Which nations do Poles like the most?

I've taken me to serious ... I just find Japan fascinating ... what is more they love Chopin ;)

and Kamikaze are cool :)))

as to history we cooperated with Japan before WWII (against Russia)

Japan was heping for Poles who retreated form Syberia (Russians were sending us there)

During WWII Japan ambasy (even they were German alies) was helping for Polish Home Army fighting against Germans ...

True fact, i heard that.

at to the France

France was the most poplar country in 90s ...

after some political events popularity of France decreased ... but they are still very close to the top. We just like their culture, strong France is in our business and Sarko seams to try to strenghten our relationships ...

I imagine that you are talking about the Greeks. Yes, I always find the Greeks a funny lot with a bit of a 'chip on their shoulders'. Maybe they mourn the loss of so much of their former territory.

Now now Frank behave

BTW nice to see you back :)

We should like the Finns much more, which means getting to know them better. They don't seem Polonophobic at all. The Finns are one of the nicest nations I've ever met.

- Reportedly, our great military leader Pilsudski (beat up the Russian invaders in 1920) greatly admired Bushido.

Regarding Russia, I think a lot of Poles like Russians and Russian culture, but they could do without the current or past Russian authorities. The Germans are a separate story - it's mostly a mix of admiration and fear, I think.

- I myself do not think so. During communism, yes, there was such a massive pro-Russian propaganda in the Russian-ruled 'Polish People's Republic' and certainly many communists were Russophiles. But the vast majority of Poles, including Polish intelligentsia, had no interest whatsoever in Pushkin, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Eisenstein, and the rest of the bunch. And the Russian language, compulsory in schools, was hated and derided. And today our attitude towards things Russian appears even worse - total indifference, I would think.

As for the Germans, I don't think we are really afraid of them and admire them. We definitely do not like them and look suspiciously at them - and for good reasons.

Do you, cyg, like Russians and Russian culture, and fear and admire the Germans?
:)
PS. In the past there was some interest in Dostoyevsky - partly due to snobism (Sartre liked him!), and partly, perhaps, due to his Polish extraction (he himself denied frantically that he was of Polish origin :)).

There's a nation that, I think, should not be missing on General's list: the Portugese. Based on my own personal encounters, I regard them as nice gentle hospitable people, not Polonophobic at all. They're missing on the list perhaps because Polish-Portugese relations used to be limited in the past (the Cold War, etc.).

- The Polonophobic oinky pretending-to-be-English is Greekophobic too!
:)

- Both number one with me, Puzzler (I don't know Scots and Welsh well enough, so sorry for skipping them for the time being).
:)

Sorry, but from my personal contacts with educated Polish people I'd say they have a far greater interest in Russian culture than their American counterparts. Not that you find too many people reading Pushkin, Sartre, or anything else beyond John Clancy and Stephen King anywhere, for that matter.
The Poles I've talked to who have actually had contact with Russians (barring Russian mobsters, but that's another story) usually speak of them pretty highly. There's definitely a different attitude towards Russians and Russia as a state.

Isn't suspicion and fear really the same thing? And I do think a lot of Poles admire Germans in a weird way.

As far as my own feelings go, I grew up in the States, so I'm not really representative of Polish attitudes. Personally, I'm more afraid of my local Polish officials, who can make your life hell at the drop of a hat, than of anything today's Germans could do.

- I wonder how many such Poles you've met? I wonder if their number is large enough to make generalisations about all Poles? From my own experience - and I can back it up with tons of supporting evidence - many American educated people have a far more admiring attitude towards Russian culture than Poles. Yes, American Russophiles are Russophiles indeed.



- Nope, it doesn't seem to be. - Suspicion denotes thinking ahead and the ability to act in one's defense; fear seems to denote lack of clear thinking and helplessness.



- Can you give any specific examples of this alleged 'weird' admiration? Well, yes, many of us (not me!) admire some of the things they make, such as cars, but you Americans also admire them, don't you? Would you call the American admiration 'weird' too?



- So your suggestion is that the Polish officials can be worse than Nazi Germans? :)

But would you agree that officials in any country, including (and especially) those in the US, can make one's life hell? Would you say that American officals are better in this respect than their Polish counterparts...?

As for our suspicions towards Germany, they are not irrational at all. I can see you don't know them, or perhaps refuse to acknowledge them?

By the way, the German suspicions towards us appear irrational and crazy indeed. It's Polonophobia at its worst. For instance, have you heard about the recent mass hysteria in Germany at the news that Poland and the Czech Republic are to join the Schengen zone on 21 December?

You hit the nail on the head - we're generalizing, and that's never very accurate is it? We'd have to conduct a full-scale study to get any sort of reasonable results to talk about. I've never come across anything like that - I seem to remember a general study of national likes or dislikes, and Russia ranked pretty low, but again, it was Russia and not Russians, if I remember correctly. And anyways, educated people aren't representative of people in general in any country.


To me they're one and the same - the only reason you'd be suspicious of someone is if you were afraid of what they could do to you.


I meant it was weird because it was mixed with fear (or if you like suspicion). I think many Poles admire German efficiency and wealth, though that's probably going to change when they get to know them better.

Regarding German phobias towards Poles - I never suggested they didn't have any. I definitely agree that Germans have a much more skewed view of Poles than the other way around.

As far as bureaucrats go, Polish ones are a special breed. I've never gotten quite the runaround in the US that I get on a routine visit to the meldunek office - not to mention the fact that in the US you just don't deal with public officials that much, and in Poland you need to file a permit application in triplicate to sneeze. Ask anyone who's had to apply for a residency permit (not counting EU citizens after accession, who I hear get special treatment now). Polish bureaucracy IS getting better, but it's still pretty damn bad. Anyway, this is completely OT.

I found different data
ww.cbos.pl/SPISKOM.POL/1998/K_158_98.PDF


Logical statement


He said : "todays Germans"

- Don't they include Nazis?
:)

Back to the original question, 'Which nations do Poles like best?', the answer is pretty straightforward, Poles like Poland best! Although I find it just a little odd that about 90% of them don't want to live there.

the way I see it, for you all the Germans are Nazis and this is just wrong

Pick me, pick me. lol

- Aren't you seeing it wrong?
:)

all germans are not nazi's

and all nazi's are not german

nazi's are not bound to political boundries - there are US, UK, PL, DE, etc nazi's - they come from all over the place...

No for sure not. I've met many Germans and I can't tell they're Nazis

Poles like any strong nation... We, as Poles, are known as butt kissers....

Really? I only kiss one butt and it aint a foreign one. :P

OK and what's his name? Just kidding lol

Is this the Polish people's favourite nation??

yes

KO! :))

- You haven't comprehended it right, my smart darling. I meant: aren't you wrong when you're assuming that for me all Germans are Nazis?

I hope you get this one; if still not, I'll attempt to elucidate even further.
:)