Question:
Just returned from a week in Prague. Had a very good time,
beautiful city, to many tourists but I was one of them so
can't complain.
The question...was it my imagination or are the people of
Prague sort of blank...the shop owners, clerks, hotel staff
were not unfriendly or rude or nasty they were just
unresponsive. No hello, goodmorning, thankyou's, nothing.
I know English is not as common so that may be part of the
problem. I know there are hords of tourists that have a
tendency to turn the locals off, but other cities like
Amsterdam have a lot of tourists and the Dutch are very
friendly. The only thing I can think of is that it's
a hangover from the Communist period when there wasn't the
incentive to put out much effort.
Would apprectiate other opinions and experiences.
On the otherhand maybe it was my imagination.
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That's not just your imagination, the people in Prague are weird, it may be a 'leftover' from the communist times, but they're worse than in any other Central European country. I'm Polish and should get used to this kind of behaviour (still happens around Poland) but in Czech it is as common as it used to be 10 years ago.
Hi, lw!
Yours and Michals observation correspond to mine but as an
Austrian I am not surprised at all. It has not to do
anything with communist leftovers, in that case it would be
about the same in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.,
but it is in Vienna (beautiful city with lots of
opportunities to have a very good time, too) quite
comparable to Prague and looking into a Viennese telephone
directory you find it quite the same as its Prague
counterpart, the same family names (and about the same
fraction of German family names scattered in between, some
of them strangely "germanized" genuine Czech names, as for
example Strand for Strnad, Wildscheck for Vlcek or
Hundertwasser for Stowasser and so on). I think, that is the
solution, and not a Communist past.
Hi, lw!
Yours and Michals observation correspond to mine but as an
Austrian I am not surprised at all. It has not to do
anything with communist leftovers, in that case it would be
about the same in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, etc.,
but it is in Vienna (beautiful city with lots of
opportunities to have a very good time, too) quite
comparable to Prague and looking into a Viennese telephone
directory you find it quite the same as its Prague
counterpart, the same family names (and about the same
fraction of German family names scattered in between, some
of them strangely "germanized" genuine Czech names, as for
example Strand for Strnad, Wildscheck for Vlcek or
Hundertwasser for Stowasser and so on). I think, that is the
solution, and not a Communist past.
Czech was one of the rudest places I have ever been to. Ask a policeman for help, they walk off. People at the train station totally unwilling to help. Borderpost officials trying to stop us coming in...
Heh...Nice to read it. I must say that Lothar is right, our
rude behavior hasn't anything to do with the communism but
with our "national mentality". I can't understand why some
foreigners (Americans, for example) say hello to people they
don't know etc. Anyway I have to admit that if you ask a
policeman for help, they have to help you.
Strange to read about my nation being rude. I think what is
left from communist times may be lack of customer service
which compared to the famous American service must seem to
be poor. That does not mean Americans are any better
or more polite people by nature, they are just well trained
to give a good service. Anyway don't people take the piss
from the American "have a nice day"? We all know it is not
quite genuine because at the end of the day you probably do
not care. So, I would not say we are the rudest nation
around perhaps just a little less trained and more
individual. We are Czechs and proud of it. Looking forward
to your replies.
Thanks to all for your feedback.
Czech Chick, I totally agree with your comments on the
American "have a nice day" bit (I am an American).
What I was speaking of are the simple common courtesies
one comes to expect when someone deals with the public.
I found this totally lacking in Prague.
was over at xmas - one day the ticket inspector guy showed
me his badge and wanted to see my pass. i was off in laa-laa
land and had no idea what he wanted, so i just walked away.
then he grabbed my arm and screamed ticket, and i was a bit
freaked out and he went to great lengths to make me feel
better - he was all smiles because that was really the only
way that we could communicate with each other. so that was
a happy incident.
in shops and things i found people neither more nor less
rude than my home (which is toronto, where i found people
insanely distant when i moved here.) sometimes people
were friendly, sometimes not, but that seems kind of
normal. as noted above, we north americans like things
sugar coated and it is a bit weird to be TOO friendly all
the time.
I personally get turned off by people who are trying to be
too courteous - you know they are lying (most of the time, I
think). I think I prefer the 'indifferent' attitude. Here in
USA, people are by nature very friendly (I have no idea
where that came from) and it sometimes can be very annoying.
I found the people in Prague very nice and helpful. The
salespeople, waiters, penzion staff, etc., were great and we
had wonderful service. I guess we just went into the right
shops. We weren't treated badly because we didn't speak
much Czech and the experience was excellent.
Don┤t get confused by Prague, people there are very
different to the rest of us. Generally we don┤t like people
from Prague as well, because they are rude, unpolite,
selfish and arrogant. But in the rest of the country it
might be a language problem, especially the older
generation doesn┤t speak much of English. And I agree,
something left from the communist times.
Thanks, lw, for giving me a chance to vent on a new pet
peeve!!!! I was just in Prague in April--spent 10 days, with
an overnight in Cesky Krumlov. I heard about Czech
(particularly Prague) rudeness & predjudice before I went,
read about it in guidebooks, etc, but I saw none of it. Of
course, the small town was friendlier than the capital, but
we had absolutely no bad experiences. Everyone was polite,
most were nice, and many were friendly. I saw no evidence
of rudeness at all--frustration or fatigue with rude
tourists, perhaps.
Quick quiz for all of you that think the people are
rude--What does "Dobry den" mean??? Or "Dobry vecer"????
EVERYONE says good day when you walk into a store,
restaurant, etc---they just happen to say it in Czech, for
some unknown reason (?!). I asked a bunch of train
officials, & random travelers (some old) in train
stations/trains for help--using those invaluable Czech
words, "Prosim" (please)& "Prominte" (excuse me), hand
gestures, and names of cities. Everyone was very nice &
helpful. In stores, restaurants, and hotels everyone spoke
english so I didn't get a chance to use my phrase book even.
I found it hard to believe that most travelers ignored
the advice to learn at least how to say 'good day" and
'please" (written in the same guidebooks that talked about
how rude people are.) I think most of the perception of
rudeness comes down to attitude. If you call "Excuse me!"
across a store for someone to come help you, you will get a
different response than if you walk up to the person and say
"Prosim?" with a slightly sheepish smile on your face (since
you don't know their language). That was exactly the
difference I saw in one store. In another store they
thought I was Czech because I said "good evening" in their
language. I was astounded that so few people apparently
pick that up--when you hear it all the time, whenever you go
anywhere. I found that people were very recptive to smiles
& usually returned them.
I think that it has been very difficult for the
country/capital particularly to adapt to the sudden influx
of tourists when it had been relatively closed for so long,
but I don't think that its rudeness at all. As some people
rightly commented above, there is more reserve than in some
countries. However, outside of small towns it's not very
common for people to say hello to you in the US, either.
Maybe "Can I help you?", but that's not really the same
thing, is it?
So, Czech chick, I found your fellow countrymen to be
polite, helpful, usually nice & frequently friendly, but
most of all patient with all the tourists who find them
rude. I hope to actually get to know some Czech people in
the future, and I plan to go back--partly because I had such
a good experience with the people there.
oh, and I forgot to say, people said please & thank you all
the time!!! What did you think the restaurant staff were
muttering softly every time they refilled your water or
brought you something or shopkeepers gave you change or....