STEREOTYPES

ABOUT THE
POLES
1. THE POLES STEAL
In Germany, Polish people are often perceived as thieves.
Mainly because of:
 car theft
exporting cars abroad

The opinion that the Poles are thieves came after Polish
accession to the Schengen zone.
A debatable issue is the actual participation of the Poles
in thefts - many cars and parts are exported to Poland,
but their destination is other countries - for example,
Lithuania or Caucasus.
2. THE POLES ARE UNEDUCATED
 Nothing more wrong!

Our youth is the most talented in the world. This is the

result of the international examination of the skills and
knowledge of 15-year-olds - "Program for International
Student Assessment".
The skills of young Poles far outweigh those that the
most developed societies can show off.
Polish schools can educate young people who are able to
successfully compete with graduates of esteemed
schools from Finland, Switzerland or South Korea.
3. POLISH PEOPLE ARE DIRTY
 Not true!
Swiss decided to check how important is cleanliness for
various nations. The study was conducted in 12 countries.
1,000 women and men aged 33-55 participated in each
country.
Nine out of ten Poles declared that hygiene was very
important to them, and others were quite important.
Research shows that the most popular way to keep clean is
the shower and more than half of respondents take it once
a day, and 28 percent two or more times a day.
The average time that Poles spend within 24 hours for
activities related to personal hygiene is 51 minutes. In
other countries, most answers indicate the time interval
21-30 minutes.
4. THE POLES ARE A BACKWARD NATION
 This also misses the truth.
From our landscape thatched huts, bumpy highways, the
shepherds in the meadows and peasants laboriously
walking behind a plow disappeared a long time ago.
Polish culture is absorbent and universal. We have
wonderful, internationally recognized artists -
painters, composers, writers, but also architects,
computer scientists, physicists and astronomers.
Every year the country is becoming more modern and
Polish science triumphs in the world. Recently, the
Polish satellite has set off to conquer the cosmos.
5. THE POLES ARE DRUNKARDS
The average Pole drinks 12.5 liters of pure alcohol per
head - says the WHO report. But we are not leaders in
drinking.
Expressed in numbers, consumption gives the Poles a
place in the second ten of the ranking: both in the
World and in Europe (which is the most-spanned
continent of the globe).
In the ranking, not only the winners are ahead of us:
Belarusians, Moldovans and Russians
(respectively - 17.5, 16.8, 15.1 liters per person),
but also Czechs and Slovaks (13 liters per person).
6. THE POLES AND RUSSIANS ARE THE
SAME
It still happens that in the West they confuse us with
Russia, they think that we are part of Russia, and white
bears run around the streets with us.

The result of lack of education and ignorance are such

stereotypes. As you can see, education is not the
strongest feature of many people in other more
developed countries…
7. THE POLES DON’T LIKE FOREIGNERS
For centuries, Poland has been a multinational state,
where various ethnic and religious groups lived side by
side. Today, many representatives of other nations also
live among us.
Scientists, students and specialists from various fields
come to Poland. We also accept war or political
refugees who are supported by our country.
Representatives of many national minorities also live
in Poland - Ukrainians, Germans, Gypsies, Lithuanians
and many other nationalities.
8. POLISH PEOPLE CONSTANTLY COMPLAIN
 That's right - we like to complain.
Another thing is that recent times have provided us
with a lot of reasons for dissatisfaction. In the Polish
communist past people complained about the lack of
basic goods, because how not to complain when
buying sugar or toilet paper sometimes was a miracle.
On the other hand, we have always been able to laugh
at ourselves. As the old proverb says, in the socialist
bloc Poland was the most laughing barrack, and the
absurdities of everyday life became a breeding ground
for many great Polish comedies and cabarets.
The rapid political transformation after 1989 and young
capitalism brought further reasons for complaining - the
uncertainty of tomorrow, unemployment, low wages.
Many of us still have problems finding themselves in
new reality and despite the steady economic growth and
membership of the European Union, more than half of
Poles think that their life rate has not increased.
Our favorite subject for complaining - but fortunately
and jokes - are traditionally politicians.
The tendency to complain is rare among younger
generations. Young people, just like their Western
European peers, are open to the world and new
challenges, they look to the future with optimism.
9. THE POLISH DON’T SPEAK FOREIGN
LANGUAGES
Nowadays, foreign language skills are practically the
basis for working abroad. The ability to communicate
in a given language is very important for employers.
According to research conducted by TNS Polska, over
half of Poles (56%) declare that they knows at least
one foreign language. Among young Poles this
percentage is even greater.
In the last few years foreign language skills have grown
both among young and old Poles.
 The young generation knows English at least on a
communicative level, while older people are often able to
use the Russian language, obligatory for many years in
our schools.
The study of foreign languages, recently also exotic,
eg Japanese, is today in fashion, as evidenced by the
numerous language schools and the popularity of
language studies.
It is generally believed that Poles achieve better results
in language learning than Italians or Spaniards, but we
lack their Mediterranean ease and confidence in
expressing themselves in a different language.