Culture Shock! Czech Republic

To give an idea of my use of the book, I was assigned to read it for a 3-week semester abroad trip to Europe.We were in Prague for 3 days. REVIEW A big issue I had with this book was its introduction. The first seven pages known as "First Impressions" was a good way to start the book, but shortly following this section the reader gets bogged down with a rather dry background on "History, Politics, Economics and Religion." This book is part of the CultureShock! Series in which the books are all formatted in the same manner. A recommendation to this series would be to put this section in the book as an appendix. While it is a logical place to begin, it's not necessary to know for a visit to the Czech Republic. Since the book's structure stands, I recommend reading the book out of order. While this is something I would never usually do, I found it a lot easier to get useful information from the book this way. Since it isn't a novel I let my hang-ups on this method of reading go and indulged in the Czech Republic culture. One disagreement I had with the author was his feelings on shopping. He makes shopping in the Czech Republic sound like a dreadful outing to the dentist. I found shopping in Prague to be one of the more enjoyable places to shop while we were in Europe. I found items we needed easy to find and quite a variety at that. This may be different for an outsider settled in and living in the country, but this portion of the book was not parallel with my experience. For someone traveling to the Czech, the resource guide towards the end of the book is very useful. Moving to a foreign place without knowing anyone can make it difficult to find reputable services and places of business. The resource section provided emergency phone numbers, addresses and phone numbers for insurance companies, real estate agencies, childcare facilities, schools, financial services, entertainment, even gyms and cell phone providers. Intertwined in all of the chapters of the book were phrases and keywords translated from English to Czech. I regret not reviewing them more thoroughly before visiting Prague because they would have been useful for visiting restaurants and shops. The book definitely clarified why the Czech people are...well the way they are. We encountered Czechs that came off as dry and emotionless people but the history of the people's struggle with communism made this "standoffish" attitude understandable. Another thing this book prepared us for was the food served in the Czech Republic. Czechs are described as carnivores who pay little mind to balanced nutritious meals, and prepare their food with great amounts of fat and butter. Normally I do not eat much meat or food that is deep fried, but I enjoyed the delicious Czech cuisine. The author more than accurately described the native foods' rich tastes. While we were only in Prague for three days and did not visit any businesses, I found most of our encounters to be with the people and food

I bought this book for my 18-year-old daughter who is going to the Czech Republic to teach English. She said it was simple and clear to read and entertaining. It is very informative regarding habits and beliefs of the local residents, very down to earth.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I had a good laugh, I learned somethingabout myself (after twenty five years out of Prague, in Africa) and Ialso realised how difficult it is for a non-European to appreciatecomplexities of a small nation which lived for more than forty yearsunder communism. The book is amusing, open-mined, tolerant andkind. It generally assesses well the character of the Czechnation. Where it hits shallow ground are the issues related to lifeunder communism: incorect or insignificant problems like limitedshopping opprotunities, non-availaibility of goods, banning of westernmusic overshadow the real issues of the evil of communism: its grip onpeople's life, its control of persons' destiny. And what really jabbedme was a very ethnic view of the author on what is a polishedculture. Athough numerous habits and customs encoutered in the Czechculture are rather ethnic, American mannerism is equally culturallychallenged....The notion of crasness is indeeddifferent in different cultures. Overall, a great book to buy so thatyou can return to it and enjoy its wits and successful attempt to search for ethnic diversity.

As Czech living in Canada I really enjoyed this book. I was amused and often surprised how exactly our manners and traditions were described. I would recommend this book to anybody who are visiting Czech republic and wants to understand czech people.

I loved this book but it needs much more czech to english phrasing to help you get by while in Czech.