Are foreigners welcome in Poland?

I don't think that laughing to yourself when the service is bad is going to change anything.

Service in Poland can be bad indeed no matter you are outsider or the local. You can have a bad experience and then the opposite one right after that. The old women are usually the worst ones, the good thing is that they won't live for ever.

That's amazing really, five star service - the hotel by the Orthodox Cathedral is pretty friendly too.


More a coping strategy when you get it day in day out. If it makes the person reflect, all the better. I'd stress though that it's an issue - for newcomers and visitors bad service can seem really hostile.


Indeed, though the young aren't always much better - most waiters/waitresses in Warsaw are students rather than professionals and it does show. Last year I asked (a young waitress) if the chips are real or frozen only to be told that as far as she's concerned the whole point of chips is that they're frozen!

I agree though, service in shops is getting friendlier than it used to be and old ladies are the worst. I still very occasionally (much less often than a few years ago) leave stuff on the counter, walk out and go somewhere else if I'm not in a hurry and they start being rude. It isn't as if there's little no competition as in PRL days.

As for other unfriendliness, the only real problems I've had in two decades are drunks and (usually elderly) nutters. I long ago figured that the public transport thing isn't rudeness aimed at me because I look and sound different, it's just the way things are.

I "love" is when entering shops, restaurants, cafés... and the staff continue their private phone calls or doing things that could wait although they are aware of my presence. I wait for 2 or 3 minutes and then I call their attention. At restaurants, I also "love" when I am still standing and the waiter/waitress hands menu to me and asks me what I'll have ;). Hell, give time to customers to sit down, to open the menu, read it and make their choice ;). Sometimes service can be exceptionally good but in general service is lousy in Poland

But something that makes me laugh but I appreciate ;) is when waiters/waitresses and/or shop assistants tell me NOT to buy something because not good or too expensive (and advise to go to another shop). I happened to me several times in Warsaw.

it IS quite bad tbh. Like you go into a shop and the two assistants stare at you and start whispering to each other!

Very friendly, but Cristal is a little down at heel these days. Try Hotel Branicki, a 'boutique' hotel on Zamenhofa. All the rooms are individually designed, including the so-called "twisted room", in which everything except the toilet and the bed is, well, twisted.

I once left a shirt at Cristal. When I went to pick it up it had been laundered and pressed.


Done that a hundred times.

Friend once told me a story about him and his collegues (teachers), they went for a trip to the mountains and ended up in restaurant. Order their meals and recieved them after two hours. Waitress when informed that the dish is cold replied: "O, maybe the salad is also too cold for you?" :)

Laura Solon is a good actress but she butchers Polish accent quite a lot.

oh do you think so? I thought it was pretty good! but what do I know really

I am Brazilian living in Poland for 5 years. I was beaten twice in the street and almost all my Brazilian has been beaten. While you walk on the streets it is common to hear people shouting "Brudas" which means "dirty". It is pretty revolting considering there are estimate 3 million people with Polish root living in Brazil and me as Brazilian are not treated with dignity in this country.

Maybe they thought you were muslim

Maybe. But it not reason for someone get beaten anyway. By the way, Brazil is a country with over 90% catholic population as Poland is. Friends from Canada, Portugual, Italy, etc also got beaten for not looking exactly as Poles or for been speaking English.

That's sad to hear but I would be even more worried if it were local Poles getting beaten up by foreigners on a daily basis like it happens in European capital of rape for instance.

Poland is still backward with backward ideas on nearly everything and getting more backward by tje minute with pis.

8 years of PO did the job, now it's time to fix it.

How you going to fix hardcore xenophobia, homophobia, everything phobia with them in charge and the church the other 50% Basically pis has sent it back 10 years now a farken brazilian needs to hide? Looks backward world wide, because it is.

By deporting all progressive liberals to Sweden, the country they belong and not letting them back in when they eventually change their mind. That should do the job.


So you blame PiS for that Brazilian getting beaten up? Nice way of trying to convince me that I'm talking to a 12 years old, not bad.

All these crimes have risen since their subhuman party took over. Basically a lot of you just sound backward and dumb. You would be laughed out of most places or punched out. The place is finished. Back to russias fold it goes. Had it's chance, too dumb to use it. Next. Yes 12, most of the backward crap most people say hete is so beneath a 12 year old of a civilised country.

You mean crimes detection skyrocketed.

The only subhuman party till today were PZPR and more recently Po with their trash contracts, rising retirement age making sold people work till death and basically no social help for people that lived under the line.

that's terrible.
Were these friends people of colour, by any chance? Because I've never heard of native Europeans or such being beaten just for speaking English in Poland.

I mean, I'd be safer in Germany then. There, you will at least be asked (most of the time) what religion or ethnicity you have before being thrashed in the face...

Obviously you are safer in Germany than Poland from a Native attack but on the multicultural coin - you are more likely to be mistreated by an ethnic

I'm sorry to hear it. Can you tell me where did it happen and have you reported that to the police?


Is that common? Where do you live? Maybe you should change your address? By the way it is an euphemism for an Arab or a dark skinned guy.


Well, son you're good but that is HS and that means you're a troll.
Unless you're (you and your friends) exceptionally clumsy and an unhappy bunch of people on a prowl - looking for trouble.

If you want to learn polish and you're living in Silesia - quickspeak.pl

So long as one sincerely tries to learn the language of their host country to very best of their abilities, the foreigness will at superficially fade momentarily into the background. Stand out like a sore thumb, well, that's the risk one takes moving to a relatively homogenous and conservative society:-)

And eight years later we see just why you hated that abused term.
We do to.
I remember the endless debates about how the LGBTQ and the Muslims would "enrich" Poland's culture.
Those guys who were in favor of it drove most of us right up the wall.
Where are they now so we could tell them, "We told you so."

Indeed. Man I couldn't stop laughing when Merkel said then people trying to get to Europe were 'doctors and engineers'.... I thought to myself more like witch doctors and mud hut engineers! I was right, Merkel was wrong.

Notice also how now these countries are trying to get rid of the 'cultural enrichment - even Germany rofl. The EU has gotten so desperate as to give 6000 euro for every migrant a eu member takes in. Italian pm told them to shove it as obviously the cost for housing and feeding just one of these migrants for a year is several times higher estimates at 40k 50k euro. And that's just 1 person for 1 year - as we know these people multiply exponentially.

The eu gave up on convincing people that Muslims will culturally enrich Europe, but sadly sweden is still brainwashed and cucked and following that line. If these migrants were such a benefit and such a cultural enrichment why are they trying to send them away to other countries? If they were so wonderful and such an asset then Merkel would jealously guard then and keep them for themselves instead of criticizing countries who don't want to take them. If they were such a benefit, why does the eu have to give incentives for countries to take them in and threaten to fine and sanction those who don't want them?

Notice that this is only the case with african and Muslim migrants, never with European or asians. The European countries welcome European migrants like ukranians with open arms. They don't need to be given bonuses for taking them in or fined for refusing. Same with Chinese, Koreans, etc. That's because these people actually do enrich the culture - they work, pay taxes and assimilate. They don't cause terrorism or rape.

Thank goodness Poland hasn't fallen for this madness. Id be in tears if wroclaw looked like marseilles or warsaw like paris. **** is scarier than a mosquito in magic Johnson's home.

I would highly recommend not to move to Poland right now. The media is busy with Ukrainian refugee reports but the reality is that the Polish have turned against all foreigners. The level of racism against anyone who is not Polish is not acceptable anymore. And you get no help at all. Forget about Human Rights Organisations or lawyers. Do not move to Poland as a foreigner.

No they haven't.


I don't see that at all, Vlad. There are no noticeable changes and many thousands of us live happily in Poland.


Poland is an EU member state and subject to international norms.

An interview with Nadia, from Benin, Africa, living in Poland for 13 years now. She runs her TikTok channel called Brown Skin Girl in Poland.

Some excerpts:
What was the most difficult thing in the first years?

Winter. I arrived in May, the weather was fine. I was a bit cold, but it wasn't bad. People around me told me: go to the garden, enjoy the weather. I didn't understand the idea of ​​enjoying the weather. But when winter came, I quickly understood. The temperatures dropped to -20 degrees Celsius, the frosts were terrible for me. I moved from room to room, I didn't spend time outside. Now I know that as soon as the sun appears, it's worth enjoying the weather, nature. I understood this after the first frosts.

Was learning Polish a challenge for you?

Not really. I was motivated to learn, I started learning in Benin with flashcards. I had lessons recorded on a CD and I listened to them in the car. Apparently I have an ease in repeating words I hear, so maybe it was easier for me. In Benin we have different dialects, language ability may be related to that.

• 
  Polonised Nadia
  

The cultural differences she mentions while comparing two countries prove that African Poles/Polesses can be a great asset to Poland coz they are such decent helpful relaxed people.

What surprised you about Poland?

At first, I lived with my ex-husband's parents. There was a rule that his mother did everything at home. In Benin, there is a very clear hierarchy in culture. You can't watch TV or sit idle while someone older than you does household chores. I couldn't get used to the fact that things were different in Poland. I was uncomfortable with it. I wanted to help, to do something, but I understood that I had to respect the culture. When my mother came to visit after a few years and I was already used to it, she told me to get up and help. It was a shock for her too.

Anything else?

I quickly realized that I walked much slower than Poles . In Africa, people walked calmly, gracefully, without rushing. I stood out, walking like that in Silesia.