First proper "Polish" School in the UK - The Next Stage of Ghettoisation

The difference is that they are two very distinct nations. I don't feel up to recapitulating the last 1000 years of Central European history to you right now, I'm afraid.

You can say England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are distinct.. We're very very similar though in our mannerisms and traits.

How does that even compare? One country consisting of several nations vs two different countries (each of them historically consisting of several nations BTW). I don't think you quite understand the fact that Poland and Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic are not, in fact, one country. Never have, never will. Nevertheless, do troll on. I am quite enjoying myself.

Please leave your high horse Magdalena. I never stated they were the same country. I naturally assumed there would be some very close similarities because of the common Slavic ethnicity, the similar language, and common post war communist past.

Well then, I might assume that there would be some very close similarities between, say, the Netherlands and Germany because of their common Germanic ethnicity, similar language, and common postwar capitalist past. I have been to both these countries and I know better than that.

I'd say the closeness of the UK, Ger, NL, Belgium is much greater than the differences between the aforementioned and anywhere east of Germany.

I've known Germans and Dutch who live here, integrated 100% speak perfect English and exhibit traits found in Brits, Americans Aussies.
Order a Mcdonalds in London, Amsterdam, Berlin you'll most probably get a smile and a please and thank you.

The Poles are very foreign to us in the UK.
I find Poles, Russians slightly "wierd"

To each their own ;-)

Maybe you approach them the wrong way, is all. Polish people are not all unfriendly or rude as such. They do tend to keep to themselves if they are among strangers, but this is because being unobtrusive in public is part of Polish good manners. You are not instantly friendly with your waiter (or customer, for that matter). You are polite but cool and slightly aloof (in other words, in formal circs. you behave formally).

Unless you only meet the dregs of Polish society, that is. They are out there, for sure, but I cannot imagine they would be the ONLY Polish people you ever come across.


WOW. You couldn't have been more wrong. I am half-Czech, half-Polish, and actually arrived in the UK in early 2005. So there! ;-p

Oh - and I did come by bus.

There's over a Million Poles in the UK, however there's so few on this English-speaking Poland forum.

Weird that. You're most definitely the exception.

I would have thought there are more of us here? Whatever.

Anyways, with what sort of Polish people do you work or socialise to have formed such a negative opinion of them? How many Polish people do you actually know?

Also, back to the dour Pole stereotype, where I live (tiny Essex town) I am one of the very few people that chat with the shopkeepers and shop assistants - I have realised that they actually single me out to talk and joke around, they don't do that with the other customers. Somehow, I must seem more approachable and more friendly than your average Englishman (the town is very conservative and posh).

Met a few last year, i worked at a DHL site in the West Midlands. I was mostly liaising with one of the managers there with regards a software update. However i did meet some people who worked int he warehouses and socialised, (As best i could.)

A good friend of mine lives close to what can be described as a "Polish/Immigrant Ghetto" so as you can imagine, on my visits to my friend i am exposed to these people and their "ways".

It's probably more to do with the fact that you are a bit of a novelty in a small Essex town Magdalena. I will wager that there are not many cleaners around with degrees who are willing to work for £3.50 ph so they are pleasant to you while a)you are useful and b) you are on your own.

If however, your countrymen arrived on mass and walked up and down the town centre in teams, started claiming benefits, lived in your flats annoying the neighbours with your Polish satellite TV stations, indulged in crime (like plundering the surrounding lakes of all the local fish) like in a lot of towns the length and breadth of the UK, your neighbours might not be so welcoming.

Please continue to act like a German, French, Italian, Dutch etc experiencing a new life. Start acting like a Pole and you will come a cropper.

I would hazard a guess that the majority of them are pure trash. Exile Peasants, who have come here purely for money and financial gain.

Polski Tv, Polski Sklep, Polski Kindergarden Garden, Polski Friends blablabla

I suspect all the nice people are still left in Poland.

Of course there are exceptions i'd never judge a person on their nationality but the generalisation is very clear.. Poor old Magdalena is a tiny minority arguing for the rest of the clan.

While I do have a degree, I am definitely not a cleaner and I am not yet willing to work for £3.50 per hour (though who knows - if the crisis deepens...) ;-)


I am in no way useful to them (my business is mainly geared toward other Poles) and I am not on my own.


I never have, so I can't continue to.


I can't start, because I never stopped. ;-)


Sadly, you are not completely wrong there.


Ditto.


I lived in London and even there I never saw "teams" of Poles terrorising the neighbourhood. How many of these Poles you talk of are actually Polish Roma? Long-haired women in long skirts or dresses, and gold-laden men in ill-fitting suits are dead giveaways.

Only 1 year to wait until the real party starts :)

Ah yes, just like the British in Spain.

In fact, the British are well known for forming ghettos abroad and not integrating at all.

You forgot the bit about eating swans.


Utterly brilliant, isn't it: I reckon we got rid of at least 50% of our underclass scum.

I hear this often but I can't understand how it affects you exactly delphian. Please explain if you will?

As I understand it and correct me please if I am wrong.. British pensioners and others able to afford it, take off to Spain and retire in coastal villages and towns. The Spanish indulge them because they do not actually interfere in the demographics or the working lives of other Spaniards. Most working people are actually in the cities far away from retirement villages.


Herein lies the problem. In the beginning you were quite happy to receive £3.50 ph because you were the envy of your compatriots back home who were earning a lot less. Now that you have been here a while your old comparisons fade and you compare yourself now to your present co workers.

This means that you are now competing with British workers who do not care much for your competition and why should they? (I am generalizing and not personalizing here). What have British people done to you for you to come here and trouble working class people so?

Ah, yes. With their life savings, businesses start ups, retirement packages and pensions.

Bastids!

Who told you that?


How on earth am I competing with British workers? I have not yet heard of a British worker who would be keen to embark on the career of Polish sworn translator.


I have never troubled the working class. I am not working class myself and I see no reason to meddle in their affairs. ;-p

^^^^ good one magda ^^^^

I wouldn't mind!

(I wonder if there are any? I know there are some Ukrainian/Slovaks who have the title, but...English natives?)

What are you waiting for then? Come on in, the water's lovely! ;-)

I know a couple. But:
a) they work in Poland;
b) they were both sworn under the old system (the new exam is frankly simply too difficult).

So now that you know I am not a cleaner you don't want to talk to me any more? Son, I am disappoint. ;-p

I could never do it, how you manage to replicate documents precisely is...well, a work of art :)


Does the exam test people both ways, or just into Polish?

It would seem that a "fair" exam would require examination by native speakers of both languages.

Are you on this planet my friend?

Australia 1,300,000
Spain 761,000
United States 678,000
Canada 603,000
Ireland 291,000
New Zealand 215,000
South Africa 212,000
France 200,000

Most of these countries are English-Speaking Ango-Saxon nations. Integration is effortless. Further more, we require VISAS and GREEN CARDS, Therefore we are wanted and need to have money or needed skills.

People in Spain and France are mostly retired old codgers who take their life savings, and pension to live by the beach or some country village

40% professional/managerial
25.3% manual/clerical
17.5% retired/carers
9.3% children
7.9% students .

In the case of sworn translation - not necessarily, as long as the examiners are true professionals linguists. Sworn translation from Polish to English is not the same as literary translation - you are not supposed to be overly idiomatic or try to re-create the document using the format and terminology of the target culture; on the contrary, you are merely trying to create an English-language copy of the document. In other words, the translation should of course be written in fluent, correct English, but it's still supposed to read like a Polish document, if you know what I mean. And vice-versa, of course. Otherwise, if you get too carried away, you start creating false realities by alluding to institutions and / or legal systems which do not exist in the source culture.

This does not mean you don't need a good knowledge of the other country's laws and system of government; on the contrary, you have to know them well enough to understand e.g. where a similar-sounding legal term is in fact a false friend ;-)

What kind of things are you translating Magdalena ?

Let me guess.. Benefit Applications and Criminal Case files?

Not at all. School and uni diplomas, birth, marriage, and death records, university transcripts, divorce decrees, employment documentation, references... British, Polish, American, Australian, South African... Nothing from Canada as yet. I would say the workload is approx 50% PL-ENG and 50% ENG-PL.

BTW, benefit applications are not translated... you have to complete the official form in English.

So what planet are you on then?

Many of those countries are either current members of the British Commomwealth or were part of the British Empire!

I guess that's the result when you invade other countries, massacre millions, treat the native popultaion like second class citizens, and impose the English language on them.

So, would you say that Native-Americans, Moari and Aborigines are ethnic Anglo-Saxons?

Additionally, the (very poor) reputation of the British who emigrate to Spain is well known!

Why do you spend your days posting anti-Polish racist garbage on a Polish-forum??? Do you not have a life?