How amicable are people in your country? - eviltoast

I spent a long time in the UK and currently live in Czechia.

In the UK if you stood in a group conversation and weren’t saying anything, people tried to involve you and asked you questions. In Czechia, unless you said something, you would be ignored*. I know this is kind of an odd thing to consider but I’ve determined it’s the one thing that decides if I’m able to find actual close friends in a society. Because I’ve spent several years here (am Czech) and although I’ve made acquaintances I’ve never met anyone who was more interested to get to know me than I was to get to know them. This has left me feeling lonely.

So in order to know where else I’d fit in, I’d be curious to know how this hypothetical situation would play out in your country. I know the dividing line must be somewhere between UK and CZ but don’t know where. When I visited Eastern Germany and spoke German it was only marginally better than Czechia.

*So when trying to make conversation, all the effort had to come from your side (which gets tiring). In the UK you could feel that the other person was trying to help carry the conversation too. And actually, I’ve found this happens when non native speakers switch to English too (eg. when Erasmus people came)

  • Fleppensteyn@feddit.nlEnglish
    3·
    3 months ago

    Czechs are kind of known for being cold and distant. It’s a lonely place to live. I just went on a holiday and people could be so friendly and chatty in some other countries, at least reassuring me that it’s not me who’s the problem.

    Brits and Germans are definitely friendlier and more sociable than Czechs (or Dutch) but the real chatty ones are down South, around the Mediterranean.