by axxxm
24/September/2025 in Kraków
In London
I had only 7 hours of free time
And most of it, I spent in the museum
Yet
3 things I thought about British people;
1 — Small/Micro Communication
2 — Nonchalance (What he said)
3 — Nonchalance (How he said)
All of them must stem from the fact;
"They speak their own language/English"
British people often say "Sorry"
Not just when
we were about to bump into each other on the street
But also when
we were still far apart, and I slightly changed direction to avoid bumping into them,
they still said "Oh sorry"
— An airport staff told me where the bathroom was even before I asked
— A post office worker told me things more than I'd asked
— A man at the bus stop started talking to me after only 10 seconds of waiting together
Cultural factors must play a role here (like a "polite culture")
Also environment factors too (London is multicultural, and nobody can tell if I am local or not solely by my appearance)
But personally, I think the biggest factor is
their language/English
They speak their own language
Therefore
the "mental barrier" to speak & communicate must be very low, or non-existent
Because, again, they speak their own language
.......And this was when I finally realised one fact;
"In Poland, I force people to speak English"
Polish people never assume I'm Polish
I look 100% Asian
I look 100% an outsider
So that
without me asking them,
they speak English to me
Or, to be more precise,
they HAVE TO speak a language that is not their own
And as a result,
there must be so many things I am missing out here
Most Polish people I encounter must think like this without even thinking;
"I want to say this, but he doesn't understand Polish. I don't feel like making the extra effort to translate it into English. Actually, I don't even know how to say it in English. Better not say this!"
By using the foreign language/English here in Poland,
I must've missed countless opportunities every single day
to receive
to appreciate
to contemplate
consideration, kindness and all kind of emotion from Polish people