The proper behavior an American should show when visiting Poland

What you call "normal" is often considered weird in Europe. Just take the ever present smile in American faces. Do that in Poland, Germany, or any other central European country, and they will think you're a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

How many times have you been to Europe?I have been going there almost 20 years every other month and never had any WEIRD reaction.FYI I have smiled and said dziendobre to unknown people in my elevator,gym,public/pvt offices and always got proper response.You fugging intellectual feeling guys have no clue what reality is.All you want to show here on net and claim to be educated,intellectual,smart.LOL above all INGLIS ispiking is an achievement.SERIOUSLY,think about it again.Poland and European people are as normal as any where else,until people like yourself have smart ass comments.

So tell me how did you have to change when you came to USA from that suburb REDFERN????


Tell me how many times you smile at others in a subway in NYC or in a mall or in a grocery store????before you get the:


Freaking social experts!

We had this topic before, Deepak.

If you want to make the "ugly American" impression big time squared, you're right, CargoPants!
Some of us prefer to spread benefit rather than slime.

You admitted that you haven't been to Poland in 40 years, so your stereotyped opinion hasn't any credibility.


Same here Cargo. These guys are living in the past and haven't a clue about modern Poland. The people were very friendly and outgoing, the exact opposite of what they're saying.

Im sure when they go out they just stare/observe and don't talk to anyone. No wonder, they rub ppl the wrong way and carry this attitude around.

Reading comprehension skills still lacking, Joker? Nobody said that Polish people were unfriendly.

What does that mean?????I wonder which Americans smile travelling in subway at other passengers or while shopping in a store.A wrong smile to someones g/f or wife or daughter might get you some lead in your head.Tell me that you are always smiling walking on the street?? murmuring to yourself lol.When was the last time you went to Poland??I can offer you my miles....but wait my miles cant be used for animal transportation:)

I can attest to that. When I went to visit Poland in 2017, I had more ad hoc conversations in those two weeks than in two years in the US. Including a dinner with a student I randomly asked at the WUT if he speaks English. That was a stupid question and I never asked it again.

I wouldn't be surprised if Poles became more like the Americans from the exposure to the American TV and movies.

Lyzko lives in a time warp. Hes hasnt been to Poland in over 40 years and somehow still knows everything that is going on there. And if you dare question his authority, he deflects back to the same old mumbo jumbo about FDR or some other obscure topic.

I was last there in 1997, scarcely a terribly long time ago!
Same ground rules naturally apply: Know at least some local lingo, don't offer unsolicited opinions (..unless asked by the host), and be respectful of the customs.

This doesn't merely apply to Poland, but to ANY other European country. Never assume that your interlocutor knows English, much less "good" or "fluent" English, as it might not be the case (although often in university cites it probably is) and the conversation will end up a combo of "Immigrantese" or Globish gobbledygook.

Rule 1: Avoid old people. The under-30's speak English. Also, I don't care what they know or think, so the 500-word English is fine.

Rule 2: Stay home. Europe is not worth the pain and the expense of the flight and the US along with the American Canada are big and good enough..

That stupid smile you get from waiters. Many Americans do the same thing abroad, and if they are not grinning, they are loud and obnoxious and believe that everyone they meet is their friend. See, that's a stereotype, but it's also largely true for our fellow citizens that travel. There's a reason why the French in Paris hate our guts, why the Dutch and Germans think Americans are stupid, why the Italians laugh about our "culture", ... you name it. If you want to tell me that is different in Poland then you simply lie.


When was the last time a Trump follower told you to go home to where you came from, my little loudmouth from the Indian subcontinent? You might need your miles soon, better save them.

If it happened, that was not a Trump follower - the worst president as far as immigration goes. There is not a single immigration - both legal and illegal - statistic that got better under Trump, including the H1-B scam invasion.

I know quite a few Americans of Asian descent and also many expats. They all talk about an increasing number of incidents that happen even here in one of the most diverse parts of the country. Too many Neanderthals have been emboldened by Trump, that's unfortunately a fact. You are right though with his failure to address immigration (not talking about the wall here).

He addressed it alright except the wrong way. Like being too chicken to veto the spending bills that provide money for the illegals and not enough for the real enforcement. The so-called border "apprehensions" are not enforcement but a border crossing assistance. Just we are assisted at the entrance to Disney World: this way, please - instead of "get the fu*ck out of here before we shot".


These "Neanderthals" say what they were never asked by the government: Do you want more immigrants? And their answer, like mine, is: Hell, no!

See, and that's another American character trait that people abroad really "love"... :)


Our white Neanderthals are following their distant ancestors and go the way of the dodo, so who will fill the void? Europeans are not coming anymore, which leaves us with Asians and Latin Americans. People you don't want.

And why the hell do we Asians and Latin Americans? Because we have to grow? No, we don't have to. At some point not long ago, the US had 250 million people and nobody was dying in the streets. We can manage making beds in the motels and pick crops - just like the Japs do it today.

There is no void, except the neoliberal need for a large pool of interchangeable disposable workers... in the US this is accomplished primarily through migration by Latinos who work for less and don't trouble their employees with unreasonable demands (like dignity or job safety or overtime).

Middle Eastern and North African migration was meant to do the same for Europe but they don't work enough (and European countries still have social safety nets so they don't have to).

The great compression (relatively low levels of inequality and higher social trust) was also a time of very low immigration.

What you're saying, Rich, is to avoid precisely those people most worth talking to in Poland!
Younger people generally speak a low-level variety of English, focus on only the most superficial, material of topics, and as with youth throughout most of the world, particularly here in the States, have precious little to say.

Older, non-English speaking Poles generally will know German, at least Russian, fluently, and if they have studied a foreign language, will have learned it with far greater care than those under forty.

This has been my recent experience with younger Poles I've met in Greenpoint, here on a visit to see family.

Older people are too cautious and too preoccupied with their pains, aches, doctor visits and the fear of impending death. You can see it in their faces. They also tend to be too cynical - just like me. That is why I enjoy talking to the younger ones.

Completely understandable, and to a degree, I would concur from a purely personal point of view.
However, the older the Pole, typically, the more they have to say, and when you do run across someone over sixty who does know English, often their command of idiom is astounding, almost as though they practically grew up listening secretly to BBC television or radio, pronunciation notwithstanding:-)

Yes, but when you travel to Europe, you can at least impress your small-town or rural friends and neighbours. Travelling in the USA or Canada isn`t so impressive.

Untrue, Pawian!

America's greatest selling point is her sheer size. Give us a few millenia and we too can develop an "ancient" culture along with pride in a long past. We're only a few hundred years old, for pity's sake, and within that time, accomplished a heck of a lot, I think.

I am not sure what you mean but judging by the overall overtone of your reply, I dare to say we have run into a misunderstanding. :):)

I meant that travelling in the USA isn`t impressive for your fellow Americans coz it is normal, contrary to travelling to Europe.

Aha! I see now.
Yes, you're probably right. People do normally look for the "exotic", ignoring the everyday around them.
I can only agree.

My apologies!