What are Polish Men & Women Really Like? 

"They are friendly in a different way". That sums up about polish people, maybe from the outside like they have "Polish smile" or negative vibes, but when you talk to them it's like warm and very welcoming people. Greeting from Indonesia for Poland 🇮🇩🤝🇵🇱

People from Poland are kind .

Poland seems like an introverts paradise. I'm moving right now!!!

The lack of smile is also associated with Finnish, Russian, German, Hungarian, and Ukranian people. The smiles of Americans seem more weird than people who don't have the mandatory customer service smile.

Love your Poland series. Reminding me of the good old days when I lived in NY. I'm Chinese, but I was hanging out in the Polish neighborhoods (such as Greenpoint & Maspeth) like all the time ;) Agree with the friendliness & smile thing. I don't think I recall if the Polish ppl I'm more familiar with smiled or not the first time I met then haha! But they definitely are some of the friendliest ppl I've ever met. After drinking, chatting & partying at the same bars for a couple of times at least. XD Although I did remember one, major exception. My 'beautiful stranger' who happens to be from Kraków. She smiled at me the first time our eyes locked together. A big, warm smile. That was during the harshest lockdowns of COVID, things were difficult. But her smiley face always gives me a ray of sun. And I still remember the first time she served me a shot of Żubrówka. Which was a little too strong for me at that time, that I had to finish in TWO shots... Too bad she remained my 'beautiful stranger'. ;( (Had nothing to do with the 2 shot vodka drinking thing I swear).

At 10:00 the fixing thing is very true. The Polish gardeners and tradesmen who worked on my old house were excellent; very hardworking, thorough and precise.

Empty poker faces at times, but I've seen people on the street bumping into friends and they become quite friendly and open then, I actually prefer this, unlike those insincere smiles and empty polite conversations people give each other in the west, at least these people are frank about things.

I feel like the reason we smile here in Canada is more of a friendly acknowledgement; kind of like 'I see you' sort of greeting. Helps people feel less lonely in a highly capitalistic, individualistic society

As a German I see in ths video many similarities between the german and the polish culture.

As a Canadian, I remember being shocked by Polish customer service in restaurants. No smile, just straight-to-the-point. Hilarious! However, it's true that Poles may seem stand-offish at first, but are so warm once you get to know them. ❤

I have a wild theory. While the stereotype that we Poles complain a lot is most definitely true, I think it's one of the reasons why Poland is doing so well right now. Poles are simply dissatisfied with the surrounding reality, complain about it and then proceed to improve it. And as an addition, it's not our governments or the EU that made Poland what it is - it's the regular Poles by their perseverance, hard work and stubbornness that did it - and that's why we complain also, because we have to do everything ourselves ;)

Love Poland greetings from London

I used to be like that long time ago. People already told me I could be a good bodyguard. But with time I learned smile is important. It brings people closer and open a lot of doors. I got to be an English teacher it is good to smile. If you have a good smile, you go really far. At least, in Brazil, it is good to have a smile

Sorry for the late upload everyone! Hope you like the Polish themed videos 😀 I went to Krakow and Warsaw to film this, and honestly, I felt that the people of Krakow were much, much friendlier than Warsaw. But I guess it's also the smaller city vibe. Also, stay until the end to see me test Poles on their love of vodka 😊

In the US, as children we are taught a saying and it goes like this: "smile and the whole world smiles with you". In most of northern European countries (not just Poland) this is considered insincere. Southern Europe is different, you'll see people in Italy smiling walking down the street.

Poland seems a beautiful place to spend some vacation

In general Europeans don’t smile without a genuine reason(Especially eastern or northern europeans),while north Americans are just accustomed to smile as a way of being polite

Actually they seems all super nice. Greetings from France.

I've been in Wroclaw for 2 weeks and I think the people are warm and friendly. They always say good morning or hi when they see me outside.. maybe it is different here

I remember once a person from Poland saying "we smile a lot" and then Marina "Polish people smile a lot ? What ? I don't believe you" 😂

Happy Saturday, Marina! Love the video on the Polish 🇵🇱 stereotype and Poland 🇵🇱 is credited as the first country who invented the drink, Vodka. Sending you my love ❤ from Miami, Florida, USA 🇺🇸

Marina I have to say you look much happier out and about doing this style of video. We love them. Keep it up and all the best as always from the UK.

I love these people, great answers ❤

Joke: Why do Poles smile so rarely? Try to live between Russia and Germany.

Some nice people and couples in the video…kudos

Awesome video

On the more controvertial note: funny thing about Poland and opennes is that the surveys show less acceptance towards the lgbt after the parades and june's flagging everything that at other times. Most people have this tendency to think like if it is done in the bedroom I don't care, but dont take indecency to the streets (men walking around in only colourful panties and other unconventional clothing choices are seen as inappropriate for public view). Also about racism. SInce we are a really white country and we are so safe foreigners bring this feeling of threat. It cannot be hidden that they are strangers. From what I expirianced, it is mostly Polish men who take good care of their women (fathers, husbunds, brothers) that are the most xenophobic towards non-Europeans. But when it comes to real interaction with other we are friendly and wish everyone the best.

I'm kinda disappointed with the answers of my fellow Poles. So let me tell you about what I think: There is no such concept of small talk in Polish culture and I believe it to be a great reason for Polish 'coldness' with strangers. If we ask 'how u doin'' we genuinely want to know what is going on in the other person's life, both good and bad things. So approaching strangers with 'Hello, how are u' often seems to Poles too intimate, almost a lack of disrespect. I don't know if you want to talk to me (a stranger for you) and tell me about your life so I don't approach you without a clear signal that you're okay with this. In this context, personal space is an important part of Polish culture and a way to be courteous and respectful towards others. And indeed, we complain a lot, however, I wouldn't call it 'negative' or 'pessimistic'. We complain, but then we don't take it so seriously. We comment on anything that bothers us, and then we get over and deal with it. You can almost perceive it as a Polish manner of small-taking. Complaining about some general phenomena like weather or poor economy is considered to be a safe topic (not like politics, hehe). It's literally talking about the weather, trying to avoid being 'fakely' optimistic, which results in the "negative-realistic" way of approaching the subjects. And yes, we Poles can be super expressive, passionate, emotional and positive. We just keep that for our social groups like friends or family, so we don't bother strangers with it. And yessss, we drink hellish amounts of vodka (and other things too) and dance and sing a lot when drinking!

Your channel definitely is one of the most usefull and fun channel that i ever subscribe. Along with Lang Focus channel we can be more educated if we want to travelled abroad and or want to make relationship with locals. Two thumb's up👍🏻👍🏻

My attitude towards Poland is very neutral. Historically, Poland has often been under pressure and yet it has survived. That's respectable. Food in Poland is good. It probably takes the Polish language to really judge Poland. Poland is European, I would say so.

I would like to visit Poland, greetings from Mexico

I have a friend in Krakow, he resigned from his job because his new boss didn't allow him to drink xD

That blond in red dress is beautiful❤

07:03 Funny how the weather changed drastically. Sunny then dark

2:05 thanks for telling us poor cheers from Mexico 🇲🇽 lol 😅

We are straight forward, we smile and joke, and we are very friendly to those we with whom we have already made friends. If somebody we don't know, will say "Hi" on the street, we will be confused "Do I know, him?" "I do not remember... that is awkward...". So when you say "hello" in the street, and we don't reply, and start looking around discreetly in surprise, know that this is not boasting, it is confusion.

I like that the Mexican in a Slavic country’s accent evolved into a vampire accent.

They are friendly, sometimes flashy: like to show wealth, nationalistic, sometimes bossy, because they take pride in their history and military. They also have aristocrats before WW2. Do Canadians smile ? I thought it is an American thing.

We don't smile too much because we are inteligent and realist.

only going to mayor cities is not the way to find out, rural is very different from big cities...

Nie usmiechamy sie sztucznie, jesteśmy szxzerzy w tym.

I hope Marina didn't get drunk haha

I'm Polish and I think that a constant smile on my face is unnatural, tiring and... false.

4:05 - Trust me, that's only in Cracow.

I don't think North American smiling is "fake" or "doesn't mean anything." In a multiethnic society where you aren't always sure about other people, superficial niceness is a great and highly effective social lubricant.

Smiling all the time looks like someone's mental 😂

1:01 and she said that smiling

I would say that complaining is polish National sport 😂

Omg, why didn't I meet you visiting my city? Haha 😅 Yes, I can confirm all of that. And I'd say that I prefer that sincere approach here than being kind and polite and in reality thinking "get the f... out" like in some other countries. Maybe you will not see Poles going down the street and smiling for no reason, but in reality we are very friendly 😁 And I choose chocolate! I don't drink alcohol and when it comes to chocolate I think good chocolate is delicious and bad chocolate is still pretty good 😆

I found them 'correct' but not particularly effusive or warm . Take them or leave them is as good as it gets .

Ja naprawde usmiecham sie czesciej niz przecietny Włoch...obserwowalam w tramwaju...jedyny ktory sie śmiał to byl afrykanczyk rozmawiający przez telefon ...pozostali patrzyli sie jakby chcieli go ukatrupic

Our faces need rest. Leave us alone! 😛

Majority of Poles are not at all racist or homophobic. We do not care that much unless you force us to conform to your agenda. We hate political correctness, because true Pole is independent critical thinker. We like what we like, we are pragmatic and adhere to reality. You can convince us with facts but not with your ideas and concepts about how the world in your view should look like. We will speak hard truths nobody likes and behind Polish smile is a person that is truly free.

Did not think that the smile will be common thing for poles and russians

Careful......Love is like Hate !

That girl in red. Sha-wing!

Thanks Marina for visiting Scandinavia. We'll miss you. It sounds like some Norwegian men like Polish women too. It's ok. You can upload whenever you like. Thank you again!

I’m living in Poland now, and it’s really true polish people didn’t smile maybe because of the weather😢😊

Smile is a face for others, smile is fake, laughter is true and then you'll understand who you have in you're present, take look on politicians, they always smile and how many trust them, political correctness,... be angry, and ready

Better question is why would there be a need to smile?

Polish women are amazing, beautiful, funny, good souls. Very direct😊

That's actually a German stereotype. It's been attributed to the Polish since WW2

In a latin perspective, chile seems much as Poland.

Another stereotype is that they eat pierogies.

You know how they say...only fools smile all the time, becouse they don't really understand what is going on around them...😉

they look friendly i wish i had a polish girlfriend and build a family with her 😇

The racism thing is unfortunately true, even in big cities. Many people I know who come from the Indian subcontinent have been treated badly simply because of where they are from. Refused service at restaurants or harassed. It's happened to me as well but once they find out I'm Latino, it's a complete change. And this has not been a single experience but multiple ones throughout several years visiting Poland.

To że Polacy nie uśmiechają się do obcych ludzi, to jest coś normalnego. Właśnie uśmiechanie się do obcych ludzi wydaje mi się strasznie dziwne. Zakrawa to wręcz o jakąś chorobę psychiczną. Poza tym Polacy jak już kogoś poznają i porozmawiają z taką osobą dłużej, to wtedy jak najbardziej można zauważyć że potrafimy się uśmiechać. Raczej nad swoim zachowaniem powinni się zastanowić ludzie co się uśmiechają do obcych, anie pouczać w tej kwestii Polaków.

hahahahha, Based Mexican AF

We Poles are only smileing WITH peopel who we realy like and know good! Bring a bottle of Wodka and we will smile to you😊😊😊 and the Stereo Type IS, that we only Drink Wodka, that is wrong: we Drink All THE WODKA😂😂😂

hahah

In traditional Eastern European culture, smiling without reason is equated with sillines :) oops

Fake smile or natural

Honestly i'm complaining that too many Poles are complaining xD

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xgBN3UgOT9w.html If a man says he's going to fix it. He's going to fix it. No need to remind it twice a year.

Truth is, all eastern european countries drink much booze. Poland is no different boozing than LT, LV or Belarus. RU is the only asian country where people drink much booze.

... as you can hear kurwa in every sentence

I do not trust people who smile too much. And given my dashing good looks if I did smile I would have terrible issues with gals permanently swooning! 😀😀👍👍

Seems like NE Asia(Japan/Korea/parts of China) and the Nordic countries/Central/Eastern Europe have a lot of commonality in social norms and unspoken rules of social etiquette. If you put a Japanese person in Sweden or Poland for ex. there will be a lot mutual understanding about respecting personal space, not engaging in small talk out of respect, being punctual and generally behaving in a less individualistic way and more like everyone else(collectivist mindset. vs. western individualism).

Much way better than cold grumpy Russians

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I can't stand vodka! Gross. Last time I drank vodka was like 25 years ago. It was mixed with orange juice and I puked like crazy and since then I don't drink neither vodka nor orange juice. I would say that most of what was here said is true. My American friends tell me that I look very serious if somebody doesn't know me which is fine, since I don't care talking or smiling to everyone around if I don't feel like it 😊. I like to be myself and not faking like Americans do. They would ask you 'how are you' but they don't give a sh.t about it, so why you asking me if you don't mean it? 😄

Poland has no mony and no sun the polish smile is justifiable

Sadly, the racist one wasn't true in my case. I visited Poland (Warsaw and Pruszków) with my Polish boyfriend last year and was called the n-word on my first day for doing literally nothing except existing. That tarnished the rest of my visit and I probably will never be back. Mentally stronger individuals may handle it better than I did. Also, the constant staring is absolutely true. I get it, black Americans rarely visit Poland and folks are curious as a result, but damn. I felt like I had three heads. Food is incredible and the city was gorgeous, however.

warsaw was under russia for many years but krakow and south were under austria and they smile more esp the smaller towns. i feel better there even i fthey are way more conseravtive- from montreal.

I had lived for 2 years in Poland and worked in the construction but rarely I saw that they were eating something for lunch . They really do not have money for food or they always economize money . But for drinking and smoking they always spend money .

This video came in the knick of time for me cleared alot of stereotypes. They seem to be nice and normal people generally the racism part was my biggest concern but I will be visiting Poland very soon from Canada as a person of color 😁

I don't got starred at in Warsaw and Krakow. But in Bialystok I got starred at lot, and I did same what they did starrred at them back until they gave up...

I have only heard/witnessed two "stereotypes". Being cheap and afraid of the police.

The police in Warsaw stopped me and was aggressive without reason, and I look like a polish. I asked for some information about the SIM card at the seller and he was rude. Not really the most friendly people on the planet

Brits hardly smile because of the way foreigners coming over and take advantage of their hospitality, by seeing kindness as a weakness.

Visited Poland many times. The young are as pleasant and smiley as any youth any where in the world . But most, say over 40 and they are as miserable as sin. That cohort are also total chancers. Have you ever seen that 40+ age range on a Ryanair flight? Always seeking some kind of cheap advantage like claiming a particular seat they didn’t wish to purchase, claiming its to sit beside their kin, like that’s a reason. Chancers

1st!

Yeah he forgot to mention that Polish girls are probably all over him hahah.

First

Why is smiling or small talk phony??I think they say that rubbish to justify rudeness and misery.

Learn polish history . There has been no reason to laugh from few hundred years. In Poland, the weather is also very capricious and is not conducive to positive moods You must deserve for trust of some Pole and some smile .

In every part of the world there is a lot of people they don't like to be smile, And when you smile with them they think you are crazy, For me smiling is showing your self as harmless and friendly, that is the best part to show to them that there is no problem at me at all I just want to be friend with someone. atleast the people know that your not arrogant or something. It's depends how to approach the person especially the women, That is why as a Filipino we are very proud that we are very friendly and smiling person especially to the foreign visitor in our country in the Philippines, I hope one day I found my partner my girlfriend or soon to be my wife a beautiful and loving person European women 🥰✌🙏❤💞

Поляки похожи на русских 😅

The country where even customer service staff , gets annoyed when sees a customer. The only place where I have seen 5 start hotel receptionist looking angry during my check-in. Low-level attitudes and communication / soft skills of "potato level"