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Polish people are the most ignorant people in the world! [335]
In effect,There is a grain of truth in what he says. But only a grain. The British, for example, often do speak foreign languages; we learn at least one from age 7 or 8 and often a second at high school. However wherever we go people want to speak English to us. You can't blame a busy shop assistant in Paris for replying to us in English when we ask for something in French but here in Poland they take it to an extreme.
A couple of examples. I've lived here for years and like to think I speak Polish well - certainly well enough to give evidence for an hour in court during a complicated lawsuit and to deliver U3A lectures in Polish. When I'm here, I don't usually speak English from one week to the next. And my accent is good enough for me to pass as Polish (for a while anyway) if I really try hard. Yet a few weeks ago I was in a restaurant and ordered for myself and my guest in flawless Polish. Yet the waiter (whose English was so basic as to be almost unintelligible - he didn't even know the word 'fork') insisted in replying every time in some sort of English. And about a year ago, I was in a bar that I've been a regular at for 12 years with my closest friend (who doesn't speak English). For around half an hour we were talking about betting systems and why they mathematically don't work. All in good Polish. Then a guy leant over and said to me "How you like stay? How long you are visit? What hotel you?"
So people are criticed for not making the effort to learn Polish but treated with extreme ignorance by a certain type of Pole when they do. In effect you're dammed if you do and damnedest if you don't. No wonder so many people feel they don't have to.
