as opposing Israel as a state and it’s right to existence, others as opposing the Israeli far right or the settlement policy. Opposing the Israeli government or Israeli policies isn’t necessarily anti semitic, for instance stuff like the settlement policy, opposing Israel’s right to existence is imo.
That just make you anti half of worldwide Jewish population, so maybe half antisemite?
Also question is what do you mean by being anti-Israel. Is it being against political or military actions taken by Israeli leaders (while holding similar actions of any other nation in the world at the same level of criticism), then not antisemitism.
If you hold Jewish state to different standard of criticism than you would hold any non Jewish state, then it is antisemitism. Meaning for example if you vocally protest against Israeli blockade of Gaza, but you don't against the same Egyptian blockade of Gaza. Or if you protest against Israeli occupation of West Bank, but you would never protest against Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus or Northern Syria. You get the point.
And If you think that only Jewish state in the world should not even exist at all, then again antisemitism. Even if you would for sure find some twisted reason why it actually is not a antiasmitism.
Dont ask these question, the guy has no clue. If you asked him how the conflict started, he would tell you only that un decided there will be israel and then jews came. That is his entire knowledge on the matter.
What the fuck are you even saying right now, in the first paragraph, did you call critics of Isreal half antisemites?
No one has time to vocally protest each conflict happening on this planet, too many of them to count. So If I vocally protest Isreals action but not actions of other country, it does not make me a hypocrite, I am more closer aligned to Palestine than to Cyprus. Do you see the supporters of Ukraine being so vocal about any other conflicts? No, because they dont identify with them as much
Hm id say ALOT of people are "anti foreigner". Ive sometimes been met with such opinions in the first conversation ive had, with a coworker for example.
Nothing wrong with it, being against mass migration and being a nationalist doesn mean youre under educated or an idiot. Theres ways to go about it tho.
One more thing came into my mind - if you visit smaller towns or villages people will probably stare at you a lot. Nine times out of ten it's just curiosity because people of colour are really rare to see outside of Prague and maybe Brno.
Interesting. Either I'm very oblivious or not as conspicuous-looking to Czechs as I thought. I didn't notice that when I was there. Although most towns I visited had a hrad or zámek, so they're probably just used to tourists.
Granies would be watching you, yuo know "babuska" security system. But they watch everione. Bright color of car? They watch you. Large SUV? Prag registration plate? To fancy clothing? To shity clothing? BAM granies will watch you. Just ignore ot them, or in case of close proximity, juts wish them a "Dobrý den" and move along.
I don't know about that, if he looks like a gypsy he very well might. Which he said someone mistook him for one, so it's a possibility. Of course one drunk asshole is not a statistic but it's something to consider.
> Would my Czech having a very Russian accent assuage discrimination based on my looks? When my Czech becomes fluent, will people judge me for still having a heavy Russian accent? I really doubt I'll ever be able to lose it.
You becoming fluent in Czech is the key to acceptance. It doesn't have to be flawless. It doesn't have to feature a native accent. What matters is that natives would see they can talk fluent Czech with you and you would understand, idioms and cultural references included. Respect local culture, get to know it. On the other hand, you are not expected to lose your cultural heritage. Czechs eg. love to experiment with foreign cuisines and may be interested in your experience from abroad.
It might be puzzling for some people that a Middle-Eastern-looking person speaks with a Russian accent but they might then assume that you come from a post-soviet state from the Caucasus region or something. As long as you present yourself as anti-Putin, people should be fine with you.
As a foreigner living in CZ for 15+ years I'd like to elaborate on the above. Speaking the language is key. As long as you are more or less fluent you are accepted. In fact speaking fluently but with an accent is the ideal combo - at the moment you open your mouth you are no longer mistaken for some local minority looked upon with prejudice by the Czech people. Instead you will be admired and even complimented for the effort you put in learning the language (not the easiest one). If you are in Prague or Brno your skin tone will be absolutely irrelevant.
I think that if you live in Prague or Brno, you can even get around speaking only English, in the bigger cities ppl don't have a problem with that in my experience. But i have to consider that my social group is one the more tolerant and educated parts of Czech society.
You can easily survive with English only in Prague or Brno indeed. Especially within your social bubble . It's beyond it where you need the language - starting with shops and finishing with the authorities. And even speaking the language fluently you can have some interesting interactions but they are exceptions. I don't have a Russian accent unlike OP but my papers are in the Cyrillic script ( Latin as well). So once I had to explain to a lady in a state institution who looked at my ID and disgustedly said she's not able to read Cyrillic that beside the ID being bilingual she is supposed to be able to, being old enough to have mandatorily studied Russian in school. The reaction was priceless - everyone who overheard the conversation was rolling on the floor laughing and the chameleon in the zoo could envy the changes in the colours of her face.
> ethnically I am Jewish
Czechia is the most pro Israeli country in the world after USA.
The Jewish community here are integrated into the society.
> Middle Eastern
Just tell everyone you are a Jew and not Muslim.
> Czechia is the most pro Israeli country in the world after USA.
I am very aware of this and really deeply appreciate it! But Hungary for example manages to be both pro-Israel and pretty antisemitic so I don't automatically assume based on that... But the fact you respond this way makes it clear that's not a common combination for you guys.
> Just tell everyone you are a Jew and not Muslim.
Yes I guess my question is more "am I likely to encounter a situation where I won't be given time to explain or people might not be receptive to explanations".
Thanks for the answers!
You will fit right in then.
Czechs love people who can take a politically incorrect joke about themselves.
Czechs don't like people who get easily offended and cry racism.
I just come to say I really appreciate your approach in the whole discussion. It's admirable and you sound like you'd fit it.
Btw, if you haven't met the phenomenon of Jára Cimrman, please learn something about it.
I'd say one has to be careful about making jokes about Czechs or Czech history before getting a decent handle on what is and isn't sensitive topic.
There are some ingrained insecurities where our humor turns sour rather quickly.
Other than that, blast away.
Oh yes our humor is dark. Very. So dark that it could harvest cotton.
But jokes aside we dont much care about your ethnic. At least in Prague.
edit:Typo
My Czech grandmother used to say "zpět na pole" - "back to the field"...because she lived in a countryside with a huge field-like garden full of vegetables and potatoes that she planted and tended. There were no plantations (or slaves) like they were in the US, thus no saying "back to the plantation", to my best knowledge 
I think if you laugh at the next joke you will be fine.
Spoiler alert very dark humor.
>! Do you know the difference between Santa and a Jew? !<
>! One comes down the chimney. !<
To be honest, in my social bubble at least, we express more xenofobia against hungols than against jews.
Especially in the educated work environment I would say your experience will be very dependent on the actual people you meet. For example in IT environments where I was, the teams are really multi national and altough some jokes can happen sometimes, I have never seen any true racism.
If you are willing to learn Czech, people will actually really welcome you as one of us, as the language is one of the biggest national symbols thanks to the history and so on.
But yes, idiots are everywhere, but Czech Republic is almost a paradise when compared to what you can experience almost anywhere else.
What I would be worried most about would be at work and such. If you were unlucky and got a racist boss (or colleagues and an indifferent boss) or something you could have a hard time.
Depending on how you want to work here though that might not be an issue. Lots of foreigners work as contractors in various capacities which is much easier than getting employed as a foreigner, though that depends on the sector as well and has been slowly getting better.
>Yes I guess my question is more "am I likely to encounter a situation where I won't be given time to explain or people might not be receptive to explanations".
Why do you think Huingary should be antisemitic?
Have you not read how Orban and his party push antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros, evoking the trope of the wealthy and sinister Jew who secretly runs the world and is trying to poison the blood of nations by letting migrants and degenerate ideas in?
Sorry did you quote the wrong block of text or also mean to say something about the quoted block?
> Why do you think Huingary should be antisemitic?
It's hard for me to say exactly. It's considered pretty "common knowledge" in my circles. I think it's a mix of anecdotes I've heard and polls I've seen? But honestly I may be mistaken. And not to say I don't appreciate their support of Israel. If they don't like Jews but support Israel and I'm not in Hungary, the arrangement works for me. :)
>It's hard for me to say exactly. It's considered pretty "common knowledge" in my circles. I think it's a mix of anecdotes I've heard and polls I've seen? But honestly I may be mistaken. And not to say I don't appreciate their support of Israel. If they don't like Jews but support Israel and I'm not in Hungary, the arrangement works for me. :)
I am there pretty often. If you would dressed as an orthodox jew, you would be much safer in Budapest than in most of the western european capitals or bigger cities. But this will be the same also with Prague or Bratislava as well.
Yeah I don't have much time to respond to everything but the thing that caught me off guard is that we love Jews, even the shit we will throw on any other religions the Jews always get the pass just because of our shared history
[this is all the Czech people ever since Israel became a thing](https://youtube.com/shorts/Olzi9RfZ-x0?si=jEE1e1Wf58RqSab3)
Bonus points if you plan to speak Czech (even non-fluent in the beginning) people will be happy here as not much foreigners even bother to speak Czech.
I did notice that when I visited. Lots of the tours were only available in Czech but I caught ~50% of it and the tour guides were very helpful when they realized I was learning.
You'll find that many (and the vast majority of younger) Czechs speak English, we just don't like speaking to strangers (and that includes other Czechs).
If you do speak to us though it's usually not an issue. And if you start by a small Czech introduction you might amuse a lot of people enough for them to want to help you more, even if it's not necessary.
> we just don't like speaking to strangers
Actually, many younger will jump on any opportunity to practice talking in English, since our schools suck at it
Seems the other questions are answered pretty well, so I'll pick up the fifth one:
> I understand that if I move to a place like Czechia, ultimately I'll always be a "guest" rather than a true local. But if I had children with a local, would they be accepted as locals? Or will they also always be outsiders? What if I had children with a non local? (I'm not sure what my personal life will be like by the time I move of course.)
There are two ways to answer it.
First is that in some settings even a Czech that moves from one village to another village may remain to be viewed as "other" by some of the neighbours. This is especially true of people who have their entire work and private life in town and then use their house near the town mostly for sleeping.
Now a general answer for a foreigner: Being "Czech" is generally understood as beng part of the culture and language. In that regard this is a very open society and you don't need to worry if you put hard work into it (no, you don't have to become atheist beer-drinker that drives Škoda to fit in, e.g. I know a muslim who became member in village football club and local shooting club and is perfectly considered as "one of their own").
Interesting, this is a very New World perspective. I didn't expect that from a very homogenous society but all the better. It's nice to know I could even be considered a local myself.
Since 1400s, the Czech culture/nationality was to a large degree marked by its contrast to Germanic culture/nationality. Inherent part of that was a strive to entice both German speakers as well as "others" (Jews, immigrants) to join the Czech culture/nationality instead of German.
Once the Germans were granted their wish of becoming part of a German state after WW2 (albeit differently than they asked for when 90% voted for Nazis in 1938), there was a huge immigration wave from all around the Eastern Europe to make up for those lost numbers.
So the society is homogenous in that it is very Czech in culture and language, but is significantly less homogenous when you look at ancestry and DNA.
In education you will hardly be the only foreigner. In my university there are many people from India and Russia facing absolutely no issues in their career paths. In bigger cities you should be Ok, your children too.
In smaller vilages people dont speak english at all usually, so they will treat you worse probably.
> In smaller vilages people dont speak english at all usually, so they will treat you worse probably.
If I can communicate in Czech would I be treated fine?
You'll be likely treated no other than a regular Czech would. Which could mean that people will be really nice to you, or they will be heartless bitches looking only for their own interests.
The worst case that will be different might be some banter or if they want to make a reason to hate you they will add ethnicity to it, but it will not be the source of problems.
Some people are just extremely close-minded, especially in small villages, and in general hate anyone new. But that's only an issue if you want to live there, and it might change with time.
Confirming. Got a (still) heavy Russian accent, people don't care. It's who you are, your values and behaviour that matter. But that applies mostly to people who work in education, IT and such; probably would be very different in areas like construction :)
With this attitude towards gypsies you'll fit right into our population, worry not.
Jokes besides you really don't have much to worry about. There's no systemic racism towards any ethnicity to speak of here, and when it comes to day-to-day inconveniences, all I can say is that idiots are everywhere.
Antisemitism is highly disliked in the Czech Republic. As a country, we're one of the most pro-Israel there is, and population isn't that far off either. Jewish community was very precious and important to us during Habsburg times, and when the nazis came for them, we were in the same boat.
Looking middle-eastern might come with some idiots (usually drunks or old people) having inappropriate comments, but hopefully, nothing major. I studied with a guy named Ramdam with fairly dark skin and didn't see anyone having problems with him. Also, in boyscouts, we had a muslim kid, and besides the kids sometimes being assholes, as they tend to be, he didn't really have any problems fitting right in.
Any attempts to speak Czech (no matter how broken) are dearly appreciated by most, so you'll be probably fine in that department.
And as for your children, they'll most likely be seen as "cool" for being part-foreign. Even if both their parents were non-czechs, as long as they speak Czech, they are ours, and no one will have problems with them.
> With this attitude towards gypsies you'll fit right into our population, worry not.
Until I started travelling as an adult in Europe I naively thought "how bad can they really be?" I quickly learned...
Yea unfortunately, finding a well mannered gypsie is quite rare. They do exist and they are a lot of fun to hang out with, but the vast majority live in Ghettos.
And usually even if they move to somewhere "nice" the place quickly gets beaten down to the usual look.
On the streets people will avoid you if you have dark skin color because of Gypsies. You will not be attacked or anything just people will be careful about you.
Also there is very strong anti-religious trend.. not really anti any particular religion but anti ALL religion. We are a country of Atheists and religion doesn't exist for us.
> Also there is very strong anti-religious trend.. not really anti any particular religion but anti ALL religion. We are a country of Atheists and religion doesn't exist for us.
This I also like. I'm not religious either. :)
I'm also American (though white-passing) and while I've heard every manner of off-colour joke, I've almost never heard anything racially *vicious.* Even the bitching about the Roma seems more rooted in annoyance than racism. The big trick is to keep learning and improving and practicing your Czech- these folks will bend over backwards for a foreigner, especially an Anglo, who makes an effort with the language.
For context, I'm an English teacher, and my students- adults included- all say the same thing: "Czech is a horrible language that even Czechs can't speak perfectly. If you can get close enough to correct that we can guess your meaning, and if you can roughly understand what we're saying, you're golden."
A foreign accent is actually helpful. I am a very skilled mimic- I can even "ř" correctly- and learned the hard way that if you sound too native, people will either think that you're Slovak or a very fluent foreigner, and rattle off in Czech at a mile a minute. I had to force myself to speak Czech with an American accent to cue people that no, really, pomála prosím!!
Here's my two cents about the Czech Republic outside Prague, because I think Prague is like any other big Western city in this regard.
You will come across quite a few people here with, let’s say, undiscerning senses of humor. They might not know a lot about the problems of other people elsewhere in the world and think, “I don’t mind Czech jokes so I’m sure he/she won’t mind a little Jew joke”. Cringey though it may be, I’ve seen it a thousand times and have never sensed real animosity in it; it’s more like a curiosity to engage with a foreigner combined with ignorance or naivite. True discrimination on account of dark skin or origin in an educated professional setting though is impossible for me personally to imagine.
Gender is a slightly different story. There is a LOT of casual sexism against women which may seem even worse if you’re coming from the US. Again, Czechs are very anti-conflict and not malicious so it tends to remain in the realm of “joking” or especially stereotypical assumptions, but it is there, even in educated professional settings.
As for your specific ethnicity and religion, given the thousand years Jews lived here, the horror that went on here in WWII, and the fact that the communists continued with their persecution, I would say, like others have, that Czechs feel a strong affinity for Jews and Israel in general. It’s unimaginable to me that anyone here would in any way look down on someone because they’re a Jew, I’ve just never seen that at all. Someone who is oevertly zealously religious might get a lot of curious stares because we don’t quite get the whole religion thing and those who are religious are (I dare say) usually the same ones who know nothing about other religions than their own. Very orthodox Jews might be looked at as eccentric, but eccentricity is pretty OK here.
An affinity for Israel, though, doesn’t equate to everyone supporting Israel’s military engagements with Palestine. That pretty much cuts along ideological lines, with right-wing citizens supporting it and liberals taking issue with it, and this may well come up if you get to chatting about politics with someone.
As for the Russian accent, I can only say… well… Can you try to work on it? :D Russians are met with deep, deep skepticism here and should show that they are opposed to the regime.
And lastly, with your last question, I’ll be honest with you: the Czech Republic is a very homogenous society and while you will make lots of good friends, certainly be accepted, face little to no discrimination and get (in my experience) less general grief even than in the US, unlike in the US you will never be considered a local unless you speak flawless Czech. It’s just not like the US where a naturalized citizen becomes “just as American” as a natural born one. In fact I would say CR is opposite to the US in this regard: Get US citizenship and you’re one of us, though we might be mean to you because of your looks anyway - Come to CR and you’ll face little to no racism, but you’ll never be “one of us”.
Disclaimer: all of this is based on my own personal subjective experience, I’m not claiming it’s “the truth”, it’s just what I see.
EDIT: Man, after looking at your history, I kind of regret answering you. To talk that kind of hate and slurs about a whole group of people and come here worried about being discriminated against is kind of breathtaking. I think many Czechs would feel very uncomfortable with you if you are as fanatical irl as you are in those comments.
I like to think we are humanists here; we don't do fanaticism.
> Someone who is oevertly zealously religious might get a lot of curious stares because we don’t quite get the whole religion thing and those who are religious are (I dare say) usually the same ones who know nothing about other religions than their own. Very orthodox Jews might be looked at as eccentric, but eccentricity is pretty OK here.
I'm not religious so I don't mind lol.
> An affinity for Israel, though, doesn’t equate to everyone supporting Israel’s military engagements with Palestine. That pretty much cuts along ideological lines, with right-wing citizens supporting it and liberals taking issue with it, and this may well come up if you get to chatting about politics with someone.
That's reasonable as long as nobody is hostile to me personally because of it. I don't really like to talk politics much so that works for me in Czechia too.
> As for the Russian accent, I can only say… well… Can you try to work on it?
Try, yes. Succeed? Very unlikely. :(
> In fact I would say CR is opposite to the US in this regard
Interesting, another commenter was telling me the opposite. He said that you just have to be fluent in the language.
I do think a Russian accent might be less bad a reaction than the other poster believes because most Czechs I don’t think can recognise between Ukrainian and Russian and lots of eastern Ukrainians have a Russian accent now so ironically it might get you less of a reaction than before because now they’re more likely to assume you’re Ukrainian and most Czechs support Ukraine.
Edit: Realised you are and look Middle Eastern so that might make the assumption of Ukrainian less likely than Russian but honestly not sure
> Edit: Realised you are and look Middle Eastern so that might make the assumption of Ukrainian less likely than Russian but honestly not sure
Are they more likely to assume I'm from some ethnic hole in Russia's periphery than a Jew from Ukraine?
Man, after looking at your history, I kind of regret answering you. To talk that kind of hate and slurs about a whole group of people and come here worried about being discriminated against is kind of breathtaking. I think many Czechs would feel very uncomfortable with you if you are as fanatical irl as you are in those comments.
I like to think we are humanists here; we don't do fanaticism.
>Interesting, another commenter was telling me the opposite. He said that you just have to be fluent in the language.
And imo both are correct. Let me elaborate.
In the US the nation idea is value based (US consitution), so anyone who adheres to these values and gains citizenship will be regarded as American by the majority of the population. Even if the person themselves still identifies as German, Italian, Egyptian, Mexican, etc. they are American first and, whatever their ethno-cultural background is, second.
In Europe, where you come from is more defining how people view you. For example, my cousin born to a German mother and an English father, speaking German fluently (with a British accent), living near Munich for over a decade, is regarded as "Fränkischer Engländer" Franconian Englishman by his Bavarian friends.
Living in Prague for almost seven years now and speaking Czech, my experience is the same and I wouldn't expect it to change if I went for the Czech citizenship.
However, just like my cousin is beloved and accepted in Bavaria, I've been beloved and accepted in Czech Republic. I don't have to be a Czech, it is sufficient that I respect Czech culture and participate in it, when I am with friends or colleagues in Prague. Personally, I never encountered racism towards me and the few instances of xenophobia said more about the people uttering them than they did about me (some people recognize me as German, others think I am Czech until I start speaking; so visually I don't stick out much).
tl;dr while only few Czechs would ever fully regard you as Czech even if you acquire citizenship, as soon as you begin speaking their language and embracing (parts) of their culture, the majority of them will welcome you almost as if you were one of their own.
Akademické prostředí je kosmopolitní, liberální a v pohodě. Na ulici hodně záleží i na oblečení a chování. Češi se oblékají spíše ležérně a sportovně a cizinec ze západní Evropy vedle nich vypadá overdressed. A to chceš aby tvůj styl, "smart casual" a vypadat jako západoevropan. Teplákovka adidas, to je je styl Rusko, Balkán a dál na východ, ghetto, tak nechceš působit.
Česko a Praha má pořád ještě pověst místa přátelského k Židům. Aspoň více přátelské než jinde. Nějaký přízvuk má každý cizinec a pokud nebudeš působit "jako Rusák" i chováním nebo nevkusným stylem, tak si tě náhodní lidé spíše nijak negativně nezařadí.
I'm not going to answer your questions, but I got to know quite a lot of people coming here and I would like to share their experience
It really depends where exactly do you go. Prague is becoming very much of a welcoming international metropolitan area. In everyday life, you should face little problems in here. Pilsen should be fine 80% of the time and I wouldn't dare to try anything else xd
As far as older people are concerned, yes, they are very superstitious, but here's the thing: for some reason, they are willing to overlook anything if they see a PhD at the back of your name :D
You will come across idiots time from time, but I wouldn't let that stop you. The country is evolving and these things get better every day.
Czechs will tell you that you will not have a problem and discrimination is not an issue. That is if you speak Czech, embrace Czech traditions and customs, don't stand out too much or focus on what makes you different or specific to your background. Basically they will tell you, that you will be fine provided you assimilate as much as possible. Make what you want of it.
Czech republic may not be (very) antisemitic, but is very islamophobic including people who just look like they might belong to that category. It is also very antirussian but your advantage is that noone what so ever will be able to tell apart a Russian or Ukrainian accent, so you are safe on that.
Good luck.
I know a guy, a very middle-eastern looking Jew from Israel, who's been living here for like 10 years, has a great job, a wife, two kids...
He never mentioned any issues about xenophobia/antisemitism/racism.
I think Czechs like the Jews quite a lot. Probably mainly because we dislike Muslims so much...
I would take many of the comments here with a grain of salt and would maybe try to seek out specifically some POC to ask their experience. Not so long ago a POC expat shared in a very polite way some of the racism they face in this country and most of this sub got really defensive, started dismissing their experience, saying that racism in Czechia doesn't exist, and told them to go back where they came from if they don't like it here.
I am a white Czech personally who lives abroad but still visits a lot and has some POC in my social circles, and from my POV I'd say that especially in Prague you should be mostly okay.
Most people will not directly discriminate against you, but you will also definitely get microagressions, "innocent" jokes, maybe even occasional slurs, so it also depends how much of that you're willing to accept. I've also witnessed a case where a POC, unprovoked, got physically attacked in a grocery store with slurs yelled at them, and the security and police were dismissive saying that stuff like this just happens sometimes. Czechia is ethnically very monolithic (except for the well-integrated Vietnamese community and the not-so-well and heavily stigmatized Roma community), so a lot of the discourse about racism, the importance of actively fighting it, and how microagressions can be harmful just hasn't happened here yet.
Traveling in a country and being a tourist does not equal that you would love it as much here living in it
Just food for thought. Especially Americans seem to always be a bit blindsided by the tourist experience and then end up hugely disappointed when moving here.
As a white American who has lived here for 23 years, I can tell you that even though I am from a country and ethnicity that is very well accepted here, sometimes there are people who will act differently around you. Try to charge you too much, etc. Of course, this may be my imagination or it may happen to Czechs, but I do get the impression that some people just don't like any type of foreigner and will try to passively aggressively make things hard for you.
There is also racism here, especially towards gypsies, so if your looks at all resemble that, you will need to be aware of that. But most people are good and open, and as long as you stay with a decent class of people, they should be quite accepting. But a pretty sizeable part of the population is racist towards gypsies at a minimum.
Also my wife is Russian and although her Czech is very good, she does feel discriminated against. I don't know how much of this is real and how much is just insecurity on her part, but I think at least some of it is real. There are definitely many (I'd say even most) Czechs who have a deep hatred for Russia and the Russian people, especially given the latest developments.
Some people here are saying you need to be able to speak Czech like a local to be able to be accepted. And yes, that's probably true, but unless you already speak a Slavic language, you are probably looking at 10-15 years of weekly lessons and studying to get to that level. I am still not there after 23 despite at least taking some czech classes and trying to speak it by default in most of my interactions with Czechs, looking up words constantly in the dictionary, even quizzing myself with flashcards daily for a few years.
I don't currently live in Czechia but am Jewish, with a Czech parent and spend a lot of time there. Most Czechs do not know that until I tell them.
I would see if you can get feedback from Jewish people living there. Maybe post on /r/Jewish. I think sometimes people who aren't Jewish, don't really know what the atmosphere is like for Jews right now.
I've never heard a Czech person speak badly about jews. During world war 2 the Czech population tried hard to protect the jews living there. Ethnic discrimination might be a risk but it's pretty low chance for someone jewish. You are way more likely to be judged for having a Russian accent (in my experience Czechs don't massively like Russians) than for being Jewish. It shouldn't cause any problems though.
I really recommend asking a fellow foreigner because Czechs will obviously say how we are not racist etc, but obviously if you cannot experience something you cannot rate how bad someone else has it.
Regarding the language I would add that younger or educated people will actually prefer to speak in English with you as some of us love to practice English. Your great English as native and Czech language on level “you are bad but at least trying” should be more than enough. As pointed out previously, Czech is sometimes difficult even for natives 😀
First, a little disclaimer: A lot of people here will be white Czech people who don't have have the first-hand experience of being Middle Eastern-looking person in Czechia. We can only judge from what we've witnessed second-hand. So, my observations (and the observations of many other commenters here) might not exactly be accurate, especially since many Czech Redditors are very likely to move in the more... tolerant and liberal circles.
That said...
>1. How likely would I be to encounter discrimination in an educated professional setting for my looks? (I can't blame you guys too much for this, I hardly wish to be associated with the groups that I share a lot of my DNA with.)
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>2. How likely would I be to continue to encounter discrimination in an educated professional setting if I made it clear what I actually am? (I'm not one to get offended at jokes of course, I mean genuine hostility.)
I think you should be fine. I don't think you're likely to face any sort of systemic racism. Especially not in an educated professional setting. And frankly, any company that would tolerate something like that is most likely not one you'd want to work for. You might face some annoying idiots in your daily life, of which there's unfortunately way too many.
However, racism in Czechia is a very different beast than in some other countries. It's more about xenofobia than a disgust of "lesser races". Obviously, racist idiots are everywhere, but more often than not, it's because people are afraid of... well, of the unknown, of anything they don't understand, anything foreign. And certain media do their best to stoke that fear. This was at its worst when the refugee crisis begun and everyone was screaming about how refugees would take our homes, crime would increase etc.
However, that was years ago, and surprisingly the world hasn't ended and the refugees didn't take over the county. Nowadays, there are other things for people to fear.
So, wherever you might work, people might be somewhat wary at first, but once they get to know you a little bit, realize that you're a perfectly normal person, it should be fine. Doing your best to speak Czech will definitely help you there.
>How likely would I be to encounter discrimination going about daily life or travelling to smaller towns?
Like I said, xenofobic idiots are everywhere, but admittedly it can be a bit worse in smaller towns. Some people in smaller towns who don't spend a lot of time in larger cities don't really encounter many (or any) non-white people in their daily lives. However, unless you encounter some absolute troglodyte, nobody is going to start screaming at you or actually doing anything. At most, you'll face some nasty looks. And for every such idiot you encounter, you'll also meet plenty of people who will be perfectly ok with you.
>Would my Czech having a very Russian accent assuage discrimination based on my looks? When my Czech becomes fluent, will people judge me for still having a heavy Russian accent? I really doubt I'll ever be able to lose it.
There are many Czech people who dislike Russians in general. Ukraine is obviously one reason, but plenty of people also remember being occupied by them for 20 years. Now, most people, especially in the younger generations don't blame individual Russians for it, but the dislike is there. However, funnily enough, your Middle Eastern looks could work in your favor here. I don't think most people would consider you a Russian with your complexion.
>A bit of a side note, I understand that if I move to a place like Czechia, ultimately I'll always be a "guest" rather than a true local. But if I had children with a local, would they be accepted as locals? Or will they also always be outsiders? What if I had children with a non local? (I'm not sure what my personal life will be like by the time I move of course.)
If you live in one place for a while and are friendly with the neighbors, you'll be considered a "true local" eventually. It might not even take that long. Same thing with your workplace. In short, all the places that matter the most (your home, work, small shops you frequent etc.) will consider you a local. And if you actually marry and/or have kids with a local, it'll only cement that even more.
> Expect to be judged on your merit and nothing else.
Awesome.
> Just be polite, speak some words in the local language, and smile and you'll be alright.
Ok, more or less in line with what I did as a tourist. Having an innate feel for "vy" is helpful. :)
> There are many, many native Russian speakers living in the Czech Republic. You'll be fine (as long as you dislike Putin and the war, which I hope you do).
I more mean will people assume I'm not Middle Eastern because of my accent? And is there "accent snobbery"? Because my Czech is doomed to have one. I couldn't get rid of a ridiculous English accent in French despite learning it from childhood. And yeah, not exactly many Putin fans among young Russian-speakers in the West so not a problem.
> You're getting ahead of yourself. Just try living there first, then see what its like. No need to start wondering about your future wife/husband and kids at this point.
That's true haha. Just tossing potential questions out there since even temporarily moving is a pretty big commitment.
Thank you for the answers!
There is nothing such as "accent snobbery". At least I haven't enounter any that is meant in bad blood and not in playful jabs against each other. We make fun of Pražák's 'Čáááu', Moravian's 'Tož' or Ostravak's short speaking, but most people don't really differentiate and judge by accents, especially if it is clear you are a foreigner.
We know, most civilised countries do. :)
Brotip: Comparing us with Russia or the CCCP will get you upset looks. It's like comparing a nice, cute rock with a pile of manure.
Also not that you did but some do so don’t call Czech post-soviet, we weren’t ever part of the USSR. Generally also avoid the term Eastern Europe, that’s a fairly controversial label
Expanding on that wife and kid topic, they would be considered locals. There are already more generations of originally foreigners and they are fine, or to be more specific, in my surrounding social circles and where I live or have been.
I have had some experience with middle eastern looking residents in czechia, since I worked in a tearoom to support myself during studies and we would get may foreign regulars. Never once did I have to resolve any conflict between foreigners and czech citizens. But you have to understand, foreigners are somewhat of a rarity in czech republic, although Prague is very used to foreigners and there you would fit right in. Even in smaller but still decently sized cities you would be fine. For example i live in a 100k city and we are fine with foreigners, its mostly just the villages where the backwards people live, but even there, I'm 99% sure you would not experience any actual violent hostility, our rates of violent crime are generally very low, the police force is organised, professional and held under court scrutiny. As for professional environment as well as government and education, there really shouldnt be any institucionalized racism, your career and children should be fine. We are used to both ukrainians and russians most people cant distinguish the two anyway, so russian accent shouldnt be a problem as well. I really hope its just not my social bubble, but I really think you would be fine, aside from maybe a despicable comment from an idiot here and there. And you being ethicaĺy jewish should actually be beneficial to you, we czechs are big friends with israel and many individuals are pro-israel inclined, even in the government.
Move to Josefov if it is a real concern, it is historically the Jewish area of Prague and the majority of businesses and real estate is still owned by Jews. Gun ownership is also highest here in the country, and it is probably correlated.
Prague isn’t a place with that much open racism however, the only issues I’ve had in three years of living here have been tourists (always German).
That's interesting, I saw some Jewish restaurants there but I thought it was because of the tourists from Israel.
Also, given your name: how are research jobs in Czechia like? How available are they and do they pay well? Either public or private.
It was a Jewish ghetto that was destroyed in a pogrom in the 1800s to look like Paris… (hence Pariska being the main road)
My username was given to me by Reddit I believe but I did actually work in research a while. Either work remotely for a foreign company or a tech company here, salaries are horrific (although getting closer to European average)
In my experience, there is definitely a simmering low level of anti-Russian sentiment. Several times I have heard a Czech person ask someone if they're Russian or Ukrainian, and then be a little warmer if the answer is Ukrainian, and a little colder if the answer is Russian. I've seen a few times where someone was already annoyed with another guy and then brought him being Russian into it. So it's not that people will target you just for that, but they might use it against you if they're having a problem with you.
My advice would be that you don't have to have perfect Czech, but try to de-Russify the accent a bit. Definitely don't bang on about Russia, don't compare things to it, don't bring it up much at all. If people ask, answer honestly but then get on with it.
> 1,2
Unlikely.
> 3,4
Possibly to some degree yeah, unfortunately. You may face some silent hate, but you shouldn't really be in danger or significantly disadvantaged imo. Probably best if you simply learn to not give a fuck.
> 5
If the children learn fluent Czech, they will be perceived as locals.
My take:
Nah. You will certainly meet annoyingly loud people trying to make sure you would feel threatened and unwelcome, but just move a few steps back and forget what they've said. It's a minority of people not liking any sort of foreigners not looking like them or coming from the west/ far eastern sides.
If you are going for a corp job, the chance of meeting such people in the professional setting is very low. Not zero, but very, very low.
As for small towns, unless you are unlucky and step into a small village full of stuck-up people, the most common encounter is curiosity, not discrimination.
Regardless whether you make it clear or not, Czech people tend to be very curious and 'unpleasantly probing', but it's not to be taken bad. So expect high interest in where you're coming from, your cultural traditions etc. Not to be taken negatively.
Since you are coming from the US and are of ME origin, if you learn Czech, you either end up sounding like a typical Westerner, or a Middle Eastern/ African speaking Czech. To catch other Slavic accent you would have to learn the basics of another Slavic language and already have some accent there.
With being taken local... That really depends on the area you plan to settle in. Cities and suburbs are more likely to take you as a local after few years if you show appreciation and understanding for the local culture. Legally, that's a different story.
First and foremost, being Jewish is more well received than being Muslim. As a matter of fact we love Israel, provided that you behave more like an American (i.e. polite) rather than a typical Israeli (who can be rude).
When it comes to directness we are more close to Israeli culture - i.e. get to the point and don't waste my time (we have a saying: "Don't walk around hot porridge")
When it comes to politeness we are more close to Europeans/Americans, i.e. don't snap your fingers at a waiter, don't call him out because "he's not your dog."
Is there discrimination? No, is there curiosity? Yes. People might ask you where are you from but it's mostly because they are interested and "direct" (see previous points).
That being said you will find idiots everywhere.
You will become "Czech" and not a "guest" if you learn the language. It's a hard language to learn so by learning it you will amaze every Czech person. I think I can safely say that if you'll consider yourself Czech, we will consider you Czech too.
Examples of who (I personally) wouldn't consider Czech:
\- A Russian who learnt the basics of Czech but still speaks Russian everywhere and acts Russian. I.e. doesn't condemn Russia, thinks Russia is great and didn't learn about Czech history to know enough that we hate Russians.
\- A western expat who never learns Czech.
\- A muslim Arab who doesn't want to align with our values.
People who I consider Czech:
\- An Arab who keeps his culture at home (his home, his rules), respects ours (on the streets/outside) and understands that we don't tolerate bullshit. He learnt / is learning Czech.
\- A Russian who understands that the Soviets invaded and occupied us and denounces the current Russian regime or even feels ashamed to be Russian and is actively learning (or learnt) Czech.
\- A western expat who is trying to learn / learnt Czech. Respects the customs and doesn't get wasted like every Brit in Prague center.
I'm a Czech expat living in Israel currently and I follow my own "rules" to be considered Israeli:
\- I respect the culture
\- I'm actively learning and trying to speak the language
\- I'm learning (more) about history and Jewish culture in general
Will the Czech republic benefit from having you come?
Absolutely yes! Especially if you're a "brainiac". I've been following what has been happening in the US and it's disgusting. So if you'll feel safer in the Czech republic then please come.
In general I recommend Prague as it's a bigger city and you'll have it much easier the first few years.
Hit me up in the DMs if you have any questions.
i would much recommend asking the expat community on this question, and focusing on people with similar experiences as yours. Of course Czech people are not gonna say they’re bad guys. (i made this mistake myself)
Racism is hard here, at least in Prague which is thought to be more tolerant due to being a capital with lots of tourists and international people.
That’s all from me, can’t answer your questions as they’re too specific, and i don’t have a perspective on them
I have lived in the CR for a long time. Visually I pass as a white Czech man and my Czech language is quite good but not close to native-level. I live in a small village but work in Prague.
I feel like my Czech neighbors often take me as Czech. If I had brown skin I don't think they would do that even if I had everything else.
When I don't speak I pass. I suspect that my life here would be less comfortable if that was not the case. But that is just me.
It seems like you have appropriate expectations and already a large amount of knowledge and experience, so I think you will be fine.
Still, don't expect moving to another country to fix your life.
Here the biggest discrimination relates to roma(gypsy) people. I dont know how much you look like them. If no, you will be generaly ok. If yes, it depends.
If you will be in some corporate or stuff, you will be ok. If you dress more formally, you should be also mostly ok. Lot depends on location. Prague is better than rural parts.
Russian accent is generally disadvantage, but together with not looking as russian, i believe people will be more confused.
If you will be in Prague, you can be accepted, not as local but more like "noone cares where you are from". We have strong expat comunity.
I feel bit ashamed about how czech is in this but this is as close to reality as I see it.
1. Most can't tell by your looks
2. Just don't overshare. Don't get offended by bad jokes.
3. If you know the language very little. As far as small communities go, you will get pretty much the same treatment as anyone else. Ie "get of my lawn"
4. It might at first, but with our acceptance of Ukrainians (most can't tell the difference, I sure can't) it should get better
5. As far as "being local", it's about language, some traditions and culture etc. As long as you don't prevent your kids from learning Czech (there are some households like that) they will just be Czechs.
It depends on the people you meet and work with. In general there should not be a problem, but idiots are everywhere. I dare to say we are not really used to seeing foreigners, compared to other europian countries, so you will definitely be getting the looks (it is not that bad in big cities though). I would try to work on the accent (at least from movies), but it is not necessary, just a nice perk. About becoming a Czech, I think we have a little weird mentality of who we consider a local. Imo, you have to know the czech language (I don't know if it is the same as in english, but if yes it might be the B2/C1 level). Our language is tightly coupled with our history, so you should have at least basic knowledge of it. Then you should learn about our culture, know the famous people, like the first president, artists (Gott, Werich, ...), writers (Čapek, Kafka, ...) and last but not the least, understand our specific humor. Not even every Czech knows this, but personally I would rather consider a Czech person someone who is nice, has some basic knowledge and understands us (nevermind he came from Malaysia) then some Czech who behaves like a jerk and does not know the difference between byly/byli. This is my opinion, and some people will never consider you a local, but I probably would.
Btw. I really like one comment here: "We hate everybody equally, except for russians and gipsies.". It is sad but true, these are the least popular groups here. But most people can recognize a good man, no matter the ethnicity.
In a nutshell. We dont fucking care. There is a Reason why during First republic we were basically human Zoo.
Only thing you should be aware of is our love for dark humor. We love it. Especially if topic is something like... dead kids...
Ahoj - I know this is very late but short answer no.
My family is from Klasterec nad Ohri, which is a town near the German border, and there actually is some racism there, but it's not towards Israelis so you'll be fine. It's mostly towards "gypsies." Czech was my first language along with English and German, and while I can still speak Czech fluently enough to have conversations about every day stuff it is not a very specific vocabulary (i don’t learn terms u learn in school because I grew up in El Barrio here in NYC🇻🇪🇵🇷🇨🇿🇦🇹), and nobody except my own family would ever really harasses me even when I accidentally said "prsa" instead of "prasa" (LOL) so GL you'll be fine. Most Czech people in my town at least are too lazy to learn a new language (I think it's very different in Prague but idk) so if it were in my town at least ppl would be glad that u tried to learn our language.
nashledanou
We are quite a uniform country when it comes to culture, looks, race, etc. So in between locals you will probably always stand out a bit.
But when it comes to Prague for example, there are so many foreigners at this point nobody will think anything bad of you unless you give them a reason to do so.
Czech culture is deeply bigoted and a bit obtuse in regards to what is and isn't ok, however always less and less so. If you move to Prague you will probably be fine, if you move to some rural village you may find yourself a pariah. But maybe not.
Also there is a concerning amount of neo-nazi activity in this country that people like to pretend doesn't really exist because that would mean doing some hard self-reflection and acknowledging that culturally, some changes need to be made ASAP so be aware of that too.
>Also there is a concerning amount of neo-nazi activity in this country that people like to pretend doesn't really exist because that would mean doing some hard self-reflection and acknowledging that culturally, some changes need to be made ASAP so be aware of that too.
Agree with you. I am brown coloured and my girlfriend is czech, we were once in České Budějovice and she was harassed by two guys, when I asked them to leave one guy made a call and said come we got one. My girlfriend understood and we made a run for it.
In Prague I feel the safest although I got two times called names. But never went violent
It's been an ugly issue here since the Nazi occupation. Unfortunately the only thing many Czechs learned from both the Nazi and Soviet occupations was how to dehumanize and degrade others.
They also don't realize(or don't want to realize) that the adolescent and tired "dark humor" that they've normalized doesn't help the situation. Very frequently when people are "joking" they aren't actually joking, and are in reality looking to see who quietly agrees with their bigoted "joke". Other times they are joking but not everyone around them is laughing for the same reason they are and the bigots start to feel more comfortable.
However, I really don't think most people here want to enable things like neo-nazism. They just don't want to look internally in that way, it's heavy and scary. Either way, I have been here for many years and in general, I have only seen improvements for the most part, so whether they want to have that dialogue with themselves or not, choices are being made by Czechs that have been making things better.
Is there racism here? Sure, but there’s racism most places, it’s bad but it’s a world thing not a Czech thing though my condolences for your harassment, fuck them
Ad 1) There is always a non-zero probability that you encounter a hostile person but it is not systemic. The experience you described in the last paragraph (one hostile guy throught your Czech journey) is realistic.
Ad 2) Jews are quite respected in the Czech society; and just recently, the Isreali ambassy has arranged billboards in several Czech towns where Israel thanks for the support... Of course, Jews have some problems with immigrants from Muslim countries but it is typical for Western Europe where Muslim communities are strong.
Ad 3) Even smaller towns are used to immigrants; in particular Vietnamese and Ukrainians; both groups are accepted quite well despite occasional objections that are however based on (sometimes justified sometimes unjustified) feeling that they get some unfair advantages. For example, that Vietnamese do not pay taxes or that Ukrainians get their housing expenses fully covered and locals don't get that benefit.
Ad 4) I don't think so, especially if you wear standard Western clothing. If you wear kipot or any other religious or otherwise non-standard clothing, they might find it interesting and point at it. As for accent, since people usually can't tell difference between Russian and Ukrainian, they may think that you are an Ukrainian based on your Russian accept.
Ad 5) The problem with immigration to EU is that most immigrants come here for utilitarian reasons of gaining economic benefits for their living, not because of love of the host country, their history, their lifestyle, their citizens. They then form closed communities of people living their original lifestyle separated from the mainstream in the host country; and if their communities are strong, the original locals may have feelings of "hijacked" neighborhood / town / county / country... But if you show them that it is not your case and you choose the country because you like it not because you had to and that you want to integrate, people will appreciate it and help you as much as possible to succesfully integrate... Such Middle-Eastern immigrants and / or their children have achieved success even in Czech politics. For example Raduan Nwelati (mayor of Mladá Boleslav) or Hassan Mezian (former senator elected for a north Bohemian region)
[https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raduan\_Nwelati](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raduan_Nwelati)
[https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan\_Mezian](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Mezian)
BTW, if there is one reason why to consider a different location for immigration, it is paradoxically economic: The Czech Republic has one of the worst earnings to living expenses ratio in EU (or even in the world). So for example, even many Ukrainians after recent cut in benefits they receive from the governent decided to move back to Ukraine or to other EU member state because althought they earn more than in Ukraine, the expenses for living in the Czech Republic are much higher and so it does not economically pay off to live in the Czech Republic.
Im Israeli, im half Spanish jewish and half middle eastern I’m not white but not very dark either, never have i face discrimination here, and i been with a few Czech girls too, Czechs are super pro Israel, i remember me and my Indian friend went to immigration office and his experience was vastly less pleasant than mine.
Yes czechs could be racist to some but as far as Israel, I have always been treated great by people and especially after I tell them im israeli.
So all good just dont be a cunt you will be fine 😂
Shalom, OP! I am Jewish, was born in the USA, and emigrated to Czechia almost two years ago. My father and grandparents were born in Vienna, but my grandmother's family came from Bohemia/Czechia and my grandfather's family from Slovakia. I work next to a jewish cemetery where my 4x great-grandparents are buried!
Anecdote: I met the mayor of a small town near České Budějovice, and told him about my ancestry. He was very excited to meet me and told me how much he respects Jewish people, and how sad it makes him that so few remain in the Czech Republic. It was actually a very moving and memorable encounter.
I hope you will be happy living here.
> I work next to a jewish cemetery where my 4x great-grandparents are buried!
How stereotypically Jewish of you to brag about how many graves your family has.
Haha nice one. I was quite surprised to find out about these graves. I didn’t know much about this branch of the family until after I moved here. In stereotypical Jew fashion I place small stones on the graves whenever visit.
Shalom! This is very heartwarming to hear that Czechs have such kind feelings toward Jews. Obviously I have very warm feelings for Czechs, so it's nice that it'd be reciprocated. How will did you know Czech when you first moved? And thank you!
Since LuckyVersion4044 already well explained the other things, I'll just clear it up that if you're *not* a native speaker of any slavic language, or if you haven't been learning Czech from very little age - which I assume isn't the case by you - You'll never be really fluent in the language, if you aren't exceptionally language-tallented. It's a fucking hard language, even we Czechs have problems speaking it properly!
I know a YouTube channel of an American who lived here for ten years, and learned the language - and her accent is still thick as hell. As per my understanding, English speakers have most problems pronouncing ch and ř. They also often don't pay attention to long vowels, and pronounce them short.
Not to sound too pessimistic, but if you think you're learning the grammar easily, you're probably missing something. I'm native and failed to learn the grammar miserably :)
Having said that, Czechs get hung up on the grammar a lot but I strongly believe that one should not worry about it too much - fluency is paramount.
Bonus, if a native speaker is giving you a hard time, ask them what is the plural instrumental of "mouse". E.g., how do you say "with mice"? Typically they will not be sure.
This is tough question thought
From my experience, I would say that black people are actually more accepted - or tolerated better to say - than what you are describing - "middle eastern types" especially muslims.
Let me abstract on that if there any rational reasons for this or not, just let me try to describe
But, to be honest, it really depends, where are you located, I mean in the big and bigger cities, the most of the people would not care as much.
In case of Russian accent I would say that, some of people might just be looking "through the fingers" but you shouldnt get any serious discrimination at all.
Even in case people will be thinking in the matter of this, usually nobody expose this ideas on public, especially not directly to the given persons.
I fully understand to your worries, but I would say it wont be easy, but on the other hand I believe it wont be hard. Especially in Prague or Brno, there are many abroad students actually so foreigners are kind a integrated in the mindset of the locals already, and foreigners themselves usually dont care at all about the others.
0) ethnically Jewish - very few people care (maybe some neonazis but they are not really organized or numerous), Judaism is not a contentious topic in Czech, people generally keep religion to themselves and most people are not at all religious; if you drink beer on occasion you're fine, be careful about attitude to not eating pork
1 + 2) should be fine in educated setting - depends what setting and where - international/big companies no, academia also probably not
3) you might get looks for not being local (i.e. out of the norm) but you will get treatment more or less on what you are wearing - whether you are classified as a foreigner or a gypsy; if you'll live in a village that has strong folk thing (southeast Moravia for instance) showing in your folk clothes at folk events is actually encouraged (this will probably not apply to you)
4) that one is hard to lose because the accent is on different syllable
5) your potential kids, as in the rest of EE, will be outliers, their experience will depend a lot on where they go to school; you might not be accepted as a local by strangers but if you make friends then you might get into the common thing of casual racism where: 'all people like this are X, except /u/KissingerFanB0y \- he's my friend and not like the others'
So, you are a Kissinger fan boy, with a cease pool of racist comments calling for nuking countries and civilians, but worried about discrimination? A bit hypocritical, don't you think ?
This is pretty racist country, regardless of how much my fellow czechs are trying to mask it in the comments. One person saying "tell them quickly you're jew" should tell you enough about Czech perception of anyone that's not white, or even Czech.
While czech historical and political stance tells you of friendliness towards jewish people, reality often does not represent it, outside of Prague.
I had minor incident with friend in Zlin area, just because he was jewish. Now here comes the joke that majority of Czechs don't discriminate, they hate everyone equally.
You'd think that this country accepted Ukranians with open arms, but they face discrimination pretty much on every level, and most czech people don't want them here.
You'd find nice people, yes, obviously, but this is harsh reality.
Now, do Czechs express this racism openly ? Not so much, even though I encountered even confederate flags (for some reason) in rural areas.You should be fine, especially in touristic areas and Prague, of course.
Now, Prague is very liberal city, especially with younger generations, as it goes with big cities and capitals. Loving and open minded people, whose morals are not guided through countries political views. Big impact on that has huge international community, as well.
If you want to make friends, I would say that there are bigger chances you are discriminated based on your stances, rather than ethnicity and colour of your skin.
Edit: Obviously, my comment was not talking about professional setting. I have 20+ nationalities in my team, including people with varieties of backgrounds, religions and skin colour. There was never an issue, but at the same time, nobody would openly say things you wrote on reddit, since this would grant contract termination.
Things here do not tend to get political like in US. Not everything is black or white. We do not live lives tailored to our political or religious views. Love and let live, you should be fine.
> So, you are a Kissinger fan boy, with a cease pool of racist comments calling for nuking countries and civilians, but worried about discrimination? A bit hypocritical, don't you think ?
It's a trolling account with comments in a troll community. Don't worry about that. :D
I'm too lazy to make a separate serious-posting account for these rare occasions so just disregard the dual use, thanks.
No one gives a damn. If you will speak Czech fluently, everyone will accept you even as a local. There will always be people who will discriminate you, but thats mostly brain washed and dumb minority, basically the type of people who wont even surround you in your professional life and rarely in public.
if you're going to big cities like Prague I think you shouldn't worry, most important is to learn Czech, even with bad accent I think locals will appreciate it (but in Prague you can probably do well with English). In village you might encounter some racism (probably from older people) but I don't think it's anything you should worry about as well.
It's definitely a case of vocal minority, an overwhelming majority will treat you with respect and/or indifference. Regardless, you might turn a couple heads if you intend to move to more of a rural area where foreigners are less common, but that's more the case of people simply being curious, bigotry at large isn't a thing here as much as the prior mentioned vocal minority of people of, let's call it, certain level of intelligence, would have you believe.
Hey bud,
I am half Czech half Armenian living in Prague for pretty much my whole life. So I do have a little chocolate in my latte if you know what I mean.
1. You will not be discriminated against in a professional setting, depending on what you do most companies are international and would avoid any negative publicity. What you will encounter are jokes and general humor which depending on your american sensibilities might be misconstrued as racist, honestly sometimes it will be racist without intent. When people make jokes about you with you, sitting in a pub that means you are part of the social group.
2. Genuine hostility due to race is unlikely in a higher level position, if you feel like someone is hostile to you go talk to your manager. Perhaps if you were working in a coal mines...
3. Discrimination is unlikely, people will give you looks and you will be asked where are you from in the local pub. Thats caution and intrigue. The odd drunk at 2 am might have racist comments but it will still be safer than most places in the US.
4. We like when people try to learn the language and try to speak. Perhaps your accent sounds Russian to you but wouldn't sound that way to people here. Here is a pro tip when in doubt revert to english instead of russian. On a side note I don't know why you would have a russian accent if you are US educated. 🙂
5. This is an interesting question. Ultimately it does not matter. example: In the us everyone always talks about a "community", people living on the same street are for some reason a community. It is not so here, unless you actively get together or share some hobby or activity you would be a community. You will be part of what ever community you chose to be in and what will dictate how people view you is your behaviour. There are not that many people of color in Czech Republic so when you see someone of the norm stereotypes kick in, like with your encounter with the drunk. You will not always be a guest, nor will your kids. You might look different and you will always get the looks, however it is behaviour that dictates response.
Being brown in predominately white country gives you different experiences, I wouldn't call Czech society in no way racist, cautious and vigilant of outsiders yes. You will realise that there is a certain pressure on you to do better and behave better, to have better manners and be virtuous unless you are to be judged badly and your whole race with you.
The worst thing you can do in day to day life is to inconvenience others, this society is very much about live and let live, keep your religion/politics/social issues at home or at the pub, don't ask people to go out of their way for you unless you know them.
Learn the 3 important words - Pivo, Prosím, Děkuji, occasionally smile, remember that first people exit the room/vehicle and then you can enter the room/vehicle and you will be golden.
You should ask in an expats living in Prague forum, there are many groups on FB, not locals who have never lived abroad as foreginers and have no clue on what it's like to be an expat, much less one that admittedly looks middle-eastern in the cz.
I am surprised by the other commenters. Perhaps they live in a much more tolerant place than I do, but I would honestly think that you would face a lot of discrimination. Probably not from people in your field, but in your day to day life as you're out and about.
Frequently I see people on the street turn around when someone speaks in a foreign language and shout at them. Older people tend to harass foreigners out of stores, especially so if they foreigners are of a minority the older people consider "bad" (Ukrainians, Russians, black people in general, anyone from the Middle East).
I have a fair share of friends who are of those groups and they can confirm that they face a LOT of discrimination in their daily lives. We're all university students and at campus there is no problem, but your average Czech is a bigoted and dumb 50+ years old person, and my colleagues and friends face a lot of yelling and slurs outside of campus.
> especially so if they foreigners are of a minority the older people consider "bad" (Ukrainians
Czech Republic has literally accepted the highest amount of Ukrainian refugees per capita.
I think that most of your concerns are real and you can truly encounter some hate, more in smaller towns probably. Or like weird looks more than direct hate. Mostly with randoms tho, not people you will be in contact with on Daily bases. But i would not say thats its on level of it being reason to not move here. I personaly think based on experience that US has far more racist people than Czech republic. I am just trying to say that you will not fully avoid some negativity it here in CZ considering current situation in Europe with muslims if you look like one. Being jew, i dont think that would be issue for almost anyone here.
If you want ask Any additional questions :) so i can explain it better. But your question would be probably best to be answered bysomeone ethnicalyclose to you who live here.
> Mostly with randoms tho, not peopke you will be in contact with on Daily bases.
Ok great this is what I care most about of course.
> I am just trying to say that you will not fully avoidid some negativity it here in CZ considering current situation in Europe with muslims if you look like one.
Ok well I guess I'll shave often and tolerate it when it does happen.
> If you want ask Any additional questions :) so i can explain it better.
None at the moment but thanks for the offer. Maybe if something comes to mind I'll reply here in a while. Thank you!
I think that you might experience some prejudice, but when people will know you little bit better it will go away. For example I dont especially like certain ethnic group in cz because i have bad experience with them just like many others in my country. But i know few which are cool and i know them well enough to say not all of them are bad. Its just hard you know when you have bad experience with some group, so you are naturaly more carefull or defensive. So like there might be negativity towards certain ethnic groups where people will throw you in same bag with them(not sure if its right wording in english lol), but it will not be agaisnt you as individual if you will act as decent human being you know?, so try not take it that seriously if someone has initial negative reaction as its just people having previously bad experience for example or just being afraid.
> but it will not be agaisnt you as individual if you will act as decent human being you know?
Yeah as long as it's not dangerous I don't mind that sort of thing.
Don’t worry, you’ll be just fine. Idiots are everywhere, but as pointed out from other commenters - majority of people simply don’t care about what you do or don’t do, as long as it’s not interfering with their lives.
If you don't dress in extravagant clothes or outright religious symbols in public, most people will be indifferent to you as to anyone else. We Czechs hate people that leach of the social system so if you are employed and your children go to school you will be golden.
You looking Middle Eastern will be more of an issue for you than being Jewish, and being Jewish will be less of problem here than in US I'd say. We of course also have jQ style dumb fucks in our country but it's not as widespread. I'd not be talking much about current Palestinian conflict though, nobody's going to attack you but they can definitely start seriously disliking you. Doesn't really matter if you support Israel or not, we have both groups here and they are very polarized on the subject (not that anyone's supporting Hamas, more like condemning Israel as genocidal fascists due to Palestinian civilians treatment).
>4. Would my Czech having a very Russian accent assuage discrimination based on my looks? When my Czech becomes fluent, will people judge me for still having a heavy Russian accent? I really doubt I'll ever be able to lose it.
You won't look Russian and you're American, so I doubt that.
>5. A bit of a side note, I understand that if I move to a place like Czechia, ultimately I'll always be a "guest" rather than a true local. But if I had children with a local, would they be accepted as locals? Or will they also always be outsiders? What if I had children with a non local? (I'm not sure what my personal life will be like by the time I move of course.)
The largest factor would ve if they speak Czech. Still the political situation worldwide is rather volatile at the moment so who knows what the sentiments will be like in several years.
If you consider moving the best advice I'd give you is to make a trial run first (so rent, don't immediately buy property), see how you like it here and then decide if you want to stay. Were among the safest countries in the world so it's extremely unlikely anything worse than someone throwing couple of insults your way would happen to you.
answers to 1. 2. 3. and 5. is: dont be asshole, drink beer and drive škoda fabia. Answer to 4. is: american czech have different accent than russian czech and most of people could recognize difference. So no, this is not something which should bother you
1) no
2) it sounds like you will be discriminated on basis of being American unless you leave this baggage at home
3) muricans speaking czech get major positive discrimination
4) you will fit in with huge minority of russians/ukrainians
5) as long as you keep this prism up, you will be
Honestly, americans are amongst most welcome foreigners, right after british. If anything, it's gonna be easier for you than other immigrants and even natives.
I think everything Will benokay, except that Russian accent, Most od the times in random encounters, but se Are not So mean, like i know there Are people, that do bad thinks with nothing, but IT most likeli ve Okay, if you dont want to live in some places, like hoods if you understand
There are so many influencers which can there and ruin your whole experience and feeling from this place. Depends on your social bubble, job, hobbies or even connection you already have. Prague is the most suitable place for foreigners because its more the most open and progressive city (probably). But even this its hard to find a new friends as Czech one because its better for them to speak their language and you will probably experience this even in mixed workplace with full of expats. On the others hand no one's care about religions. It's probably better to not even mention it because it's personal thing only. On the end, its not so easy for foreigners to live here, but for example Prague is really nice place to live.
the key to getting accepted is simple. learn czech, drink beer, eat svíčková, understand our humour. theres a youtube channel of a woman whos been living here for 10 years (the channel is called dream prague, it might help you understand the culture more) and i think she might now have her citizenship though im not sure, i havent watched her in a while, but if you look in the comments of the older videos, majority of the people in the comments say that shes already ours even though shes not officially a citizen yet. theres idiots everywhere but overall its a really safe country so dont worry about it too much. you’ll be fine
You will not face any sort of institutional racism. Vast majority of people will not give a damn about your skin colour or accent, but you can run into idiots anywhere. Even in small towns you should be fine. I would not be surprised if most slurs you hear come from drunks.
This. Idiots are everywhere. Not only are Czechs pro-Israel, but antisemitism is seen as bad and the recent few pro-Palestinian demonstrations were largely unsupported. I don't think I can distinguish Russian and Ukrainian accents in Czech. The society is polarised now between pro-Western pro-Ukrainian people (mostly educated, so the ones you are more likely to meet) and pro-Russian anti-Ukrainian people who are kind of against all foreigners. I don't think there are that many of them, but they tend to act loud. Your kids shouldn't have problems integrating into the society. The Czech society is heavily language-based so being proficient in language is enough. I know several people from my surroundings with Middle Eastern parents, who are fully integrated.
Being anti-Israel doesn't make you an antisemite, just a quick reminder.
Depends imo on how you define it: some people seem to define it as opposing Israel as a state and it’s right to existence, others as opposing the Israeli far right or the settlement policy. Opposing the Israeli government or Israeli policies isn’t necessarily anti semitic, for instance stuff like the settlement policy, opposing Israel’s right to existence is imo.
That just make you anti half of worldwide Jewish population, so maybe half antisemite? Also question is what do you mean by being anti-Israel. Is it being against political or military actions taken by Israeli leaders (while holding similar actions of any other nation in the world at the same level of criticism), then not antisemitism. If you hold Jewish state to different standard of criticism than you would hold any non Jewish state, then it is antisemitism. Meaning for example if you vocally protest against Israeli blockade of Gaza, but you don't against the same Egyptian blockade of Gaza. Or if you protest against Israeli occupation of West Bank, but you would never protest against Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus or Northern Syria. You get the point. And If you think that only Jewish state in the world should not even exist at all, then again antisemitism. Even if you would for sure find some twisted reason why it actually is not a antiasmitism.
Well, kinda. You can still dislike IDF or the current Israel government while still being anti Hamas
Dont ask these question, the guy has no clue. If you asked him how the conflict started, he would tell you only that un decided there will be israel and then jews came. That is his entire knowledge on the matter.
What the fuck are you even saying right now, in the first paragraph, did you call critics of Isreal half antisemites? No one has time to vocally protest each conflict happening on this planet, too many of them to count. So If I vocally protest Isreals action but not actions of other country, it does not make me a hypocrite, I am more closer aligned to Palestine than to Cyprus. Do you see the supporters of Ukraine being so vocal about any other conflicts? No, because they dont identify with them as much
Hm id say ALOT of people are "anti foreigner". Ive sometimes been met with such opinions in the first conversation ive had, with a coworker for example. Nothing wrong with it, being against mass migration and being a nationalist doesn mean youre under educated or an idiot. Theres ways to go about it tho.
Awesome, this was my general impression and the answer I hoped to receive. Thanks!
One more thing came into my mind - if you visit smaller towns or villages people will probably stare at you a lot. Nine times out of ten it's just curiosity because people of colour are really rare to see outside of Prague and maybe Brno.
MA AN ARAB TERRORIST IS IN OUR VILLAGE
Interesting. Either I'm very oblivious or not as conspicuous-looking to Czechs as I thought. I didn't notice that when I was there. Although most towns I visited had a hrad or zámek, so they're probably just used to tourists.
Granies would be watching you, yuo know "babuska" security system. But they watch everione. Bright color of car? They watch you. Large SUV? Prag registration plate? To fancy clothing? To shity clothing? BAM granies will watch you. Just ignore ot them, or in case of close proximity, juts wish them a "Dobrý den" and move along.
PoC are rare and get stared at in Prague, too.
>Vast majority of people will not give a damn ...about essentially anything. Welcome to the Czech Republic.
I don't know about that, if he looks like a gypsy he very well might. Which he said someone mistook him for one, so it's a possibility. Of course one drunk asshole is not a statistic but it's something to consider.
> Would my Czech having a very Russian accent assuage discrimination based on my looks? When my Czech becomes fluent, will people judge me for still having a heavy Russian accent? I really doubt I'll ever be able to lose it. You becoming fluent in Czech is the key to acceptance. It doesn't have to be flawless. It doesn't have to feature a native accent. What matters is that natives would see they can talk fluent Czech with you and you would understand, idioms and cultural references included. Respect local culture, get to know it. On the other hand, you are not expected to lose your cultural heritage. Czechs eg. love to experiment with foreign cuisines and may be interested in your experience from abroad. It might be puzzling for some people that a Middle-Eastern-looking person speaks with a Russian accent but they might then assume that you come from a post-soviet state from the Caucasus region or something. As long as you present yourself as anti-Putin, people should be fine with you.
As a foreigner living in CZ for 15+ years I'd like to elaborate on the above. Speaking the language is key. As long as you are more or less fluent you are accepted. In fact speaking fluently but with an accent is the ideal combo - at the moment you open your mouth you are no longer mistaken for some local minority looked upon with prejudice by the Czech people. Instead you will be admired and even complimented for the effort you put in learning the language (not the easiest one). If you are in Prague or Brno your skin tone will be absolutely irrelevant.
I think that if you live in Prague or Brno, you can even get around speaking only English, in the bigger cities ppl don't have a problem with that in my experience. But i have to consider that my social group is one the more tolerant and educated parts of Czech society.
You can easily survive with English only in Prague or Brno indeed. Especially within your social bubble . It's beyond it where you need the language - starting with shops and finishing with the authorities. And even speaking the language fluently you can have some interesting interactions but they are exceptions. I don't have a Russian accent unlike OP but my papers are in the Cyrillic script ( Latin as well). So once I had to explain to a lady in a state institution who looked at my ID and disgustedly said she's not able to read Cyrillic that beside the ID being bilingual she is supposed to be able to, being old enough to have mandatorily studied Russian in school. The reaction was priceless - everyone who overheard the conversation was rolling on the floor laughing and the chameleon in the zoo could envy the changes in the colours of her face.
yeah, just become fluent in czech, behave exactly like czechs, know the traditions, separate waste and you will not see any racism
Don’t worry mate. We hate evrybody equally
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Or russians
> ethnically I am Jewish Czechia is the most pro Israeli country in the world after USA. The Jewish community here are integrated into the society. > Middle Eastern Just tell everyone you are a Jew and not Muslim.
> Czechia is the most pro Israeli country in the world after USA. I am very aware of this and really deeply appreciate it! But Hungary for example manages to be both pro-Israel and pretty antisemitic so I don't automatically assume based on that... But the fact you respond this way makes it clear that's not a common combination for you guys. > Just tell everyone you are a Jew and not Muslim. Yes I guess my question is more "am I likely to encounter a situation where I won't be given time to explain or people might not be receptive to explanations". Thanks for the answers!
We are pro Israel and we love anti-semitic jokes.
Well I'll have quite the repertoire to contribute to your national collection then.
You will fit right in then. Czechs love people who can take a politically incorrect joke about themselves. Czechs don't like people who get easily offended and cry racism.
This is one of the reasons I like Czechs. :) The Anglo world is very exhausting.
We were called the laughing beasts for a reason ;)
You are a right-wing Jew?
I just come to say I really appreciate your approach in the whole discussion. It's admirable and you sound like you'd fit it. Btw, if you haven't met the phenomenon of Jára Cimrman, please learn something about it.
I'd say one has to be careful about making jokes about Czechs or Czech history before getting a decent handle on what is and isn't sensitive topic. There are some ingrained insecurities where our humor turns sour rather quickly. Other than that, blast away.
Definitely, imo modern history is pretty much fine and before 1938, the main period to avoid if you’re not sure is 1938-1989
Oh yes our humor is dark. Very. So dark that it could harvest cotton. But jokes aside we dont much care about your ethnic. At least in Prague. edit:Typo
Do you guys by any chance also say "back to the plantation" when you need to go back to working on something?
We say zpátky do roboty - robota was a form of serfdom from which word robot comes.
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zug zug
Tak já teda jdu
my favourite thing is that we say “do we have a black slave at home?” if somebody doesn’t close the door after themselves
Chovej se jako bílej.
nice username
Lmao I love this.
If you go farther east, we are even less tact and say "Do you have a nigger behind your arse?!"
Haven't heard the expression here but in Bulgaria the plantation is overly specific - it's "back to the sugar cane" there.
My Czech grandmother used to say "zpět na pole" - "back to the field"...because she lived in a countryside with a huge field-like garden full of vegetables and potatoes that she planted and tended. There were no plantations (or slaves) like they were in the US, thus no saying "back to the plantation", to my best knowledge 
I think if you laugh at the next joke you will be fine. Spoiler alert very dark humor. >! Do you know the difference between Santa and a Jew? !< >! One comes down the chimney. !<
I like you already. Keep that thinking up, learn the langauge and you will fit right in.
To be honest, in my social bubble at least, we express more xenofobia against hungols than against jews. Especially in the educated work environment I would say your experience will be very dependent on the actual people you meet. For example in IT environments where I was, the teams are really multi national and altough some jokes can happen sometimes, I have never seen any true racism. If you are willing to learn Czech, people will actually really welcome you as one of us, as the language is one of the biggest national symbols thanks to the history and so on. But yes, idiots are everywhere, but Czech Republic is almost a paradise when compared to what you can experience almost anywhere else.
People here are not likely to escalate into physical violence. But to be sure, try not to look like a gypsy...
What I would be worried most about would be at work and such. If you were unlucky and got a racist boss (or colleagues and an indifferent boss) or something you could have a hard time. Depending on how you want to work here though that might not be an issue. Lots of foreigners work as contractors in various capacities which is much easier than getting employed as a foreigner, though that depends on the sector as well and has been slowly getting better.
>Yes I guess my question is more "am I likely to encounter a situation where I won't be given time to explain or people might not be receptive to explanations". Why do you think Huingary should be antisemitic?
Have you not read how Orban and his party push antisemitic conspiracy theories about George Soros, evoking the trope of the wealthy and sinister Jew who secretly runs the world and is trying to poison the blood of nations by letting migrants and degenerate ideas in?
Sorry did you quote the wrong block of text or also mean to say something about the quoted block? > Why do you think Huingary should be antisemitic? It's hard for me to say exactly. It's considered pretty "common knowledge" in my circles. I think it's a mix of anecdotes I've heard and polls I've seen? But honestly I may be mistaken. And not to say I don't appreciate their support of Israel. If they don't like Jews but support Israel and I'm not in Hungary, the arrangement works for me. :)
Because hungarians are basically slovaks that you cannot understand.
>It's hard for me to say exactly. It's considered pretty "common knowledge" in my circles. I think it's a mix of anecdotes I've heard and polls I've seen? But honestly I may be mistaken. And not to say I don't appreciate their support of Israel. If they don't like Jews but support Israel and I'm not in Hungary, the arrangement works for me. :) I am there pretty often. If you would dressed as an orthodox jew, you would be much safer in Budapest than in most of the western european capitals or bigger cities. But this will be the same also with Prague or Bratislava as well.
Ok but to be fair it's not exactly the locals that make it unsafe for Jews in Western Europe.
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That's true but it'd still be unpleasant to live in.
Yeah I don't have much time to respond to everything but the thing that caught me off guard is that we love Jews, even the shit we will throw on any other religions the Jews always get the pass just because of our shared history [this is all the Czech people ever since Israel became a thing](https://youtube.com/shorts/Olzi9RfZ-x0?si=jEE1e1Wf58RqSab3)
Bonus points if you plan to speak Czech (even non-fluent in the beginning) people will be happy here as not much foreigners even bother to speak Czech.
I did notice that when I visited. Lots of the tours were only available in Czech but I caught ~50% of it and the tour guides were very helpful when they realized I was learning.
You'll find that many (and the vast majority of younger) Czechs speak English, we just don't like speaking to strangers (and that includes other Czechs). If you do speak to us though it's usually not an issue. And if you start by a small Czech introduction you might amuse a lot of people enough for them to want to help you more, even if it's not necessary.
> we just don't like speaking to strangers Actually, many younger will jump on any opportunity to practice talking in English, since our schools suck at it
Seems the other questions are answered pretty well, so I'll pick up the fifth one: > I understand that if I move to a place like Czechia, ultimately I'll always be a "guest" rather than a true local. But if I had children with a local, would they be accepted as locals? Or will they also always be outsiders? What if I had children with a non local? (I'm not sure what my personal life will be like by the time I move of course.) There are two ways to answer it. First is that in some settings even a Czech that moves from one village to another village may remain to be viewed as "other" by some of the neighbours. This is especially true of people who have their entire work and private life in town and then use their house near the town mostly for sleeping. Now a general answer for a foreigner: Being "Czech" is generally understood as beng part of the culture and language. In that regard this is a very open society and you don't need to worry if you put hard work into it (no, you don't have to become atheist beer-drinker that drives Škoda to fit in, e.g. I know a muslim who became member in village football club and local shooting club and is perfectly considered as "one of their own").
Interesting, this is a very New World perspective. I didn't expect that from a very homogenous society but all the better. It's nice to know I could even be considered a local myself.
Since 1400s, the Czech culture/nationality was to a large degree marked by its contrast to Germanic culture/nationality. Inherent part of that was a strive to entice both German speakers as well as "others" (Jews, immigrants) to join the Czech culture/nationality instead of German. Once the Germans were granted their wish of becoming part of a German state after WW2 (albeit differently than they asked for when 90% voted for Nazis in 1938), there was a huge immigration wave from all around the Eastern Europe to make up for those lost numbers. So the society is homogenous in that it is very Czech in culture and language, but is significantly less homogenous when you look at ancestry and DNA.
> no, you don't have to become atheist beer-drinker that drives Škoda to fit in *but would that help?*
In education you will hardly be the only foreigner. In my university there are many people from India and Russia facing absolutely no issues in their career paths. In bigger cities you should be Ok, your children too. In smaller vilages people dont speak english at all usually, so they will treat you worse probably.
> In smaller vilages people dont speak english at all usually, so they will treat you worse probably. If I can communicate in Czech would I be treated fine?
You'll be likely treated no other than a regular Czech would. Which could mean that people will be really nice to you, or they will be heartless bitches looking only for their own interests. The worst case that will be different might be some banter or if they want to make a reason to hate you they will add ethnicity to it, but it will not be the source of problems. Some people are just extremely close-minded, especially in small villages, and in general hate anyone new. But that's only an issue if you want to live there, and it might change with time.
Confirming. Got a (still) heavy Russian accent, people don't care. It's who you are, your values and behaviour that matter. But that applies mostly to people who work in education, IT and such; probably would be very different in areas like construction :)
Youll be ok… just avoid cheap pubs and bars later at night…
And be carefull around gypsies
Well that applies regardless of how I look.
With this attitude towards gypsies you'll fit right into our population, worry not. Jokes besides you really don't have much to worry about. There's no systemic racism towards any ethnicity to speak of here, and when it comes to day-to-day inconveniences, all I can say is that idiots are everywhere. Antisemitism is highly disliked in the Czech Republic. As a country, we're one of the most pro-Israel there is, and population isn't that far off either. Jewish community was very precious and important to us during Habsburg times, and when the nazis came for them, we were in the same boat. Looking middle-eastern might come with some idiots (usually drunks or old people) having inappropriate comments, but hopefully, nothing major. I studied with a guy named Ramdam with fairly dark skin and didn't see anyone having problems with him. Also, in boyscouts, we had a muslim kid, and besides the kids sometimes being assholes, as they tend to be, he didn't really have any problems fitting right in. Any attempts to speak Czech (no matter how broken) are dearly appreciated by most, so you'll be probably fine in that department. And as for your children, they'll most likely be seen as "cool" for being part-foreign. Even if both their parents were non-czechs, as long as they speak Czech, they are ours, and no one will have problems with them.
> With this attitude towards gypsies you'll fit right into our population, worry not. Until I started travelling as an adult in Europe I naively thought "how bad can they really be?" I quickly learned...
Yea unfortunately, finding a well mannered gypsie is quite rare. They do exist and they are a lot of fun to hang out with, but the vast majority live in Ghettos. And usually even if they move to somewhere "nice" the place quickly gets beaten down to the usual look.
I see you already had some personal experience. Did you have the pleasure of Gypsy Fair Fight yet?
Imagine living next to them...
One day maybe I won't have to just imagine. :)
oy vey
Yes
:DDDDDDDDDDDD
On the streets people will avoid you if you have dark skin color because of Gypsies. You will not be attacked or anything just people will be careful about you. Also there is very strong anti-religious trend.. not really anti any particular religion but anti ALL religion. We are a country of Atheists and religion doesn't exist for us.
> Also there is very strong anti-religious trend.. not really anti any particular religion but anti ALL religion. We are a country of Atheists and religion doesn't exist for us. This I also like. I'm not religious either. :)
I'm also American (though white-passing) and while I've heard every manner of off-colour joke, I've almost never heard anything racially *vicious.* Even the bitching about the Roma seems more rooted in annoyance than racism. The big trick is to keep learning and improving and practicing your Czech- these folks will bend over backwards for a foreigner, especially an Anglo, who makes an effort with the language. For context, I'm an English teacher, and my students- adults included- all say the same thing: "Czech is a horrible language that even Czechs can't speak perfectly. If you can get close enough to correct that we can guess your meaning, and if you can roughly understand what we're saying, you're golden." A foreign accent is actually helpful. I am a very skilled mimic- I can even "ř" correctly- and learned the hard way that if you sound too native, people will either think that you're Slovak or a very fluent foreigner, and rattle off in Czech at a mile a minute. I had to force myself to speak Czech with an American accent to cue people that no, really, pomála prosím!!
> I am a very skilled mimic- I can even "ř" correctly I kneel.
Here's my two cents about the Czech Republic outside Prague, because I think Prague is like any other big Western city in this regard. You will come across quite a few people here with, let’s say, undiscerning senses of humor. They might not know a lot about the problems of other people elsewhere in the world and think, “I don’t mind Czech jokes so I’m sure he/she won’t mind a little Jew joke”. Cringey though it may be, I’ve seen it a thousand times and have never sensed real animosity in it; it’s more like a curiosity to engage with a foreigner combined with ignorance or naivite. True discrimination on account of dark skin or origin in an educated professional setting though is impossible for me personally to imagine. Gender is a slightly different story. There is a LOT of casual sexism against women which may seem even worse if you’re coming from the US. Again, Czechs are very anti-conflict and not malicious so it tends to remain in the realm of “joking” or especially stereotypical assumptions, but it is there, even in educated professional settings. As for your specific ethnicity and religion, given the thousand years Jews lived here, the horror that went on here in WWII, and the fact that the communists continued with their persecution, I would say, like others have, that Czechs feel a strong affinity for Jews and Israel in general. It’s unimaginable to me that anyone here would in any way look down on someone because they’re a Jew, I’ve just never seen that at all. Someone who is oevertly zealously religious might get a lot of curious stares because we don’t quite get the whole religion thing and those who are religious are (I dare say) usually the same ones who know nothing about other religions than their own. Very orthodox Jews might be looked at as eccentric, but eccentricity is pretty OK here. An affinity for Israel, though, doesn’t equate to everyone supporting Israel’s military engagements with Palestine. That pretty much cuts along ideological lines, with right-wing citizens supporting it and liberals taking issue with it, and this may well come up if you get to chatting about politics with someone. As for the Russian accent, I can only say… well… Can you try to work on it? :D Russians are met with deep, deep skepticism here and should show that they are opposed to the regime. And lastly, with your last question, I’ll be honest with you: the Czech Republic is a very homogenous society and while you will make lots of good friends, certainly be accepted, face little to no discrimination and get (in my experience) less general grief even than in the US, unlike in the US you will never be considered a local unless you speak flawless Czech. It’s just not like the US where a naturalized citizen becomes “just as American” as a natural born one. In fact I would say CR is opposite to the US in this regard: Get US citizenship and you’re one of us, though we might be mean to you because of your looks anyway - Come to CR and you’ll face little to no racism, but you’ll never be “one of us”. Disclaimer: all of this is based on my own personal subjective experience, I’m not claiming it’s “the truth”, it’s just what I see. EDIT: Man, after looking at your history, I kind of regret answering you. To talk that kind of hate and slurs about a whole group of people and come here worried about being discriminated against is kind of breathtaking. I think many Czechs would feel very uncomfortable with you if you are as fanatical irl as you are in those comments. I like to think we are humanists here; we don't do fanaticism.
> Someone who is oevertly zealously religious might get a lot of curious stares because we don’t quite get the whole religion thing and those who are religious are (I dare say) usually the same ones who know nothing about other religions than their own. Very orthodox Jews might be looked at as eccentric, but eccentricity is pretty OK here. I'm not religious so I don't mind lol. > An affinity for Israel, though, doesn’t equate to everyone supporting Israel’s military engagements with Palestine. That pretty much cuts along ideological lines, with right-wing citizens supporting it and liberals taking issue with it, and this may well come up if you get to chatting about politics with someone. That's reasonable as long as nobody is hostile to me personally because of it. I don't really like to talk politics much so that works for me in Czechia too. > As for the Russian accent, I can only say… well… Can you try to work on it? Try, yes. Succeed? Very unlikely. :( > In fact I would say CR is opposite to the US in this regard Interesting, another commenter was telling me the opposite. He said that you just have to be fluent in the language.
I do think a Russian accent might be less bad a reaction than the other poster believes because most Czechs I don’t think can recognise between Ukrainian and Russian and lots of eastern Ukrainians have a Russian accent now so ironically it might get you less of a reaction than before because now they’re more likely to assume you’re Ukrainian and most Czechs support Ukraine. Edit: Realised you are and look Middle Eastern so that might make the assumption of Ukrainian less likely than Russian but honestly not sure
> Edit: Realised you are and look Middle Eastern so that might make the assumption of Ukrainian less likely than Russian but honestly not sure Are they more likely to assume I'm from some ethnic hole in Russia's periphery than a Jew from Ukraine?
Man, after looking at your history, I kind of regret answering you. To talk that kind of hate and slurs about a whole group of people and come here worried about being discriminated against is kind of breathtaking. I think many Czechs would feel very uncomfortable with you if you are as fanatical irl as you are in those comments. I like to think we are humanists here; we don't do fanaticism.
>Interesting, another commenter was telling me the opposite. He said that you just have to be fluent in the language. And imo both are correct. Let me elaborate. In the US the nation idea is value based (US consitution), so anyone who adheres to these values and gains citizenship will be regarded as American by the majority of the population. Even if the person themselves still identifies as German, Italian, Egyptian, Mexican, etc. they are American first and, whatever their ethno-cultural background is, second. In Europe, where you come from is more defining how people view you. For example, my cousin born to a German mother and an English father, speaking German fluently (with a British accent), living near Munich for over a decade, is regarded as "Fränkischer Engländer" Franconian Englishman by his Bavarian friends. Living in Prague for almost seven years now and speaking Czech, my experience is the same and I wouldn't expect it to change if I went for the Czech citizenship. However, just like my cousin is beloved and accepted in Bavaria, I've been beloved and accepted in Czech Republic. I don't have to be a Czech, it is sufficient that I respect Czech culture and participate in it, when I am with friends or colleagues in Prague. Personally, I never encountered racism towards me and the few instances of xenophobia said more about the people uttering them than they did about me (some people recognize me as German, others think I am Czech until I start speaking; so visually I don't stick out much). tl;dr while only few Czechs would ever fully regard you as Czech even if you acquire citizenship, as soon as you begin speaking their language and embracing (parts) of their culture, the majority of them will welcome you almost as if you were one of their own.
Akademické prostředí je kosmopolitní, liberální a v pohodě. Na ulici hodně záleží i na oblečení a chování. Češi se oblékají spíše ležérně a sportovně a cizinec ze západní Evropy vedle nich vypadá overdressed. A to chceš aby tvůj styl, "smart casual" a vypadat jako západoevropan. Teplákovka adidas, to je je styl Rusko, Balkán a dál na východ, ghetto, tak nechceš působit. Česko a Praha má pořád ještě pověst místa přátelského k Židům. Aspoň více přátelské než jinde. Nějaký přízvuk má každý cizinec a pokud nebudeš působit "jako Rusák" i chováním nebo nevkusným stylem, tak si tě náhodní lidé spíše nijak negativně nezařadí.
How would Czechs look at someone wearing a polo shirt, non-jeans pants and running shoes? Would I need to get more formal clothing?
Polo shirt is above average. You will be safe
I'm not going to answer your questions, but I got to know quite a lot of people coming here and I would like to share their experience It really depends where exactly do you go. Prague is becoming very much of a welcoming international metropolitan area. In everyday life, you should face little problems in here. Pilsen should be fine 80% of the time and I wouldn't dare to try anything else xd As far as older people are concerned, yes, they are very superstitious, but here's the thing: for some reason, they are willing to overlook anything if they see a PhD at the back of your name :D You will come across idiots time from time, but I wouldn't let that stop you. The country is evolving and these things get better every day.
Czechs will tell you that you will not have a problem and discrimination is not an issue. That is if you speak Czech, embrace Czech traditions and customs, don't stand out too much or focus on what makes you different or specific to your background. Basically they will tell you, that you will be fine provided you assimilate as much as possible. Make what you want of it. Czech republic may not be (very) antisemitic, but is very islamophobic including people who just look like they might belong to that category. It is also very antirussian but your advantage is that noone what so ever will be able to tell apart a Russian or Ukrainian accent, so you are safe on that. Good luck.
I know a guy, a very middle-eastern looking Jew from Israel, who's been living here for like 10 years, has a great job, a wife, two kids... He never mentioned any issues about xenophobia/antisemitism/racism. I think Czechs like the Jews quite a lot. Probably mainly because we dislike Muslims so much...
You should be ok for most part, our bigots are targeting Ukranians now so they dont have time for brown folks.
Yay.
I would take many of the comments here with a grain of salt and would maybe try to seek out specifically some POC to ask their experience. Not so long ago a POC expat shared in a very polite way some of the racism they face in this country and most of this sub got really defensive, started dismissing their experience, saying that racism in Czechia doesn't exist, and told them to go back where they came from if they don't like it here. I am a white Czech personally who lives abroad but still visits a lot and has some POC in my social circles, and from my POV I'd say that especially in Prague you should be mostly okay. Most people will not directly discriminate against you, but you will also definitely get microagressions, "innocent" jokes, maybe even occasional slurs, so it also depends how much of that you're willing to accept. I've also witnessed a case where a POC, unprovoked, got physically attacked in a grocery store with slurs yelled at them, and the security and police were dismissive saying that stuff like this just happens sometimes. Czechia is ethnically very monolithic (except for the well-integrated Vietnamese community and the not-so-well and heavily stigmatized Roma community), so a lot of the discourse about racism, the importance of actively fighting it, and how microagressions can be harmful just hasn't happened here yet.
Traveling in a country and being a tourist does not equal that you would love it as much here living in it Just food for thought. Especially Americans seem to always be a bit blindsided by the tourist experience and then end up hugely disappointed when moving here.
It is our national hobby
As a white American who has lived here for 23 years, I can tell you that even though I am from a country and ethnicity that is very well accepted here, sometimes there are people who will act differently around you. Try to charge you too much, etc. Of course, this may be my imagination or it may happen to Czechs, but I do get the impression that some people just don't like any type of foreigner and will try to passively aggressively make things hard for you. There is also racism here, especially towards gypsies, so if your looks at all resemble that, you will need to be aware of that. But most people are good and open, and as long as you stay with a decent class of people, they should be quite accepting. But a pretty sizeable part of the population is racist towards gypsies at a minimum. Also my wife is Russian and although her Czech is very good, she does feel discriminated against. I don't know how much of this is real and how much is just insecurity on her part, but I think at least some of it is real. There are definitely many (I'd say even most) Czechs who have a deep hatred for Russia and the Russian people, especially given the latest developments. Some people here are saying you need to be able to speak Czech like a local to be able to be accepted. And yes, that's probably true, but unless you already speak a Slavic language, you are probably looking at 10-15 years of weekly lessons and studying to get to that level. I am still not there after 23 despite at least taking some czech classes and trying to speak it by default in most of my interactions with Czechs, looking up words constantly in the dictionary, even quizzing myself with flashcards daily for a few years.
I don't currently live in Czechia but am Jewish, with a Czech parent and spend a lot of time there. Most Czechs do not know that until I tell them. I would see if you can get feedback from Jewish people living there. Maybe post on /r/Jewish. I think sometimes people who aren't Jewish, don't really know what the atmosphere is like for Jews right now.
I've never heard a Czech person speak badly about jews. During world war 2 the Czech population tried hard to protect the jews living there. Ethnic discrimination might be a risk but it's pretty low chance for someone jewish. You are way more likely to be judged for having a Russian accent (in my experience Czechs don't massively like Russians) than for being Jewish. It shouldn't cause any problems though.
I really recommend asking a fellow foreigner because Czechs will obviously say how we are not racist etc, but obviously if you cannot experience something you cannot rate how bad someone else has it.
Unless you are Roma, black or Arab, you wont face much racism. If you are, you will face a lot of it. And not just on this sub.
Regarding the language I would add that younger or educated people will actually prefer to speak in English with you as some of us love to practice English. Your great English as native and Czech language on level “you are bad but at least trying” should be more than enough. As pointed out previously, Czech is sometimes difficult even for natives 😀
First, a little disclaimer: A lot of people here will be white Czech people who don't have have the first-hand experience of being Middle Eastern-looking person in Czechia. We can only judge from what we've witnessed second-hand. So, my observations (and the observations of many other commenters here) might not exactly be accurate, especially since many Czech Redditors are very likely to move in the more... tolerant and liberal circles. That said... >1. How likely would I be to encounter discrimination in an educated professional setting for my looks? (I can't blame you guys too much for this, I hardly wish to be associated with the groups that I share a lot of my DNA with.) > >2. How likely would I be to continue to encounter discrimination in an educated professional setting if I made it clear what I actually am? (I'm not one to get offended at jokes of course, I mean genuine hostility.) I think you should be fine. I don't think you're likely to face any sort of systemic racism. Especially not in an educated professional setting. And frankly, any company that would tolerate something like that is most likely not one you'd want to work for. You might face some annoying idiots in your daily life, of which there's unfortunately way too many. However, racism in Czechia is a very different beast than in some other countries. It's more about xenofobia than a disgust of "lesser races". Obviously, racist idiots are everywhere, but more often than not, it's because people are afraid of... well, of the unknown, of anything they don't understand, anything foreign. And certain media do their best to stoke that fear. This was at its worst when the refugee crisis begun and everyone was screaming about how refugees would take our homes, crime would increase etc. However, that was years ago, and surprisingly the world hasn't ended and the refugees didn't take over the county. Nowadays, there are other things for people to fear. So, wherever you might work, people might be somewhat wary at first, but once they get to know you a little bit, realize that you're a perfectly normal person, it should be fine. Doing your best to speak Czech will definitely help you there. >How likely would I be to encounter discrimination going about daily life or travelling to smaller towns? Like I said, xenofobic idiots are everywhere, but admittedly it can be a bit worse in smaller towns. Some people in smaller towns who don't spend a lot of time in larger cities don't really encounter many (or any) non-white people in their daily lives. However, unless you encounter some absolute troglodyte, nobody is going to start screaming at you or actually doing anything. At most, you'll face some nasty looks. And for every such idiot you encounter, you'll also meet plenty of people who will be perfectly ok with you. >Would my Czech having a very Russian accent assuage discrimination based on my looks? When my Czech becomes fluent, will people judge me for still having a heavy Russian accent? I really doubt I'll ever be able to lose it. There are many Czech people who dislike Russians in general. Ukraine is obviously one reason, but plenty of people also remember being occupied by them for 20 years. Now, most people, especially in the younger generations don't blame individual Russians for it, but the dislike is there. However, funnily enough, your Middle Eastern looks could work in your favor here. I don't think most people would consider you a Russian with your complexion. >A bit of a side note, I understand that if I move to a place like Czechia, ultimately I'll always be a "guest" rather than a true local. But if I had children with a local, would they be accepted as locals? Or will they also always be outsiders? What if I had children with a non local? (I'm not sure what my personal life will be like by the time I move of course.) If you live in one place for a while and are friendly with the neighbors, you'll be considered a "true local" eventually. It might not even take that long. Same thing with your workplace. In short, all the places that matter the most (your home, work, small shops you frequent etc.) will consider you a local. And if you actually marry and/or have kids with a local, it'll only cement that even more.
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> Expect to be judged on your merit and nothing else. Awesome. > Just be polite, speak some words in the local language, and smile and you'll be alright. Ok, more or less in line with what I did as a tourist. Having an innate feel for "vy" is helpful. :) > There are many, many native Russian speakers living in the Czech Republic. You'll be fine (as long as you dislike Putin and the war, which I hope you do). I more mean will people assume I'm not Middle Eastern because of my accent? And is there "accent snobbery"? Because my Czech is doomed to have one. I couldn't get rid of a ridiculous English accent in French despite learning it from childhood. And yeah, not exactly many Putin fans among young Russian-speakers in the West so not a problem. > You're getting ahead of yourself. Just try living there first, then see what its like. No need to start wondering about your future wife/husband and kids at this point. That's true haha. Just tossing potential questions out there since even temporarily moving is a pretty big commitment. Thank you for the answers!
There is nothing such as "accent snobbery". At least I haven't enounter any that is meant in bad blood and not in playful jabs against each other. We make fun of Pražák's 'Čáááu', Moravian's 'Tož' or Ostravak's short speaking, but most people don't really differentiate and judge by accents, especially if it is clear you are a foreigner.
Awesome. You guys really do land much closer to the West than Russia on all the right things.
We know, most civilised countries do. :) Brotip: Comparing us with Russia or the CCCP will get you upset looks. It's like comparing a nice, cute rock with a pile of manure.
Haha fair, will keep it in mind.
Also not that you did but some do so don’t call Czech post-soviet, we weren’t ever part of the USSR. Generally also avoid the term Eastern Europe, that’s a fairly controversial label
Hungary and Poland sometimes I'll list as Eastern, Czechia never!
No need to be so wrong. Everyone knows Hungary is western Asia.
Expanding on that wife and kid topic, they would be considered locals. There are already more generations of originally foreigners and they are fine, or to be more specific, in my surrounding social circles and where I live or have been.
I have had some experience with middle eastern looking residents in czechia, since I worked in a tearoom to support myself during studies and we would get may foreign regulars. Never once did I have to resolve any conflict between foreigners and czech citizens. But you have to understand, foreigners are somewhat of a rarity in czech republic, although Prague is very used to foreigners and there you would fit right in. Even in smaller but still decently sized cities you would be fine. For example i live in a 100k city and we are fine with foreigners, its mostly just the villages where the backwards people live, but even there, I'm 99% sure you would not experience any actual violent hostility, our rates of violent crime are generally very low, the police force is organised, professional and held under court scrutiny. As for professional environment as well as government and education, there really shouldnt be any institucionalized racism, your career and children should be fine. We are used to both ukrainians and russians most people cant distinguish the two anyway, so russian accent shouldnt be a problem as well. I really hope its just not my social bubble, but I really think you would be fine, aside from maybe a despicable comment from an idiot here and there. And you being ethicaĺy jewish should actually be beneficial to you, we czechs are big friends with israel and many individuals are pro-israel inclined, even in the government.
Move to Josefov if it is a real concern, it is historically the Jewish area of Prague and the majority of businesses and real estate is still owned by Jews. Gun ownership is also highest here in the country, and it is probably correlated. Prague isn’t a place with that much open racism however, the only issues I’ve had in three years of living here have been tourists (always German).
That's interesting, I saw some Jewish restaurants there but I thought it was because of the tourists from Israel. Also, given your name: how are research jobs in Czechia like? How available are they and do they pay well? Either public or private.
It was a Jewish ghetto that was destroyed in a pogrom in the 1800s to look like Paris… (hence Pariska being the main road) My username was given to me by Reddit I believe but I did actually work in research a while. Either work remotely for a foreign company or a tech company here, salaries are horrific (although getting closer to European average)
In my experience, there is definitely a simmering low level of anti-Russian sentiment. Several times I have heard a Czech person ask someone if they're Russian or Ukrainian, and then be a little warmer if the answer is Ukrainian, and a little colder if the answer is Russian. I've seen a few times where someone was already annoyed with another guy and then brought him being Russian into it. So it's not that people will target you just for that, but they might use it against you if they're having a problem with you. My advice would be that you don't have to have perfect Czech, but try to de-Russify the accent a bit. Definitely don't bang on about Russia, don't compare things to it, don't bring it up much at all. If people ask, answer honestly but then get on with it.
Adopt beer & hockey adoration culture and you're in. We are simple breed of Homo Sapiens, yet many seem not to get it.
Tmavé pivo is life.
You're already in. 🤙
+ Respect family values and don't be an exhibitionist.
> 1,2 Unlikely. > 3,4 Possibly to some degree yeah, unfortunately. You may face some silent hate, but you shouldn't really be in danger or significantly disadvantaged imo. Probably best if you simply learn to not give a fuck. > 5 If the children learn fluent Czech, they will be perceived as locals.
My take: Nah. You will certainly meet annoyingly loud people trying to make sure you would feel threatened and unwelcome, but just move a few steps back and forget what they've said. It's a minority of people not liking any sort of foreigners not looking like them or coming from the west/ far eastern sides. If you are going for a corp job, the chance of meeting such people in the professional setting is very low. Not zero, but very, very low. As for small towns, unless you are unlucky and step into a small village full of stuck-up people, the most common encounter is curiosity, not discrimination. Regardless whether you make it clear or not, Czech people tend to be very curious and 'unpleasantly probing', but it's not to be taken bad. So expect high interest in where you're coming from, your cultural traditions etc. Not to be taken negatively. Since you are coming from the US and are of ME origin, if you learn Czech, you either end up sounding like a typical Westerner, or a Middle Eastern/ African speaking Czech. To catch other Slavic accent you would have to learn the basics of another Slavic language and already have some accent there. With being taken local... That really depends on the area you plan to settle in. Cities and suburbs are more likely to take you as a local after few years if you show appreciation and understanding for the local culture. Legally, that's a different story.
First and foremost, being Jewish is more well received than being Muslim. As a matter of fact we love Israel, provided that you behave more like an American (i.e. polite) rather than a typical Israeli (who can be rude). When it comes to directness we are more close to Israeli culture - i.e. get to the point and don't waste my time (we have a saying: "Don't walk around hot porridge") When it comes to politeness we are more close to Europeans/Americans, i.e. don't snap your fingers at a waiter, don't call him out because "he's not your dog." Is there discrimination? No, is there curiosity? Yes. People might ask you where are you from but it's mostly because they are interested and "direct" (see previous points). That being said you will find idiots everywhere. You will become "Czech" and not a "guest" if you learn the language. It's a hard language to learn so by learning it you will amaze every Czech person. I think I can safely say that if you'll consider yourself Czech, we will consider you Czech too. Examples of who (I personally) wouldn't consider Czech: \- A Russian who learnt the basics of Czech but still speaks Russian everywhere and acts Russian. I.e. doesn't condemn Russia, thinks Russia is great and didn't learn about Czech history to know enough that we hate Russians. \- A western expat who never learns Czech. \- A muslim Arab who doesn't want to align with our values. People who I consider Czech: \- An Arab who keeps his culture at home (his home, his rules), respects ours (on the streets/outside) and understands that we don't tolerate bullshit. He learnt / is learning Czech. \- A Russian who understands that the Soviets invaded and occupied us and denounces the current Russian regime or even feels ashamed to be Russian and is actively learning (or learnt) Czech. \- A western expat who is trying to learn / learnt Czech. Respects the customs and doesn't get wasted like every Brit in Prague center. I'm a Czech expat living in Israel currently and I follow my own "rules" to be considered Israeli: \- I respect the culture \- I'm actively learning and trying to speak the language \- I'm learning (more) about history and Jewish culture in general Will the Czech republic benefit from having you come? Absolutely yes! Especially if you're a "brainiac". I've been following what has been happening in the US and it's disgusting. So if you'll feel safer in the Czech republic then please come. In general I recommend Prague as it's a bigger city and you'll have it much easier the first few years. Hit me up in the DMs if you have any questions.
i would much recommend asking the expat community on this question, and focusing on people with similar experiences as yours. Of course Czech people are not gonna say they’re bad guys. (i made this mistake myself) Racism is hard here, at least in Prague which is thought to be more tolerant due to being a capital with lots of tourists and international people. That’s all from me, can’t answer your questions as they’re too specific, and i don’t have a perspective on them
I have lived in the CR for a long time. Visually I pass as a white Czech man and my Czech language is quite good but not close to native-level. I live in a small village but work in Prague. I feel like my Czech neighbors often take me as Czech. If I had brown skin I don't think they would do that even if I had everything else. When I don't speak I pass. I suspect that my life here would be less comfortable if that was not the case. But that is just me. It seems like you have appropriate expectations and already a large amount of knowledge and experience, so I think you will be fine. Still, don't expect moving to another country to fix your life.
Here the biggest discrimination relates to roma(gypsy) people. I dont know how much you look like them. If no, you will be generaly ok. If yes, it depends. If you will be in some corporate or stuff, you will be ok. If you dress more formally, you should be also mostly ok. Lot depends on location. Prague is better than rural parts. Russian accent is generally disadvantage, but together with not looking as russian, i believe people will be more confused. If you will be in Prague, you can be accepted, not as local but more like "noone cares where you are from". We have strong expat comunity. I feel bit ashamed about how czech is in this but this is as close to reality as I see it.
I think the surefire way of not helping any scenario here is putting a Russian accent on top of it...
1. Most can't tell by your looks 2. Just don't overshare. Don't get offended by bad jokes. 3. If you know the language very little. As far as small communities go, you will get pretty much the same treatment as anyone else. Ie "get of my lawn" 4. It might at first, but with our acceptance of Ukrainians (most can't tell the difference, I sure can't) it should get better 5. As far as "being local", it's about language, some traditions and culture etc. As long as you don't prevent your kids from learning Czech (there are some households like that) they will just be Czechs.
It depends on the people you meet and work with. In general there should not be a problem, but idiots are everywhere. I dare to say we are not really used to seeing foreigners, compared to other europian countries, so you will definitely be getting the looks (it is not that bad in big cities though). I would try to work on the accent (at least from movies), but it is not necessary, just a nice perk. About becoming a Czech, I think we have a little weird mentality of who we consider a local. Imo, you have to know the czech language (I don't know if it is the same as in english, but if yes it might be the B2/C1 level). Our language is tightly coupled with our history, so you should have at least basic knowledge of it. Then you should learn about our culture, know the famous people, like the first president, artists (Gott, Werich, ...), writers (Čapek, Kafka, ...) and last but not the least, understand our specific humor. Not even every Czech knows this, but personally I would rather consider a Czech person someone who is nice, has some basic knowledge and understands us (nevermind he came from Malaysia) then some Czech who behaves like a jerk and does not know the difference between byly/byli. This is my opinion, and some people will never consider you a local, but I probably would.
Btw. I really like one comment here: "We hate everybody equally, except for russians and gipsies.". It is sad but true, these are the least popular groups here. But most people can recognize a good man, no matter the ethnicity.
In a nutshell. We dont fucking care. There is a Reason why during First republic we were basically human Zoo. Only thing you should be aware of is our love for dark humor. We love it. Especially if topic is something like... dead kids...
Ahoj - I know this is very late but short answer no. My family is from Klasterec nad Ohri, which is a town near the German border, and there actually is some racism there, but it's not towards Israelis so you'll be fine. It's mostly towards "gypsies." Czech was my first language along with English and German, and while I can still speak Czech fluently enough to have conversations about every day stuff it is not a very specific vocabulary (i don’t learn terms u learn in school because I grew up in El Barrio here in NYC🇻🇪🇵🇷🇨🇿🇦🇹), and nobody except my own family would ever really harasses me even when I accidentally said "prsa" instead of "prasa" (LOL) so GL you'll be fine. Most Czech people in my town at least are too lazy to learn a new language (I think it's very different in Prague but idk) so if it were in my town at least ppl would be glad that u tried to learn our language. nashledanou
We are quite a uniform country when it comes to culture, looks, race, etc. So in between locals you will probably always stand out a bit. But when it comes to Prague for example, there are so many foreigners at this point nobody will think anything bad of you unless you give them a reason to do so.
Czech culture is deeply bigoted and a bit obtuse in regards to what is and isn't ok, however always less and less so. If you move to Prague you will probably be fine, if you move to some rural village you may find yourself a pariah. But maybe not. Also there is a concerning amount of neo-nazi activity in this country that people like to pretend doesn't really exist because that would mean doing some hard self-reflection and acknowledging that culturally, some changes need to be made ASAP so be aware of that too.
>Also there is a concerning amount of neo-nazi activity in this country that people like to pretend doesn't really exist because that would mean doing some hard self-reflection and acknowledging that culturally, some changes need to be made ASAP so be aware of that too. Agree with you. I am brown coloured and my girlfriend is czech, we were once in České Budějovice and she was harassed by two guys, when I asked them to leave one guy made a call and said come we got one. My girlfriend understood and we made a run for it. In Prague I feel the safest although I got two times called names. But never went violent
It's been an ugly issue here since the Nazi occupation. Unfortunately the only thing many Czechs learned from both the Nazi and Soviet occupations was how to dehumanize and degrade others. They also don't realize(or don't want to realize) that the adolescent and tired "dark humor" that they've normalized doesn't help the situation. Very frequently when people are "joking" they aren't actually joking, and are in reality looking to see who quietly agrees with their bigoted "joke". Other times they are joking but not everyone around them is laughing for the same reason they are and the bigots start to feel more comfortable. However, I really don't think most people here want to enable things like neo-nazism. They just don't want to look internally in that way, it's heavy and scary. Either way, I have been here for many years and in general, I have only seen improvements for the most part, so whether they want to have that dialogue with themselves or not, choices are being made by Czechs that have been making things better.
Is there racism here? Sure, but there’s racism most places, it’s bad but it’s a world thing not a Czech thing though my condolences for your harassment, fuck them
Ad 1) There is always a non-zero probability that you encounter a hostile person but it is not systemic. The experience you described in the last paragraph (one hostile guy throught your Czech journey) is realistic. Ad 2) Jews are quite respected in the Czech society; and just recently, the Isreali ambassy has arranged billboards in several Czech towns where Israel thanks for the support... Of course, Jews have some problems with immigrants from Muslim countries but it is typical for Western Europe where Muslim communities are strong. Ad 3) Even smaller towns are used to immigrants; in particular Vietnamese and Ukrainians; both groups are accepted quite well despite occasional objections that are however based on (sometimes justified sometimes unjustified) feeling that they get some unfair advantages. For example, that Vietnamese do not pay taxes or that Ukrainians get their housing expenses fully covered and locals don't get that benefit. Ad 4) I don't think so, especially if you wear standard Western clothing. If you wear kipot or any other religious or otherwise non-standard clothing, they might find it interesting and point at it. As for accent, since people usually can't tell difference between Russian and Ukrainian, they may think that you are an Ukrainian based on your Russian accept. Ad 5) The problem with immigration to EU is that most immigrants come here for utilitarian reasons of gaining economic benefits for their living, not because of love of the host country, their history, their lifestyle, their citizens. They then form closed communities of people living their original lifestyle separated from the mainstream in the host country; and if their communities are strong, the original locals may have feelings of "hijacked" neighborhood / town / county / country... But if you show them that it is not your case and you choose the country because you like it not because you had to and that you want to integrate, people will appreciate it and help you as much as possible to succesfully integrate... Such Middle-Eastern immigrants and / or their children have achieved success even in Czech politics. For example Raduan Nwelati (mayor of Mladá Boleslav) or Hassan Mezian (former senator elected for a north Bohemian region) [https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raduan\_Nwelati](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raduan_Nwelati) [https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan\_Mezian](https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Mezian) BTW, if there is one reason why to consider a different location for immigration, it is paradoxically economic: The Czech Republic has one of the worst earnings to living expenses ratio in EU (or even in the world). So for example, even many Ukrainians after recent cut in benefits they receive from the governent decided to move back to Ukraine or to other EU member state because althought they earn more than in Ukraine, the expenses for living in the Czech Republic are much higher and so it does not economically pay off to live in the Czech Republic.
Im Israeli, im half Spanish jewish and half middle eastern I’m not white but not very dark either, never have i face discrimination here, and i been with a few Czech girls too, Czechs are super pro Israel, i remember me and my Indian friend went to immigration office and his experience was vastly less pleasant than mine. Yes czechs could be racist to some but as far as Israel, I have always been treated great by people and especially after I tell them im israeli. So all good just dont be a cunt you will be fine 😂
Trying to speak any Czech is generally a big W, accent doesn't really matter.
Shalom, OP! I am Jewish, was born in the USA, and emigrated to Czechia almost two years ago. My father and grandparents were born in Vienna, but my grandmother's family came from Bohemia/Czechia and my grandfather's family from Slovakia. I work next to a jewish cemetery where my 4x great-grandparents are buried! Anecdote: I met the mayor of a small town near České Budějovice, and told him about my ancestry. He was very excited to meet me and told me how much he respects Jewish people, and how sad it makes him that so few remain in the Czech Republic. It was actually a very moving and memorable encounter. I hope you will be happy living here.
> I work next to a jewish cemetery where my 4x great-grandparents are buried! How stereotypically Jewish of you to brag about how many graves your family has.
Haha nice one. I was quite surprised to find out about these graves. I didn’t know much about this branch of the family until after I moved here. In stereotypical Jew fashion I place small stones on the graves whenever visit.
> I place small stones on the graves whenever visit. Because stones are free and flowers cost money?
Naturally!
You Jews are shrewd people, no wonder you are rich.
Well not me personally. I party too much and never saved a dime. In that sense maybe I’m not so stereotypical.
You own 4 graves.
Shhh don’t tell anyone. The debt collectors might take them back!
oy vey
Shalom! This is very heartwarming to hear that Czechs have such kind feelings toward Jews. Obviously I have very warm feelings for Czechs, so it's nice that it'd be reciprocated. How will did you know Czech when you first moved? And thank you!
Since LuckyVersion4044 already well explained the other things, I'll just clear it up that if you're *not* a native speaker of any slavic language, or if you haven't been learning Czech from very little age - which I assume isn't the case by you - You'll never be really fluent in the language, if you aren't exceptionally language-tallented. It's a fucking hard language, even we Czechs have problems speaking it properly! I know a YouTube channel of an American who lived here for ten years, and learned the language - and her accent is still thick as hell. As per my understanding, English speakers have most problems pronouncing ch and ř. They also often don't pay attention to long vowels, and pronounce them short.
Yeah I'm learning the vocabulary and grammar very easily but the ř is just never happening for me.
Not to sound too pessimistic, but if you think you're learning the grammar easily, you're probably missing something. I'm native and failed to learn the grammar miserably :) Having said that, Czechs get hung up on the grammar a lot but I strongly believe that one should not worry about it too much - fluency is paramount. Bonus, if a native speaker is giving you a hard time, ask them what is the plural instrumental of "mouse". E.g., how do you say "with mice"? Typically they will not be sure.
This is tough question thought From my experience, I would say that black people are actually more accepted - or tolerated better to say - than what you are describing - "middle eastern types" especially muslims. Let me abstract on that if there any rational reasons for this or not, just let me try to describe But, to be honest, it really depends, where are you located, I mean in the big and bigger cities, the most of the people would not care as much. In case of Russian accent I would say that, some of people might just be looking "through the fingers" but you shouldnt get any serious discrimination at all. Even in case people will be thinking in the matter of this, usually nobody expose this ideas on public, especially not directly to the given persons. I fully understand to your worries, but I would say it wont be easy, but on the other hand I believe it wont be hard. Especially in Prague or Brno, there are many abroad students actually so foreigners are kind a integrated in the mindset of the locals already, and foreigners themselves usually dont care at all about the others.
0) ethnically Jewish - very few people care (maybe some neonazis but they are not really organized or numerous), Judaism is not a contentious topic in Czech, people generally keep religion to themselves and most people are not at all religious; if you drink beer on occasion you're fine, be careful about attitude to not eating pork 1 + 2) should be fine in educated setting - depends what setting and where - international/big companies no, academia also probably not 3) you might get looks for not being local (i.e. out of the norm) but you will get treatment more or less on what you are wearing - whether you are classified as a foreigner or a gypsy; if you'll live in a village that has strong folk thing (southeast Moravia for instance) showing in your folk clothes at folk events is actually encouraged (this will probably not apply to you) 4) that one is hard to lose because the accent is on different syllable 5) your potential kids, as in the rest of EE, will be outliers, their experience will depend a lot on where they go to school; you might not be accepted as a local by strangers but if you make friends then you might get into the common thing of casual racism where: 'all people like this are X, except /u/KissingerFanB0y \- he's my friend and not like the others'
So, you are a Kissinger fan boy, with a cease pool of racist comments calling for nuking countries and civilians, but worried about discrimination? A bit hypocritical, don't you think ? This is pretty racist country, regardless of how much my fellow czechs are trying to mask it in the comments. One person saying "tell them quickly you're jew" should tell you enough about Czech perception of anyone that's not white, or even Czech. While czech historical and political stance tells you of friendliness towards jewish people, reality often does not represent it, outside of Prague. I had minor incident with friend in Zlin area, just because he was jewish. Now here comes the joke that majority of Czechs don't discriminate, they hate everyone equally. You'd think that this country accepted Ukranians with open arms, but they face discrimination pretty much on every level, and most czech people don't want them here. You'd find nice people, yes, obviously, but this is harsh reality. Now, do Czechs express this racism openly ? Not so much, even though I encountered even confederate flags (for some reason) in rural areas.You should be fine, especially in touristic areas and Prague, of course. Now, Prague is very liberal city, especially with younger generations, as it goes with big cities and capitals. Loving and open minded people, whose morals are not guided through countries political views. Big impact on that has huge international community, as well. If you want to make friends, I would say that there are bigger chances you are discriminated based on your stances, rather than ethnicity and colour of your skin. Edit: Obviously, my comment was not talking about professional setting. I have 20+ nationalities in my team, including people with varieties of backgrounds, religions and skin colour. There was never an issue, but at the same time, nobody would openly say things you wrote on reddit, since this would grant contract termination. Things here do not tend to get political like in US. Not everything is black or white. We do not live lives tailored to our political or religious views. Love and let live, you should be fine.
> So, you are a Kissinger fan boy, with a cease pool of racist comments calling for nuking countries and civilians, but worried about discrimination? A bit hypocritical, don't you think ? It's a trolling account with comments in a troll community. Don't worry about that. :D I'm too lazy to make a separate serious-posting account for these rare occasions so just disregard the dual use, thanks.
No one gives a damn. If you will speak Czech fluently, everyone will accept you even as a local. There will always be people who will discriminate you, but thats mostly brain washed and dumb minority, basically the type of people who wont even surround you in your professional life and rarely in public.
if you're going to big cities like Prague I think you shouldn't worry, most important is to learn Czech, even with bad accent I think locals will appreciate it (but in Prague you can probably do well with English). In village you might encounter some racism (probably from older people) but I don't think it's anything you should worry about as well.
Why is everyone bending over backwards to feed the (KissingerFanB0y) troll?
It's definitely a case of vocal minority, an overwhelming majority will treat you with respect and/or indifference. Regardless, you might turn a couple heads if you intend to move to more of a rural area where foreigners are less common, but that's more the case of people simply being curious, bigotry at large isn't a thing here as much as the prior mentioned vocal minority of people of, let's call it, certain level of intelligence, would have you believe.
Hey bud, I am half Czech half Armenian living in Prague for pretty much my whole life. So I do have a little chocolate in my latte if you know what I mean. 1. You will not be discriminated against in a professional setting, depending on what you do most companies are international and would avoid any negative publicity. What you will encounter are jokes and general humor which depending on your american sensibilities might be misconstrued as racist, honestly sometimes it will be racist without intent. When people make jokes about you with you, sitting in a pub that means you are part of the social group. 2. Genuine hostility due to race is unlikely in a higher level position, if you feel like someone is hostile to you go talk to your manager. Perhaps if you were working in a coal mines... 3. Discrimination is unlikely, people will give you looks and you will be asked where are you from in the local pub. Thats caution and intrigue. The odd drunk at 2 am might have racist comments but it will still be safer than most places in the US. 4. We like when people try to learn the language and try to speak. Perhaps your accent sounds Russian to you but wouldn't sound that way to people here. Here is a pro tip when in doubt revert to english instead of russian. On a side note I don't know why you would have a russian accent if you are US educated. 🙂 5. This is an interesting question. Ultimately it does not matter. example: In the us everyone always talks about a "community", people living on the same street are for some reason a community. It is not so here, unless you actively get together or share some hobby or activity you would be a community. You will be part of what ever community you chose to be in and what will dictate how people view you is your behaviour. There are not that many people of color in Czech Republic so when you see someone of the norm stereotypes kick in, like with your encounter with the drunk. You will not always be a guest, nor will your kids. You might look different and you will always get the looks, however it is behaviour that dictates response. Being brown in predominately white country gives you different experiences, I wouldn't call Czech society in no way racist, cautious and vigilant of outsiders yes. You will realise that there is a certain pressure on you to do better and behave better, to have better manners and be virtuous unless you are to be judged badly and your whole race with you. The worst thing you can do in day to day life is to inconvenience others, this society is very much about live and let live, keep your religion/politics/social issues at home or at the pub, don't ask people to go out of their way for you unless you know them. Learn the 3 important words - Pivo, Prosím, Děkuji, occasionally smile, remember that first people exit the room/vehicle and then you can enter the room/vehicle and you will be golden.
You should ask in an expats living in Prague forum, there are many groups on FB, not locals who have never lived abroad as foreginers and have no clue on what it's like to be an expat, much less one that admittedly looks middle-eastern in the cz.
I intend to ask expats too but you can only learn how locals would see you by asking locals. :)
I am surprised by the other commenters. Perhaps they live in a much more tolerant place than I do, but I would honestly think that you would face a lot of discrimination. Probably not from people in your field, but in your day to day life as you're out and about. Frequently I see people on the street turn around when someone speaks in a foreign language and shout at them. Older people tend to harass foreigners out of stores, especially so if they foreigners are of a minority the older people consider "bad" (Ukrainians, Russians, black people in general, anyone from the Middle East). I have a fair share of friends who are of those groups and they can confirm that they face a LOT of discrimination in their daily lives. We're all university students and at campus there is no problem, but your average Czech is a bigoted and dumb 50+ years old person, and my colleagues and friends face a lot of yelling and slurs outside of campus.
Where is this happening? I've never seen anything like it in Czechia. Yelling slurs in the street? That has to be a bad part of town, or no?
Yea, same experience.
> especially so if they foreigners are of a minority the older people consider "bad" (Ukrainians Czech Republic has literally accepted the highest amount of Ukrainian refugees per capita.
I think that most of your concerns are real and you can truly encounter some hate, more in smaller towns probably. Or like weird looks more than direct hate. Mostly with randoms tho, not people you will be in contact with on Daily bases. But i would not say thats its on level of it being reason to not move here. I personaly think based on experience that US has far more racist people than Czech republic. I am just trying to say that you will not fully avoid some negativity it here in CZ considering current situation in Europe with muslims if you look like one. Being jew, i dont think that would be issue for almost anyone here. If you want ask Any additional questions :) so i can explain it better. But your question would be probably best to be answered bysomeone ethnicalyclose to you who live here.
> Mostly with randoms tho, not peopke you will be in contact with on Daily bases. Ok great this is what I care most about of course. > I am just trying to say that you will not fully avoidid some negativity it here in CZ considering current situation in Europe with muslims if you look like one. Ok well I guess I'll shave often and tolerate it when it does happen. > If you want ask Any additional questions :) so i can explain it better. None at the moment but thanks for the offer. Maybe if something comes to mind I'll reply here in a while. Thank you!
I think that you might experience some prejudice, but when people will know you little bit better it will go away. For example I dont especially like certain ethnic group in cz because i have bad experience with them just like many others in my country. But i know few which are cool and i know them well enough to say not all of them are bad. Its just hard you know when you have bad experience with some group, so you are naturaly more carefull or defensive. So like there might be negativity towards certain ethnic groups where people will throw you in same bag with them(not sure if its right wording in english lol), but it will not be agaisnt you as individual if you will act as decent human being you know?, so try not take it that seriously if someone has initial negative reaction as its just people having previously bad experience for example or just being afraid.
> but it will not be agaisnt you as individual if you will act as decent human being you know? Yeah as long as it's not dangerous I don't mind that sort of thing.
You gotta love people who have "kočka leze dírou" as an national anthem.
Don’t worry, you’ll be just fine. Idiots are everywhere, but as pointed out from other commenters - majority of people simply don’t care about what you do or don’t do, as long as it’s not interfering with their lives.
If you don't dress in extravagant clothes or outright religious symbols in public, most people will be indifferent to you as to anyone else. We Czechs hate people that leach of the social system so if you are employed and your children go to school you will be golden.
You looking Middle Eastern will be more of an issue for you than being Jewish, and being Jewish will be less of problem here than in US I'd say. We of course also have jQ style dumb fucks in our country but it's not as widespread. I'd not be talking much about current Palestinian conflict though, nobody's going to attack you but they can definitely start seriously disliking you. Doesn't really matter if you support Israel or not, we have both groups here and they are very polarized on the subject (not that anyone's supporting Hamas, more like condemning Israel as genocidal fascists due to Palestinian civilians treatment). >4. Would my Czech having a very Russian accent assuage discrimination based on my looks? When my Czech becomes fluent, will people judge me for still having a heavy Russian accent? I really doubt I'll ever be able to lose it. You won't look Russian and you're American, so I doubt that. >5. A bit of a side note, I understand that if I move to a place like Czechia, ultimately I'll always be a "guest" rather than a true local. But if I had children with a local, would they be accepted as locals? Or will they also always be outsiders? What if I had children with a non local? (I'm not sure what my personal life will be like by the time I move of course.) The largest factor would ve if they speak Czech. Still the political situation worldwide is rather volatile at the moment so who knows what the sentiments will be like in several years. If you consider moving the best advice I'd give you is to make a trial run first (so rent, don't immediately buy property), see how you like it here and then decide if you want to stay. Were among the safest countries in the world so it's extremely unlikely anything worse than someone throwing couple of insults your way would happen to you.
answers to 1. 2. 3. and 5. is: dont be asshole, drink beer and drive škoda fabia. Answer to 4. is: american czech have different accent than russian czech and most of people could recognize difference. So no, this is not something which should bother you
1) no 2) it sounds like you will be discriminated on basis of being American unless you leave this baggage at home 3) muricans speaking czech get major positive discrimination 4) you will fit in with huge minority of russians/ukrainians 5) as long as you keep this prism up, you will be Honestly, americans are amongst most welcome foreigners, right after british. If anything, it's gonna be easier for you than other immigrants and even natives.
I think everything Will benokay, except that Russian accent, Most od the times in random encounters, but se Are not So mean, like i know there Are people, that do bad thinks with nothing, but IT most likeli ve Okay, if you dont want to live in some places, like hoods if you understand
No, never heard of that
There are so many influencers which can there and ruin your whole experience and feeling from this place. Depends on your social bubble, job, hobbies or even connection you already have. Prague is the most suitable place for foreigners because its more the most open and progressive city (probably). But even this its hard to find a new friends as Czech one because its better for them to speak their language and you will probably experience this even in mixed workplace with full of expats. On the others hand no one's care about religions. It's probably better to not even mention it because it's personal thing only. On the end, its not so easy for foreigners to live here, but for example Prague is really nice place to live.
the key to getting accepted is simple. learn czech, drink beer, eat svíčková, understand our humour. theres a youtube channel of a woman whos been living here for 10 years (the channel is called dream prague, it might help you understand the culture more) and i think she might now have her citizenship though im not sure, i havent watched her in a while, but if you look in the comments of the older videos, majority of the people in the comments say that shes already ours even though shes not officially a citizen yet. theres idiots everywhere but overall its a really safe country so dont worry about it too much. you’ll be fine