UK, Ireland / Should Polish immigrants learn English to work in the UK? [77]


Whose lifestyle?

Yours? Mine? The permenantly unemployed family down the road? My public school educated boss?
Northern Irish? Welsh? Cornish? Geordie?

UK, Ireland / Should Polish immigrants learn English to work in the UK? [77]

I believe in equality.
If there are people who can't speak the official language,
how can they have the same opportunities,
how can they be equal?

UK, Ireland / Should Polish immigrants learn English to work in the UK? [77]

Seeing as Britain is a country of four (or more) nations, adopting our traditions
(many of which have been borrowed from other countries anyway)
does not seem like such a good idea.

To start with, do I follow British traditions enough?
Or should it be one rule for the British and another for anyone else?

To quote one of the peasants in 'Monty Python & the Holy Grail'
when King Arthur says he is King of the Britons:
'Who are they?'

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

It would be nice in some ways if all the British in Britain started learning Polish and eating kielbasa,
but it's not about to happen and that is not the issue here.
Note that it is in the Polonia UK section.

Yes, it would be interesting to see the other side.
There is a much smaller number of British people living in Poland.
How they integrate into Polish society is a matter for discussion elsewhere in the forum.

UK, Ireland / Should Polish immigrants learn English to work in the UK? [77]

As the article states (I haven't read all of it), it can only affect people from outside the EU.

Very few people mention Welsh. Alright, that's not the issue.

It costs a lot of money to run translation services.
There are people who do not feel any need to learn English,
despite living here for years and years.
Most people who come here, speak English, would like to speak English, or do not have plans to stay for years and years.
However, it is not always easy for immigrants to find courses in the UK that they can afford / attend.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

Word order is the significant point here. A small group can integrate into a larger one. Not the other way round.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

The views will come from forum members.

Does that mean the thread is actually about British people living in Polish society?

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

Because at the moment, the word order suggests that the situation is of British people intesgrating or not into the Polish community,
rather than vice versa.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


Alright, I've changed my mind about that one.

Shouldn't the title of the thread be:

Are Polish people really interested to integrate with the British?

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


I couldn't descriminate against any nationality when it comes to relationships.
Except maybe Liechtenstein.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


The inaccuracies of stereotypes are not easy for everyone to deal with.


Glasgow took the name later.
There must have been Glaswegians insensed by the suggestion that Scousers might be harder.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


It had been called a Liverpool kiss way back in the past.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

When you don't hear many pleasantries such as 'Dziekuje', 'Przepraszam', etc.
you do start to wonder if anyone is taking any notice of you yourself being polite.
That was on a recent visit to Lomza - ie. not a big city where they're suffering tourists all the time.
My politeness had been commented on, more than once during my trip.
One lady even called me a gentleman.
I wasn't trying to get in her knickers either!


Doesn't everyone just wants to hug you to death!

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

Mmmm - dessert!

Goes down very nicely after the hay (and the carrot).

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


I had this from a girl on a bus in Warsaw. She'd spent the last 5 years in Chicago.
'Keep talking to me in your British accent!' she kept asking me.
I almost run out of things to say!

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

Like when you're driving - you don't notice the plain sailing like you notice the traffic jams,
rudeness stands out more than politeness.
It is how you categorise the person or people who have been rude:

by profession,
by hair colour,
by nationality...

There are 2 kinds of people in the world:

those who categorise everyone in the world into 2 kinds of people,
and those who don'tl.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


I had to stand behind an American tourist ordering food from a Chinese noodle stall on a market.
He pointed a lot and kept saying 'Can I get... ?'
He came across as very impolite.

I have also met one or two very polite Americans,
and Poles both rude and polite.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

You can try kissing her hand, but no matter how flattered she is, there's still a possibility she might actually prefer the more modern 'Fancy a shag?' line. However, both in combination really doesn't work.

Not that I've tried.

News / Poland torpedoes EU Day Against Death Penalty [71]


Not content with being offensive about Poles and Poland, eh?
Who's next?

News / Poland torpedoes EU Day Against Death Penalty [71]


There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

News / Poland torpedoes EU Day Against Death Penalty [71]

Per capita, China is a little way down on the list of number of executions.

nationmaster.com/graph/cri_exe_percap-crime-executions-per-capita

Language / Polish Language Pronunciation - Example Words and Phrases [178]

The 't' is pronounced with the tongue flat on the palette just behind the front teeth.
The 'rz' has the tongue further back in the mouth, more like where the English 'r' sound is.
I think the 'rz' is also voiced (a 'zh' sound more than a 'sh' sound)
The 'y' is like the English 'i' in the word 'bit'. Maybe slightly tending towards the 'e' in 'shed'.

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]

Suprisingly polite though!
I mean:

Life / You know you're Polish when... ? [111]


Fantastic stuff.


Nasty stuff.

Give me potatoes with mayonnaise instead any day.
Brown sauce is good. Curry sauce... (I'm drifting)


Keep it in the fridge or in the cupboard?

UK, Ireland / Are British people really interested to integrate with Poles? [92]


It's probably best for your sake she left it at that. B****!
There are better people out there. Most of us, I'd like to think.


I have spent much of the last year working with a group of Polish blokes.
The only reason we never had more than just one beer after work was because
they had so far to travel and some of them had second jobs in the evening.

I think it depends on where and who you are. Most people find it easier to integrate when they are on their own
and not with a large group of people from the same country as themselves.

History / Polish Jews - they changed their Jewish surnames to Polish [532]

I'm not posting any more in this thread.

The subject of Jewry in Poland is a worthwhile subject of discussion,

but I'm bored of the antisemitic claptrap

that forms the basis of the thread (see post 1)

History / Polish Jews - they changed their Jewish surnames to Polish [532]

Faktorowicz?

History / Polish Jews - they changed their Jewish surnames to Polish [532]


I do not deny that.


The plot thickens. Collaboration can take many forms.
There are good people and bad people of all varieties in this world.

History / Polish Jews - they changed their Jewish surnames to Polish [532]

The starkest contrast being between the Jedwabne pogrom and the liberation of a camp in the Warszawa uprising.

Antisemitism in Europe began - with the restrictions laid down by the church on how Christians (ie. the entire population of Europe minus the Jews) could deal with money. The work had to be done by someone, and this laid down the basis for the Jewish 'bogeyman'.

Modern day conspiracy theorists aren't doing anything new.

It is old, sad and pathetic.

History / Polish Jews - they changed their Jewish surnames to Polish [532]

I believe that in WWII, there were both Poles who sheltered Jews (therefore risking their own lives) and those who collaborated in the killing.

I don't know about numbers in population, but many Jews lived in ghettos so they could stick with their own community and practise their own traditions. In Russia, where Jews could live was prescribed by laws. In Britain, there were no such laws. I'm not certain as to the position of other countries, but these two cases are the two opposing ends of the spectrum.

Poland had had the largest Jewish population in Europe for a long time until the middle of the last century.