the English-Polish thing
It’s funny how nowadays Polish people seemed to ‘made themselves comfortable’ out there on the Isles. Recently while in Manchester I saw in front of the Lloyds TSB Bank a huge sign in Polish advertising the banks offer. And it was in the very city centre. When my friend and I walked in a nice young lady approached us and said: “Dzien dobry. W czym moge pomoc?” ["Hello. Can I help you?"]. I must say that was dreadful. Can you really tell we’re Polish? Is it THAT obvious?! 
But anyway, it all seemed strange to me as I’ve never before seen any bank making such an advert in Hindi or Arabic. And ‘they’ are much longer in Britain than we are, aren’t they?
I mean, I understand polish products in TESCO or even those bankers – after all it is money for them. But special Polish job centre consultants, or English Policemen learning Polish language?!? How freaky is that? Do you really like us that much?
Not many years ago [5 or 6] it was a lot different here in Poland. When you went to England – you were the man! And I mean it! Not only it was almost impossible to cross the British border ( you had to posses a lot of acting skills ) but also if you finally managed to get there and work for few moths you returned home rich and happy and with truly impressive English.
And about that, it looks like nowadays, you actually have to seek for an opportunity to speak English in England. Ironic? Well, I now I shouldn’t complain and I appreciate the good intentions. But how is the Polish student supposed to improve her English if as soon as she takes of the plane in Liverpool she hears only: “Dzien dobre, dzin-kuje” (hello, thank you) ? Or: “Have you got a pasek?” (belt) !!!! a PASEK??? Why the f** don’t you just say “a belt” ? It’s a shorter word and you’ve already said the whole sentence in English anyway!
But to be honest. I love English culture. I love the nation. I really do. And I love flying to England where people smile at me on the street and in the shops and everyone is sooo polite. Hopefully the grumpy Poles will learn some manners from the Brits.
island1 replied:
Cool, another English-language blog about Poland/Polish things.
In answer to your question; yes, it is THAT obvious
You were probably well-dressed, immaculately groomed, and deporting yourself with decorum and therefore stood out a mile from the scruffy riff-raff that make up the British general public!
An interesting question is why were you ashamed or embarrassed to be easily identifiable as Polish? It would never occur to an English person to feel bad because somebody could see they were English (not that there’s any good reason for this). Don’t worry, it’s not just you, I’ve noticed the characteristic in many Polish people
March 2, 2008 at 7:49 pm. Permalink.
martiga replied:
I guess you can easily distinguish between the English and the Polish because of the different characteristic features of face shape, etc.
I don’t really think we are “well-dressed and immaculately groomed”. I don’t know where you live in Poland but in small cities like mine you can see that the way people dress is horribly dull. The same is with Poles in England. You see jeans and a boring T-shirt – definitely a Pole 
Whenever I go to England I try to look for some trends and style tips on the streets. Polish people aren’t as confident in choosing their outfits as the English. Unfortunately..
What I had on my mind was probably the fashion
And then there’s this funny tendency of Polish people to feel ashamed for their fellow-countrymen whenever the latter make fools of themselves abroad. Can’t help it
March 3, 2008 at 11:32 am. Permalink.