Polish Culture: An Interview with Wieslawa Chris Prilenski

I had decided to interview a woman who grew up in Poland, her name was Wieslawa Chris Prilenski. I was able to construct a family tree from the information that she gave me on her ancestry. She also had answered several questions that I had asked in order to gain a better perspective of her Polish culture. I had learned the various ways that Chris addresses her family members. After obtaining all the answers to my questions from Chris, I found several sources and I compared what the sources stated about Polish culture to Chris’ answers about her culture.
 I had gathered information about Chris’ family, she gave me a lot of information about her family tree. Chris Prilenski was born in a little town called Lubsko which is in Poland. Her husband, Ryszard Prilenski was born in a little town called Podszkle which was near by Lubsko. Within their families, there are many unspoken rules for addressing the family members. For example, when they are talking to others about their cousins, they refer to them as “Cousin Joe” or “Cousin Julie”. It is common to call a family member a cousin regardless of their sex, it applies to both male and female family members. Also, it is considered a sign of respect to address someone by their titles such as doctor or sir. It is considered extremely disrespectful to address anyone as “he” or “she”. Chris does has fictive kin, it is common practice in Polish culture to refer to good friends as “Aunt” or “Uncle”. These fictive kin members are her closest friends. Chris has two sons who do not know how to speak much Polish so both languages are frequently spoken in their household. She refers to her sons by their first names when bringing them up in conversations with friends and family members. When her tw...

... middle of paper ...

...ied. It also seems as if the relationship between parents and their children seem to be much more important in Polish culture, there is absolutely no room for disrespect. Without Chris’ willingness to answer my questions, I would not have been able to find out as much as I have about the Polish culture.

Works Cited

Poland - Early History until 1385 - The Origins of Poland. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://historymedren.about.com/library/text/bltxtpoland2.htm

Poland: Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette | global-etiquette | resources. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/poland.html

The World Factbook. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pl.html

Zamoyski, A. (1994). The Polish way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and Their Culture. New York: Hippocrene Books.