In this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMmEhImDDEI), he discusses how Japan is a homogeneous society, which use indirect racism in a way such as landlords refusing to rent apartments to foreigners, or signs saying Japanese only, since they are annoyed by foreigners who either are too loud or destroy the venue.

He even recalled a time while he was lining up at the convenience store talking to his friend in English, but an elderly Japanese man approached them and yelled 日本にいるなら、日本語で話せ (*Pokud jste v Japonsku, mluvte Japonsky.*) In hindsight, as a visitor or tourist, has the same form of treatment happened while in CZ but instead ***\[Pokud jste v České Republice, mluvte Česky\]*** Also, can landlords outright refuse to rent apartments because they’re not **Czech**?

33 comments

  2. Czechs will stridently deny being racist because it’s a bad thing to be, but looking Roma (for example because people are Indian) will mean you will get discriminated. Being foreign or of a particular race is not enough of a reason to discriminate to Czechs, but there are some xenophobic perceptions of certain cultural groups, who can get varying degrees of maltreatment, like Muslims or aforementioned Roma. Mostly on basis of negative preconceptions of their cultural nature.

    As to your question: landlords can not legally refuse a tenant on basis of his language or what have you.

    Not speaking an intelligible language will be always a little bit annoying worldwide to people who have to put up with a language barrier, but I don’t think that would be a noticeable issue and I do think Czechs are pretty tolerant in that regard.

  3. When you don’t adapt to the culture of the country you live in, obviously people won’t like you. And it has nothing to do with racism. 😅

  4. Landlords can’t officially refuse to rent because you are not Czech but they don’t have to tell you why they refused you so… practically they can and many of them do for various reasons (from racism to simply not wanting to deal with all the hustle around renting in different language). The thing is unless it’s a person who can’t shut up about their mind, you’ll only hear “we took someone else, sorry”.

  5. Imo this isn’t as frequent as it seems to be, this kind of behaviour is pretty much rare. On the other hand, czech people are racists of some sort – for example we hate russians etc. However, this is caused mostly by bad experience, that landlords etc. often had with them.

    I think that behaving well is an ideal solution.

  7. Japan is different. Even if you uphold all japanese customs, speak fluent japanese, as long you dont look japanese you will be treated politely, as a guest. But not as a Japanese.
    As for czechs, sure especially in smaller villages people will stare at you if you look different but i wouldnt call it racism. Its just that theyve never seen someone like this.
    Prague and Brno have ton of foreigners (Pilsen too, but mostly from eastern block, up to 25% of pop).
    Just learn the language (that one itself will catapult you forward immensively), respect local customs and traditions, never try to educate local onto something and dont push into politics/racism topic unless the other person starts.
    With these easy steps, youll be viewed as a foreigner but “our foreigner”

  8. It is not as bad as in Japan. In Japan they stare at you on streets and they looks judgy to everyone that is not Japanese. In Czech no one will tell you it straight to face. They will silently judge you at home or if it is something important like rents or work they will give you harder time than natives on initial check and duties.

    Bud in general younger people are more welcome to foreigners. They will often switch to English

  9. Find out what other people around you complain about and complain about the same things. You’ll fit right in.

    Also people might tell you „Mluvte česky, prosím.” but that is mostly because that particular person doesn’t speak English and doesn’t understand you.

  10. Overwhelming majority dont care. That does not mean they are not racist, they just dont give a fuck about other people and mind their own business.

  11. My girlfriend is foreign and she’s also black so it’s not like she can hide it but she never had any serious issues with racism here.

    Older people don’t speak English sometimes so that’s a struggle and some tend to stare at her because she obviously looks out of place here but it’s probably nothing compared to Japan. To be fair she is American and those are generally pretty popular around here

  14. In Czechia most people who are well-off have kind of 0 reasons to be really racist. Mildly xenophobic, if they were raised like that, but otherwise not openely mean to immigrants.

    People from middle class and higher consider open racism as uneducated poor people behaviour caused by fear, ignorance and venting inferiority complex on immigrants.

    But Slovakia….oh, dear….that is another story.

  15. I think it’s same as in every country. Stupid and uneducated people are racist. For me there is not many people around me who would be racist

  16. Such situations can happen (although it would be very, very rare), but Czechs won’t stop you from assimilating, rather will welcome it.

    Landlords are a weird bunch, rejecting all kinds of people: students, foreigners, people with and without children, pets, different ethnicities, etc. Plus it’s incredibly difficult to find a good flat where there aren’t another 20+ people willing to pay double the price.

    For just visitors, it’s fine. The worst you will get is weird looks.

  17. As a brown guy from a Muslim background, I can say I’ve never had any serious issues in CZ. Yes the occasional stare in some city outskirts or the usual drunk guy telling me to speak Czech to my non-Czech European friends. I do know the basic courtesy’s in Czech, so maybe that helps. I’ve lived in Prague and a much smaller village as well. People from smaller towns are generally nicer than cities. If I think too much about it I can start building things up in my head that the lady who grabbed her baby stroller stronger because she saw me passing by could just be my wrong interpretation but since most Czechs are racist silently I could be entirely wrong thinking that. Even though it’s subtle here the most racial mindset I’ve seen is from people aged between 25 to 35. I’ve faced some small incidents but I categorize them under drunk people or uneducated enough to foreign experiences, which is still less than what I’ve seen in other European countries. Example, the staff at the Prague airport is one of the nicest and helpful I’ve seen compared to any other airport where I win the lucky random check almost always.

  19. I’d say casual racism, racist microagression, racist jokes, some form of prejudice etc. are kinda common. Yes, it’s illegal for the landlord to not rent you an appartment for being a foreigner, yes some will still refuse to rent it and you probably won’t want to spend a year in the court fighting for your rights, which is what they count on. On the other hand I’d say it’s pretty rare to encounter open, violent racism and you’re pretty safe as a foreigner even tho you may get inconvenienced due to racism. Also depends on which country from are you exactly / what skin tone is.

  20. If you try to integrate significantly, most people don’t give a flying fuck. You might have a problem with the language barrier, particularly with folk over 50 who couldn’t even learn English outside uni, so if you fix that it will be a welcome thing for most. The language is hard, but even primary school-level Czech will get you around.

    As for the integrating…. Just, don’t be an asshole neighbour/coworker. For most that is the primary concern. If you drink beer you’re almost automatically accepted.

  22. that’s so similar. My aunt from Italy told me that some Czech sentences sound a bit like Japanese. “No tak to teda ne” Lol, steamed dumplings are Japanese, is it a coincidence?

  23. I guess that in general we Czechs don’t care where are you from, what’s the color of your skin and what’s your religion. All that matters to us is that you fit in. We Czechs are quite protective of our culture and customs, sometimes a bit too much… so when a foreigner goes against those, all hell can break loose. And I don’t mean when a foreigner has their own cultural customs, we can easily try out something new *on top* of our customs. But when someone tries to take down our Czech customs because of theirs, it won’t fly.

    Good example of this are Muslims. We don’t really care about their faith. Some people may stare at women with their heads covered, but that’s about it. But when someone gets entitled and complains about the presence of “unclean” dogs in a public park (it really happened), the blowback is massive. Or a case, when a girl complained that she got expelled from school because of her headwear and schools usually prohibit wearing any headwear at all. She even tried suing and ended up getting ridiculed for it.

    Basically, we don’t need people to assimilate into our culture. All we want is for foreigners to respect our culture. That’s all. Don’t look down upon our customs, even if they are weird (like “beating” girls with twigs on Easter), learn a few words in Czech… and that’s about it. If you start drinking beer and find an appreciation for our cuisine, you’ll find some buddies quickly. And in return, people will start getting curious about your beer/booze, your cuisine and swearwords in your language.

    One last warning – Czech in general don’t like big over-sensitiveness over various topics. We like black humor and humor that plays on stereotypes and may seem offensive to foreigners. Even jokes about races, nations and faiths are not out of the line here.

  24. You shouldn’t be worried much unless you are Gypsy, Eastern European or Middle Eastern.

    Legally they can’t refuse you based on your race or nationality. But they can have another excuse or there is a workaround.

    For example husband rents (pronájem) the apartment to his wife. And the wife than rents (podnájem) the apartment to someone else.
    And from legal standpoint, together they can refuse anyone without starting any specific reason.

    But don’t quote me on that, I don’t have a source. And I am not 100% sure with that.

  26. There’s no systematic racism and there are anti-discrimination laws that prohibit race as reason for anything.

    But of course people here are often racists or generally xenofobic, especially outside of Prague. There surely would be a few stories from Vietnamese or Romani community but not that much from foreigners, since they stay in parts where the people are used to them and know that being kind to them can even make the some good bit of cash 😀

  28. Japan is way different in this. In japan its how society worked since ever and they were technically a north korea like country back then so they arent really used to different races. The czech republic is more like some people are just dumb fucks but its still better here than in japan.

  30. There is some xenophobia. It’s usually silent, and you won’t experience it deeply unless you plan to stay here and integrate.Renting can be difficult depending on the area and whether you belong to specific groups of people (people of colour, Muslims, etc). Czechs, obviously, will never say to your face that they won’t rent you bc they don’t like your race/ethnicity, but you might spend months trying to find a suitable apartment.

    I’m white, which helps in this regard. I speak Czech but with a heavy accent. Speaking Czech helps, obviously, accent/speaking with mistakes sometimes hurts. 😀 I’m also Ukrainian, which is a hot topic for obvious reasons, I’ve had more unpleasant experiences since the war started.After five years of living here, I am not integrated, so I have the privilege of avoiding many social situations people that who settle down go through. If I had to interact regularly with my neighbors at the homeowners association or with other kids’ parents at school (if I had a kid), my experience would be very different.

    TL:DR – there is some xenophobia, it tends to be indirect and silent.

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