I'm Fabio and I'm a Italian traveler that loves Poland. There are so many things about Poland that I love such as Polish food and Polish people in general. But, when I went to Poland last January (Krakow), I noticed that so many people are not laughing, especially girls.
Why aren't they laughing right now, or why don't they laugh in general, not quite clear as to your question, Fabio:-)
Many more Northern Europeans give a spontaneous smile less frequently in public than do Southerners aka Italians, (particularly southern) or Spaniards, this is true!
Yes, it is ambiguous. You probably meant "Is your appearance amusing?" or "Is the sight of you amusing?". Or even "Do you look funny?". The way you put it, "sight" means "wzrok" rather than "widok" or "wygląd": "Czy twój wzrok jest zabawny?"
Wulkan, I'm not even going to comment on such pure ludicrousness! Your sentence would mean "Is your vision (seeing aka sight) funny?" Perhaps you can explain to yourself what that means and thereby justify your poor command of certain parts of English or some sucker, a second-language English speaker as well, but hardly to someone who's native tongue is English and is not rationalizing:-)
Why not fess up to yourself about the state of your English, as I do about my Polish? Your sentence would be like my saying, for instance, Ja chcę zjawić piękny widok." etc. The words are Polish, but the sense is plain gibberish. Your word order is pure English, only the meaning leaves us scratching our heads.
Anyone who says differently is having you on, fella!!!
I have never had a problem understanding Wulkan. He post better English then most high school graduates can that live in the in the U.S. A. My guess is that the Polish girls may be a little intimidated by a Foreigner which may make them a bit on the cautious side.
Buy them a couple of rounds of vodka and see what happens.
Poles in my experience, both in Poland as well as abroad, tend to be slightly reserved, guarded, almost intentionally mysterious, the men along with the women:-)
Perhaps too, as younger, attractive Polish women seem to be pursued by this reputation for being "dumb", "loose", and "available", while many indeed have higher university degrees, well-paying careers (though still lagging behind men in pay big time), a great many want to fight this persistent image of being put on earth solely for men's pleasure, and so will often affect a spikey toughness and cocky intellectual self confidence, preferring NOT to laugh "too much" for fear of being seen as too available, therefore "unserious"!
I'm not so familiar with the problem. But I'm more familiar with the exchange of smiles and a simple 'hello' between foreigners. In the West, this is very normal to do. Giving each other a smile while passing by, is the most normal thing there exists. Yet, as my fiancée told me, this raises suspicion in Eastern Europe or is considered at least a bit weird.
I won't spend too much time on it, worrying if it's because you are boring or dull. I think it is just a cultural feature.
The Dutch, on the other hand, I found to be blunt as a spoon, direct to a fault, something perhaps occasional "superficial" laughter, at least a smile, wouldn't cure:-)
Marry an Irish girl! You'll get plenty of laughs! LOL ... Just kidding. But seriously, like they said, it's obvious it's the culture. For Example, my Irish friends laugh easily(seemingly can turn anything into a laugh). Some people get offended by their laughing because they don't see the humor my friends do.
Perhaps the reason why many Europeans imagine we Americans to be a rather stupid, at best, a fatuous lot! We often smile a lot at complete strangers in the belief that this somehow wins "friends" and draws us all a little closer together.
I think it was the late comedian/comic performer Victor Borge of Denmark who once observed "A smile is the shortest distance between two people."
Maybe the distance has grown even longer as we speak:-)
Laughing all the time can be extremely obnoxious at worst, and plain annoying at best. As with apologising, if you are doing something all the time it ceases to have value ergo if a girl is not laughing so much, when she does laugh it can be magical. The trick is to be able to trigger one, but once you do she could be yours for the taking.
As an Italian, who are often obnoxious themselves I feel like you may be too accustomed to Latino girls who are super happy party types and it's shocking for you to imagine that there are cultures in which girls are more solemn and reserved (for the most part), and also respected/considered to be attractive in spite of that.
You also have to take into account that during January the pollution was terrible and the weather fluctuated between super cold, then warm, then cold, then warmer etc which can be tiresome for even the happiest individuals. People outside of the party mindset will not be happy without reason.
When in Italy last, quite some time ago, the Italian ladies whom I encountered in Rome as well as elsewhere during my visit were fiercely interactive with one another, less with myself. While I don't wish to generalize either about Italians, Poles, Germans or whomever, Italians on the whole I found to be quite up front in their conversation, not "direct" in the sense of blunt or rude, not at all. On the contrary, the all seemed eager to practice their minimal English with me and were dying to find out why I wanted to come to Italy:-) My Italian was so limited, I tried countering with high school French as a foil to their "Italianese". This was a mistake, but then, when one's a teen, no one really cares, and so we had a blast with a lot of pointing, play acting, and sure, loads of laughterLOL
Latins though are often more given to open displays of joy and sadness, much more so than, say, Poles, Swedes or certain other Northern Europeans!
preferring NOT to laugh "too much" for fear of being seen as too available, therefore "unserious"!
I don't think Polish women look at laughing in this way lol If something is funny then we laugh, if it isn't then we don't (or we do in order to be polite lol).
This is an interesting thought though:
a great many want to fight this persistent image of being put on earth solely for men's pleasure
I must say that because of the "reputation" that Polish women have in the West, apparently, I would definitely not behave as friendly towards a Western/foreign man as towards a Western/foreign woman. Especially towards men from the UK. I'd probably be more reserved than normal...
if you are doing something all the time it ceases to have value ergo if a girl is not laughing so much, when she does laugh
...it means something. Or rather - when she smiles, because I suspect that's what "Fabio" meant (or that's what foreigners usually mean, I guess?). The thing is - because Poles aren't very smiley (they don't usually smile randomly at strangers) when someone smiles it may be interpreted as a sign of interest or of reciprocated interest (when you smile back). Aside from situations when you open the door for someone or bump into someone on the sidewalk or on the bus, or in the shop, of course - then a small, polite smile is justified. So people won't be giving smiles right and left because it could be interpreted in the wrong way (by both men and women), I think. Especially in case of girls/women - I wouldn't like to give some guy false hope or get some unwanted attention...
You also have to take into account that during January
I was thinking the same - January definitely isn't a smiley month lol I think it's the darkest month during Polish winter. Probably not the best time for interacting with Poles ;)
Admitting though to limited contact with the opposite sex in Poland, I base my conclusions solely on personal observation and cross-cultural seminars in which I've participated over the years:-)
Polish women, as do Czechs, often come across to me as both physically and socially far more mature than corresponding American teens and twenty-somethings here in the States.
The ESL courses which I teach often have students from many countries and the Poles are frequently the least shy about expressing their opinions, compared with most Asians, for example.
In Japan, for instance, laughter surely does mask nervousness and discomfort!
@Fabiofromitaly It is mostly the culture difference. In Poland we don't smile to strangers so if you smile to a Polish girl she probably thinks you want something 😁
And I have no idea why we don't smile to strangers.
I hope you did not expect people on the Tram to be friendly either? You literally will be beaten by grannies with bags on trams here.
People are only nice to strangers here if it is their job. It's a different culture. You get used to it. Generally you're a tourist but the culture here is very distant and private. Don't expect much. People living here sometimes feel the same but it is also just the way of life.
