We are glad that there has been an active discussion in this thread, but please keep it on topic. From the original post:
Thank you Admins! I would like to expand a little on the original question. This point was touched on on pages 4 and 8, but I want to ask more directly - do Czechs think of interracial dating the same way as intercultural dating? The Czech Republic has not been inundated with immigrants the same way as other countries, so maybe interracial dating there is necessarily intercultural too, but if, for example, an American or British interracial couple came for a visit to your fair land, would people understand that they really do share the same culture? Or would most people be good enough to mind their own business and not think too much about what the foreigners do?
To answer Ceit's question: I think the racial aspect is a bit more important than the cultural one. At least on the outside - on the surface. It is just more "obvious" and attracts more attention. As has already been said, there are not many people from other racial backgrounds living in CR. For many people it is something exotic to see an interracial couple on the street. Especially outside Prague. Most people are not used to see people from other parts of the world on the street, the only exception are maybe the Vietnamese, who live in most of Czech towns and cities. But to see a guy or a girl with an African or Indian etc. origin is still... exotic. Therefore i think that the more foreigners will come to CR (not only to Prague), the more will people get used to them.. I'm personally from Prague and studying in England. I consider myself a VERY open-minded person, but when i came to England... it took me some time (not much, but still) to get used to the cultural mixture.. meeting people from all kinds of cultural/racial origins.. making friends with them etc. I got used to it and now i don't find it at all "exotic" to see (or even TALK!) to someone from, say, Pakistan. And there is nothing like that in CR. (Yet). So to anwer your question: if, for example, an American or British interracial couple came for a visit to your fair land, would people understand that they really do share the same culture? Or would most people be good enough to mind their own business and not think too much about what the foreigners do? ..i think it would be unusual for most people to see/meet such a couple. And by unusual i mean "not common", since they don't meet such couples every day. But i think most people would understand that this couple shares the same culture and would not think it's something weird. IF they knew that they share the same culture. If they thought one of them is Czech and the other one is a foreigner, that's something different...
Hi all ! I am a black bloke living in England.On this issue of interracial dating especially in a place like Czeh republic has been pretty paramount in my mind for the past couple of months now. I have lived and work around the globe. Presently, I am been offered an interesting role in Brno and I have just returned from a trip I made to the company for further discussion.Having lived and worked aorund the globe and engaged in some interracial relationships, the question keeps swinging in my hear like a pendulum clock ! ! ! Having physically been to Brno and to be honest the reception I received was a bit better than what I had prior to the trip,but still not withstanding the issue still continues beckoning on me, how will people react or see an interracial relationship in Brno? Their exposure to foreigners and expartriates is still limited unlike Prague. So at this point I am at a crossroad,what will be the public reaction been to such. I am about taking a career leap and sincerely will not allow such a trivial opinion of some people deter me in accomplishing my goal in LIFE. As time goes on when I move to Brno I will continually update all with my personal experiences. I HOPE ITS GOOD .
Dobre Den! My dad was from India, my mum is from Praha, Czech. They met in the late '60s here in the UK. I can remember from when I was small, we'd go on family holidays to Czechoslovakia (back in the mid '70s to the mid '80s). As it was still a socialist country, we'd quite often get stared at on the trams, especially when my grandmother used to boast about her 'family from London'! It happened much more when we'd go and visit relatives in small towns and villages. I never heard my dad complain (sadly he passed away quite a few years ago so I can't ask him, but this thread has got me interested and I going to ask my mum when I next see her!). I'm sure attitudes have improved more recently. I've been back several times over the last 10 years and I've noticed more and more people from different ethnic backgrounds (moreso in Praha than anywhere else). I know from my grandmother's views that many of the older generations were (dare I say) suspicious and even ignorant (not meant in a negative way!) of people with different backgrounds. As the country has become more open, so people will get used to it more.
I´ve been reading through this very interesting discussion and decided to place here my opinion as well. I´m a Czech girl living in the CR. From my point of view, race does not matter by Czech people, yet what matters is difficulties people face trying to overcome one another´s differences in culture. Therefore I think there may be a problem.
This is a very interesting topic! I'm a Czech girl (woman) who has lived more than half of her life in Canada. As you probably all know, Canada is a multicultural country and the interracial dating and sometimes marriages are normal. There is a reasonably big Czech community here and although I don't know everybody, those that I know would possibly date (or have dated) somebody from another culture but they would almost never get married to them. I also have many friends in the Czech Republic who come to visit and the first thing that they comment on are interracial relationships.
I agree, I reckon it's more a cultural rather than race issue, although people (in any part of the world where there isn't some much integration, not just CZ) sometimes stereotype race with assumed cultural values. My dad was Indian in appearance and he used to drink pivo, eat 'parek s rohliku' etc, just like any Czech may do! In this day and age with media scare stories, it's easy for people to assume bad things about people from other backgrounds just because they look a bit different.
Just wanted to say thank you to all people for a wonderful discussion. Yes, we can still keep it going And I am curious, Miken, did you ask your mother? Do you/your family still visit Czech republic? And how are you recieved there?
i am a new member to this site and i found the subject very intriging. i was searching research on cr not knowing that i would come across this very exact subject that i was looking for. i just wanted to know the way of life on the young in the county cause i am about to go out on a date in a few days with a cr guy that i have been talking to for the past 2 weeks. i can see that there are a lot of emotions coming out on this topic and have read everyone's input. i am african american and just wanted to know how everyone felt about me going out with a cr guy and if they had any suggestions on things that may come up in conversation. thanks
Just so long as their communist I don't care what he/she looks like! no that's just a joke. Does anyone have any romantic stories from the communist era where people had to leave their country/loved ones? I'd love to hear them and maybe we could make a film/write a book and we could all be rich. yipppeeeee!!!! :lol: It made me cry :cry: boo hoo. :lol:
