Hi! I am writing about Czech customs and manners. I have heard that Czech children has some studies of manners on primary school?I have also seen in Czech young people really give their places on bus to older people and they also open some door and carry your heavy things if needed... So please write to my email address mari.hassinen@suomi24.fi about how you feel about Czech manner culture
when were you there last? I didn't find it that way at all in any of my visits - I certainly don't look like a typical Czech and my black friend who traveled with us once looks even less Czech had no such problems.
Ignorance of some people never stops amazing me. What exactly do you know about everyday life in communistic Czechoslovakia and how it affects manners of Czech kids? How long did you live in CSSR and in what position that you think you're entitled to write such claims presenting them as facts? I'm first to admit that many Czech teens have potty mouths (just for your information, Ježíš Marjá is NOT considered to be a curse here), but how is that different from let's say American kids dropping f-bombs all over? By the way I never get bumped into, be it kids or adults, how's that possible? EDIT: If anything the attitude of Czech kids is getting worse and worse since the change of political system (I refuse to call it a revolution) in 1990. I believe it's mostly because they can get away with things we couldn't even dream of in 1980's. For example, the authority of teachers went down the drain, police isn't respected much either. And that what matters most - the family? Don't let me even start and here I think the "let's the kid to do anything it wants to do" attitude imported to us is at least partially to blame. Canadiana: I'm just curious - for how long have you been living in the Czech Republic and in which towns/regions (as I believe you didn't generalize like you did based on just short experience in a single region).
I see you've never been to Ankara . I've been there with my friend, I was in orange t-shirt, my blond-hair friend in green t-shirt (both unusualy coloful), and people (understand, men) in the metro was really staring at us. But in Prague for sure, but more and more in other regions, people are getting used to "foreigners or not typical czech people". And about czechs being rude. Jeez! Welcome to the real world. You've never seen Hollywood movie? (OK, other than historical drama).
That's true. Czechs are taught to do this from a young age and it's quite common. There even used to be signs on buses saying "Uvolněte místa k sezení starším spolucestujícím" ("Give up your seat to your older fellow passengers"). It's always very noticeable to see foreign tourists not having a clue and lounging in their tram seats with 80-year old Czech grannies barely hanging onto the poles. I think I had more doors opened and held for me in the U.S. than I do in the Czech Republic. But I would expect Czechs helping me with heavy things more willingly than Americans. E.g. it is common here to help mothers carry their baby carriages onto and out of trams or buses. Why don't we discuss it here? I'm sure it's an interesting topic for many of us. Not in Prague. Czechs living in Prague are used to seeing people of different nationalities and races and don't stare anymore. This is true. I get bumped into occasionally (sometimes pretty hard) without any apologies offered. From my experience, older Czech men are the worst in this regard. Not normally and everywhere, but it is true about a relatively high percentage of Czechs. I think the majority of ordinary Czechs are rather soft spoken and reserved and don't voice their feelings openly in public. But... I think we've all run into more than one Czech government office worker who's "having a bad day" and barks at everyone who dares bother her during public office hours. I even heard a loud "do prdele!" once from an angry clerk at our post office who couldn't get her computer to work. This was directly in front of a customer (my husband) and with about 20 other customers in the room. She then proceeded to yell at everyone to move to another window. And then there are the arrogant drivers, vulgar public discussions on online news sites... It seems that anonymity or a position of power (real or imagined) can make Czechs forget about simple good manners. I also think that life in communism has a big part in the Czech lack of manners and the overall glumness that you can still feel around you sometimes, especially with the older generation. In my opinion, Czechs ARE rude in comparison with many other nationalities. I see more arrogance and lack of polite behavior here than in any other country I have visited or lived in. At more than one occasion, I have been "welcomed" to this country by blatant rudeness right at the Prague airport. And I thought to myself, "No jo, jsme zase v Česku". Still, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
I've seen that too - I just try never to be one of them. I can still almost hear my mother (now, long gone) standing behind me saying "Get up and give her your seat!".
I've never lived in a big city, but in the areas of the States I've lived, one would never see that. If my son or one of his friends would fail to give his seat to an elderly person, he would quickly receive a smack in the back of the head. I wouldn't even have to speak, he and his friends would immediately know what to do. Of course, I doubt I would have to smack them; they would give up their seat without hesitation.
I have to be honest, I've not noticed a big difference between how Czech and American teens act. One thing I did notice when last in Ostrava...they don't seem to be used to seeing people jogging.
Ha ha this is very true, particularly outside Prague...I live in a small town and went out for a jog on the roads around the town and a lady stopped as she was driving by and asked if I needed any help!
