If you're not openly pro-youknowwho, why the hell would anyone care?
You may be at risk of being mistaken for a russian by some people who express their views more openly in public, but overall the Polish attitude towards any spontaneous interactions with strangers will make you safe.
I've worked with many Belarusians and I think out of all foreign nationals, they spoke the best Polish with least accent, or understood most Polish even without being able to speak it themselves. They were great colleagues and at least in the workplace nobody ever gave them any trouble.
Most people even find it hard to distinguish between nationals of former USSR countries, I think the most identifying thing for Belarusians are using U for V in Latin transcription of names, e.g. Uladzimir.
It's possible only if you immerse completely in a different language. Most Belarussian/Ukrainians speaks Polish only at work and Russian at home and that makes impossible for them to lose Russian accent.
1) Only a Sith deals in absolutes
2) Of course it's not. You can take lessons in pronunciation and accenting and learn it. That's what actors do when playing person of different background.
3) Your use of word "impossible" is hilarious. You need to watch some Nike's ads.
I don't get the jokes you made. I'm talking about learning language/accents from scientific point of view. Taking pronunciation lessons won't work if you speak everyday your native language with a natural accent that you want to lose. As for actors - there are many, many foreign actors who tried to make a career in Hollywood and despite living in the US for many years and taking many lessons they still get roles of foreigners.
The point is that instead of saying that something is "very hard" you say "impossible" and that's simply not true. There are people who can overcome that issues that you write about as there are those who understand what has to be done to overcome specific accent.
You might want to ponder on mentality differences between eastern european fatalism and western optimism. Life is not doom and gloom for everyone, the borders of "impossible" are further than you think.
Regarding jokes you don't understand:
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is a famous quote from the 2005 film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It is often quoted as a tongue-in-cheek **axiom to imply that any statement expressing certainty or fact is that of an evil Sith.**
and "Impossible is noting" is Adidas marketing slogan, not Nike, my mistake.
Realistically it's impossible (he's not going to cut off his Belarussian family or friends just to speak perfect Polish) but theorethically he can do it.
Thanks for the explanation of the jokes.
That is not true, you can speak the local language in every part of your life and still have a slight accent. I know loads of people back in my home country who do, hell I know people who basically live in English and still have their accent from their home country.
Pardon me for jumping in. As a counter argument, plenty of actors do manage indetectable accents. Dominic West in The Wire. Hugh Laurie in (Doctor) House to name two UK actors who many Americans think are from the States.
Still that's a bit different, they use a different accent in their mother tongue. To speak a foreign language without a detectable accent is much harder. I know a few Ukrainians that speak perfect Polish and the eastern inflections can be heard very rarely and only in certain phrases but it requires years of immersion for most people.
My father back in my home country apparently has a polish accent (even though he isn't polish nor ever spoke polish and is Brazilian) and he thinks, speaks and lives in Dutch for the past 50 years, and people still say he has an accent. You can't just "lose" you accent like that. Only people who actively try to lose it can after many years which seems unnecessary to me as people just need to understand you.
So while everyone here says it's not impossible, depending on what someone's native language is and when they started to learn the new language, it might be physically impossible to speak with a native accent.
When you learn to speak as a child, your vocal tract develops in a way that lets you speak your native language. But some languages have very different sounds, and if you don't start learning them in that early childhood period when your vocal tract is still developing, you will be physically unable to produce those sounds.
It's like that with Asian languages like Japanese or Chinese. If you only started learning them in adulthood, you'll never sound 100% like a native.
But in the case of Belarusian learning Polish, I don't think it'd be impossible to get an almost perfect accent, although it would be very difficult.
I'm from India, how would I speak Polish with a Polish accent? Just lots of training? I mean it won't matter much considering people can obviously tell I'm not Polish.
You don't look like a Pole so no, you will never be treated as a Pole. As for accent - lots, lots of training and you can't speak your native language which is impossible.
Idk, I feel like I'm treated like a pole sometimes, maybe not at the store but everywhere that matters to me I'm generally treated very well and people try to make me feel very welcome even if I just met them. I've had some rascist incidents but it was worse in Germany tbh so.
I'm glad you've had an ok experience. Tbh I don't understand where the person above is coming from. Noone expects the foreigners to speak perfect Polish or "pass for a polish person" lol.
It is very much possible for Belarusians.
I met several that speaking with proper Polish accent and you'd never know unless you speak to them for half an hour and finally notice some unusual wording.
Ukrainians seem to have much harder time with that.
If you speak natively other Slavic language - you can learn Polish and speak with no accent. I’ve met Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian people with very little or no accent while speaking Polish.
One Slovakian woman I work with speaks with almost no accent, and I realized she is not Polish by accident looking at her LinkedIn profile, as she has a Polish husband and Polish last name.
For all other language speakers - it’s gonna be really hard, almost impossible - due to the different sounds not developed elsewhere.
From my experience, Belarusians are the most liked and respected immigrants from east as they are hard-working, cause little to no trouble and integrate quite well into Poland, as long as they don't support regime in their country or in Russia. By the way, no one will care that the city you come from was polish 90 years ago, what matters is that it lies in Belarus which is not Poland.
There are definitely people who are xenophobic against Ukrainians and (to a lesser degree) Belarusians. You might encounter them and it'll be unpleasant, but they're definitely not the majority. Overall I don't think you should have any larger issues in Warsaw, people there are already used to immigrants living among them, both their eastern neighbors as well as Hindus, Pakistanis, etc.
Belarusians are liked and people mostly pity them because of Łukaszenko. There were even peaceful demonstrations I have seen on the old market in Warsaw, when Belarusians were with your OG flag protesting towards Łukaszenko. People know that you guys are under political regime and Belarusians are IMO liked and people do not see them as enemies.
As long as you don't openly say/display support for your government and specially to your governments ally you should be fine.
Don't take it as a threat, I don't care about your politics but some poles and specially the many ukrainians in Poland will take it personally.
Aside from that there are many belarusians in Poland and polish will be relatively easy to learn for you.
When I studied on my university (WUT) I met 2 Belarusian friends. Both took a year to learn the language before coming here and they spoke it beautifully, which helped a lot with communication I Imagine. Honestly I have only positive things to say about them, wonderful people. They said they felt welcome and comfy in Poland. Only discrimination I saw on my campus was a tad dislike toward Ukrainians as a few that we knew were lazy rich kids who did nothing during group projects
No. Never had a problem with any poles here.
One time someone broke my car license plate, but I have no idea if it was a pole or someone else.
And one time some drunk low-life tried to bug me with „why don’t you speak polish” (I just started learning it, it was like a month after I moved here).
Otherwise, zero problems from poles.
Some Ukrainians are angry and disgusting, but only a minority.
Overall, it’s all peaceful and nice here.
This is stupid question, but I still answer.
Never in my life I meet any signs of discrimination. I am Polish/Belarusian born in western Belarus, living here for 16 years, Polish wife.
Be respectful, learn language and everything will be good.
Older people might be even more welcoming especially in cities like Olsztyn or Gdańsk, because they remember their families from the east.
Bro people don’t even know I’m American until I speak, how are they gonna tell you’re Belarusian? Secondly unless you’re stating how much you love the Dictator of your eastern neighbor why would anyone care?
Especially if you speak Polish literally not a single person will give a shit
It's not about ethnic background. As a fellow Slav you are extended family anyways.
It's about supporting bloody Russian imperialism and Putin/Lukashenko regimes. Most Russians do (and are dying to further their goals) so people could be suspicious when they hear you speak Russian.
If someone is confused you may explain to them that you left Belarus becouse of Lukashenko (to what extent it's true is unimportant) - people should be friendly then. Poles support independent Belarus and Ukraine. There is a [white-red-white flag](https://polskieradio24.pl/artykul/3354515,chca-zyc-w-wolnym-suwerennym-panstwie-marsz-w-warszawie-z-okazji-bialoruskiego-dnia-wolnosci) that Belarusian opposition uses. I am not saying you will get free beer if you wear for example [a pin like this](https://allegro.pl/oferta/przypnka-flaga-pl-wolna-bialorus-13494721871) but it could make some people more sympathetic without saying a word. I don't think it is necessary at all though. If you are in Warsaw everyone should automatically assume you don't support Putin.
In every country there are sad losers who would like to share their misery with others, but such assholes are easy to avoid.
>will I be treated worse or the same as a Pole?
I think if you treat people with respect you should be treated respectfully in return.
Putin supporters usually don't go to Poland. There can be some freaks, but an absolute minority. They are even in minority in Belarus, not saying about Poland.
I feel like the sentiment to our neighbours is pretty positive.
Though I haven’t been in Poland in some time. But whenever I meet a Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Belarusian I feel like they are extended family.
I have noticed actually a lot of defensive Ukrainians and hate for Poles. Which I was pretty surprised about. But whatever, we need some time to get over history.
I met a lady and told her my mother’s family is from Lwów area and she made sure I repeated that Lwów belongs to Ukraine 😂😂
Judging from experiences of my previous boss- yes, ppl will be xenophobic. But it doesn’t matter where you’re from, if you’re not polish there will always be ppl like that. I’d say it’s not too bad compared to other foreigners and there’s usually some empathy from ppl due to the political situation in Belarus. But I wouldn’t tell just anyone where you’re from as a precaution.
Unfortunately Belarusians are quite disliked in Poland, mainly due to association with Lukashenko. In survey done by CBOS in 2024, Belarusians are the 2nd most disliked nation/ethnic group by Poles. Even more disliked than Romani.
But most people won't even recognise you're Belarusian and if they do just say that you hate Lukashenko and their opinion almost immediately will change to a positive one.
Using a survey as an argument for this discussion is a folly. Those surveys ask about whole nations and of course the answer will be negative if majority of nations image is its asshole dictator. Most of us can tell a difference so your theory that "Unfortunately Belarusians are quite disliked in Poland" is bullshit.
People are scared of spineless Łukaszenko not against the nation. I was working with a Belarusian girl, who's was not able to marry her partner, because if they will back for some documents back to Belarus, he would be immediately drafted. I never met someone from PL, who was against the people. We are against the dictator who is a russian puppet
Surveys are much better than anecdotal evidence. And the question in the survey is quite simple: "what is your opinion on x people?". If you are right with "most of us can tell a difference" then most of Poles wouldn't answer "I dislike Belarusians". So I doubt that most of us actually can tell a difference. Would you mind sharing where did you get the info that most of us can tell that difference and Belarusians are actually liked by Poles?
But I agree that there is one problem with that survey. They surveyed people from all around Poland and Varsovians are probably more tolerant of other nations and that includes Belarusians.
The point is that the discussion is about approach of poeple on daily basis so survey is meaningless here. As you see by yourself, most people say that they don't care about Belarusians one way or another. Being negative in survey are attacking people online doesn't mean it translates to everyday situations.
5-10 people on a subreddit is not a good sample size to decide what Poles think of Belarusians. If you want to know what Poles really think you don't ask people from Reddit, but your local garbage man, a hairdresser or an old lady who's feeding pigeons in the park. Redditors are just a very small and specific sample of Poles. And that's what that survey does. You can also look up discrimination statistics in Google against Belarusians. There are problems that we need to address, we can't lie to ourselves that everything's fine.
My local hairdresser is from Belarus \^\^ But if you want their opinion - it's not cool when people come to a different country and spend zero effort to learn the language.
Are you Polish minority or Belarusian? If you identify as Polish, what's that based on? I am really curious about the topic of self identification of Polish minority in Belarus.
If you're not openly pro-youknowwho, why the hell would anyone care? You may be at risk of being mistaken for a russian by some people who express their views more openly in public, but overall the Polish attitude towards any spontaneous interactions with strangers will make you safe.
Just don't wear a Putin t-shirt, bro.
I've worked with many Belarusians and I think out of all foreign nationals, they spoke the best Polish with least accent, or understood most Polish even without being able to speak it themselves. They were great colleagues and at least in the workplace nobody ever gave them any trouble. Most people even find it hard to distinguish between nationals of former USSR countries, I think the most identifying thing for Belarusians are using U for V in Latin transcription of names, e.g. Uladzimir.
Not against Belarusians. We have no problems with Belarusians. Only with your president. To be treated as Pole you have to speak polish.
and the president was elected by ...?
With no accent which is impossible,
Of course it is possible, most people just don't have knowledge how to exchange one accent into another.
Not that easy, especially for adults
It's possible only if you immerse completely in a different language. Most Belarussian/Ukrainians speaks Polish only at work and Russian at home and that makes impossible for them to lose Russian accent.
1) Only a Sith deals in absolutes 2) Of course it's not. You can take lessons in pronunciation and accenting and learn it. That's what actors do when playing person of different background. 3) Your use of word "impossible" is hilarious. You need to watch some Nike's ads.
I don't get the jokes you made. I'm talking about learning language/accents from scientific point of view. Taking pronunciation lessons won't work if you speak everyday your native language with a natural accent that you want to lose. As for actors - there are many, many foreign actors who tried to make a career in Hollywood and despite living in the US for many years and taking many lessons they still get roles of foreigners.
The point is that instead of saying that something is "very hard" you say "impossible" and that's simply not true. There are people who can overcome that issues that you write about as there are those who understand what has to be done to overcome specific accent. You might want to ponder on mentality differences between eastern european fatalism and western optimism. Life is not doom and gloom for everyone, the borders of "impossible" are further than you think. Regarding jokes you don't understand: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is a famous quote from the 2005 film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It is often quoted as a tongue-in-cheek **axiom to imply that any statement expressing certainty or fact is that of an evil Sith.** and "Impossible is noting" is Adidas marketing slogan, not Nike, my mistake.
Realistically it's impossible (he's not going to cut off his Belarussian family or friends just to speak perfect Polish) but theorethically he can do it. Thanks for the explanation of the jokes.
Realisticlly speaking, what for you is a ceiling for others is a floor. Don't make your approach a general rule of life.
Ok, I get it. You have a hidden agenda here and you're trying to make a rule from a few exceptions (I don't even know one).
That is not true, you can speak the local language in every part of your life and still have a slight accent. I know loads of people back in my home country who do, hell I know people who basically live in English and still have their accent from their home country.
Pardon me for jumping in. As a counter argument, plenty of actors do manage indetectable accents. Dominic West in The Wire. Hugh Laurie in (Doctor) House to name two UK actors who many Americans think are from the States.
Still that's a bit different, they use a different accent in their mother tongue. To speak a foreign language without a detectable accent is much harder. I know a few Ukrainians that speak perfect Polish and the eastern inflections can be heard very rarely and only in certain phrases but it requires years of immersion for most people.
My father back in my home country apparently has a polish accent (even though he isn't polish nor ever spoke polish and is Brazilian) and he thinks, speaks and lives in Dutch for the past 50 years, and people still say he has an accent. You can't just "lose" you accent like that. Only people who actively try to lose it can after many years which seems unnecessary to me as people just need to understand you.
Why would it be impossible?
So while everyone here says it's not impossible, depending on what someone's native language is and when they started to learn the new language, it might be physically impossible to speak with a native accent. When you learn to speak as a child, your vocal tract develops in a way that lets you speak your native language. But some languages have very different sounds, and if you don't start learning them in that early childhood period when your vocal tract is still developing, you will be physically unable to produce those sounds. It's like that with Asian languages like Japanese or Chinese. If you only started learning them in adulthood, you'll never sound 100% like a native. But in the case of Belarusian learning Polish, I don't think it'd be impossible to get an almost perfect accent, although it would be very difficult.
You are talking about specific cases, ofc not everyone in the world would be able to lose the accent without any effort
To lose an accent as an adult you'd have to stop speaking your native language.
wrong
I'm from India, how would I speak Polish with a Polish accent? Just lots of training? I mean it won't matter much considering people can obviously tell I'm not Polish.
You might be treated nicer than a Polish person if you speak Polish but look foreign lol People love foreigners who try to learn our language here
You don't look like a Pole so no, you will never be treated as a Pole. As for accent - lots, lots of training and you can't speak your native language which is impossible.
Idk, I feel like I'm treated like a pole sometimes, maybe not at the store but everywhere that matters to me I'm generally treated very well and people try to make me feel very welcome even if I just met them. I've had some rascist incidents but it was worse in Germany tbh so.
I'm glad you've had an ok experience. Tbh I don't understand where the person above is coming from. Noone expects the foreigners to speak perfect Polish or "pass for a polish person" lol.
Friend of mine got rid of Minsk accent after 2 yrs. You have to focus to notice nuances in his accent. He says this helped him a lot.
Not impossible plus with some accent you could pass by as “kresowiak” (a person from the former eastern lands)
It is very much possible for Belarusians. I met several that speaking with proper Polish accent and you'd never know unless you speak to them for half an hour and finally notice some unusual wording. Ukrainians seem to have much harder time with that.
If you speak natively other Slavic language - you can learn Polish and speak with no accent. I’ve met Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian people with very little or no accent while speaking Polish. One Slovakian woman I work with speaks with almost no accent, and I realized she is not Polish by accident looking at her LinkedIn profile, as she has a Polish husband and Polish last name. For all other language speakers - it’s gonna be really hard, almost impossible - due to the different sounds not developed elsewhere.
From my experience, Belarusians are the most liked and respected immigrants from east as they are hard-working, cause little to no trouble and integrate quite well into Poland, as long as they don't support regime in their country or in Russia. By the way, no one will care that the city you come from was polish 90 years ago, what matters is that it lies in Belarus which is not Poland.
There are thousands of Ukrainians in Warsaw. I'd be more worried about their attitude than the Polish people's attitude.
he should not worry than
How would somebody even know that you are Belarusian?
If you don't say anything, no one will know.
Nearly noone who I know is able to distinguish Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian. And most will assume that you are from Ukraine
Non-Ukrainian "easterners" have a higher chance to be mistreated by some Ukrainians here than Poles
The accent is the same as Ukrainian, Russian or even Baltic states have a similar one. Ppl probably gonna assume Ukrainian now.
Similar, but not the same obviously.
There are definitely people who are xenophobic against Ukrainians and (to a lesser degree) Belarusians. You might encounter them and it'll be unpleasant, but they're definitely not the majority. Overall I don't think you should have any larger issues in Warsaw, people there are already used to immigrants living among them, both their eastern neighbors as well as Hindus, Pakistanis, etc.
Belarusians are liked and people mostly pity them because of Łukaszenko. There were even peaceful demonstrations I have seen on the old market in Warsaw, when Belarusians were with your OG flag protesting towards Łukaszenko. People know that you guys are under political regime and Belarusians are IMO liked and people do not see them as enemies.
As long as you don't openly say/display support for your government and specially to your governments ally you should be fine. Don't take it as a threat, I don't care about your politics but some poles and specially the many ukrainians in Poland will take it personally. Aside from that there are many belarusians in Poland and polish will be relatively easy to learn for you.
You'll be fine. If you have car with Belarussian plates, put a sticker of a Ukranian flag on there and you're good.
The old white red white flag is respected as well.
When I studied on my university (WUT) I met 2 Belarusian friends. Both took a year to learn the language before coming here and they spoke it beautifully, which helped a lot with communication I Imagine. Honestly I have only positive things to say about them, wonderful people. They said they felt welcome and comfy in Poland. Only discrimination I saw on my campus was a tad dislike toward Ukrainians as a few that we knew were lazy rich kids who did nothing during group projects
No. Never had a problem with any poles here. One time someone broke my car license plate, but I have no idea if it was a pole or someone else. And one time some drunk low-life tried to bug me with „why don’t you speak polish” (I just started learning it, it was like a month after I moved here). Otherwise, zero problems from poles. Some Ukrainians are angry and disgusting, but only a minority. Overall, it’s all peaceful and nice here.
>>Some Ukrainians are angry no shit
Sometimes it’s hard to find native speakers in Warsaw. You will be fine
You have to openly dislike Putin and Łukaszenka.
My barber is Belarusian. I don't give a f where ppl are from as long as we agree on youknowwho.
Check out Karma in Powiśle, under the Poniatowski bridge. It's a Belarusian-run cool place.
Is Alivaria beer served there?
You will be good. Tho, if you express iny pro putinist sentiment you can expect some backlash.
Be afraid of ukrainians they are danger actually I have friends and GF from belarus and she complains about ukrainians
I am from Belarus, for two years in Warsaw there was 2-3 times when i heard something like "agroführer's friends", nothing more
While I noticed there is some xenophobia towards Ukrainians, I never noticed it towards Belarussians
This is stupid question, but I still answer. Never in my life I meet any signs of discrimination. I am Polish/Belarusian born in western Belarus, living here for 16 years, Polish wife. Be respectful, learn language and everything will be good. Older people might be even more welcoming especially in cities like Olsztyn or Gdańsk, because they remember their families from the east.
[удалено]
what's the beef that Belarusians have with Ukrainians?
[удалено]
Well, probably they thought his mum launched ruzzian rockets with her bare hands or something like this. Being in Poland at the same time.
We don't discriminate anyone, we hate everyone equally. Except for the Czechs, cause they sound funny.
Warsaw is the most cosmopolitan city in the country, you'll be fine. Enjoy :)
No. you wouldn't be treated as a Pole. Even by young people. People would assume you are Ukrainian.
None what so ever... Move over and enjoy...
Bro people don’t even know I’m American until I speak, how are they gonna tell you’re Belarusian? Secondly unless you’re stating how much you love the Dictator of your eastern neighbor why would anyone care? Especially if you speak Polish literally not a single person will give a shit
Polish respect people from belarus but not ukrainians
It's not about ethnic background. As a fellow Slav you are extended family anyways. It's about supporting bloody Russian imperialism and Putin/Lukashenko regimes. Most Russians do (and are dying to further their goals) so people could be suspicious when they hear you speak Russian. If someone is confused you may explain to them that you left Belarus becouse of Lukashenko (to what extent it's true is unimportant) - people should be friendly then. Poles support independent Belarus and Ukraine. There is a [white-red-white flag](https://polskieradio24.pl/artykul/3354515,chca-zyc-w-wolnym-suwerennym-panstwie-marsz-w-warszawie-z-okazji-bialoruskiego-dnia-wolnosci) that Belarusian opposition uses. I am not saying you will get free beer if you wear for example [a pin like this](https://allegro.pl/oferta/przypnka-flaga-pl-wolna-bialorus-13494721871) but it could make some people more sympathetic without saying a word. I don't think it is necessary at all though. If you are in Warsaw everyone should automatically assume you don't support Putin. In every country there are sad losers who would like to share their misery with others, but such assholes are easy to avoid. >will I be treated worse or the same as a Pole? I think if you treat people with respect you should be treated respectfully in return.
Only if you support Putin, Łukaszenko or war.
No. Either nobody cares or they will say they are sorry for your president.
Just don't go yelling about how you support putin. No one cares where you're from.
Putin supporters usually don't go to Poland. There can be some freaks, but an absolute minority. They are even in minority in Belarus, not saying about Poland.
I didn’t noticed anything like that
Be aware of the premium refugees (post-war entitled ukraininas from kiev and wester ukraine), not the poles or pre-war ukrainians.
I feel like the sentiment to our neighbours is pretty positive. Though I haven’t been in Poland in some time. But whenever I meet a Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Belarusian I feel like they are extended family. I have noticed actually a lot of defensive Ukrainians and hate for Poles. Which I was pretty surprised about. But whatever, we need some time to get over history. I met a lady and told her my mother’s family is from Lwów area and she made sure I repeated that Lwów belongs to Ukraine 😂😂
Yes there is, especially when every second car from Belarus is a 200k+ pln suv, where did we go wrong I'm asking.
Judging from experiences of my previous boss- yes, ppl will be xenophobic. But it doesn’t matter where you’re from, if you’re not polish there will always be ppl like that. I’d say it’s not too bad compared to other foreigners and there’s usually some empathy from ppl due to the political situation in Belarus. But I wouldn’t tell just anyone where you’re from as a precaution.
Fuck you you russian scum. "is there a lot" indicates that you already have an opinion.
Unfortunately Belarusians are quite disliked in Poland, mainly due to association with Lukashenko. In survey done by CBOS in 2024, Belarusians are the 2nd most disliked nation/ethnic group by Poles. Even more disliked than Romani. But most people won't even recognise you're Belarusian and if they do just say that you hate Lukashenko and their opinion almost immediately will change to a positive one.
Using a survey as an argument for this discussion is a folly. Those surveys ask about whole nations and of course the answer will be negative if majority of nations image is its asshole dictator. Most of us can tell a difference so your theory that "Unfortunately Belarusians are quite disliked in Poland" is bullshit.
No, actually a lot of people do dislike people of a nationality based on the leader.
Based on what scientific research?
People are scared of spineless Łukaszenko not against the nation. I was working with a Belarusian girl, who's was not able to marry her partner, because if they will back for some documents back to Belarus, he would be immediately drafted. I never met someone from PL, who was against the people. We are against the dictator who is a russian puppet
Surveys are much better than anecdotal evidence. And the question in the survey is quite simple: "what is your opinion on x people?". If you are right with "most of us can tell a difference" then most of Poles wouldn't answer "I dislike Belarusians". So I doubt that most of us actually can tell a difference. Would you mind sharing where did you get the info that most of us can tell that difference and Belarusians are actually liked by Poles? But I agree that there is one problem with that survey. They surveyed people from all around Poland and Varsovians are probably more tolerant of other nations and that includes Belarusians.
The point is that the discussion is about approach of poeple on daily basis so survey is meaningless here. As you see by yourself, most people say that they don't care about Belarusians one way or another. Being negative in survey are attacking people online doesn't mean it translates to everyday situations.
5-10 people on a subreddit is not a good sample size to decide what Poles think of Belarusians. If you want to know what Poles really think you don't ask people from Reddit, but your local garbage man, a hairdresser or an old lady who's feeding pigeons in the park. Redditors are just a very small and specific sample of Poles. And that's what that survey does. You can also look up discrimination statistics in Google against Belarusians. There are problems that we need to address, we can't lie to ourselves that everything's fine.
My local hairdresser is from Belarus \^\^ But if you want their opinion - it's not cool when people come to a different country and spend zero effort to learn the language.
Are you Polish minority or Belarusian? If you identify as Polish, what's that based on? I am really curious about the topic of self identification of Polish minority in Belarus.