Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S

I've never been to Croatia and Hungary but in France Spain and Italy most of the people I have encountered speak to me in English, the French do begrudgingly but they do although French is a fairly easy language to learn anyway.

I can safely say that in the above countries I've never had anyone give me hassle for being English. I wish I could say the same about Poland.

Most people here are generally warm and welcoming, well the ones which have experienced different cultures anyway.

Maybe its just the fact that Britain is too nice to people who are from outside the UK.

Come on, I've been checking some Italian website recently and even when I clicked on "English" it kept being (mostly) in Italian. French are terrible for their language skills and in case of the Spaniards their English is often non - existent or very, very bad.

Hungarians very often learn German instead of English, the same applies to Croatia, especially in case of older people.
Anyway, how many British people actually speak any other language?

In dalmatia, there are lots and lots of people that don't speak anything other than Croatian. It's changing with the younger people learning English. German is hit or miss, more often than not miss. I get by better with broken Czech than English. Everything that we do down there business wise involves a translator. From getting licenses, to inspections, to taxes.

Not anymore -


Actually - the legislation has changed. It used to be acceptable to produce a driving licence combined with a birth certificate, but now, no more. The birth certificate is still acceptable, provided it's a full UK birth certificate combined with a document showing a UK national insurance number. Driving licences are officially useless in terms of proving identity for work purposes - just as they've always been in (most) of the EU.

kids.org.uk/files/102249/FileName/ImmigrationAct-Advicetoapplicats.doc

(unsurprisingly, the UK Border Agency site is useless and doesn't actually give you the list)


Is it worth being arrested (can't prove identity, you're nicked son) and taken to a police station pending your ability to prove your identity and immigration status, just to get a translator to explain why you were stopped in the first place?


Ah, come on, the vast majority of British police won't speak another language. Sure, they'll get you a translator, but you'll get it down the station. Scottish law in particular is shaped in such a way that you get a solicitor/translator when they want to give you one, not when you think you should get one.


Wasn't there a huge row over that? I could've sworn that most people felt "what? get lost, you speak English in England!" with that. Even me - and I'm an Independent reader!


Would you be willing to be arrested, taken to the police station and held until they could rustle up a translator, and then charged with not being able to prove your identity when requested - just for the sake of having a translator to explain that you have to remove the tints and re-test the car?

Why are we talking about corruption anyway? He was nicked for having an illegal piece of kit on his car, no money changed hands at any point?


Ask the European Union that question, Schengen law was shaped by the original countries in Schengen - Poland has little influence on it. It's not a legal travel document under EU and Polish law - which means that it isn't a valid document for identity purposes when in Poland. The only acceptable piece of identity issued to a UK citizen is a passport - which is why we must carry it around in order to comply with the law.

Ultimately, it's our own fault for not having ID cards that can be carried easily.

(wasn't hiding, just working on an interesting property inheritance case that's exceptionally complicated)

I agree - i think we should have identity cards - its a really good idea. I have nothing to hide.

Anyway... I think this arguement is going a bit far - I have nothing against any nationality, only the idiots that treat other people unfairly. Its not about what country you're from.

About people not being able to communicate - remember, I lived in Gorzow Wlkp for 2 years and most of the people there could not speak English and I didn't expect them to - instead I did my best in Polish. BUT i would expect a translator if I was in a pickle and I don't think that that is so unreasonable.

We have to learn a second language from the age of 12 but generally not to many as the majority of things worldwide are done in English, Also when we go abroad and try to speak to people in Spain etc they would rather speak to us in English in order to practice their English skills. When I've been to spain i tried to speak to people in Spanish in order to practice for my spanish exam and people simply spoke to me in English.

The main reason English speaking people don't speak other languages very well is because English is the international language, Look at the switches etc in your car, they are all labelled in English or with an English abbreviation, Computers are programmed in English, Nearly all products are named in English for example CD - Compact disc, The language of the internet is English as is the language of Aviation, Air traffic control worldwide are made to speak English as it is the most widely spoken language.

As a result I speak fluent Antigua and Barbuda, Australian, Bahamas Barbados Belizian Botswanan Brunein Cameroonian Canadian Dominica Ethiopian Fijiin Gambian Ghanan
Grenadan Guyanan Indian etc,

All the below are countries where English is an official language.

jamaican
Kenyan
Kiribatian
Lesothoian
Liberian
Malawian
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritius
Micronesia
Namibia
Nauru
New Zealand
Nigeria
Pakistan
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Solomon Islands
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanzania
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tuvalu
Uganda
United Kingdom
United States
Vanuatu
Zambia
Zimbabwe

12 is really really late. I started learning English at the age of 7, added French and German in high school.
And bear in mind, French used to be an international language not so long ago - it isn't any more, so beware ;)

Your Spanish must really suck donkeys. I've never had trouble getting people in Spain to speak Spanish (and my Spanish is really rusty and not a thing of beauty).


Note that Poland is not on said list. Long term residents in Poland need to learn Polish and speak it when appropriate and not expect their shortcomings to be catered to by everyone they encounter.

Not true. The USA has no official language.


Poles living in the UK are clearly not expected to learn English, hence some British road signs being in Polish.

So ... Polish policy should be determined by British policy? I don't get it. Please explain what your point is.

Which ends up causing problems for everyone as no one feels the need to integrate. If I'm posted somewhere because of work, I expect a translator or an agency will take care of everything for me. If I'm here on my own will, there is absolutely no excuse not to learn Polish.

And how is this Poland's fault? Or the Polish immigrants' fault? They did not organise mass demonstrations demanding this. They arrived in the UK and to their pleasant surprise found out that English is not required. If the British authorities were not so nicey-nice about this, Polish immigrants would be speaking English like pros by now. I already said that earlier. Must be growing old. Grumble grumble.

I agree with you on this fully, The labour government have got a lot to answer for, The same applies to signs in urdu etc the only difference being that they did demonstrate. At least Poles in the UK don't try to change our beliefs and customs to suit them.

Where? Ive not come across any..


Since when? They have a few Polish community liasion officers, but British police do not HAVE to speak another language in order to get on the force....We have interpreters who are used as and when and its pretty doubtful that they'd call one to a scene, they'd just generally take someone back to the station or if desparate they can ring an interpreter.


Its the fault of any ignorant person if they cant be bothered to learn the language...Polish people in England or English people in Poland..


They start in primary school now...or a lot of parents are keen for thier kids to learn another language, my niece is only 9 and has some French, German, Spanish and Italian...As for thinking its not important for an English kid to learn another language, well..look at how many foreign companies are setting up in the UK and a lot of them want foreign speaking staff....soooooooo..we either get smart and keep up or...lose out

Why should Poles expect people who come to Poland to learn Polish when Poles going to other countries clearly don't feel the need to learn those languages?


Merely speaking the same language has got very little to do with integrating. Look at those idiot muslims in Luton: they all speak fluent English but are about as far as it is possible to be from integrated to British culture.


I didn't say anything about it being anybody's fault: my point was that Poles tend to have somewhat different expectations for foreigners in Poland than they do when guests in a foreign land. It's much the same with health care: a Pole in the UK who has tuberculosis gets free health care courtesy of the British tax payer but a Brit in Poland with the same disease gets deported.

Check out post #57, it's amazing!

I heard that in Middlesborough there are a few signs in Japanese, due to the Nissan plant.

Have you ever read about a Polish person saying they don't need to learn the language of countries they live in? Such people are heavily criticised in the Polish press and by their compatriots and none of them are proud of not learning the local language (the way I've encountered some Brits who are actually proud of not speaking Polish even after years of living here).

And again, why should Polish language policy be linked to British language policy?

If all Poles feel the need to learn English when going to live there, why do such simple English signs as "Diversion" need to be in Polish?


And again, why should Poles expect from others what they will not do themselves? I note that you've got nothing to say about Polish medical treatment consisting of deportation.

Harry's version of logic: Because a few Polish traffic signs have been put up in areas in Britain with a lot of Polish speakers, eveyrone in Poland should be made to speak English with English speakers.

Everyone?

For many years, tax, council, educational information, etc has been available in the UK in Polish. For non-English speakers.

It would be good to see that reflected here.

Do they expect it? Was there some mass demonstration demanding signs? Did the UK screw themselves over with their immigration policy leading to situations like this?

mafketis' version of logic: there should be one set of rules for Poles abroad and a completely different set of rules for foreigners in Poland.

mafketis' version of debating: I am completely unable to address the points put by the other side, particularly the point about Poland considering it perfectly acceptable to deport ill British people while Poles in Britain receive medical treatment, so I will instead claim that my opponent said something which they did not say.

I'd like a site for this actually happening, I did look up the current (AFAIK) regulations and there's no mention of it.

There's a couple year old story up at that font of truth, the Daily Mail that talks about threats, but no concrete cases.

I googled for a few minutes without finding anything but couldn't find any trace of any real cases. At that point I assumed you'd just made it up and wouldn't mind if I let the matter drop. But now I won't. Please give me specifics of British citizens deported from Poland because of health reasons.

I am likewise intrigued.

me too:)

I think there is also the problem that (until recently) many Brits simply didn't meet (non-English speaking) foreigners in their part of Britain. I grew up in Shropshire and learned French and German... I never met a French person there for the first 20 years of my life. Likewise, when I was in the army in Germany, protecting the world from the communists, very few of my fellow squaddies spoke German to any degree. We weren't even given classes.

Harry

Is that sunny Shropshire with the road signs? I believe there is a flourishing little Polish community around Whitchurch, hence a Polish shop. However, the reason for the signs probably has a lot to do with a number of bus and transport companies hiring Polish drivers who can't speak English. A friend of mine who works for the Merseyside Police told me a tale about 3 Polish bus drivers who brought the city centre to a standstill when they all drove up a blocked road. It was part of their normal bus-route but on that occasion was closed for repairs. they couldn't read the diversion notices and simply followed their normal route. Being unable to turn around, the police had to stop the traffic to allow the three buses to reverse out again. So signs in Polish are probably not a bad idea.

I think there's a need for general information to be available in English - for instance, try finding out about the bizzare (to British ears) system used for school admissions. I'm not a fan of translating anythnig and everything, but general information would be good.

Jonni, do you do any translation work through your company? If so...I have an idea...

What I find frustrating is the lack of English in tourist areas (museums etc) and transport systems. A few years ago, in Krakow, I was stopped by a ticket inspector on the tram. I handed him my ticket and he pointed out I needed another for my rucksack... I asked how i was supposed to know. he said it was signed. yes, but the sign was in Polish. A bit inconsiderate when it was a main tourist route.

Likewise, the toilets in warsaw station have/had instructions in several languages except English

Of course not... 20h courses of Polish (useless - that's about enough to learn good morning, what's your name and a few similar phrases) for a few dozens of British policemen or a road signs in Polish around one town -> things like that are just PC nonsense, which isn't helping anybody.

In Poland translator is provided, when someone is charged with criminal offence. In cases like the one at the beggining of this thread, of course not... It's not only about the costs... It would be simply impossible to do that. A foreigner is stopped because he was driving too fast and then what ? Policemen are waiting with him on the road side for 4h before the translator of French appears or maybe 24h or 48h If the person is Vietnamise or Georgian ? Let's wait for suggestion that police in every town should employ full time translators of all modern languages...

I'm sure that everyone here knows that It would be impossible, some are just members of "I live in Poland but I don't like It here" crowd, who instead of making everybody happy and moving the hell out of here, are just spoiling the air around.

Yes, both directions.