Blog v Anglii

[Please try to keep your comments topic related and avoid flaming. Thank you.]

Bureaucracy, incompetence of civil servants and complicated system of ‘how the things work’ seem to be the most – directly or indirectly – discussed things on this website. But has anybody ever given it a second thought? Is it really bureaucracy and incompetence or could it also be our limited knowledge of the language and we can’t clearly express ourselves and/or can’t understand exactly what is being said or meant? Could it be that it’s difficult for us to comprehend how the system work over here?

I think it’s time that we realized who and where we are.

It’s not (just) a bureaucracy and incompetence we have to face/deal with. Rather than that (or on the contrary), it is the language barrier, cultural differences and different mentality, which some of us haven’t prepared to.  

It is us, who have decided to come to live and work in the UK, and it is us who must try to master the language and adapt to the society and culture we have chosen to live in. We can’t expect civil servants to be able to speak Slovak/Czech or to speak simplified English to make themselves understood to foreigners; or to change the system so it becomes more accommodating to our needs and way of thinking.

It is different. But it is something we should have expected and - whether we like it or not - have to live with it. We need to adapt to it rather than expect the system to adapt to us. We should try more to integrate into the society to improve our English, to learn how it works and to better understand their way of thinking rather than live isolated in Slovak/Czech communities. No doubt that ties with the community are important, but it seems that many of us live just within.

I think that a lot has been done for us over here to make our lives easier. Next time before complaining about something, think about how many forms, official documents and information leaflets have been translated in Slovakia/Czech Republic into English, or what are the chances of an English speaker to get an interpreter when contacting local authorities back home without paying for it.

If that’s not enough to convince you, you should had done your ‘homework’ before you decided to come over here.