Poland seeking more natural English speakers

Like I said. Never in all my time on this forum has anyone given an adequate answer to my question, and neither have you. Not by a long shot.

Granted, Poland is not the worst. But it is very rarely the best option for work or study, and then, only for a select few with unusual circumstances. And it is never, ever the only option.

And for the god-knows-how-manieth time, if someone thinks that Poland is their best or only option for work or study, then they have failed miserably at exploring the abundant better options elsewhere.

Can you find me comparable working and living conditions elsewhere? Nope, probably not.

As I said, only Austria offers something better - but they have huge problems with xenophobia, particularly in the nicer parts. Styria is beautiful - and also very, very suspicious of outsiders.

Remember, not all of us are motivated by "absolute dollars" only. Quality of life is also hugely important - and places such as the UK and Ireland fare very badly when it comes to that.

It's a safe bet that by far most people looking for work are primarily motivated by earnings and savings potential, especially those moving abroad. You and I are rare exceptions.


What condescending and patronizing nonsense. Hundreds of thousands of Poles who have left Poland to make a life there would very strongly disagree that the quality of life in Poland is on the whole worse than the UK, as would by far most people, who would find Poland even less attractive because they have no ties to it. And on any objective measure of quality of life, Poland lags way, way behind the West.

Enough of your romantic boosterism. People come here for sound advice, not for cheap propaganda.

It depends. I know a few Dutch guys here that moved here because it's very difficult to start a corporate career in the Netherlands - there aren't that many jobs, whereas in Poland, it's almost instant employment due to the language skills. As I've said elsewhere, the ability to transfer back to your home country (at a reasonable level) is also there.


Read many Polish expat forums recently? Many of them fly back to Poland for healthcare!

No, it doesn't depend. It is certainly true without a doubt that by far most people looking for work are primarily motivated by earnings and savings potential, especially those moving abroad, and that any exceptions like you and I are rare.


Which has nothing to do with quality of life. When I was a graduate student, I lived in San Diego, right on the Mexican border. We used to do our shopping and spend a lot of our free time in Tijuana because, at the time, one dollar bought ten times more than in the States. That didn't change the fact that the quality of life in Tijuana was among the worst in the Western Hemisphere. It was a total $hithole. No one in their right mind would argue that the quality of life was better in Tijuana than in San Diego, not even the mayor of Tijuana. Well. maybe a few drug lords.

Same with your example.

If some Poles who live abroad go back to Poland for dental work, it's simply because cheaper. People watch their wallets. White talking with my (Ukrainian) cleaning lady 1 hour ago, I have found out that a lot of Poles from as far as Lublin go to Ukraine for dental work. The reason why they go is that it's cheaper (for instance 300 ZL for a crown wheras for instance at my Warsaw clinic, it's minimum 780 ZL. Her niece who works and lives in Dublin travels all the way to Ukraine to take care of her teeth.

No, not dental work, but often rather routine care, especially during pregnancy. There's a general problem among Polish women that they regard pregnancy as being a sickness - and British care providers simply won't pander to their self-researched illnesses.

@Delphi: a lot of (most?) women prefer to rely on their country's medical system when pregnant. This is also so when very sick (I was operated on here because of a cancer but if I could have, I would not have it done in Poland but all went ok finally) because we are scarred not to be treated properly (even when good standard), not to be able to understand and to express oneself in medical environments etc... Therefore, we feel safer at home.

As to travel abroad for dental care for instance, it's usually only for financial reasons.

I have read on the net that a lot of Canadian women get their lifting done in ... Cuba because it costs almost nothing (compared to what they would pay in Canada).

Money talks ;)

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" Only allow a NATIVE English speaker to correct your English "

Well that is rubbish, sorry. If English is to be an international language, then it also needs international teachers.
If someone has studied English to say, CPE, and then done a TEFL course, then I would argue that their English is better than about 70 to 80 per cent of any native population, and they are perfectly capable of correcting a learner's mistakes.

This provincial attitude to English is a bit irritating tbh.

If someone has a good pass at CPE, their writing will certainly be better than 80% of native speakers, more if we are talking about Americans.

@And so, rozumiemnic, therefore an English speaker like myself should correct an educated Pole's Polish, or a German's German, a Frenchman's French and so forth, eh?

Pretty damned arrogant, if I may say so, not to mention bleedin' silly:-)

Who, if not the educated native speaker, knows his or her language backwards, forwards and inside out, huh??

If your logic were the way of the world, there'd be chaos, every person thinking, believing they understand the foreigner, who's often (though not always) sufficiently out of his depth in the target language, thus needing the superior knowledge of someone else who knows BETTER, namely, the native speaker themselves!!!

No, I'm not being provincial, but realistic.

you need to move on from your provincial, arrogant mindset L. English is an international language.
Besides, no offence but you make as many errors, if not more, as someone with CPE would.
Try a CPE paper, all four parts.
If you speak French, or Polish to that level, then yes you could correct a lower level learner. but tbh I doubt it..:)

The problem is that it's also still an ethnic language (with distinct native varieties used by different language communities) and it's essentially impossible to serve the interests of native speakers and non-native speakers equally well.

For native speakers their variety is a core part of their identity (and they will be more interested in aesthetic and/or expressive features of usage) while non-native speakers it's a tool that they don't have much emotional attachment to and as long as some grammar book or standardized test says it's okay then it's fine.

I don't know though, Maf, you wouldn't believe some of the illiterates I have met by the photocopier in the various language schools I have taught in ...:)

Certainly I agree that a native speaker will be better with everyday expressions, but I honestly think that non-native teachers can probably explain grammar points better.

IIRC the UK had a scheme (as they call it) to export homeless people as English teachers (I knew one person that ended up in Poland for that reason and another one or two I suspected). I'm talking more about people with some level of education.


Of course. I can explain Polish grammar to learners far better than most natieve speakers of Polish can. Someone teaching a foreign language needs a type of conscious knowledge that natives don't need.

that is the scary thing, they all had degrees and teaching certs...:) You cannot really get into that job in the first place without.
As for the recruitment of homeless people as English teachers....hmm....I find that hard to believe.
Possibly someone was 'pulling your leg'.

Native speakers of practically any language might well fail a language test in their native language as well:-)

There are no guarantees, and yet the educated native speaker, STILL will always have the last word on natural, culturally accepted and acceptable, idiomatic correctness, rozumiemnic!

I once met a native speaker of English in England who did know the meaning of the "right-wing" or "left-wing" terms. I was shocked since I as a foreigner was using them and the native speaker did not understand them. Are these 'everyday' expressions or not? Probably not in certain social environments.


That would depend on the language level of the test. You may probably conceive a test which almost every native speaker of the language fails

The mistakes made by native speakers or by foreigners are of different type.

How right you are, Ziemowit!

The obvious mistake.

Such gaffers occur here in the States with dramatic regularity, even among supposedly college-educated native American English speakers. We call it being "non campus mentis"!!!LOL

One person (who was educated but had fallen on hard times after losing his business) claimed that was his case. A few others I've known definitely seemed like they could have come from similar backgrounds.

lol right OK, so they seemed as if they could have been homeless.

Well that is slightlydifferent from your original claim that made it sound as though the UK gov't had some scheme where rough sleepers were scooped up and sent off to Poland to be English teachers..:)

Interesting discussion though.

And yes Z., 'left wing' and 'right wing' are pretty common terms. Education in the UK is incredibly variable though.

My original claim was based on someone who told me he'd been homeless in the UK (after his business failed) and then trained (as part of a government program) to be an English teacher. I haven't had contact with this person for many years.

Another one strongly hinted at coming to Poland after being homeless in the UK and a couple more displayed typical behavior patterns of people who had been homeless (according to someone who had done social work with homeless people).

None of them were stupid or illiterate but they didn't really..... thrive in Poland.


They are country specific, the most extreme left wing policies in the US would be moderate right in Europe (and they don't work at all for Poland).