hudsonhicks: If you do move over here, for gods sake do not move to Peterborough of doncaster. Find a nice little town or village where you can settle down and make new friends and integrate properly. Do not send your kids to "polish kindergarten" Do not bring your Polish TV decoder over here. Do not do you shopping in Polish Shops Do not spend 100% of your social time with other "expats". Do not exclusively visit Polish Bars or Restaurants. Have faith in British NHS Doctors and Dentists - Poland isn't ahead in medical expertise you know. You will thank me for these tips in the future when your English skills are near perfect, you live a more enriched cultural lifestyle having experienced life in two country's.. and more importantly you won't have the embarrassment of asking for a translator when using "public services" such as benefits when it's obvious you've been here years.. Believe me some people do - there are e.European immigrants in this country who have been here for 8 years, and cannot write basic english, and their spoken is very poor as well.
If you're going to criticise other people's English skills, at least make sure that you haven't made at least seven mistakes in your own post. :p
teflcat: It seems that the offspring of Poles who grew up in Britain have a much more mature and reasonable view of the situation in 1944-1945 than those offspring brought up elsewhere. Or have they just been brainwashed by those nasty Norman robber barons they suffer under?
I can't speak for anyone else, but I was brought up to understand that escaping Poland was something to be grateful for. This does not mean that my parents did not miss their family and country, but they understood that it was not a good place to live in the post-war years. Neither was the UK, but this country provided a safe haven, with opportunity for those willing to work hard. Poland was not safe, or full of opportunity, at the time. Who could blame them for staying here if they had the chance?
I have had several conversations with older Poles over the years, asking them why they don't shout louder than certain other "ethnic communities", and demand that they get what they do. The responses tended to be along the lines of "we're not owed anything; the fact that this country allowed us to settle here and escape Stalinism is enough. The rest was up to us". This is what makes me proud to be Polish, makes me respect the older generations more than the younger ones, and is probably also why I've always been willing to work hard for what I want to achieve.
There was no sense of "entitlement" amongst my parents generation, unlike many more recent immigrants. I have no idea where this attitude comes from, but I suspect that Poles have heard that the UK has unlimited money to give away to the lazy and feckless, and some believe that they deserve a piece of that pie as well. This country did not have this chav/benefit culture 60 years ago, which also explains why previous generations weren't really affected by it. Unfortunately, this attitude is not exclusive to the under-25s; one of my ex-girlfriends is over 40 now, and was quite open about her desire to obtain council housing, work as little as possible to avoid losing tax credits, and did not want to learn English because "Polish is an official EU language, so I have a right to demand an interpreter". Unfortunately, most of her friends had a similar attitude.
Yet when I dare criticise certain recent immigrants on here, I am called a traitor, despite the fact that I have always emphasised that I understand that NOT ALL immigrants are like this. Well, all those who call me that can f*** off - like many children of immigrants, I'm stuck between two identities: English people tell me to f*** off back to Poland, Polish-born people call me an "Angol". But what ever I am, I don't like people who take the p*ss; I won't be silenced, either by expats, or by Poles who resemble the ex mentioned above ;)
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