Do you think there is a "Polish" problem in the Uk now that it's become the 2nd language in England?

[NomadsLand]

I've been to Poland and I like Poles a lot as a people. I think Warsaw is a great city and I have nothing against Polish people.

My mother complained back in 2007 about the number of Poles in Liverpool changing the 'culture'. What she meant was that she loves to banter with people in shops and restaurants and she used to get a lot of chat back (Liverpudlians are generally very funny - IMHO - and love a bit of verbal 'how's your father'). She complained that this had changed and that she was increasingly met with blank stares. This is high insult to my mother!

I didn't think much of it. But I am now finding the same - I approached a new restaurant outlet at my local services today and joked about them selling hot dogs and milkshakes and what a welcome addition to the usual (was hungry and about to make an irresponsible food choice!). I got the same blank stare. Didn't understand a word I said.

I finally understood what my mother has been saying. AIBU?

[BitOutOfPractice]

I must be a bit dim but I;m not sure I would be able to tell Polish from say, Lithuanian, Czech etc anyway.

And OP YABU

[GrinchyMcGrincherson]

By the way in Liverpool we embrace our ever changing multicultural society. We have masses of independent and diverse shops and restaurants. The city itself also has a really good feel to it. I've always felt far more at home in Liverpool than I ever did in Manchester or Preston.

Go speak to some actual Liverpudlians and you will find warmth humour and a friendly welcome. They don't like shit jokes though. Maybe that's where you went wrong.

[Ratonastick]

My grandparents were polish. They came to the uk one step ahead of the holocaust, which claimed most of their family. They integrated, insofar as they learned English, worked hard (including a very important contribution to the WW2 effort), brought my Dad up to be English, etc but retained their faith and spoke polish within the family and at home. They were also part of a polish community in their city. They dreamed of home, but of a home that was gone and one of the most upsetting times of their lives was returning to Poland after Solidarity etc as they didn't recognise or understand their home anymore. They spoke with an accent all their lives and told us polish fairy stories and made us polish food and made sure we understood our heritage.

They did not at any time attempt to overthrow English civilisation.

[FourEyesGood]

Oh shit - sorry; didn't realise it was a ZOMBIE.

[Elendon]

Perhaps Sonly, she had been isolated and not allowed to integrate with the wider community. As a church member, you have to take safeguarding training; I do and I'm not religious, but happen to volunteer in a church. Perhaps her partner was abusive. Because abusive relationships don't just happen in The Archers, it's widespread and a worldwide problem.

[RaspberryOverloadTheFirst]

I live in a town that has a high Polish population plus other eastern european nationalities.

It makes no difference here at all, except for the ethnic groceries that have opened. (And there's some lovely stuff in there )

But then, we've had Poles here since WW2, as we have an old disused airfield from where the Poles flew into battle, so we've had quite a bit of integration. I have Poles living next door, they are lovely. My DD has a Polish friend, they catch the same bus to college.

Nationality doesn't bother me. My only concern would be incomers learning the language so that everyone can understand each other. In the same way, should I ever move abroad, I'd make an effort to learn the local language to fit in.

And I agree with the comment that there are a number of native British people who think they are too good for certain jobs. It comes down to the work ethic, or lack of.

[Isitadoubleentendre]

I am from the South and have been to Liverpool once. Had a conversation with a taxi driver and he was a complete tool, going on and on about how Southerners always cause the most trouble for him and that they are so unfriendly. He kept on with it, obviously trying to get a rise out of us to prove his point. Of course, we stayed cool, casual Londoners

Based on this one exchange, I have come.to the conclusion that all Scourers are total twats. Oh wait..........

[GrinchyMcGrincherson]

FFS just clocked the zombie

[RaspberryOverloadTheFirst]

Oh, FFS I didn't spot it was a ZOMBIE.

My comments still stand, though. We have nothing to fear from other nationalities living here.

[Jabuticaba]

I wouldn't know polish if it slapped me. I'm impressed at how many people in the UK can understand Polish, it's not true what they say that British people are shit at languages. Even better than that they can determine a person's nationality just by looking at them. That's a skill I've never encountered outside the UK.

I live abroad, since brexit I've read more and more xenophobic stories on here and elsewhere. We're going on holiday to the UK soon, my children speak to each other in a different language, though they speak and understand English with me. Due to sunshine and genes they look foreign. I hope my innocent and sheltered little kids don't learn that their other country is a biggoted, xenophobic hell because that's the impression I'm starting to get and I'm a little concerned about what we might be subjecting ourselves to.

[Isitadoubleentendre]

I'm also second generation Irish and always wonder what it would have been like in the 60s and 70s if English wasn't the first language of the Irish immigrants. There would have been huge swathes of North London, Coventry and Liverpool where no one spoke a word of english! The Irish communities can still be insular enough as it is (I have plenty of 2nd gen friends who wouldn't dream of marrying an English guy and they have all sort of 'married in amongst themselves').

[BratFarrarsPony]

" I wouldn't know polish if it slapped me."

Ok it sounds a bit like this - 'nish nosh nish nosh koooorva nish nosh nosh nish'

[Halloweensnake]

My next door neighbours are polish..everyone else is white British...when we go away there's only one family I trust with the key to my home in case of emergency....my polish next door neighbours..they are lovely people.they have extended family living with them,which personally I would love too.

[wenchystrumpet]

Spierdalaj ty glupia pizd, OP.

[BratFarrarsPony]

@ wenchy

[Ayeok]

Well said Wenchy yes I had to google it

[wenchystrumpet]

always a useful phrase.

[Ackvavit]

Really? I'd say of all the people who have moved here the Polish are the most articulate. I'm embarrassed that I wouldn't know a word of Polish yet many arrived here and were fluent in English AND found work ASAP. My son works with a young Polish guy who frankly speaks better English than some of the English guys he works with. There are communities who do not integrate and learn to speak English but they certainly are not Polish. Goodness me OP what were you thinking?

[wenchystrumpet]

Even though I mistyped pizda in my irritation, oops.

[Ratonastick]

Bloody zombies, sorry!

[CaptainMarvelDanvers]

I've only read the first page but anytime someone describes a group of people as a 'problem', their certainly on rocky ground.

[CaptainMarvelDanvers]

Oh it's a Zombie thread.

[HerOtherHalf]

Protecting our culture is just one of the many attempts the bigots and xenophobes have concocted to try and rationalise and make acceptable their foaming-mouthed hatred of foreigners.

What is this supposed culture anyway? It doesn't exist and never has, not as some kind of static clearly definable entity, it's a myth. What is if you miss or worry might be lost? Morris dancing? Sunday roasts? Cream teas? Spotted dick? Bowler hats and flat caps? Builders intimidating women in the street with crass remarks and wolf-whistles? Football casuals and lager louts? Horrifically racist TV shows like The Black and White Minstrels or Mind Your Language? Or shows that promote and trivialise groping such as Benny Hill or countless others from that era? Or is our culture a kebab or curry on a Friday night, trick or treating, rap/soul/RnB/hiphop, burgers/spag bol/noodles, Christmas largely themed on a Coca Cola marketing campaign, karaoke, fireworks, ballet, opera, Hollywood movies, US TV shows, a language strewn with foreign words, etc etc etc etc.......

Our island's culture, if such a thing has ever even been definable, has changed and evolved on a daily basis since the first humans settled here and it will continue to do so. That culture has been influenced by countless different races, colours and creed's, some that travelled here in search of opportunity and some that we colonised by force. Open your mind and embrace the rich tapestry that a multicultural world offers or sit in your room reading The Mail and fretting about all these bloody foreigners - I know what I prefer.

[corythatwas]

I know it's a zombie, but it strikes me as particularly ironic that the OP tries to establish her credentials by explaining that she likes Poles, she has been to Poland. So what language did she speak there when she made that visit and discovered that she liked the natives? I think we may safely assume it was English.

So does that mean Poland (along with the rest of the world) has an English problem? Or is it only a problem when it's somebody else who doesn't speak the national language?

Have the Poles and the Swedes and the Italians not had their culture changed by compulsory English lessons/English as a requirement for many jobs/English as a teaching language at University? But this is not a problem: is it because the rest of us are so level-headed that we can cope with a bit of foreignness without losing sight of who we are- or is it because our culture wasn't much of a loss anyway?