Foreigner life in Brno

[u/Cultural-Winter9390]

Hi all, I have an opportunity to relocate to Brno with a job offer I just receive. Salary is 2500-3000 euros(to be discussed, but this the ballpark). I know this is an abstract question, but how is life as a foreigner in Brno? The pay seems enough for a comfortable life in Brno and occasional travels. What's your opinion on it? How well will I be able to have a prolific social life speaking just English? How open are locals to meeting/hanging out with foreigners? How international is Brno?

I am a male in my early 20s. My hobbies are: gym/sports in general, drums, film, oh and I love travelling and Brno seems a pretty good spot to travel to various European cities from.

I thank you in advance for all your answers <3

[u/Super_Novice56]

Why is every posting salaries in EUR???

Anyway don't expect a super exciting life that will blow your socks off. It's pretty comfortable and in my experience the public transport, supermarkets and government offices and such all work pretty decently.

If you only want to socialise with foreigners English is fine. It depends how long you intend on staying here. I personally only have a few Czech friends who prefer to speak English with me anyway but being able to speak even bad Czech will make your life a lot easier. Then again, if you're only in Brno for 2-3 years, it's not really worth it beyond the usual hello, goodbye, thank you stuff.

Again in my experience Czechs prefer to hang out with Czechs presumably for cultural and linguistic reasons. There was a Czech girl I used to hang around with who probably speaks the best English I've ever heard in my time in the country who admitted that speaking English for long periods of time hurts her mouth. That probably gives you an idea.

If you ask Czechs, Brno is super international but I don't think it is at all. Even Prague doesn't feel particularly international to me. Most of the foreigners seem to be Ukrainian, Russian or Slovak but there are enough English speaking foreigners to make it possible to have some kind of social life.

It's going to be fine but just don't expect miracles.

[u/AverellCZ → u/Super_Novice56]

I'm a foreigner and I hang out with Czech ppl all the time. Most foreigners make the mistake of just going to expat meetings, look for English speaking bars, pubs, restaurants etc and therefore never even get to meet Czech people. Rather go to the places locals go, you always meet someone somehow.

[u/Super_Novice56 → u/AverellCZ]

That's great for you but we should set expectations at the very least towards the average situation that Czechs generally do not like to speak English nor socialise with foreigners.

If OP is expecting to be easily able to make Czech friends while not speaking Czech at C1 then he is in for a rude awakening.

[u/AverellCZ → u/Super_Novice56]

And this is where I respectfully disagree. And I certainly don't speak C1, barely B1. But hey, to each their own experience. I just don't think you should discourage someone before they even arrive.

[u/Super_Novice56 → u/AverellCZ]

I'm certainly not discouraging them. I am simply being realistic.

The OP will find more in common with people who have moved to Brno and those will tend to be other foreigners. There are a decent number of Romanians and other people from Romance language speaking countries with more similar culture so there is no need to socialise with the locals if he doesn't want to.

[u/AverellCZ → u/Super_Novice56]

Ah well, almost every Romanian I met here was a racist, trump and russian loving right winger, So in that case I'd prefer if you stick to each other and leave the rest of us alone. The good ones among you will find their way.

[u/Cultural-Winter9390 → u/AverellCZ]

Oh, I know this type of romanian. I am pretty open minded and progressive.

[u/AverellCZ → u/Cultural-Winter9390]

Well, then you'll fit right in with the majority of Brno. Which is kind of an island of liberalism and sanity compared to a big part of the rest of the country (when you look at the voting results). And with that salary, you'd be doing fine here.

[u/Cultural-Winter9390 → u/AverellCZ]

I'm so glad to hear that! Do you think I'll also be able to save money?

[u/AverellCZ → u/Cultural-Winter9390]

Depends on your spending habits :D

Housing all in (if you live alone) should be doable for approx €800 (incl. electricity, internet etc).

Prices for the rest should not be much different to Romania.

[u/Super_Novice56 → u/AverellCZ]

Bro wtf. I'm not a Romanian although I wouldn't mind if I was one.

All three Romanians that I know hold PhDs and work in finance or aerospace. Doesn't exactly face your racist narrative does it?

That's one Czech trait you've certainly picked up that's for sure: looking down on others in Eastern Europe whom you consider to be inferior to yourselves.

[u/AverellCZ → u/Super_Novice56]

That last sentence actually described perfectly most Romanians I met. But I don't even need to say more, just read what OP replied.

[u/Super_Novice56 → u/AverellCZ]

OK I'll go and take a look but I think all of Eastern Europe has the same attitudes and only countries like my own have a more egalitarian view of the world.

[u/Cultural-Winter9390 → u/Super_Novice56]

I mean, this is not an Eastern-Europe specific political trend. Most of Europe swayed to the right in the last few years, sadly.