Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


So, it was intended to invite only 'politically-correct' views? I agree it's disrespectful and impractical not to learn the language of the country you are living in. However, the poster also asked 'What do you think of it?' So, I'm giving my view, that I don't particularly like using it. However, I do love the swearing. Polish is definitely the best language for swearing...very forceful and aggressive ;)


Of course, you can compare them. If you speak them both, you can compare them. Polish often sounds rather primitive by comparison with its over-used words like 'zapraszam', 'oferta', 'super' (didn't that word begin to die out in English after the Abba era?), 'fajny' and many others. In fact, to a native speaker of English making an effort to learn other languages, the active vocabulary most other languages tends to be rather limited too. I'm not bashing Polish in particular. Just that English has been heavily influenced by several languages (Latin, German, French, etc) and their contributions partly explain its rich lexicon. Having said that, there are some useful words in Polish which don't have an exact equivalent in English. 'Pantoflarz' is one of my favourites to describe a guy who is controlled by his wife or girlfriend. Somehow, 'a henpecked man' isn't practical and words like 'a p***y', 'wuss' etc. are too informal and general in meaning.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


Not the majority view? No offence but that's bullsh@t! Firstly, it's not a 'view', it's a fact. Statiscally, English has the highest number of distinct words (around 250,000) of all languages in the world. This number may not even include all the phrasal/compound verbs etc that exist which themselves have distinct meanings. So there's no way Polish can be as sophisticated as English. I don't know the figure for Polish, but it's probably considerably less.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

I learnt it from books, drinking lots of Zywiec :), chatting with strangers on websites like interia, reading newspapers, memorising vocabulary with computer programmes, etc.

To be honest, I don't particularly like the language. It's difficult to express yourself in a very precise way like in English, and this has nothing to do with the fact that I know English better. Polish vocabulary seems more limited. When I ask someone to translate something complicated for me, the Polish version often seems rather basic.

Anyway, ex-pats who have lived in Poland for some time generally know at least enough to get by, though I have known a few who have been here nearly 10 years and have made no effort to learn anything.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


I was talking about why they end up in long-term relationships with mediocre guys who seem not to be able to satisfy them. Obviously, during those relationships many of them will sleep with other guys too.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


Weird, yes. I have seen some quite astonishing mis-matches during my years here. But I'm not only talking about physical appearance. The wuss-like behaviour of many of their loser boyfriends would be enough to put off most western girls - e.g. getting visibly jealous and angry their women check out/talk to other guys, submissively allowing their women to lead them everywhere, etc. I could be wrong here, but I believe that the influence of the church and parental conditioning means that girls put the ideal of a family above everything else and perhaps they think a mediocre, less challenging guy is going to be more stable and a better candidate for a husband, even though such a guy cannot satisfy their every need. In western cultures, good-looking women tend to be more ambitious and demanding. I would like to read some Polish girls' opinions on this, but I realise that the girls on this forum probably do not represent the majority of Polish girls in Poland.


Looks like you've seen me 'in action' then ;)

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


It seems you and I are familiar with different scenes. I'm not that familiar with the ex-pat Polish scene outside Poland. I have no reason to seek out Polish girls when I'm in England but I'm surrounded by them in Poland obviously. A village girl to me is a simple girl from a small town, studying/working in a larger town, having no opinions of her own on anything, brainwashed by Catholicism, very low maintenance, dodgy dress sense, limited sense of humour, etc., etc. There are varying degrees of 'villageness' of course. Also, Polish girls in Poland aren't too crazy about foreigners - at least not as much as they used to be. And in Krakow, foreigners, especially Brits, have managed to achieve such a bad reputation that many Polish girls try to avoid them these days.


Even in Poland they date stuff that Western girls wouldn't touch. More often than not I see a decent-looking girl with either some vulgar Addidas-wearing ape, or a total 'pantoflarz' (i.e. a submissive, insecure, jealous, a@@-kissing type guy). Many girls here are very unselective, which lots of guys who come here like about them, but the drawback is that if you consider yourself a decent guy, and you want to have some fun in the evening, you have to compete with all the losers in the club. I'm not one for political correctness, and I see what you are trying to say about black/asian etc guys, but that last statement of yours seems a bit strong.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


I was referring to how their attitude towards the West has arisen from the communist and post-communist period - how they seem to blindly accept that everything that comes from the West is somehow 'superior', and that everything from Poland is 'inferior'. If you lived here you'd need a computer to calculate the number of times you hear the question "Why did you come to Poland?", "What are you doing in Poland?", "Why Poland? Why not [some other place]?" In each question the stress is on the word 'Poland' - like they cannot understand why anyone would want anything to do with this country. That, my friend, is an inferiority complex.


Come on...the innovation and achievement in business, science, music, film making etc.etc. is unparalelled. The culture makes it possible for people to believe in themselves and set big goals, if they should decide not to live like a dumb, ignorant, obese couch potato. Whether ambition is a good thing or not is another topic. Anway, my point was that this 'national confidence' must have some influence on the character, just as the Polish lack of it can explain some of their more 'negative' character traits.


Why should it? Make sure it gets spent on you!


That's a bit harsh, man :) I don't know these girls you are talking about but from the few posts I've read by 'Justysia', I'd say that she writes well in English and has opinions, which contradicts the general characteristics of a typical Polish village girl.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


Not since I was a child. I was talking about my experiences with Americans I've met in Europe. And I wasn't talking about their looks as I wrote. The American friends I have in Poland prefer Polish girls because they are on average prettier and lower maintenance.


The culture has also produced many 'role models' of success in different fields.


Wtf..do I really have to waste my time and energy arguing something that even many Poles admit themselves is true? Read a history book.


What do you mean show off?

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]

The culture of a partilcular country can certainly shape the personalities of its people. In the States, for example, the culture strongly encourages ambition and individualism. While this has its downsides, it means that a lot of American girls have fun, sassy, bold characters. Unfortunately, most of the hot-looking ones seem to be only on TV. In Poland, the culture produces an inferiority complex and a rather more pessimistic attitude. Although they smile a lot, the girls tend to have passive, often boring characters and take things too seriously. Personally, I like independent girls who see themselves as individuals and aren't too influenced by their culture.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


Working on one at the moment, but the point I was making is that is better to go for the non-average ones on principle, if you are living in Poland.

Another thing that no one has mentioned is that for some reason, many Polish girls (especially the villagy types) seem to think that if they are a little pretty, they don't need a personality, so when you start chatting to them you get with the same boring questions and predictable responses all the time. I think it may be 'cause the local guys kiss their a@@s too much. Anyway, I really don't know why you guys in England are obssessed with Polish girls. Living in Poland, you don't have a choice, but elsewhere there are so many more interesting girls.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]

It all depends on what type of girl you're going for. If you have little respect for your d@ck and go for an average village girl with an inferiority complex, who has dated 10 losers before you, then obviously she may have confidence issues and therefore negativity.

I've been living in Poland over 7 years and I've recently been going only for hot, stylish, confident, intelligent-looking women. It's not because my standards are high. It's because it's a win-win situation - when you end up going out with such a woman, you feel great. When you get rejected, you also feel good because you had the balls for trying. With more 'average' girls (I'm talking about the whole package here, not the looks), it's lose-lose. If you get rejected, it's a temporary blow to the ego. If you go out with them, you have to put up with the complexes, negativity, the 'do you like me?' questions, etc. and also the 'pain' of seeing more desirable girls with guys you feel have less to offer than you. Most foreigners seem to go for the more 'average', less confident type of Polish girl (and yes, I can recognise the type very quickly - it's something about the way they speak, dress, etc.) Physically, I am also attracted to them too but I have to remind myself that it's pointless. What a battle we guys have going on between our heads and our d@cks! LOL

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]

JustysiaS

Well, it's not really my style. But if a girl is really confident and used to guys kissing her a@@ all the time, a bit of cocky is needed.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


I believe you. It's just a generalisation of course.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


That's true. But with Polish girls, I think a guy needs to be extra 'careful' here.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


It seems you are jumping to conclusions here. I was talking about the whole package, not the looks. You're right, looks aren't that important. I've spoken to lots of women here in relationships with insecure 'pantoflarz'-type guys - they say that stay with them out of fear of being with someone more challenging. They would even admit they feel safe with an insecure guy, because they know he'll let them do whatever they want and will always be waiting at home for them, even if he can never satisfy them. Everyone living in Poland knows this cultural phenomenon. I met a Polish girl in a cafe the other day, and she told me herself that when she goes abroad she can always recognise other Polish girls by looking at their boyfriends LOL I think the cultural differences are interesting. In England and the States etc, I think girls are more attracted to challenging, cooler guys - probably because the culture encourages ambition, and the girls are perhaps bolder.

Btw, I'm not trying to find out how to seduce Pl girls -I'm just writing cause I'm bored at the moment. But if any of you foreign guys are looking for tips, here's one: most Pl girls are afraid of being 'taken advantage of' by foreigners - this is because since the good old days of 1990s to 2002, so many foregners have come over to Poland and given us foreign guys a bad name. So, if u meet a Polish girl here, try to be as humble and warm as you possibly can. Don't come across as too cocky, playboy or cool - that will trigger a negative response immediately and you'll get nowhere (unless the girl is the super-confident type).

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]


How does that work? Simple. I'm giving the general opinion. Many guys think they're hot, some complain that although there are a lot of pretty girls, there aren't many classy, stunning-looking ones. People have different opinions.


Thanks for the tip, but I don't think I could deal with all the attention LOL Only joking. Look, I never said it was my opinion. Though I have to say that I don't think I've met any foreigner in Krakow who has not remarked more than once "What is she doing with that loser?" at the sight of a hot girl with an insecure, not very attractive, jealous 'pantoflarz'-type guy who appears to have little going for him.

Love / Polish Girls negative or positive personality trait? [267]

Having lived in Poland for 8 years, and having listened to 1000s of opinions of fellow ex-pats living here, I can summarise the general opinion on Pl girls:

Positive traits: hot, slim, feminine, cheerful, friendly, sweet, smiley, resourceful, considerate, sexy dancers, open-minded

Negative traits: simple, dumb, awful taste in men (unable to recognise a 'loser'), only plain pretty, insecure/too worried about what men think of them, lacking in ambition, lacking wit/sense of humour, slutty, too passive (don't stand up for themselves)

I think that covers everything.