To ask what you think of Eastern Europeans living in the UK?

[Bananasinpjs7]

I have lived in the UK for almost 10 years which is pretty much a 1/3 of my life. I never thought I’d stay this long but met my partner here and decided to build a career in an industry that we don’t really have in my home country... yet.
I’m trying my best... language wise I think I’m pretty fluent. English is the language I speak 95% of the time.
I try to fit in as much as possible, learn as much as I can about the UK to understand it’s history and culture...
But I feel extremely left out ... I feel people look at me and think ‘she is from eastern eu’ as if it has some sort of stigma. It feels like if you are from somewhere glamorous like France or Scandinavian countries you are much more accepted... I’m so tired of constantly feeling like this

Doesn’t bother me at all

I know quite a few EE. The only problem is have, is , I’m severely deaf and I have problems understand them sometimes. Especially if they have a very strong accent

But this isn’t just EE. It’s anyone with a strong accent

I have a friend who is Scottish, and I have trouble understanding her too sometimes

I’m so sorry you feel like that op. Some people in this country can be pigs.

Dp is Polish (although he absolutely doesn’t class himself as Eastern European!) and he’s never had any issues with xenophobia, but he’s 6ft8 and looks slightly terrifying. He’s a gentle giant though. He does however struggle with breaking out of the ‘immigrant’ mindset where he plays his skills and education down because he thinks he doesn’t deserve it? It’s something I’m helping him to work on.

I think it’s hard for anyone to live in a different country and not experience the culture etc from birth. I know for a fact I would always feel like the English woman if I ever moved to Poland, no matter how long I’d been there.

Both my DC have best friends that are not British and they adore them. I adore them because my DC adore them. I’d be devastated if they moved back to their birth countries.

I don’t care who is from where, as long as they are nice!!!!

There is a lot of Polish kids at my DD’s nursery. I never really gave this much thought until after Brexit but with the increasing unpleasantness which has been brewing towards Eastern European’s since I almost want to tell their parents that we don’t all feel that way.

I have a silly question. Whenever my DD is invited to a class party none of the Polish kids ever turn up. I’ve always found it odd. Is this unique to my area?

Some parts of the uk you only start to be accepted if you are third generation living in that village and even then you will be considered a newcomer - and that is when your family goes back generations in a town only 20 miles away. It is easy to think that the UK is very cosmopolitan and everyone travels but in reality that is not the case for large parts of the country. There are lots of places where a large proportion of the population have never ventured more than a few miles from their door.

@stripeybananas its not patronising to say about someones accent people comment on british accents and how they speak maybe spanish etc all the time it even just different dialects , who doesn't love an irish accent
I think a french person speaking english sounds lovely , better than listening to how some english speak , does that suddenly make me patronising !! Of course not , people look to be offended over silly things at times

[quote Notfeelinggreattoday]@stripeybananas its not patronising to say about someones accent people comment on british accents and how they speak maybe spanish etc all the time it even just different dialects , who doesn't love an irish accent
I think a french person speaking english sounds lovely , better than listening to how some english speak , does that suddenly make me patronising !! Of course not , people look to be offended over silly things at times
[/quote]
Are you a native English speaker who lives in the UK?

@nettytree

Welcome to UK. It doesn't bother me where you come from. I have worked with people from all over the world and its great to learn about other people's lives and experiences.

Yep this

I don't care what country people originated from. I don't care what skin colour they have. I don't care what language they speak. I do care about how people behave. If someone thinks it is ok to break the law, or refuse to work, or is antisocial towards others, then I don't like them, and frankly don't want anything to do with them.

I don't think I am unusual in that.

I have a few EE friends and three of them I love like sisters. They mean the world to me and I’d do anything for them.

OP that sounds fairly depressing and I imagine that it doesn't help to be stuck in lockdown.

Could you move somewhere nicer?

We live in a Uni town with a "European destinations mostly" airport an easy drive away. I reckon a good 20% of the kids in DD's school have one or more foreign parents (Russian/Bulgarian/Iranian/French/Dutch/Spanish....).

I like the cultural mix/diversity of opinions and I've not heard any of them comment about racism (though I am puzzled why one of my French friends is such an ardent Brexiteer).

Perhaps now is the time to find a new hobby/sport and join a club to meet nice(er) people.

Just the way it is I’m afraid

apologies, I didn't give an opinion about what I felt about Eastern Europeans myself.

From the fairly small sample of experience I have, sadly I have only seen those who are what id call 'exploited' via employers and landlords. My cynicism is not towards the Europeans.
Most were hard working, had great personal style and seemed more confident than the regular local population, who are largely uneducated and unemployed (in that particular town).

I lived next to a HMO for a few years, and the walls were paper thin. It was a constant problem, but the individuals living there were not to blame.
they didnt care about getting to know the neighbours, or keeping the place clean, rubbish overflow in yard created rat issues, parking issues at front.. It really wasn't good and whenever people tried to talk to them about it they were a bit ignorant (one was a smirker, and the rest seemed to regard locals with contempt).
Our house was full of tobacco smell as each tenant spent all free time in single rooms chain smoking.

I blame the system, the low wages and the accommodation.

personally I can't extrapolate that to the entire EU population. Perhaps it was just this particular bunch. it included several polish lads, a British lad, a Romanian and a greek man.

I'm sorry you feel like this. I have kind of noticed it at the school gate, people don't seem to socialise with the eastern European mothers. I started up chatting to one of them, but to be fair it was a bit difficult when I got a blank stare. I met another one who's now one of my best friends thouhh. I hope you find some friends soon, it's certainly not intentional!

Respectful, hard working and community minded. An area in my hometown has transformed into a vibrant friendly community with the influx of number of eastern European families. I love hearing where people are from (as my own heritage is varied) so don't take curiosity as rudeness.

As a massive generalisation I really like Eastern Europeans and I have met a lot.

There are some Xenophobic assholes and there always will be wherever you go. Most people I know like Eastern European’s too.

My stepdaughter’s mum is from E Eu.

She’s had some shit times too, but only because of a minority of people.

I think (hope?) most people just want nice neighbours, they don’t really care what their first language is or what their ethnic origin is.

My little street has residents originally from Greece, Ireland, Poland and Hong Kong as well as black and white British. Everyone looks out for each other, it’s lovely.

Now I’m worried that my street is especially fortunate and it’s not like that for others. I really hope it’s the norm!

OP I am an immigrant too and BAME. Lived in the UK for 21 years and still don't feel welcome. We chose Yorkshire and have found it very difficult to develop any social network, even though we moved to all areas of West Yorkshire. Very tight knit communities that keep us at arms length. We tried everything: going to local churches, volunteering on free time, inviting people over...but nothing was ever reciprocated. I kept waiting for my eldest to start school, as that's what people always told me was going to change our social life, but nothing ever materialised.

We do work full time, so hard to meet parents, but sad for my eldest. She never gets invited anywhere. As a result, we have had to turn to other immigrants for support. This defies the point of integration, but it was not for luck of trying.

What I have found depending on where you live people are not always open to allowing new people into their social circle and I have often felt that bitterly.

I want us to relocate as I am convinced Yorkshire is not for us. Very very difficult crowd to crack.

One of my best friends is from Bulgaria. I know her because our daughters shared a class at school.

It can be difficult to make friends no matter where you are from; you need a connection (usually work or school).

I have worked with people from all over the world including Eastern Europe, neighbours of my sister come from there. I am sorry you feel so unwelcome

As far as I am concerned anyone who is prepared to work is welcome here

Come to Scotland- we love people from Eastern Europe.
We already had a large number of people from Poland and other European countries come to settle just after the second world war, and assimilation was good - native Scots see these people as hardworking and reliable- so the ground was set if you like, Polish names have been very common in Scotland for 70 years.
The latest round of incomers from Eastern Europe have been welcomed with open arms here.