English people attitude towards Poles?

English people have had foreign people coming here to work for centries including you Poles and we welcome any decent hard working people

from my experience........ I am English, but moved to Denmark, came back with a Polish wife to the UK last year. My wife works in a pub restaurant with many other Poles, so she deals with the English everyday. She would say 50% don't comment, so we can say they don't mind or care much about it, 20% seem very interested in her accent and ask were she is from, even ask her to tell them more about her home country and 30% are negative towards her as a Pole in Britain. That negativity ranges from comments on her accent as sounding stupid, why she can not speak English very well to having a 1p coin thrown at her face. A minority do try it on, perhaps by not paying the bill, this happens more than with the English staff. She will come home sometimes a very angry woman, she cannot understand how people are so stupid sometimes.

For me as an Englishman and from someone who has been to Poland rather a lot, I do find it hard to see what the English are thinking most of the time, it is by far the most racist country I have lived in, very backward thinking. I have my friends still from years ago, but I have a very big circle of new Polish friends, I enjoy my time with them, my friends idea of a good night out is getting drunk as fast as possible and then having a Kebab, I find the Polish night out way more interesting. 90% seem to have no problem with English people and feel welcome, although do not mix socially with English, 10% seem to feel that they are looked down on as a lower class.

I lived in Denmark for 6 years and was very surprised on my return how Britain had gone downhill. The influx of new workers is from Eastern Europe is resented by a large number of people who see it as taking jobs away from British people or bringing wage levels down. There have been reports of companies laying of UK workers and getting Polish worker to replace them, that is a fact, perhaps not to save money on the wage bill is the only reason, but also that the Poles work harder and complain less, so many people see this and fact and fiction become blurred. However many people see the Poles as hard workers, doing low paid jobs that the British will not do. I have a few English friends who have met my Polish friends here and their ideas about Polish people and Poland have been changed for the better.

A lot of British people are told myths about the Polish people who come here, lots of very daft things, because some UK people are scared or racist, most of it is untrue, but I think its an uphill struggle to get the truth out, many English people think Poles use horse and carts and eat cabbage all day, washed down with vodka, thats not really the case now is it.

I watch out for my Polish friends here, I can see a problem before they do and avert a situation perhaps with someone wanting to cause trouble, the English are not a bad people, just a little brain washed by the media, not good with working things out for themselves.

Andy

"I have never had an English teacher that spoke Polish during my lessons. I couldn't even begin to understand how anyone could teach English through Polish."

Hmmm, I find the explanation of complicated or unexpected points of grammar in a foreign language to be counter-productive, especially to less advanced learners.

For example, while it is possible to teach foreign verb conjugation to English children through the target language, it diverts the attention of the learners away from the task in hand, a task which is by the way utterly alien to them as they never meet conjugation exercises in English.

Our view of education is often highly-coloured by our own experience of it.

Polish & British people should learn to co-exist and share the many cultural ideas they
have in common...both need to be aware of and resist EU, UK and other bureaucratic
parasites.

Cornelius - only one million, you say? I thought there were more...
Orientals pour where they find wealth. That`ll always be, and the west will also earn a lot from them.
Migrants anyhow have to respect some rules. Romania, talking ab legislation and economy is a b...ch where everybody from everwhere can come, f...k and then leave or remain to f...k and blow and p...s and fetish further on. Most of the East is like that. The re is no law, but bribery. Customs, police. I am sure Englishmen do not play foul of their land in such a way and that is why you are where you are as a nation. I am not praising you, I am jost acknowledging a truth I know about...


Resist UE - you and your relatives, buddy, I resist no EU. I praise EU and globalization. ;) Kus kus

Why on earth would you want to teach " complicated or unexpected points of grammar" to less advanced learners! There is no reason to move from the target language in order to explain something.

Hello i am english and i came to this forum in hopes to find out more about polish people.

First off i will try and tell you what i tink english people thnk of polish people.
I would agree that england is a very racist country but only when we feel threatened. We are a very tiny country and it is hard to get a job and ake a decent living, and there are alot of immigrants who come over here and get free health care benefits and allowences and jobs, british people feel hostile towards immigrants for having all of this luxury while we struggle, many people believe that immigrants are better off than we are and so that is why alot of brits are racist. But not everyone is like that, only people who are feeling threatened and odnt agree that we should let immigrants have all of this.

I work at a factory and 90% are polish and slovakian. And my very minimal british friends are ok with polish people. In actual fact i can on this forum because a polish girl at work is very hostile towards us. None of the polish people will speak to us even though they know a little english, i getthe impression we are not liked even though we havent done anything wrong, we are just working in are own country.

One girl at work is really upsetting me, she is speaking in a very hostile manner, and is talking about me to her friends right in front of me, i have learnt polish swear words and i know for a fact she is being very mean about me. Her na dher friends are always staring at me whilst talking in this manner and obviously i dont know what they are aying. I am teh only english girl there. SO the reason why i came here is to ask...

do polish people like english people? because i am gettign very bad vibes from all the poles, which is very sad as i am a nice person and i just want to earn a living in my home town

You may want to take into consideration that not eveyone is comfortable with their English speaking skills and may be a bit embarassed when trying to converse.


Are you positive she's talking about you? Is it possible that some of the other workers make them feel out of place?

I hope that it was an isolated incident. I can not imagine, how low and hateful a person can be in a so-called, civilized country, and ... in the city.

We all know, people who live in small towns and villages are less exposed to foreigners. I think it is them, who are most often the racists.

I work part time as I am a student and the poles in my work are arseh*les, they have no sense of humour and walk around looking like they are going to be executed and they never smile.

that's because they're with you

I personally think we should let people have their say...it is a free world...we may not agree, but eveyone has their own opinion and that is what life is all about..this is a forum and not a communist state, so we should listen and take on board what people say and think for a moment instead of jumping on someone - we may not like it but thats life....in my honest opinion and certainly not humble

Well, he does...and plenty. Nobody cares what's he got to say anyway. Just a lone cry against deaf ears and blind eyes.
BTW. If it was a communist state, he would be pulled out of this website and sent to Siberia - but he is not...

Well, that wasnt exactly the kind of responce I was looking for, I was looking for a more even keel point of view...

As for your retort, I think you need theapry....its obviouse you have issues..

Naah, no issues here. Just too much time on my hands this week...away from work...my precious A.
How about you? An issue or two? :)

No, I was looking for a rounded view, hence my post

Got agree with Daisy - especially if teashoci is making the same remarks to these people as he is on this site!

At the end of the day there is always going to be people who think that having Polish people in the country is a negative thing and they'll be racist towards them and they'll make comments here about them and how they should go home etc...

But then there is the people who are more openminded and can accept working and living with people from other cultures and, for the most part, enjoy it and enjoy learning about other people.

The worlds not as free as you think Amathyst. Free speech is not a right granted to every human being in the world.

We are to some extent cushioned in the West because we feel we can speak out openly on many issues. But, we also have in place (quite rightly too) laws which are aimed at preventing people saying things which can be regarded as racist etc.


Agreed. But, inflammatory and extreme derogatory remarks have no place in this sort of forum. My opinion .

Excellent post drew.I think there are a tiny number of ignorant racist morons but slightly more who feel their job security could be threatened by Polish workers and combined with the media myths they behave disgracefully.Also,many Polish workers have moved to areas of Britain where there are few immigrants (unlike cities/southeast England)and the local people are more sheltered and bigotted.

damn is that not true then?

I do actually agree that there a lot of Poles in the UK who dont like British people, they are here to make money pure and simple and have no desire to make friends with English people.. who they often consider to be stupid, lazy and lacking in culture. Im sorry to say this, but this is my observation.

They've always been there and always will. No matter what race, colour or religion you come from. No amount of debate or persuasion will change their views.

I must live in the only part of the country where I don't see many Polish people.

I'd like too :)

Where are you Lady?

There is quite a large amount of Lithuanians in East London where i am staying, our neighbours are Polish though, we get on well apart from the dodgy music in the early hours :-) but they tend to socialise at home though among friends so that's the norm i guess..

North West .

I know that's a large area but this is a public forum.

I love listening to Polish people speak. That's probably because I miss using the language. Maybe I need to move to London ( er NOT) <grin>

I think you may be being a tad over cautious!


I get that in my own bloody house!... who the hell sings that Postwaly mnie w dupa song anyway? (sorry for spelling).

Theres a lot of Lithuanians where I am as well. I was in a nightclub last weekend and wound up chatting to a couple groups of Lithuanian women, the language barrier seemed to be an issue though making it hard to communicate.

I'm going to buy my Polish neighbour loads of Polish CD's the day before i leave England just to wind my remainding neighbours up...

on/off b/f has a flatmate who he is getting annoyed with. The flatmate speaks limited English but has been here for a year and has happily admitted to on/off that he has no intention of furthering his English and is here for money only. The problem is, all the money he is making he is spending on living here, rent, food, council tax, bills etc.

I've been called a 'sensible head', 'diplomat' and whatever else you want to throw in in the four days i've been speaking on these forums.

Personally i feel like i don't have an overall view on polish people as everybody is an individual whether your Polish or British. But on the whole i'm very happy to have our cousins from Eastern European over in England. Anything that has a positive affect on this country is good and i feel the polish have that as the bring something different to the table that was not here before.

I do like the working attitude of the Polish its good and positive and i think its something that British could pick up on and put into action ourselves, for me there are too many wasters on the doll or taking money out of the economy because they cannot be bothered to get a job.

However on the other hand i do feel if there are any people in this country who do not like Britain or British people or the way we live and lead our lives then they should leave. You can't come to another country and expect us to bend over backwards to accommodate all of your needs, its just not going to happen.

Overall i love the polish who come to Britain because usually it is to better themselves and their families, that in my eyes is ambitious, i love ambition and ambitious people so its a big thumbs up to the Poles from me :)

Doesn't that offend you Sapphire??.....Since your husband is Polish.... you mix with people who have a bad opinion of you!!....and that doesn't bother you?....What do you think about it?

but is not all the people from poland , i m a foreign here in manchester, and is funny when other foreign started to slag off about england , they think becouse i m another foreign i will agree with they ,but not the first thing i said is :

my wife is english can you please stop to slag off about england and if you dont like it why are you here ?
the asians and the africans are the worse!!!!