South African wants to move to Poland, please provide some input?

Hi there all

I am an Afrikaans-speaking white South African in my early 30s interested to immigrate to Poland in a few years' time.

I have some questions and hope you can provide some advice.

Firstly, some more info. My husband is a graphic designer. We have a 1 year old baby girl.
I am a translator/language practitioner. English and Afrikaans. But my big love is in Afrikaans literature. I studied that at university and I have an honours degree in Afrikaans and Dutch.

We truly love South Africa and it has wonderful things. We always believed in our future and want the best for our country and our rainbow nation.

But the last year things have been going really bad. The crime is out of control. The corruption is so, so bad.

Our president is a far cry from our hero Madiba Nelson Mandela. Zuma is more like Mugabe it seems to be. He doesnt care about the people and things are getting out of control.

His latest stunt put our economy in grave danger. Overnight the value of our currency slipped ridiculously low, after he fired our minister of finance because the minister would not condone clear corruption happening.

We earn what is considered good salaries, but with the crippling economy it means we are barely surviving. But we are still better off than the average poverty-stricken South African.

Anyhoo. Why I am saying all this. Just to give you background. I never thought I would leave my beautiful country, but I CANNOT see my little girl growing up in what our country is turning into. It is honestly no life. I have to think of her future and her life as an adult.

Now, my husband can apply for jobs as graphic designer anywhere, but me finding work will be much more difficult. i want to ask you what do you think my chances are?

I know that Poznan University has an Afrikaans Department, teaching Afrikaans to Polish students.
I met one of their professors and aome students years ago in Belgium at a summer conference. Lovely, lovely people.

I would love to be able to work there. I am a natural teacher (although I am not teaching now here, as translators get better pay than teachers).

I am very passionate about my language and i am good at conveying it to others and also inspiring them ;-)

Or do you perhaps have another idea of what I can do to make a living?

How much would you say is the average cost of living per month for an average family? If you have to put it in Euro?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Especially where would be the best place to start!

Kind greetings

We welcome you to Poland. And as more people realize that all White/all East Asian nations have a brighter future with less racial violence present, the minority Whites will move to all White countries like Poland.

The end of apartheid was a giant failure. Just like the White Genocides in Zimbabwe that killed off the white farmland owners. Similar things are happening in the Western World with whites being outbred so yes Poland and other Eastern European countries do have a bright future. Welcome!

Janajakkals. Send me an email. Ivorgalaxy@gmail.

I was in South Africa for few years and i can say that apart from terrible crimes, South Africa is a beautiful country. It has nice weather and is a paradise for golf.

Welcome to Poland.
I know that South African people often immigrate to UK, Australia, New Zealand.... why don't you make a try.
If you go to Poland, the biggest challenge is language and Polish language is hard to learn.

Hi @janajakkals,

I was wondering if you received any responses to your post? I am also very interested in re-locating to Poland, as my partner is a Polish citizen and the brother has recently immigrated for work in Krakow. How easy is it to move for a South African citizen, and what is the cost of living for a Graphic Designer salary (Which is what I currently do in SA). My partner lectures communication, politics, philosophy and film, do you think our combined salaries can offer a prospectful life in Poland? And what is the chances of surviving in SA any longer with all this corruption going on??

Would love to hear from you, if you moved or stayed?

There were many Dutch settlers in 16-17th century Poland, they settled in northern Poland (south of Gdansk). They were called "Olendry". Their descendants are assimilated now, only a few village names remain. Were you'd go in modern Poland is really a personal choice.

Just do yourself and your new neighbors the respect of learning some of their language! Polish may not always be quite as transparent for you as English, but your efforts to learn Polish will be well worth it in the long run:-)

"Teaching Afrikaans to Polish students"

What for? So they can have chocolate babies? Take that garbage to the degenerate West. Highly doubt the tech and science thriving Asia is bothering with such handicaps. I took so many years of Math in school for IT and I'm not a math major. Polish students should be focus on math and science not liberal arts. There is absolutely nothing coming from Africa that belongs in Poland.

So that Polish students can be well educated in languages.

Perhaps education is an unfamiliar concept for you, but it is what it is.

They should be learning Computer programming languages. This is the future, especially with our "low birth rates". Learn Chinese or hell even Arabic with the direction our Western neighbors are going. Afrikaans? Haha they planning on working at a refugee camp

Why? Isn't the sign of a developed society one which is highly educated in all areas?


I suspect they'll rather be working with large companies with global presences while people like you collect their money in public conveniences.

Sorry to hear your plight. It is truly sad how the whites are treated in South Africa after they've built up the country and economy. The discrimination and violence that whites are facing is hardly reported in media let alone the big six. We welcome you in Poland.

Some 30 40 years, a lot of Poles actually moved to S Africa because the government was providing housing and great jobs to whites.

IMO, if you aren't doing a STEM degree: science, technology, engineering and math. You are wasting your time and money. In the USA the University system has become a scam to reduce young adults into debt and leftist ideology.


It is doubtful her husband/child are White.

> Women involved in liberal arts, especially these humanitarian causes almost always turn their back on their heritage and ancestry. It's the leftist ideology I referred to.

Maybe you can try to claim refugee status from racial oppression and get some refugee stipend? Though this may be hard because from what heard European countries don't like to give asylum to white people from African countries(Might be easier in Poland due to racism) but in Poland you will get a pittance even you become accepted. If your husband in black forget about because you wll be bullied in Poland.

Start studying Arabic, stop shaving, stop showering, get a burqa for your wife and fly to Germany or Sweden - that appears to be the best way to get guaranteed housing and income in Europe nowadays.

@Adrian,

Turkish has become a semi- (un-)official "second" language in Berlin for nearly two decades now:-) It's status throughout many of the larger German cities is a lot similar to Spanish here in the States (especially in New York and LA)!

:-)

I know - there's a ton of Turks where my family lives in Dortmund. I'm not exactly sure when the first waves started coming but I believe it was in the 70's or 80's. Germans tend not to have much of an issue with the Turks those - this group is far better assimilated and contributes to society far more than the migrant hordes that we have seen from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Kosovo, Nigeria, Eritrea, Somalia, etc. The Turks are like the 'modern Muslims' - I'd say their culture has been more European than Middle Eastern. Most people don't mind the Turks in Germany though - they're not the issue and they're not the ones causing attacks, raping women, blowing themselves up, and marching with Sharia 4 Germany signs.

The Ruhr Valley ('Kohlenpott') has always been a sort of melting pot, ever since the late 1700's, frankly, when Poles began to work in the mines, later replaced by other foreigners, Turks, Spaniards etc...

you are an idiot if you think that learning new language = getting pregnant.


again- if you think that most people will actually benefit from learning programming languages than you are what I've written above.
Algorithms- yes, that's the thing that people actually benefit from.


no "low birth rates" but low birth rates. at least in Poland; in normal countries Poles do have a normal birth rate.


Which Chinese? Which Arabic? (ok, I had to answer for that rant)


Afrikaans is quite nice language that could work as an introduction to the Germanic family.
Actually, I prefer it much more over Dutch or German- much more simpler, much more cleaner. It's relationship with Dutch is similar of the Tajik and Persian (while we are at "simple" languages).

It would be funny to hear your rationale for foreigners (not living in Poland) to learn Polish, instead of- much more useful- Russian or even Czech.

Afrikaans, much as Dutch itself, is yet another language with a relatively low speaker percentage world wide. "Nice" as she may sound, Poles would probably benefit far more from competent English instruction from a truly BILINGUAL South African with both Afrikaans and English as a mother tongue:-)

While as a linguist myself by trade, I'm scarcely discouraging you from offering Afrikaans to Poles, you're most likely not going to find all too many takers, I fear.

Don't playp naive. Who do you think they will be conversating Afrikaan with? - Mexicans? Involved in social setting = more likely to date. Simple logic. No need for Afrikaan in Poland just like no need for "Hip Hop dancing" classes.

"It would be funny to hear your rationale for foreigners (not living in Poland) to learn Polish, instead of- much more useful- Russian or even Czech."

That came out of nowhere

Russian, also German, I would think.

"if you think that most people will actually benefit from learning programming languages than you are what I've written above"

Then I am an idiot too who was able to retire at 50, on the back of learning programming, Ignorance is bliss.

The joke back in the late '70's was, "D'you speak Cobalt?" - Well, my Fortran's kinda rusty!

Sadly there was no money in fortran, but cobal was another story the year 2000 was a huge money earner. funny how the PF spell checker doesn't recognize programming languages.

But back to topic, I have known many south africans in my time I worked with plenty in Durban in the early 80's I think they would fit in fine in Poland, they can cook some of the best barbecue in the world.

I too, dolno! They don't have the 'attitude' of so many Brits I've encountered over the years and they seem honestly delighted to share their native language, cuisine and culture with foreigners.

"share their native language, cuisine and culture with foreigners." Well this is the key, people of any nation who are open to share their culture and also wish learn about the host culture generally do well as migrants.

I don't understand how someone couldn't be interested in their host culture.

Polish culture is endlessly fascinating for me - I find it infuriating at times, but it never ceases to be interesting.

infuriating at times, but it never ceases to be interesting., Very true Delph, that's kind of the beauty of the place.

you are aware that bridge language between SA citizen and Polish one would be English, not Afrikaans? No-one in Poland will learn Afrikaans when they could learn, much easier due to much greater availability of learning materials + its dominance in the popular culture- English.


Oh, I totally agree. I just find Afrikaans as a great introduction to the Germanic languages. Better (but that's my personal bias) than English.

And Dutch (combined with Afrikaans) has a greater amount of speaker than Nordic languages.


Do you honestly think that teaching kids C++ will make everyone a programmer? not even great, but half-decent one?
No- there are people who will benefit from it, but most people won't care.
You can teach children algorithms and logical thinking without the use of computer.