View on Romanians

LegacyUser

I just have a question for you people. Now im originally Romanian , but have been living here a long long time.
Im not a gypsy and tbh you wouldnt even notice that i was Romanian unless I told you . ( ive even been called "the most Irish , Romanian person ever" lol)
Now i never had any problems in school with this , had/have a lot of Irish friends and so on, but recently over the past year ive noticed this.

Whenever anybody asks where i'm from (becuase of my name obviously) and I tell them, the reaction is always "oh" and get strange looks . It just creates a very negative atmosphere if you know what i mean.

For exmample when meeting a girl in a club I could be talkin ot her for 1hr and everything would be smooth until she asks the question and then it gets akward and almost seems like she doesnt wanna be there. Now that was just an example but this seems to be the case with most people I introduce myself to.

I was just curious is there a very negative stereotype to being Romanian or am I just imagining things?
and what if you met somebody who you thought was Irish and the found out they were Romanian , would you view them any differently?

Basically shoul I be ashamed or avoid telling people my Nationality?

Thanks for any opinions.

Victor

Salut

I think its down to a negative media coverage which has equated Romanian with refugee with welfare cheat. I know one Romanian couple and one Romanian family and have met others and they are some of the nicest people I have met.

I think a big part of the problem has been has been the inability of ordinary Irish people to see ordinary Romanian people because of the failure to implement an adequate immigration system. The only Romanians that get seen are a minority of mostly Roma gypsies who engage in "different" behavior.

I suspect entry into the EU will improve things for Romanians here.

Pa

tigerbalm

A great friend of mine is Romanian -- and he has experienced similar behavour. It's shocking really when you think about it. It's all down to the gypsy stereotype which Irish people have about Romanians. Can you imagine what Romanians would think about Irish people if "all they saw" were the typical Irish "knacker" staying in Romania ? I think things will change for the better as more Romanian's move to Ireland when they join the EU.

kc66

The only Romanian people that Iv ever spoken to, to my knowledge, were gypsies. The first time they were coming in the back door of my house while their mates were keeping us busy at the front door. The second time they were trying to rob my fathers business. They cleaned out a few shops locally. Its these people that are giving Irish people a bad image of Romania.
Its sad that the genuine people get tarred with the same brush but I think its down to ignorance on our part.

ApeXaviour

OP wrote:

Basically shoul I be ashamed

No. This is their problem. They lack a distinction in their minds between gypsy's and romanians. It's really quite stupid. Like if travellers in england were known generally as irish. So when you say you're romanian, the person probably gets an image of your mother going around town with roses and a wrapped up doll, shiny gold teeth and pimping the big issue. It's completely ridiculous but it's probably what goes on in their sheltered minds. Word association when you hear your taxi driver complaining about 'dem romanians'.

or avoid telling people my Nationality?

Well of course ideally you shouldn't have to. But lets be realistic, if it's affecting your social life somewhat then it's time to change your tactics.

Obviously you wouldn't like to lie or avoid. You want tell them where you're from while conjuring positive imagery in their minds right? I met a romanian before who was obviously experiencing similar woes to yourself, I know this because when it came up where he was from he didnt answer directly. Instead he said: "You know where Dracula comes from? I was born near there". This was really very clever. I suggest you use it if you're comfortable with it. I mean you're obviously not a vampire . It also gives an air of intrigue as well as an interesting and open-minded talking point.

Best of luck

lazydaisy

Media coverage ... oh please. People can choose what to believe.

OP, its racism. Next time you get responses like that, hold the person responsible for it. Say "you sound disappointed, why is that?" or "does that change how you see me?" Dont let them off the hook. If you dont do something about it you are enabling it.

Incidentally, you should hear what I get being American, not "oh" but diatribes of rage.

Its annoying, its like its all people can see - your nationality. No one can tell you what your essence is. Dont let it define you and dont let it make you think less of yourself.

I hope that helps.

ApeXaviour

lazydaisy wrote:

Media coverage ... oh please. People can choose what to believe.

OP, its racism. Next time you get responses like that, hold the person responsible for it. Say "you sound disappointed, why is that?" or "does that change how you see me?" Dont let them off the hook. If you dont do something about it you are enabling it.

While I agree in principal. You can't always fight the good fight. It will tear you down eventually. I'm sure there things to be spending your life doing than correcting people's ignorance.

Laguna

I have no problem with Romanians, I take people as I find them, regardless of their nationality. The media in ireland perpetrate stereotypical views of Romanians/Latvians/Russians, their opinions in my view are unfounded, for example, a person in a community may happen to be accosted by a Romanian, all of a sudden it's ALL ROMANIANS who are guilty of the crime . OP, I know how you feel; I'm not from Ireland either, it's tough to be foreign in this country.

tintinr35

only experiance i have with them is when my parents rented an apartment to some romanians in dublin and they stopped paying rent after about 6 months so my parents went up and they had the place in sh1te, they let there kids piss on the floor in the sitting room and my parents had to call the guards who subsequently serched the place and found credit card skimming machines and when my sis was staying in another apartment that my parents had rented to romanians about a year previous the cops came knocking on the door at 8am one morning with a warrent to search the place because the dirty bítch who was staying there was aiding with people trafficing from romania
i think that because of incidents like this that irish people have come in contact with and negative media coverage of similar instances etc it has painted a very negative picture of the romanian community but as was already mentioned if it was the other way round and irish knacks were going over to romania and that was they were the main type of people represeting ireland then im sure romanians would react the same!!

lazydaisy

Hmnn. Sounds like the J1 visas who come to the US.

tintinr35

they didnt skim cards and traffic people tho

Laguna

tintinr35 wrote:

they didnt skim cards and traffic people tho

No, but they still caused damage none the less.

Back on topic, scum can come from any country, thinking a certain denomination or nationality of people are pre disposed to the seedier side of life is discriminatory and racist, in a word.

Captain Trips

It's like that in Ireland because people confuse the gypsies with Romanians. Native Romanians are a totally different gene pool and culture than the gypsies. The gypsies here may be poor but in Romania they are by and large utterly loaded and untouched.

Native Romanian girls are, in my experience, 5ft 11 and utterly beautiful and are a typically mediterranean type of people (like Italians really). Gypsies are not merely a "working class" or anything - they are entirely different and use the Romanian name for whatever reasons. Originally, they appear to be Indian.

lazydaisy

Captain Trips wrote:

It's like that in Ireland because people confuse the gypsies with Romanians. Native Romanians are a totally different gene pool and culture than the gypsies. The gypsies here may be poor but in Romania they are by and large utterly loaded and untouched.

Native Romanian girls are, in my experience, 5ft 11 and utterly beautiful and are a typically mediterranean type of people (like Italians really). Gypsies are not merely a "working class" or anything - they are entirely different and use the Romanian name for whatever reasons. Originally, they appear to be Indian.

You are seriously missing the point.

Andy-Pandy

I have a lot of eastern european customers, the majority are sound, polite, and the girls are hot hot hot. When imagration started in this country, one of the first big things the media latched onto were the romanian gypsies and there begging, badgering ways. I think all Romanians have been tainted with the same brush. Before the huge influx of eastern european migrants into the country ( ill be supporting poland in the world cup by the way), the onlt knowledge people had of this part of the world were people begging and hassling you on the street. But i think this is changing, as in my opinion eastern europeans have in general, behaved in an excellant mannor in this country, working hard, not cousing any trouble and intergating very smoothly. They like Ireland and ireland likes them, bar the sometimes 80's looking dress sence

LegacyUser

Cool, thanks a lot for your opinions! I'm actually surprised at how cultured and open minded you people are - if only most people that I met were like this!

I guess they just havent been educated on the fact that Romanians are originally of Latin/European descent are (mostly) well behaved people . It is mainly the gypsies that get up to anti-social behaviour , but thats not the case just in Ireland they are like this in Romania also and it becomes very frustrating to be tarred with the same brush and it just annoys me that most people automatically associate 'Romanian' with this type of carry on.

And to ApeXavier thats a very good suggestion you made!- must try that one(especially considering I was actually born in Transylvania!)

ballooba

I've encountered people on J1s in America who paint Ireland in a very bad light by going around acting like knackers. I wouldn't be surprised if some Americans developed negative prejudices of Irish people based on meeting these people. I wouldn't blame those Americans either.

It's our own country folk who are to blame and it's up to us to prove those who are prejudiced against us wrong. Same as if you were bitten by a horse as a kid, you might be a bit more careful of all horses as you know that some horses bite.

I'm probably gonna get lynched for this post but that's my opinion on it.

D

I think the problem is that a lot of people associate Romanians with Romany Gypsies which racially speaking come from India but have migrated to the west.

BoozyBabe

About 6 months ago I was looking for tenants for my house & was talking to lots of landlords about the best tenants.

I was told lithuanians / latvians, couldn't beat them, very clean, tidy, payments on time etc, but every one of them warned me not to let Romanians near my house as "they'd even use the floor boards are fire wood"

If this had been 1 person to say this to me, I'd have said it was just 1 bad experience, but it was the same stories of houses being thrashed everytime they were let out to Romanians.

That kind of bad press spreads quickly, & tbh, has given be a bad opinion of Romanians in general.

I'm not at all a racist person, & I know it's not fair to tar everyone with the same brush etc, but when you also see all other Eastern European nationalities working really hard to make some money for themselves, then you see Romanians getting accomodation provided for them, they're pushing the 'Big Issue' in your face everywhere you turn & have their children begging money from you, it can't help but make you look negatively towards them.

sorry, I'm sure you are not all the same, but that's just my feelings.

I get caught up in conversations (a bit of a struggle) all the time with non-nationals, if you happened to be one that I was getting on very well with & really enjoyed your company & then I found out you were Romanian, I wouldn't have a problem with that.

The Corinthian

I’m Italian, which is relevant to this discussion in two ways. Firstly because, from my experience, it really does not matter where you’re from, you will encounter various prejudices from the Irish, both good and bad. In fairness, the Irish are not alone in this (every nationality does it), but you should be aware that it’s not simply because you’re Romanian.

Secondly I’ve personally never had any bad experiences with Romanians, but this is also because I was long used to zingari (gypsies) and would not consider them Romanian. I remember as a kid, growing up in Ireland, listening to people complain about the native equivalent and would chuckle that it was nothing compared to the zingari.

Even the one’s who have made their here are tame in comparison to many on mainland Europe - I’ve not yet heard of any case of child snatching yet here, which is one of their favoured industries elsewhere. It’s actually difficult to find anyone from a major city in Italy and not hear a first hand story of a crime or attempted crime by one. Suffice it to say were I to say anything further on the subject; I’d probably get banned, so I’ll keep it to myself. You get the picture.

If it is confusion between Romanians and gypsies, then that could account for much of the attitudes. I expect that this is something that will change with time as people in Ireland realise the distinction.

Khannie

Madness. I must be very sheltered or people must know not to be racist around me. Never heard any of this kind of craic before. I only have positive experiences with Romanians. My mate is married to a Romanian girl. She's sound as a pound. Her family came over for the wedding. All very decent folk.

Victor

Folks, this is the Personal Issues, take the diatribes elsewhere.

tintinr35 wrote:

they didnt skim cards and traffic people tho

Ever hear of the "illegal Irish"

tintinr35

Victor wrote:

Folks, this is the Personal Issues, take the diatribes elsewhere.

Ever hear of the "illegal Irish"

she was refering to the J1 students in california this summer who wrecked that house me thinks

AnonymousBloke

BoozyBabe wrote:

then you see Romanians getting accomodation provided for them, they're pushing the 'Big Issue' in your face everywhere you turn & have their children begging money from you, it can't help but make you look negatively towards them.

Isn't that missing the point of what is being said here, i.e. that it is gypsies who are begging and selling the 'Big Issues', and not your average Romanian?

Personally, on a broader note, I love seeing people from different races/countries living here. I remember not that long ago when you would rarely see a black person in Ireland, unless they were studying here. I was blown away by and loved the cultural mix in London when I first went there.

To the OP, I think media misinformation and a bit of general ignorance is unfortunately the cause of the prejudice you've experienced. As has been said already, the Irish abroad have often not covered themselves in glory.

Re gypsies- I've had a few negative experiences with them begging, ended up giving one woman €5 and she kept hassling me for more and got really stroppy. Now I just glaze over when I see a gypsy approach me, sad but true.

BoozyBabe

AnonymousBloke wrote:

Isn't that missing the point of what is being said here, i.e. that it is gypsies who are begging and selling the 'Big Issues', and not your average Romanian?

But that's almost the point in itself....

When we see the gypsies we think they're Romanians & vice versa.
It's the fact that they're calling themselves Romanians that's giving real Romanians the bad name.

I've never been to Romania, nor had any contact with proper Romanians, so how can I, or a lot of the Irish population (I'd say) tell the difference.

I'd say we can't, which is why the op is experiencing what he's experiencing.

I think what we've come to know as being Romanians in this country are probably all gypsies (I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean, I know only of the asylum seekers, & they're probably all gypsies)

Am I just digging a bigger hole for myself???

AnonymousBloke

tigerbalm wrote:

A great friend of mine is Romanian -- and he has experienced similar behavour. It's shocking really when you think about it. It's all down to the gypsy stereotype which Irish people have about Romanians. Can you imagine what Romanians would think about Irish people if "all they saw" were the typical Irish "knacker" staying in Romania ? I think things will change for the better as more Romanian's move to Ireland when they join the EU.

@boozybabe- I think the above sums it up. I guess the most high profile 'Romanians' here are gypsies, which accounts for the prejudice, misplaced as it is.

If nothing else, this thread might help dispel some of the ignorance out there

The Corinthian

BoozyBabe wrote:

It's the fact that they're calling themselves Romanians that's giving real Romanians the bad name.

Technically they would still be Romanian citizens. Of course you’ll find gypsies that are also Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Albanian or Slovakian citizens. The one’s in Ireland appear to be largely Romanian in origin and the one’s in Italy are, from what I gather, largely Albanian.

I actually think it bizarre that people confuse them with Romanians. Gypsy’s - the female ones - stick out a mile in their long, often colourful, skirts and headscarves, for example. They’re also not Caucasian and that’s not difficult to spot. Romanians on the other hand are pretty much European and even largely dress like us... well, maybe with slightly bigger flares.

ballooba

I have to say this has opened my eyes a little bit. I think I may have encountered one (Romanian) person in my life who was not a gypsy. Maybe I just haven't met enough real romanians.

pclancy

OP Im a very open minded person but sadly its our media coverage of the bad elements in your society that make some people shy away from you. I think if you're talking to a girl that backs off when u say where you are from shes not worth talking to anyway if shes that stupid. I myself had a shop that had three expensive MP3 players stolen by what looked like romanians from their clothing but id never let that get in the way of meeting someone new. People should take you for what you are, if they dont then they're not worth bothering with!

vannistelrooy10

it depends, if its the romanian gypsies or romanian non gypsies. the gypsies are the violent scroungers who tryed to barge their way into my house assaulted my ma until they saw me with my louisville slugger and legged it, they are scum the romanians dont even want them..... ........... ****ing waste of a embryo never mind oxygen

Draupnir

My opinion is that you are bad at penalties. Other than that, I have a few Romanian mates and have known about 100 - 150 Romanians over the years through working for the Eastern health Board.

9/10 have been decent people looking to make a life for themselves.

There is always one bad apple and predominantly, I have found them to be Gypsies.

Of course, I know lots of Irish people.

9/10 of those are decent people......