“No One Is Paying Me To Speak English” | Czech Doctors To Expats

It’s understandable that as a foreigner you have to learn a bit of the local language to get you by . But this becomes hard when foreigners who struggle are denied basic services like health or having police emergency numbers hung up on them because they don’t speak Czech. In this episode I talk with Kelsey Roman an American who has found herself in some of these situations. We continue our conversation on part 2 .
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[@paulaweichandt1499]

Thank you for speaking about this!! It makes me feel so gaslighted when I bring these topics up. A lot of these issues are so naturalized here that people just don't see it as discrimination anymore, even expats!! I mean, just going to migration office makes you feel so unwelcomed, not even a single sign in English. It's truly insane.

[@Vojtaniz01]

That is probably because vas majority of migrants here don't speak English as well. Most migrants come from Ukraine, Slovakia, Vietnam, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Mongolia and Hungary. Migrants from other countries who mostly do speak English at least as their second language, combined, only attribute to 17 % of all the migrants. It would make much more sense to add signs in Ukrainian and Vietnamese than in English.

[@Vojtaniz01]

And another problem is that the government (regardless of which party has the power) and bureaucracy are unable to change things, and that is by far not only towards foreigners. 30 years ago, number of foreigners was about 1/10 of what it is now and I wouldn't be surprised if the capacity of foreign affair bureaus was still the same as it was back then. It is the same with the capacity of kindergartens, elementary and high schools, it is the same with motorway construction, and I could continue on and on. Everybody gets shitty deal in Czechia, not just foreigners.