A poor and unqualified immigrant vs. an ambitious and feisty Pole
According to the data collected by the Dutch Institute for Social Research – Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau (SCP), more than 70% Polish immigrants in the Netherlands have college or university degree. If so, why are they still associated with cheap labour force or lack of qualifications and their negative image has not changed for years? The reason behind that is not only the fact that a striking number of Poles with a university degree have jobs below their qualifications but mainly the lack of information about Poland and Polish people. The Dutch should learn as much about our country as possible and the language should not be a hindrance here.
The image of Polish people abroad is created in many different ways and depends on the research group we study. It is worth mentioning two contrasting images of Polish emigrants as seen from the Brussel’s perspective. Native residents of the European capital see Polish people as brave but poor and unqualified immigrants who usually have illegal jobs and drink too much alcohol. Foreigners who live in Brussels or stay there just for some time associate Poles with such features as ambition, courage, pugnacity, youth and dynamism and are fully aware of the attractiveness of Polish culture. These two simultaneously existing images are present also in other western countries, including the Netherlands. It seems crucial to provide reliable information about Poland and Polish people in order to escape this stereotype trap.
We need more information about Poland
There are many websites run by Polish communities in the Netherlands but they are usually outward information channels. They are available only or mostly in Polish and they don’t reach Dutch people. There are few organisations that publish their information in Dutch. It’s a pity because the projects they run, usually with the involvement from Dutch people, are a perfect showcase of Poland abroad. They can provide interesting facts about the life of Polish migrants and demonstrate their characteristic features. There are many good initiatives undertaken outside Poland that never reach wider audience because they are only promoted in Polish. This gives us a huge, still unused potential to build or improve the image of Poland in the world.
Therefore, creating Link to Poland – the website available in few languages that is open to the world and presents initiatives involving Polish people from all over the globe – was so important. In today’s reality foreigners shape their opinions about Poles not only on the basis of school knowledge, which is often outdated, media information (scanty and focused mainly on politics and economy) or visits in Poland, but mainly from their contacts with Polish people in their own countries: immigrants, students, scientists or tourists. This has fundamental consequences for the image of Poland and Polish people in different societies. There is a visible correlation between elements of this image and the character of Polish presence in a given country. The Netherlands are the best example of that. According to the TNS OBOP research agency, Dutch people are characterised by one of the lowest level of knowledge about Poles among all European nations: 82% of them know nothing or almost nothing about Poland. For Dutch people the source of knowledge about Poles are mainly Polish tourists and immigrants.
Multilingual publications about Poland and Polish people are the key to creating a coherent image in the world
In the contemporary world of new media and technologies, the flow of information about Poland seems highly insufficient. We should stop publishing information about us and for us, which is only available in Polish. Let’s work on the information that is worth presenting to wider audience and be open to the outside world. In this way we will become more likeable and interesting to foreigners who, instead of having negative feelings, will pass on their good opinions about the valuable aspects of Poland and Polish people. “The Pole of the Year in the Netherlands” competition, organised for the fourth time already, is a good example of an event addressed to Dutch people. All the materials, including the website, connected with the competition are available in Polish and Dutch, which the organisers should be congratulated for. This is exactly the way how the image of Poland should be built.
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The author is the founding father of the Link to Poland website and a member of “The Pole of the Year in the Netherlands” competition chapter.
M. Soltanifar: How to build the image of Poland and Polish people abroad effectively?
Source: www.natemat.pl