help for son's polish girlfriend

A’m a bit puzzled how the DS ever got to know his wife!.
She doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t speak Polish.
I have a few Polish girls who come to clean every other week. The person who runs the business speaks fluent English but the others only have a few words. When here they only talk in Polish and they talk a lot!. I did ask one of the young girls why she didn’t go to college to improve her English but she just shrugged and smiled. Next time their here I will ask them to try speaking only in English.

Anyone with any common sense knows that they shouldn’t wander off when cooking chips in a pan of oil which ever country they live in, common sense surely.

How is she going to help her children when they start school?. Somehow she has got to improve her English so BB can you do some homework and find out where she can go for this. There must be colleges she could go to or a correspondence course. Do what you can to help her.

Polish is similar to russian, which has slavic roots. Very different from english, which has latin, germanic, and scandinavian roots.
It must be difficult for them to change.

I think maybe it could be a touch of baby brain and the poor girl is struggling a wee bit and as suggested she may need the support of a childrens playgroup or similar where she will meet other mums.
Have you thought brainyblondeof getting in touch with local 6th form colleges and enquire if any of their students fancy giving her private lessons as I'm sure they would be glad of extra £s whilst they are still at school.

Perhaps she is overwhelmed, poor girl, with a toddler and a new baby. Perhaps your DS could help more and you could offer to help without appearing to interfere too much brainyblonde

As you say you are a brainy blonde perhaps you could help her with her English.

Yes, there are lots of Polish people in this country (there have been Poles here for generations) so perhaps she could be encouraged to get out and meet other young mums, Polish, English or whatever nationality gather together.

I feel sorry for her, she seems to be struggling.

Poor woman sounds depressed to me.

I expect she talks to them in polish. Its usual to do this because children pick up english very quickly. They hear two languages in the home, means they speak 2 languages, their mothers tongue, good for them being able to talk to family on the non english speaking side and english. Wish my mum had done this but it was not long after the end of the war, so was bad timing.

She's worked for five years before maternity leave, so has been here longer. Does she really want to go back to Poland? Surely the first place for her to "integrate" is in your family. She doesn't need any Polish language resources, she needs to feel wanted and reassured that she has a home here. Perhaps she misses the support she would have if she and her children were living in Poland.

I wonder if she is the main carer of Dds . If so they too are not going to pick up much English as they grow from toddler hood. I would be sitting her down myself of an evening. It beggars belief that five years have gone by with no communication.

It coukd be she is a bit depressed post baby, perhaps lonely and missing family back home and finding things generally getting on top of her. There are many poles in this country, so not too hard meet, they are all at our local park by the swings.
Not being flippant because my mum came from Germany with me as a baby. She had to learn english fast, the marriage wasnt happy and she found it hard. No one on her ‘side’ to talk to about her worries, her mum and sisters all back in Germany.

My mum always said to me ne ver marry a foreigner because you are alone in a strange country, it can be a very lonely place especially if the marriage isnt good.
Why not try and talk to her yourself, help with her english and learn a few words of polish.

We have had a lovely Polish cleaner for a couple of years, her husband came here before her and got to grips with English. When she started with us her English was fairly sparse but it's improved no end. A while back she arrived at 9 am and my husband remarked to her it was a gloomy day to which she responded "what's gloomy" so he explained the word to her. Now when she arrives and we ask her what the weather is like, if it's a grey day she always replies "gloomy" she tells us it's her favourite new word

When I lived in Bulgaria most people learnt English by watching films ( obviously with sub titles )
I don't know if they have a library in their town, but ours has lots of books (in Polish) to learn English.

I think brainyblonde isn’t living up to her name
Why aren’t you showing her the ropes of how to live in U.K BB ? And why is your son ringing you up to complain about her
I m feeling VERY sorry for this girl if this is a genuine thread

Seriously, if they have been together for five years, how do they communicate? Does he speak Polish?

You say that she has lived & worked in the UK for the last 5 years, but has limited English, what sort of work has she been doing?

Also, with 2 small children, has she had contact with health visitor etc, has she been encouraged to go to mothers and toddlers?

Sorry, but feeling a bit , with children of those ages, there would usually be some sort of contact with health visitor, doctor etc.

Apologies if I'm wrong.

Ps tell son to chuck the chip pan

The OP said He nearly burned the house down!

Could it be that the polish lady is a bit depressed or just plain fed up and possibly a bit homesick?

Does she have any polish friends to provide support and just have a chat with in polish

If she does have a polish friend maybe they could help with the language and culural differences?

How about you learning some Polish ?
Dobranoc .

Eat pierogi ! If she can cook pierogi without them bursting I take my hat off to her !
She's got a newborn and a toddler , her husband can make the damned chips !! No wonder she's tearful !

Please! a manual to teach her about U.K. what the heck has your son and all you lot been doing for the last five years
Do manuals about life in uk really teach about frying chips
Oh come on is it April 1st
I don’t know one Polish person who doesn’t speak pretty good English and if she s worked here for five years been with your son and had two children I would think she’s managing ok
What’s wrong with you helping her with her English over a coffee

My SIL works with a handful of polish lads who have only been here a couple of years. They can make themselves understood .

All of the Polish people I know are very competent , would know how to cook chips and not burn the house down . Why does she not know English after 5 years , this has got to be a wind up surely !

Oh, good, I thought I had said something untoward.

I know. I'm just musing over the whole situation haha

what?

I am only being helpful