I am contemplaying moving to poland for my career. It is still very theoretical at this point, but if I chose to live there, what are some things to keep in mind? If it helps, I am German. Do I need to learn Polish or can I communicate with many people there in English?

What are some cultural things to maybe brace yourself for, as a vegan, woman or queer person?

  • rain_enjoyer@sopuli.xyz
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    6 days ago

    As for language, the oldest people that were taught english from the beginning of their education as a foreign language are about 35-40. People older than about 50 were taught russian instead, but because almost nobody speaks it anymore they don’t, some of them learned english later especially for professional reasons. In some places especially along western border and in Silesia the primary foreign language taught is actually german so some people are trilingual but don’t count on it, and these are also people who you could expect to speak good english

    Strictly speaking you can even get citizenship without speaking polish (but it helps). You don’t need it for residence permit (but you need an address for that) and i see that paperwork for this is done in english. Residence gets you PESEL number and this allows you to make an account in government service (called Trusted Profile) (and also an app) that allows you to do bulk of paperwork through it

    In larger cities there generally are vegan options and if you cook on your own even shops in smaller cities (like 50k-20k) are supplied properly. I’d say that places like Warsaw, Wrocław or Poznań are decently tolerant, there’s plenty of exchange students from any country in the world maybe except North Korea, and the worst (as in most far right support) are small towns and villages in the east. Public transit is usable to the point that i haven’t needed a car for 10 years, and there’s an app for that too. Like germans and unlike americans, poles don’t do small talk. Contactless is accepted almost everywhere, online banking is fully usable without an app, everything that you can get shipped you can get on allegro. new SIM cards need to be registered before they can be used (ID or passport for foreigners). internet is cheap, fiber is available even in small villages and nobody gives a fuck about piracy

    • KokusnussRitter@discuss.tchncs.deOP
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      5 days ago

      and the worst (as in most far right support) are small towns and villages in the east

      why is it always the east? 😂 🥹

      Thanks for your comprehensive comment. It seems both countries have more in common than I anticipated :)