Is Poland a Safe Haven For Asians? 🇵🇱

[@WheresWes]

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[@mariuszstopa903]

If you learn Polish, Poles will treat you like a king.🙂

[@piotrmalewski8178]

I would mention two things; Poland on one side had a difficult relationship with Asians because of Crimean Tatars who would raid us constantly, but then there is a history of alliance between Poland-Lithuanian Republic and the Golden Horde, and then the Polish Tatars from Crimea. Many Poles to this day are very well aware that we were allies with the Golden Horde against West-Europeans in form of the Teutonic Order, and that Polish Tatars were basically our war heroes even as late as in 1939, and there was somewhat respectful relationship with the Crimean Khanate that would actually be a very good ally on a number of occasions, when we spared each other to come to each other's aid at some point. Another point is that the first Polish-Japanese interaction gave fruits in form of the 'Porando-Kaiko' poem that became somewhat famous both in Japan and Poland, and then even though we were in opposing alliances during WWII our intelligence services remained strong allies and Japan helped us a lot. Eventually, Poles were always interested in history, and this naturally caused an admiration to ancient and long lasting advanced civilisations of East-Asia. It only helped that the Vietnamese immigration in Poland have proven themself as great people and then there were little things like we watched Kurosawa's movies and saw all the respect around things which resonated with our own culture or how in his movies Japanese cavalry would have those wing-like flags attached to saddles which from distance looks similar to the wings of our Hussars, and makes specific impression especially combined with bent sabres and recurved bows they used? It seems that Poles always liked the East and while feeling to be European we didn't exactly like West-European culture, and looked a lot into Asian cultures which shows a lot in old-Polish clothing, arms or even decoration patterns of our armours, not to mention using specifically Eastern weapons. From the times of old-Poland, seems we hated the French for their wars on religion and not-man-like clothing. In the same time, Poles began to believe that we originated from Sarmatians or Scytches from central-Asia and even tried hard to imitate them. Some even rejected more effective plate armour, and began using karacena, which was much worse in every way but they wanted to use it because it was more Sarmatian/Scythian. King Sobieski portrayed himself in such armour as well. Maybe it's my personal bias, I've always been more interested in history of East-Asian cultures, probably read more about them than about the West. Maybe I also feel more connection because I'm partly East-Asian myself, some of my ancestors were Tatar and after so many generations I'm like someone who may look West-European for Asians, but then for Europeans I look Asian because of my eyelids and skin. As for speaking in Polish; while I'm good at English, and can speak a few words in other languages, I always first try to speak Polish to seemingly a foreigner in Poland because I don't want to disrespect them by assuming they couldn't be bothered to learn any of the language, and at the end of the day it may turn out hey have lived here for 10, 20 years or maybe even their family have lived here for decades? It might fail most of the time, but I consider it more polite to first try in local language than assuming they only speak English, especially when I don't know where they are coming from and I don't even know if they speak English. As for jokes, we may make ultra-racist jokes but they are not intented to insult anyone. We make similar jokes about ourselves, like for istance, if our justice minister does drunk driving and fataly hits pedestrians, the pedestrians will be accused of running away from the scene of accident. It's not meant to harass anyone, it's just that we don't take reality seriously because we think it's too bad to take it seriously.

[@redlips4193]

We really like Asians in Poland. ..for diligence,culture, cuisine, not causing problems, respect for the culture of the country they visit or live in.

[@papaQuagmire]

yeah Asians are the least problematic people in the west.

[@JAmonOfficial]

he ain't lyin

[@stanhernandez6075]

I spent 3.5 years in Poland, faced no racism at all. Before that I was in Germany for 4.5 years, no racism. Only place I faced racism was in the U.S.

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

That's not what I heard.

[@Rowokop]

⁠@@gabrielleangelica1977you heard wrong

[@Thurden_mixd]

@@Rowokop lmao

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

@@Rowokop No, I didn't. Germany? Really? My relatives living in Germany disagree. A Polish commenter admits that he hates blacks.

[@Rowokop]

@@gabrielleangelica1977 sorry, we miss understood, i meant living in poland, not in germany. thats my bad. because in poland there is no racism at all. i can talk about german cause i dont have a experience 🙏🙏

[@picia666666]

Asian's good reputation in Poland was being build for well over half a century and you have to thank mostly the Vietnamese population in Poland for that. Vietnamese Immigration to Poland has begun in the 50's through communist countries exchange programs which lasted untill the 80's. After fall of the communism in Poland with free market available - many more Vietnamese has come to Poland, being lured by the new opportunities (about which they knew from their relatives that were already in PL) to make business. And they have showed themselves as very hard-working, focused on building a new, better lives for themselves. Many of them started various businesses, as they are very entrepreneurial. Adding that to their general politeness and "not-problem-generating" behaviour makes for a perfect immigrant for us, since those are the values that are highly commended in Poland.

[@WheresWes]

This has been my observation too. Plus Asians and slavs find each other physically attractive, which is nice

[@lotuspocus2165]

(Rolls eyes) 🙄, I would say more influence has come from Korean and Japanese culture in Poland. Poland literally just signed the largest weapons deal ever in its history with South Korea a year ago.

[@wasach4739]

Most people in Poland just don't care about race, there are some people who are racist, but most of us just don't care if you're Asian, black or red. About jokes yeah, jokes tend to be racist, but also most of us don't mean to harm anybody

[@unclejim1528]

The racist jokes, I don't see those as racist, but race based. Race should not be an electric fence, if a joke is told for giggles, not with a goal to belittle, then it is not racist. Just like there are polish jokes, dad jokes, religion based jokes. They all play off of stereotypes. Don't let media put a wedge between people.

[@LoLo-ci7ym]

Where do many racist live in Poland? I am fighting with polish from zyrardaw and America right now on the internet

[@grzegorzmalenta2359]

To whom it may concern - To be Pole doesn't mean to be white. To become a Pole, one can accept our history, tradition, habits ( good ones), and lifestyle (more family-orientated than Western ones) and be aware that the Roman - Catholic religion is the base of our nationality. All of these become easy when you speak Polish. There are many people in the history of Poland who are our national heroes without any drop of Polish blood

[@daneprywatne3342]

Exactly polish nationalism is culture based not ethnicity based

[@tog8505]

As a Polish guy as long as you respect our culture and dont cause any problems you will be good here.

[@CatSounds-u9f]

Also you might not know but In Poland we have the Tatar ethnic group living here for centuries, they are a small community but are considered 100% Polish even though they are not Slavic but Turkic Asians

[@diooverheaven6561]

Aren't tatars of Mongol origin? Like they came from golden horde if my memory is right

[@piotrmalewski8178]

@@diooverheaven6561 Rings the right bell. So, the Golden Horde was one of the group-states that emerged, and those eventually subordinated to Lithuanian Duchy, and supported Poland and Lithuania in the Battle of Grunwald which could have been the largest battle of medieval Europe. There was also the Crimean Khanate, which was a separate state, and mostly hostile to Poland and Lithuania, however because of unstable politics, many high ranks Tatars from Crimea ran away to the Republic of Poland-Lithuania which granted them nobility status and hired them as a whole into the army (which was kept as tradition all the way up till 1939 when the last Tatar unit was destroyed in combat, but survivors joined 'the first partisant's' the insane-amazing Major Henryk 'Hubal' Dobrzański 110th cavalry unit that just refused to acknowledge the defeate and kept walking around in full uniforms, fighting whatever German unit they encountered.) At the end of the day, you are mostly right, they were all descendants of the Mongol Empire. To name a few, Charles Bronson was of Polish-Lithuanian Tatars. I'm partly Tatar myself and after so many generation still have typical east-Asian eyelids.

[@HorusDeLayos]

​@@piotrmalewski8178 Golden Horde was not presented at the battle of Grunwald, please do not spread misinformation. There were some Tatars on Polish-Lithuanian side but they were NOT connected to Golden Horde in any way. From Polish perspective Golden Horde was always a danger and every alliance was based on a temporary needs of both sides, just a business, and none of them lasted long. In that part about nobles from Crimea you're right, some of them migrated and got nobility granted.

[@tomekg6629]

2:45 as to landlords reluctant to renting flats to foreigners - it's not xenophobic, it's caused by the fact that in case of missing payments or destruction of the apartment it's very unlikely to get the money back from someone who may leave the country and never come back. As a landlord I expect at least 3 times as much deposit from foreigners than from Polish citizens with permanent address in Poland. But I do not care if potential tenant is black, Vietnamese or Slavic origin. If he's polish born and permanent address in Poland I feel safer when it comes to payment.

[@dorotak-k8211]

I always thought we are culturally closer to the West, until I moved to Western Europe. I started noticing our culture and mentality is actually more similar to the Asian one. Even things like e.g. respect for elders, caring about our ancestors graves, eating after funeral/bringing food to the dead. But what suprised me the most is when I saw a scene in a Korean drama when a man poured some alcohol on the ground next to the grave - all my friends used to do the same. Living in the West turned out to be quite eye opening experience for me in that matter 🙂

[@Kawka1122]

Same observation :)

[@Kowalek94]

We love asian people in Poland Greetings from Zakopane :D

[@dytiscusmarginalis8443]

as a Polish person Im very glad to see Asian people living here! I was always fascinated by cultures from Asian countries and I consider Asian people to be really cool. Coz every Asian country is like a different world to each other with very different culture and its awesome to see when people bring part of them here. I hope I didn't sound racist in a weird way :(

[@jtw10192]

Not at all, thank you for your insight :)

[@PrzemysawNizioek]

Sorry for the A-holes. Best of luck to all of You. Greatings from Poland.

[@TaktykzB-klasy]

1:22 Always when I need to talk to non-white person in Poland I have this little conversation with myself in my mind: - He/She probably is not Polish, let's talk to him/her in English. - But isn't it kinda racist to assume that non-white person is not Polish? - Hmmm, actually it is. You don't have to be white to be Polish. And I am not a racist. - Yeah, we're in Poland, so let's try Polish first! And then in 99% of cases they turn out to be foreigners.

[@jobedeker]

Please be yourself and don't overthink things. Poland's ethnicity is approximately 99% Polish, so it's understandable that you might assume that a non-Slavic looking person may not be able to speak Polish. However, this is not a racist assumption. Things will change over the years and I certainly hope that we will be speaking Polish to all non-Slavic looking Poles in the future.

[@CozaQ2137]

Haven't thought I can still learn something about my country. It's hearthwarming to hear these type of things so thanks.

[@HE360]

The funny thing is what's described in this video has been my experience as an American in Asia lol. In fact, FOR ME, one could take everything said in this video and just substitute the word "Poland" with Asia and it would describe MY experience in various Asian countries. Granted, I've never been to Poland yet. But, I DO get treated much better and enjoyed much more adventure and things in Asia than I do in America.

[@aniju86]

Asians are people more similar to Poles than some foreigners from Europe. I have the impression that you are mentally the same. You are not imposing, you are not loud, you are not aggressive, you work hard, you like order, you value tradition and culture. I like you the most out of all the immigrants.

[@arthurrock4979]

Usually, Poles will actually treat foreigners better, than their own, which the Ukrainian situation confirmed (until they outstayed their welcome, coming from the totally different East European culture, where someone's niceness toward you is considered a pathetic weakness).

[@scifi85]

Could you please give an example of Ukrainians (and I don't mean drunk loosers that each country has) treat Poles as weak and pathetic? I live and work in Krakow for about 3 years and I hear a lot of complains but absolutely don't see that in a real life.

[@GianlucaLi]

I have been to Poland last October for travelling. I went to Krakow,Poznan and Gdansk. People there so peaceful and friendly. No rascim at all.

[@szymonfik3704]

I feel like polish girls mostly like hardworking and intelligent man, if you got class, and look, and you are humble it's easy to pick up polish girls. You don't have to earn much as long as you are good in that what you are doing. But the main reason why polish girls checking you up i mostly cuz you are exotic to them.

[@NocnaDusza]

Seeing him on video here I'd say we check him out because he is hot AF!

[@exec_2mg]

It’s sad to hear about the racism that happend to them but I strongly believe that most of polish people are not like this

[@Lukasx1PL]

as a polish i can say that we love dark humor , and if it is racist joke its not because we hate race , its not bad intended , its more for laugh at it , just don't take it personal its not serious . Other thing i can say is we don't think about ethniticy , there is no thing like in US that police will do something bad to you or don't sell something because you're from other coutry , that type of racist nearly don't exist , sometimes happens that someone say comeback to your country but it happens only because we really don't like when someone tells us that we should do in our country something like activists or when someone comes to our country for social no for work and if someone watch too much tv he can think that whole ethnicy group do one of these hated stuff he will became racist , like tv say that imigrants from middle east don't work in germany and france but they do crime , its partitionaly true but most of these people are not like that but then that 40 years people will think most of them are bad or something , also when imigrants will disturb or want something to change in our country it will boost up racism to that people , but if you're normal and don't tells us what to do , we will accept like you're another polish person

[@goshky]

There is practically no systemic racism in Poland - but that is mostly because there is not enough minorities to make any systemic discrimination possible with going full on open racism.

[@Lukasx1PL]

@@goshky no , we have many minorities today , especialy ukrainians , i have one ukrainian friend in middle scholl class , and racism towards ukrainians is rare but happens sometimes , also about imigrants from middle east and nearby region , propably its not because racism we don't want let them in our country but we are scared what happend in france and germany , we never had terrorist attack in history , but whatever , we have still few corruption scandals and about year ago i think (maybe not) one politician give them polish visa or something for money so they let them in our country and we have now imigrants , way less than in west but enough for example to meet them sometimes in my city of 200 000 people , for example in center one time on week or something , there is more of them in capital and one month ago one was jumping on vehicle so he went to jail for vandalism , or half year ago one imigrant went out of the car on street in city for praying and he made traffic jam , like they have a different culture but if they coming to our country just obey law Its not like we don't have minorities , maybe 10 years ago that was true , but many people went to Poland and today we have many of them , maybe its not like 25% but it is something now

[@grzegorz__]

As a Polish living in Wroclaw, I'm very happy seeing Asian people. Especially, in last 10 years, many Asian companies have their offices in major Polish cities and as a result it is more and more normal to see Asian people (I don't mean ie. Vietnamese people that are in Poland for many, many years :) - they mostly create street food places called "chińczyk" ;) ). Why ? Well, I don't want to generalize and call you all "Asians" ;) but generally, my observation is that you're respectful. You respect the country (you will live in), you try to adapt - which means that of course you respect your own "Asian" culture, but at the same time you try to get to know Poland better, respect it's culture too. So, simply you want to embrace both cultures. Also, you're not causing problems - there are no hmm Asian completely-drunk people on the streets ;), or criminal acts / thievery etc. I know that not everything is perfect, I can imagine that being Asian in Poland as a kid, or adult 15-20 years ago, could be different (less positive) but now, in 2024 respectful, positive Asians are welcome :) Sure, we're not that "international" compared to other countries (even in Warsaw), so they may be still people looking at you, because they're curious but I guess living in big Polish city as Asian should be ok :) ps. landlords do their decisions based not on racism, but most often problems with payment, difficulties etc. Also, some of them have business model to ie. sell services to people from other countries, some prefer Polish. it's mostly based on some good / bad experience, not hmm pure-racism driven decisions. Professional agencies may even prefer foreigners, while small, local, one-person businesses sometimes "don't want problems" (or additional hassle) and they just prefer local people. I really think it's not based on racism. Some people are lazy, some have their quirks, bad experiences etc. ps. and something tells me we're not THAT different. I mean, generally, you seem to value similar things (culture, hmm older / elder people, good food ;), not-tolerate criminal acts, mess on the street etc.)

[@MrCr00wn]

In Poland we have a lot of people with asian features a lot of ppl were send to syberia and mixed there then back to PL. I have very good stereotype of asian people

[@ZSaeteurn-Official]

Yo great to see Zhangster featured in this episode. I have noticed Eastern European women love Asian men including learning about our language and culture vs. America which has had a negative viewpoint towards Asian men in the media and movies.

[@czarliw1644]

Świetny kanał! 👍😀

[@Dreamy9905]

I personally think that Poland is more similar to Japan in terms of social norms, tradition, etc.

[@rabatacebulowa]

I think more to the south Korea. Also Korea was in similar situation (between china-japan conflicts during war, like poland between Germany-russia) and also was farmer land. Japan peoples works too much and don't have too much time for family. Korea is more soft version of that, That's why IMO suits better to poles

[@EyeScreamPL]

I'm a Polish traveler who love South America, but I already visited 3 continents (N. Am., S. + Centr. Am. and Eu - of course). Unfortunately never been to Asia yet, but I'm sure of one thing: Asian ppl in Poland are most welcome! I do love them! They're a hardworking ppl, 'silent', 'quiet', NICE, sincere, they doesn't look for any trouble (mostly) Oh yeah! I LOVE their food! Especially Vietnamese! Mmmmmm! Wish them all the best in Poland and hope to see Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos one day! :)

[@MIHAO]

Glad to have you here bro :)

[@leefamilytx]

Interesting take on a 🌎 societal topic, keep up the good work Wes 👍

[@goshky]

not renting apartments to foreigners is often not racism or nationalism but being risk averse - many people expect it is less risk to rent to polish people as there is no cultural difference and they know what to expect - while foreigners are less known what to expect from them.

[@RunyaEithelNar]

And it's easier to execute late fees from a person from the same country than someone who came back to theirs.

[@PatKa-u9g]

And foreginers could go abroad without paying the rent or for the damages and the landlord can do nothing

[@deXXXXter2]

Poland wasn't exposed to aisan people, because we were never part of Soviet Union. This is different world, we rather think that asian people in Russia should have historically their own countries, as they were colonised by Russia. The fact that we like Asians is more from other points you mentioned - family values, hardworking, and especially politeness, slight intravertness are traits that we like a lot.

[@MrSzwarz]

I worked over the years with Chineses, Malaysian xcompanies, and also was on very private level of friendship with Chineses people in Singapore. Invited them to my mothe'rs home for a dinner etc. Also visited house of Chinese family in Australia. Always admired perfect manners, food, and culture, the fact that it is diffrerent, but also interesing for European like myself. Motivating thier perfectionism in workplace, respect towards each other, office interpersonal attitude towards workers, by their managers and directors. As Westeners we should learn all these from such good examples

[@shinaxia7474]

A small comparison of perhaps not races, but cultural backgrounds. Asians are seen in Poland as honest, hard-working people with a rich history. Asians come to Poland to work and lead a normal life. They assimilate, respect our traditions, do not impose their values, but also remain true to their own traditions. Mutual respect. Middle Easterners are seen as a potential threat because of their radical religion. We have a rich history full of wars but also mutual respect towards Islamic nations, who knows the history of Poland knows, unfortunately in the 21st century some radical Arab groups have sown unrest in the Western world. It's becoming more and more common to see radical people, and we don't like that, so we keep more distance. But if we see someone from that region coming to work honestly or study honestly and contribute something to society, there is no problem. As for people of black color, their directness and constant smiling usually pester us. We feel as if they want to impose themselves on us. We need time to get used to new people, and here it doesn't matter the color of the skin, but black people want acceptance immediately and without giving us time they immediately think we are treating them racist. They fail to see that we behave the same way towards any stranger, regardless of skin color. Blacks take it as a personal insult. Or at least I have had that experience. As for racist comments from certain people, I'm a white Polish woman, but I've also heard ugly comments. There are certain people who are just highly unhappy and mean and the color of your skin or background is as much a reason for them to be insulted as your gender, age, weight or the clothes you are wearing. I'm not saying that there are no racists in Poland, but most racists don't manifest their hatred, they simply don't interact with other races. Those who manifest their dislike are just unhappy people who hate everyone or difficult stupid kids. PS. I love Asian man and Chinese, Japanese and Korean dramas.

[@TiredKitsua]

Tbh Asians for me are most welcome in Poland as they're always respectful, not causing any problems etc. even tho our cultures are a lot different :)

[@Flypho726]

- Polish culture and Chinese culture are similar to each other Man, I hope that’s not true. The last time I took a lift with a Chinese he casually spit on the floor right next to my shoe xD

[@wiej007]

"And we all expirienced emocional damage from out parents" Yup... That true. 😅

[@Laghrian]

Nice to hear that ❤

[@Gr3kiZon3]

In Poland we literally don't care about where you come from. You can be from Mars and still greeted with "bread and salt". You just need to adapt to our rules and way of living. That's it.

[@wit0ld]

Hey. One note on renting an apartment. It has nothing to do with how you look like or who you are. It's about legal reasons. In case of any dispute you can just run away to a different country. Even if you stay in Poland it's much harder for a landlord to take you to court in case you eg. damage an apparent or you're not paying for it.

[@Xyy2387]

That part in the vid regarding not renting to a foreigner and both said most likely nationalistic rather than racist is the main difference between Asians and other ethnicities. They dont have a forever victim mentality. They keep on grinding. They make it a point of pride to become a net positive wherever they go.

[@CatSounds-u9f]

I am from Poland and I prefer this wasn't encouraged. Everyday there is more and more people coming, and all I see on TikTok is Indians encouraging other Indians to come move to Poland, like I saw a video of an Indonesian showing how much he got paid after a month in Poland and it had millions of views and the comments were asking how to move.

[@CatSounds-u9f]

But yes its true in France or UK Asians may be looked down upon, but in Poland they're just seen as equal people, as we don't have some weird racial hiearchies like many western countries have nor a history of eugenics and thinking that our genes makes us better than others like the Anglo-Saxon Nations or Germany.

[@WheresWes]

Immigration here is going to happen regardless. I might as well try to attract the right people to Poland

[@Takaryuji09]

About that thing with starting to speak polish when they see you.... From other perspective as a polish person I always have this problem! Because when I thinking about speaking english from begining a though appears "what if he can speak polish and I'm assuming he just can't?" ... And I do start with "dzień dobry..." :D

[@aroundtheglobeandy]

I think I might pull up to Poland!

[@reyrueles224]

You are right bro. Your are on point

[@kamilpustula2454]

Fun fact - I've got refused to enter almost every club in Hague in NL because of my look - I am training powerlifting - and nationality. I have literally heard that "we don't allow polish people who potentialy can cause trouble we can't handle safe" from the security. To be honest, as a bouncer myself - I understand and respect that. No such kind of problems in Amsterdam tho.

[@stefanbatory3632]

The thing about renting to foreigners is that there is no way to get your money back if the foreigner stops paying, accrues debt, and then escapes back to their home country. No chance in hell they will get extradited, and removing an unpaying tenant is close to impossible in Poland.

[@varrol5031]

Polish people are in general not really racist - in the past, before the country started to collapse, Poland was one of the most multinational countries in the world. Often foreigners mistake thugs aggression with racism - but the truth is that pretty much all polish males in Poland also got some kind of issues on the street - including being beaten up - for foreigners it is just easier to find the reason :) As said in the video - we have lots of respect for Asian people due to the culture values and hard working. Last but not least - we love good food - and Asian is just wonderful :D

[@demolek22]

As a "brother comunistic country" we also took some North Korean orphans for quite a lot of time in the late 1950 who then came here to work later.

[@AmiRa-wj9jt]

8:23 The common past related to communism certainly unites us in the sense that we understand each other, what it is like when the authorities don`t respect their citizens and don`t care about them, only filling their own pockets with money while ordinary people are intentionally kept in poverty. Yes, communism in russia or China works a little differently now... but I think that we Poles clearly have sympathy for you guys. Yes, communism didn`t stay with us for long, but it was long enough to give us a lot to think about. It is worth noting one thing, and I say this as a Polish woman, Asian women are beautiful, you look young for a very long time, you have wonderful dominant genes and even mixtures of our genes with yours create very beautiful children... So I am not surprised that both women and men from Polish people want relationships with Asians because you are simply attractive ;). Remember that the 40+ generation is brought up in communist Poland and the older generation still remembers World War II, it is a traumatized part of our society. I don't want to explain the racists of that generation... but it's worth keeping in mind that they've been through a lot and don't know English like the younger generation... so even the Internet isn`t as open to them as it is to us. So they live in their beliefs and aren`t open to new experiences, so it's better to stay away from them ;) and absolutely don't worry about them unless they break the law - then feel free to report them to the police.

[@demolek22]

40 years ago was 1984 so people who were born then were 5 years old when the communism finished. Time flies so those who you say do not speak English, do not know the Internet and remember communism are 50+

[@ManAtPogo]

As for meeting your family quite early in relationship - we like to test if you are "compatible" with our family/world. If not - better end this earlier instead of having a constant fight in family. And it goes not only with foreigners. It's just the way it is. Maybe being with your ex-bfrien/gfriend was just part of your experience that you needed in your life.

[@wizardman1976]

Sonya is lucky she landed in Poland instead of Czechia. In Czech language YES is "ANO" (in Korean - Anyio) :)

[@JAmonOfficial]

he ain't lying

[@MariaGozak-wb2nw]

Za szczerość dostajesz 10/10 😂😊

[@bip5395]

I personally think that awareness of foreigners doesn’t come from history of invasions, but rather from history of isolation. Also from our demographic: in cencus from 2011, 99,7% of poles declared to be white, so we notice different looks more (we may stare, and I would dare to bet that at least 1/3 of Poles never saw a person of different race in real life)

[@nicorsar]

Particularly South Koreans. The S Korea - Polish relationship is as strong as the US - Polish relationship. You can see it in the shops, business associations, military agreements, etc.

[@remmond3769]

But the South Koreans are actually racist though. Just a thought...

[@xFurashux]

With some jokes it can be that we don't know they're offensive but with some we know they are offensive, but we just like such humour and don't take those jokes too serious. We even like to joke like that about ourselves. Like do you do know why Russians when they go to Germany to steal cars always take 2? Because they want to still have 1 after going back through Poland. What shows our sense of humour is that we actually like to joke about the WW2, the most tragic event in our whole history. One of the most iconic Polish movies is "How I started the 2nd World War" which is a comedy from 1969. Although as a foreigner it's better to avoid making such jokes unless you're 100% sure it will get a positive reaction.

[@BeeboiZam]

Good video Wes! Articulated my thoughts exactly.

[@jacplac97]

1:09 On the flipside, this may also be an issue to Indonesians, as "Tak" means "yes" in Polish, while it means "no" in Indonesian.

[@aquila_aurea]

I'm Polish and my usual reaction to seeing Asians is having a double take to check if they're actually Asian or am I seeing things, then for about 3 minutes either me or my family have a discussion that revolves about their nationality, and then we move on

[@MisFakapek]

Very important: If we see an Asian, we know he is going to work hard, this is how we see asians, we Poles respect hard working people, and Vietnamese community is one of the best in the world when it comes to integrating into polish society.

[@lycanrocka]

As a Polish I can say that our jokes might be considered racist but usually are not intended to be racist. We joke about everyone it doesn't matter who you are. The thing is in Poland you have to feel distance from yourself. Don't take everything personally and understand that this is only a joke, meant to make you laugh and to break the ice not feel rejected. We also joke about ourselves so yeah. If we're joking it means that we enjoy the time with the other person and usually want to spend more time to get to know them more. Of course I'm not saying that in Poland we don't have racist people, when you experience racism you can hear the difference between the normal friendly jokes and racism poking. But at this age seeing people like that is rare. Everywhere where you go there will be racism. It's just normal. People have different thoughts so yeah. Don't be discouraged to visit different places just because of racism. It is bad but it shouldn't stop you from getting to know other people, culture and places.

[@iffi_master2286]

btw, the fact that poles dont take jokes seriously as let's say in the US is soo right, its just friendly banter usually, like i had a black friend in school and people were laughing at him and giving him a nickname and he got used to it but no1 really is racist, just our humor is dark and misunderstood in most cases, like 2 white people calling each other n-words :)

[@GianlucaLi]

I love Polska and I love polish language ❤

[@jarosawklejnocki6633]

Poland did not have colonies, okay, it had some in the form of Kunta Kinte or Trinidad and Tobago, but not even directly, only through its tributaries, and it was in the 16th century for a short time, if I am not mistaken. No one came from there, but Poland was still quite ethnically complex for centuries. Polish-Lithuanian alliance, Ruthenians (progenitors of Ukrainians), Belarusians, Jews, Germans, and even smaller minorities, e.g. Armenians (for some time bankers of Polish kings) or Tatars (that's how it is!) - their Muslim descendants still live in Poland today . But it was - more or less - a similar cultural circle. World War II brought about the extermination of the Jews thanks to the German Nazis, after the war the borders changed and suddenly Poles became a homogeneous nation of over 90%. It was only in the early 1990s that people from Asia or Africa with different skin colors began to come to us in large numbers. And whole generations grew up here who, due to the country's communist isolation, could not travel around the world. So it's no wonder that people of a different "race" can still surprise, especially older generations, but I also hope that the spirit of the tradition of openness and tolerance has remained in the nation.

[@Moonlight77162]

so what it was to weak to colonize anyone but it wanted colonies. dont use this argument ever again clown.

[@RefreshThisPage]

My most racist behaviour towards Asian person in Poland was speaking in English. Turned out she is a Pole with Vietnamese roots

[@monchichipower6334]

That’s reason I don’t want to visit a place where people there don’t look like me I was in LA and it’s mainly Mexican and black and I stuck out as a Chinese guy . I was there for 6 days and visited all the tourist spots in LA . I didn’t go to 626 or san Gabriel Lot a lot hobos in LA too

[@Ray-iz7tv]

Check out Irvine or the SF Bay Area if you can, lots of Asians.

[@jamesmeezy3114]

L.A local is all Mexican and black. 626 and SGV is where all the asians at.

[@tomek5019]

The two greatest Polish writers: Adam Mickiewicz and Henryk Sienkiewicz had Tatar/Mongolian ancestors

[@Aspiret620]

I'm half polish and half Korean and I have literally never met anyone that is half polish and half Korean.

[@internetowihusarze]

You are probably one of first polish-korean love child but now in next generation become more half polish-korean people's. We just start to love each other its beginning. You can be proud.

[@tomaszkaminski8214]

The word is "wypierdalaj" or "spierdalaj", about fights its common here. To awoid fighting dont look at those men passing them by worst thing is making eye and speach contact.

[@Qualix2605]

I have not yet encountered racism against Asians in Poland. We have jokes about Asians, but we don't say them to offend anyone. At least when it comes to my group of friends. Remember that one person or one group of people is not responsible for the entire nation. Apparently you have come across the wrong people on your way. Some people like to themselves just like that.

[@shadedful]

i would like to see more Asian womens in Poland not because of "Asian fever" but most Asian womens have dark eyes and hair and and short height and i really like it and its rare here in Poland so yeah im open to date Asian women

[@jjj-in2io]

I live in Wronki, it's a town of 10,000 people, perfect for Asians, there are already a lot of them, because we have a Samsung factory and a lot of people came here to work, I feel that our cultures fit well together

[@Tommyttm]

Please be honest with me Mr.wes!! Which is better for Asians to live in…. Poland or Spain ???

[@WheresWes]

Too broad of a question, it depends on what you're looking for

[@Tommyttm]

@@WheresWes well I earned a certification to be a certified teacher… to live abroad happily… wandering which 1 wud be better starter for new people living in Europe…

[@WheresWes]

Dm me on Instagram or send me an email ​@@Tommyttm

[@tog8505]

@@Tommyttm yeah so as a polish person if you want to be a teacher you'll have to learn the language and with polish it wont be easy

[@czaja995]

@@Tommyttm Currently in Spain you will earn more but it's also more expensive to live there, Polish economy is more stable at the moment and it might be easier to find a job in Poland. For teacher it depends what you would want to teach, where and what languages you know, it some case it might be required to know basic Polish language but in some cases different levels of English language might be all that you need, especially in privet language teaching schools.

[@Rybson_Mandarynka]

man we have a very dark humor a friend of mine saw two asian people came up to them and asked whether they "eat dog" fortunetely they didnt understand english

[@lukaszrajzer-xk4yd]

Well the problem with me im polish and i tend to „fetishise”asian women a lot (in most positive and good respectable manner) and i feel ashamed of it , i feel like im racist or something im afraid to show it to other people. I dont think im bad person or anything i just tend to have weak heart for asian women , i love their looks , i love their culture and everything about them , i just feel guilty about it!pozdrowienia , greetings from Lublin!

[@BloodyKhaine]

Poles have specific kind of humour. Most of us are quite distanced and we laugh at ourselves too, we just don't take it personally. We just laugh at each other, call oursevles stupid and whatever - and we just don't care. We just know that somebody doesn't mean it, or even "well, actually he kinda has a point, which is funny in itself". That comes out of natural polish honesty. "Polish face" is another sign of that. You can clearly see when a Pole is hostile to you and when he's not, and just joking. But I get it that it takes time to get used to it. I mean, we may even call asians "the little yellow people" or "slant-eyes" or "yellows", but most of the times we don't really mean to be hostile, we are just ...bluntly descriptive? For example I'm like 170 cm tall which is not a lot and I'm also a little bit fatty (actually not that much, but exaggeration makes it even funnier), so when somebody calls "hey, come here you obese dwarf" it's like "wait, who's calling me?" xD And I just don't care, I know that people like to joke about me like that (well, actually most of the times it's me who starts to joke from myself), and I joke about them to make it even. If I know that they are not REALLY trying to insult me - I can just say "fuck off or I will crush you with my belly" and we both laugh. We don't really believe in "body positivity" in Poland, so I see it mostly as my fault by being gluttonous lazy-ass, so why should I be offended if they are just describing reality? Just look on the face, and if they don't look hostile - they aren't, but our sense of humour is brutally blunt and completely insensitive. We don't get offended easily and like people who are not offended easily and can sustain some kind of "word-induced damage". So you actually may have a polish friend who can out of nowhere call you "yellow guy" with 0% hostility, just to provoke you to say something even more offensive to him in return. Most of us just don't really care, especially younger generations ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Also language is extremely important in Poland. You know polish - for most of us you are one of us. Learning that seriously fucked up and not really popular language requires a lot of dedication and only someone who REALLY wants to blend in would dare to even try to do such thing. I've seen black people at the gym sometimes, and I was thinking "immigrants or something? what are these black people doing here in the first place?". Suddenly one of them slipped on something and yelled perfectly crisp "Kurwa!", and I was immediately like "nope, one of ours". When you know polish you are nearly immediately part of the family. This language is extremely hard and many Poles don't even speak it properly, so it's very easy and very reliable test if you are "one of us" or "just passing by".

[@Anthonyejedafeta]

Asians girl are wonderful

[@panas1122]

In general you should not face racism against asians in Poland. But there is no 100% guarantee you will not, like in every other country in the world.

[@zygmuntwalezy6491]

As typical pole I can simply explain why polish guys don't get to often tattoos. Answer is simple nobody wants to wrap Ferrari. 😊

[@Baybaya-uz6wj]

We like Asians in Poland❤

[@and-bending]

there was an asiatic ethno group or two in medieval Poland as well,

[@robertberkowicz6684]

u guys must understand kraków might be most dangerous city in Poland bcs People from Krakow have had many wars with tourists from England for many years. So now they are negative to all foreginiers. Ah and don't forget kraków have most brutal football fans. Women on bench have right. Women can be fully safe everywhere in Poland. But guys need to learn where they can walk

[@Domze_]

Racism usually comes from people you don't want to be around, whether you're a foreigner or not. In Polish jokes and memes, they are often referred to as "sebiksy" and "janusze" or as a whole "patusy". These are often poorer people.

[@marcinbrak7052]

Yeah, the comment about those people being poor is kind of unnecessary, since most poor people in Poland are not really racist, either by nature or by not giving a shit because they're too busy trying to put food on the table. The time to type out that sentence would've been much better spent explaining what a "patus" is to people who aren't Polish.

[@diooverheaven6561]

​@@Philitplsi believe intent of commenter was that he said they are often poor as they are pathologic so they often spend almost all their money on alcohol or have children to get 500+

[@jaorlowski]

Polish cherish quiet, honest, intelligent, well-behaved and dependable people. Also... I'm a little concerned about "the west". I believe you mean US of America specifically. I think you'll find a lot of Europe somewhat adhering to the same values as the Polish.

[@lansthrolle138]

You have polish mustash :) you just fit here

[@angelusvastator1297]

and also the round face and cute bulbous nose

[@urszulaszaniawska6774]

With tatoos it would be more in the cities. In suburbs it might less like that. In Poland having a tatoo is a symbol of being a badass. Many older generation' family memebers think only low lifes have tatoos (like criminals). And girls here strive for independence more. I think tatoos are a part of empowering for girls.

[@zaratull999]

90 % of us (poles) dont give a duck about races colors etc. Just dont be a dick and you will have a lot of familly friends which will grow very slow to be a familly to you. But the rest 10% is a part that i as a pole dont want to have anything to do with. If you get my point.

[@bohomazdesign725]

Also something that may to some degree influence why Slavic people tend to like Asians is the fact that Slavs and Asians actually still share a lot of facial features. You probably never played around with professional 3D character creators, but if you actually combine a typical North Indian / Pakistani face (big eyes, big noses, long face) with a typical Central Asian face (round face, small noses, small tilted eyes) you will get pretty close to what a modern day Slavic face looks like and obviously visual familiarity does help subconsciously to accept / tolerate another human being.

[@WheresWes]

i have had this thought too, very interesting.

[@xyz-tn3pl]

"Slavics and Asians actually still share a lot of facial features". Indeed, thanks to Gengis Khan ⚔️

[@stefanbatory3632]

@@xyz-tn3pl Bullshit.

[@piotrkowalczyk1087]

saying someone to go back to their country is not rasist,

[@kashiko2486]

I dream about marry a Korean guy but my Polish boyfriend don't like it :(

[@WheresWes]

Lmao ahahaha

[@tog8505]

dont you understand? if you say to him you wanna marry a korean guy (which he's not) it's making him wonder if you'll stay loyal to him or just leave. its like him saying to you that he wants to marry someone but not you

[@demolek22]

You know that Taehyung or Lee Min Ho will not fall for you😉 delulu, stick to what good you have if it's good

[@romciofalkowski9254]

less kdrama, more "M jak miłość"🤣

[@KG-ii2yx]

im asian guy but come on gotta be respectful towards your bf ;/

[@rrolf71]

I think the main problem in how Asian people are being treated (sometimes) in Poland is not nationalism, but xenophobia. Until very recently, lots of Poles had an exposure to other races which ranged from limited to non-existent, and fear of the unknown is pretty much a given. I grew up in a reasonably large Polish city of ~200,000 inhabitants, with a couple of universities and some advanced (for "communist" times) industry, and until ~1990 the only "non-Caucasian" people I met were just a few Palestinians studying medicine!

[@MarekDohojda]

That. I am from that era as well, and the only Non Polish people I've met were Russians. Borders were closed, and given the atmosphere at the time, and the history, people were VERY xenophobic. I wasn't, and because of that, I had to fight, and was ostracized quite a few times. It was weird times, but in retrospect, quite understandable.

[@scyzorpl]

Racism in every everywhere in some countries is less but in other is much more i live in NY and omg how many times Asians specially in their communities and China Town they will look at you like huh and call you ( baakgwai )

[@AgataNVDW0]

I’m really sorry and ashamed about these difficult experiences. Just some stupid people…

[@mariuszstopa903]

Vodka and pierogi connect Poland and China.😉

[@micha8420]

I am

[@macsal8448]

Wes i recommend You waching channel Danny loves Polska. This is how areicsn sound when soeakk polish. You can speak the same way

[@noodleppoodle]

A drink with the brand "Black" just standing there is an interesting touch in this video

[@eksotropia]

lmao its very popular energy drink brand in poland, ive never thought anything about it tbh

[@jacplac97]

Yea, together with its marketing slogan being, literally "Tiger: Power is Black"

[@ziutekLOVEplacki]

what is the girl talking about in polish there is no "no" and even when people use it it means they agree on something but ints not very formal

[@silesiaminers98]

It's still make me thinking why you are surprised that people start talking to in Polish while you are in Poland? Polish is the only national language that we have.

[@WheresWes]

Because i thought I'd be assumed to be a foreigner, thus them starting with English.

[@silesiaminers98]

@@WheresWes don't judge book by the cover. Whenever I'm abroad and I'm entering somewhere I just say hi in the native language and then I'm politely asking if they speak English. Works for me will work for you.