Polish people … … drink Vodka all day long
… are dumb
… are totally religious
… never ever smile
… steal whatever they find.
True, isn't it ?
I could go on with this list of the “typical Polish man”, but let’s be honest,
just because everyone believes it really is like that, doesn’t mean it’s the
truth.
Let’s begin with the stereotype about Polish people being drunk day and night. It is true to a certain extend. As there are many celebrations in huge groups were people it a lot, they need a shot, or two for better digestion, doesn’t mean that they’re getting drunk. In comparison to Hungary or the Czech Republic, Poland is in a fact a sober country. If you happen to be in Poland a must-try is “Zubrowka” Vodka.
Overall the population is dumb. According to IQ tests, that is a lie. This stereotype clearly comes from Polish people living in the US and don’t speak English that well. But don’t forget, Marie Curie and Nicolaus Copernicus both were Polish : )
True is, that Poland is a Catholic country and the former Pope, who even got his own TV channel, was Polish too. Fun fact: the world’s largest statue of Jesus was built in Poland. It’s not clear how religious they live their life, but surveys say that only about 8% are so-called strong-believers.
Nobody in Poland smiles on the streets, never ever. They do! Just like in every other place on mother earth there are people that are friendly and happy and just have a smile on their face all the time and others just don’t. Nothing special there.
“Come to Poland – your car is already there!”, who hasn’t heard that joke before? Right, commonly it is believed that Polish people steal everything. But let’s be honest – again, in every country there are people stealing. I’ve been in Poland many times, half of my family lives there, but I rarely heard of stealing-Polish-people.
Let’s begin with the stereotype about Polish people being drunk day and night. It is true to a certain extend. As there are many celebrations in huge groups were people it a lot, they need a shot, or two for better digestion, doesn’t mean that they’re getting drunk. In comparison to Hungary or the Czech Republic, Poland is in a fact a sober country. If you happen to be in Poland a must-try is “Zubrowka” Vodka.
Overall the population is dumb. According to IQ tests, that is a lie. This stereotype clearly comes from Polish people living in the US and don’t speak English that well. But don’t forget, Marie Curie and Nicolaus Copernicus both were Polish : )
True is, that Poland is a Catholic country and the former Pope, who even got his own TV channel, was Polish too. Fun fact: the world’s largest statue of Jesus was built in Poland. It’s not clear how religious they live their life, but surveys say that only about 8% are so-called strong-believers.
Nobody in Poland smiles on the streets, never ever. They do! Just like in every other place on mother earth there are people that are friendly and happy and just have a smile on their face all the time and others just don’t. Nothing special there.
“Come to Poland – your car is already there!”, who hasn’t heard that joke before? Right, commonly it is believed that Polish people steal everything. But let’s be honest – again, in every country there are people stealing. I’ve been in Poland many times, half of my family lives there, but I rarely heard of stealing-Polish-people.
Now that you maybe have a different view about Poland and the people
there, let me give you some fun facts about my roots…
#1 In every grocery store, the biggest section is the one with sweets and candies.
#2 The alphabet consists of 32 letters (and yes, they really need all those letters)
#3 The Polish language has the second largest number of speakers among the Slavic languages (Russian is, obviously, the most spoken Slavic language…)
#4 Beer is often mixed with raspberry or blackcurrant juice (called “Piwo z sokiem”) and it is drunk through a straw. In winter, beer is mixed with cinnamon and sweetened with honey and served heated (called “Piwo grzane”)
#5 There is a strange channel on TV in Poland, the Pope channel. Anytime you want to see the pope, you just need to turn on TV.
#6 The emblem of Warsaw, the capital, is a mermaid.
#7 About 35% of all Poles live abroad. There are large Polish communities in the US, for example.
#8 Any movies “translated” into Polish, are just read louder in Polish by one man, no matter if there are children or women speaking. This is really strange, especially because you always hear the original voices as background noise.
Many of you might wonder why I chose Poland as a topic… my mom is born in Poland and I grew up bilingual, so it is important to me, to let you people know how it really is and break-up the stereotypes many keep in mind when they hear “Poland”. Hopefully you see it a little bit different after having read this blog entry :)
And to not forget the language itself - watch this video to get an impression!
#1 In every grocery store, the biggest section is the one with sweets and candies.
#2 The alphabet consists of 32 letters (and yes, they really need all those letters)
#3 The Polish language has the second largest number of speakers among the Slavic languages (Russian is, obviously, the most spoken Slavic language…)
#4 Beer is often mixed with raspberry or blackcurrant juice (called “Piwo z sokiem”) and it is drunk through a straw. In winter, beer is mixed with cinnamon and sweetened with honey and served heated (called “Piwo grzane”)
#5 There is a strange channel on TV in Poland, the Pope channel. Anytime you want to see the pope, you just need to turn on TV.
#6 The emblem of Warsaw, the capital, is a mermaid.
#7 About 35% of all Poles live abroad. There are large Polish communities in the US, for example.
#8 Any movies “translated” into Polish, are just read louder in Polish by one man, no matter if there are children or women speaking. This is really strange, especially because you always hear the original voices as background noise.
Many of you might wonder why I chose Poland as a topic… my mom is born in Poland and I grew up bilingual, so it is important to me, to let you people know how it really is and break-up the stereotypes many keep in mind when they hear “Poland”. Hopefully you see it a little bit different after having read this blog entry :)
And to not forget the language itself - watch this video to get an impression!
