Interest in where you live

pgj2015

If you lived in another Country at any time, did you take any interest in what was going on in that Country?

I never have lived in a foreign country, so im curious about it because I meet lots of people from other Countries in Ireland who have zero idea what is going on here, they have no idea who the president is, anything to do with Irish sport, politics, history or just general news of the country.

one of my customers who has lived in Ireland for 30 years still buys the English papers and has no idea what is going on in Ireland, I slag her about buying the English papers and she said she knows it is ridiculous really.

Are Irish people as bad? like say all the Irish in Australia, do they care about what is happening in Australia? And if not, is it just because they are living in another country or would they be as clueless if still living in Ireland?

when im on holidays in other countries I notice things like in Italy this year I saw a huge advert on a building for some concert, I asked about it, it was some huge Italian rapper that I never heard of, so on my first day I found out something about that country but I have a feeling some people couldnt care less what is happening in the country they are living, its really strange.

Jim_Hodge

Some will and some won't. Some Irish people have little or no idea what's going on in Ireland and some non-Irish are well clued in. I don't think you can pigeonhole people one way or the other.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569532#Comment_122569532

im not so sure, I meet lots of people every day through my job, have done the last 8 years, and I have met about 2 foreigners who are clued in as to what is going on in Ireland. most seem to live in their own little bubble. maybe they are too occupied with just surviving, maybe the Irish were the same in the UK in times gone by?

steinbock123

I know a Polish girl here about 15 years. She still has very poor English, heavily accented and hard enough to understand, it’s ok if she speaks slowly though.
She watches Polish TV exclusively and reads Polish newspapers and magazines and NO Irish or English publications.

I’ve told her to watch either Irish or British tv and films to improve her language skills, but she just couldn’t be arsed as she says that she gets by ok, which she does I suppose.

Jim_Hodge

We'll agree to differ then. There are quite a few foreigners (I hate using that term when they're so much part of the community) involved in local activities here from athletics clubs, GAA, and book clubs to various community events and tidy towns. There's a whole host of Irish in the area who know nothing about what's going on around them every day.

Your experience is obviously different. So be it.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569566#Comment_122569566

Good to hear because I never really see it. its worse Irish people who have zero idea what is going on in Ireland, the same people let on to be proud to be Irish but wouldnt even know who the Taoiseach is.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058367167/interest-in-where-you-live

The editions of English newspapers sold in Ireland have lots of Irish coverage. Sunday Times 01 September. Front page main story "Sinn Fein vows to rip up system for housebuilding". The Business section main story is about properties in India connected to Sean Quinn. The Sports section has two pages about hurling, Galway county, and Ballygunner club.

Did you ever make remarks to Irish customers about why they buy the Sun or the Mirror?

I worked almost beside a national monument at one stage, there were people working with me who never noticed we were beside a national monuments unless it was pointed out to them.

Some people live in a bubble and have no interest in anything outside themselves.

magicbastarder

An English colleague who came to Ireland once a month used to comment that the Irish he dealt with here were better informed about British politics than his colleagues back home. To be fair, it was probably not a representative slice of the population he was dealing with here.

TranquilMind

There may be reasons why people live in a bubble. Non-nationals may not feel like they belong or as they say in sociology are not part of the ‘in-group’. It may even be they feel a need to ‘cushion’ themselves from unfriendliness or worse. It may help to go gently and not assume a lack of interest.

Having lived abroad half of my life, it was always important to feel accepted for myself and not have to fit in to what others thought I should think or do. Then I could feel interested in the culture/history of each country. But first feeling safe with the immediate inter-personal relations with those around me was crucial.

kowloonkev

I don't really see why it matters as long as they're happy.

I would say the people to be worried about are those people who never stop talking about politics but do f all about it.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569620#Comment_122569620

Just one of them, we are friends, she just said she likes to see what is happening in England and from talking to her, she doesnt know what is happening in Ireland.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569717#Comment_122569717

Id say the best thing to do would be show interest first, then you will be accepted more easily.

dxhound2005

Not surprising when she has come from a culture of ignorance. This was a few years back, probably worse these days:

"More concerning, 57 per cent 'do not know' what a general election is, while 59 per cent were unable to name the current Prime Minister."

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569557#Comment_122569557

Well she will only ever be a cleaner or other low level job that doesn't require a decent level of English. If she's happy with that you go girl.

Oscar_Madison

There are plenty of Irish people who haven’t a clue about Irish history, culture or current affairs.

In my own experience, people from abroad living and working in Ireland are a mixed bag in terms of what they know of Ireland or to what degree they wish to integrate. If you’re interested in meeting new people, getting involved in sports and activities, then you’ll likely be the sort of person who will have a reasonable knowledge of the country you’re living in.

But if you exclusively live with and socialise with people from your own country, which does happen a lot, the tendency is for those people to be more insular.

I know a number of people living abroad in Spain- some are simply essentially long term tourists even though they own their own apartment - they socialise exclusively with a small number of Irish and effectively keep themselves to themselves.

Another family are totally integrated into the fabric of Spanish society .

I’m trying to think what I’d do if I were abroad fulltime - my first priority would be learn the language if different to my own. Second would be get involved in some local group or social outlet- be it sport or something else. I’d hate to be hanging around with purely Irish people or English speaking non nationals of that country.

Floppybits

I have lived in a couple of countries UK, France and Switzerland and I wasn't interested in the politics, yes I could tell you who the leaders were and I would be interested around budget time to see if there would be any impact on you but that would be it. In the UK you would be paying attention for increases in council tax but I couldn't tell you who the MP's were in the area that I lived or anything like that.

The way I looked at it was that I was visitor to the country, I wasn't setting down roots or anything but I did keep up with what was going on in Ireland well because this was home and I knew that I would be coming home. Even though I enjoyed living in those countries I didn't get involved because I knew I would leaving. Also people may not have a vote in the country so therefore don't really care about who is in government but do care about the impact on their pocket and that can decide if they stay or go.

Maybe this is the same attitude foreign people living here have, they are here to work, probably save up (how I don't know) but try not get to involved because they are going to return home. Now that changes if they end up staying and settling down then people get more involved in what is going on and when kids come along and they want to join clubs and then you just get sucked in.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569775#Comment_122569775

I agree. id be the same if I lived abroad, I think it would be my number 1 priority to live as if I was from that country.

it seems a bit disrespectful to have no idea about the country you are living in.

lazeedaisy

I've always immersed myself in the culture where I lived, but as I get older, it's more difficult to get to learn languages.

It's hard enough for us all to learn languages and we here in Ireland were born lucky speaking English, don't get into an Irish English war on this, I'm only saying how easy it is to travel with English.

We don't know what's going on with non nationals living here and I can imagine the culture shock is enough. So non of us con comment on anyone else's situation. Let's give her a pat on the back for moving, not a knock back, it must be difficult for you with your high earnings well paid job high on your moral high horse.

For the record some people class a cleaner job as an honest hard working job. And I though we'd moved on from calling women Gurls 🙄

thomil

I hope you don’t mind an actual “foreigner” chiming in here 😉

I think it’s important to differentiate as to why people came here in the first place. When I moved here in 2012, it was already pretty clear for me that Ireland would be a “one-way trip” for me. I’d never felt too comfortable in the part of Germany where I’d ended up, so an offer from Apple was just what I’d been looking for.

However, I was pretty much in the minority of my training class at Apple. A lot of the people who’d joined the company with me only planned to stay at Apple for a year or two to get the name into their resumé before heading back to France or Germany. It was the same at VMware, there were quite a few foreign nationals there who only planned to stay in Ireland for a few years.

If someone’s goal is to only stay in a place for a limited amount of time, I guess it makes sense to not get overly involved in local affairs, as your focal point in life will change after a certain amount of time, and being able to slot back into your original life might be a bigger priority. I will agree that someone who’s going to move into a place long-term should start being engaged in their local community, though I found this to be not too easy. There is a certain feeling that the locals like to keep foreigners at arm’s length, basically the only people I regularly socialise with are my work colleagues.

Plus, when it comes to politics here in this country, there’s not enough alcohol in all of Ireland that would make that particular aspect bearable…

Hamachi

I lived in Germany for a decade. I was pretty clued into the society around me. Read a newspaper every day, followed the politics and understood the nuances of the various parties and researched the history of the country. It helped that I worked with mostly German colleagues, had a few German girlfriends, and was deeply involved with a sport there, so could talk to the locals and ask questions.

OP, here in Ireland, my experience is similar to yours. I work in a very international company. Most of the internationals know little about Ireland, have few, if any Irish connections outside work, and really just see the country as a place to work and earn money. It doesn’t bother me either way, but I certainly wouldn’t be investing time in getting to know people with that mindset.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122569811#Comment_122569811

Thanks for the input. just on trying to integrate, I noticed from my 5 a side group, id say a good 40% of the guys who play are from other countries. so sport is probably a good way to try to integrate if sport is your thing.

dxhound2005

I live near the border with the UK, on the southern side. A very strange lot up/down there. Some families have been there for hundreds of years and never integrated with their host community.

faceman

I've lived in 2 foreign countries and in both cases I was very interested in what was going on in the news and educated myself on things. But I seem to be in the minority.

Nowadays I live between Ireland and Spain. I have a subscription to regional Spanish newspaper to keep up on thing. But from my experience Irish and British people outside their home country tend to take no interest to the point of ignorance.

The wave of Irish people moving to Dubai and posting a fake af bling lifestyle being an example.

Jonathan2712

I've been living in Ireland for about seven years now, and would consider myself fairly well informed in terms of politics and general current affiars. I have absolutely zero interest in GAA, but then again I had zero interest in British sport when I lived there. I still listen to UK radio in the car but as I lived there for 35 years, it makes sense that I would enjoy keeping a link.

On a side note, and this isn't directed at the OP. It can't come as a huge surprise when 'foreigners' don't fully assimilate to Irish culture, when a huge amount of current Irish culture seems to focus on trying to make 'foreigners' feel unwelcome.

Hamachi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122572644#Comment_122572644

That’s a pretty sweeping statement. What are these huge amounts of Irish culture focused on making foreigners feel unwelcome?

Whatever these measures are, they’re clearly not working given record net migration levels..

kowloonkev

Having lived in 5 different countries I'd be very reluctant to get involved or immerse myself whatever that means. Just don't get involved in politics or learn the language and you will be accepted - may not be the case in European countries or cultures similar to Ireland. As soon as they think you know the language they are wary and back off. They'll not appreciate you discussing politics unless they bring it up, and even then don't give your real opinion.

Fill your boots with the food and customs and all that malarkey. If you finish off a plate of their local pie or whatever they'll love you forever. If you converse with them in their local dialect they won't come near you again.

Irish people generally make better guests than hosts I would say.

89897

Having lived abroad in a non english speaking country, I learned enough of the language to get around, shop, eat and did get involved in local customs to an extent but its not always that easy. I didnt watch or read newspapers mostly cause I couldnt but did still follow irish news.

I knew I wasnt there long term however so maybe if I had planned on putting down roots I may have. I did however work with other forigners from several countries that bearly learned to say hello and thanks etc so I guess its a mixed bag.

cj maxx

The only place I’ve lived is the US and there for 911 so was fairly well up on politics there at the time

Donald Trump

Sure I take a great interest in Ireland and I've only gone there a few times to check out me golf course.

volchitsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058367167/interest-in-where-you-live

I've lived abroad, and it varies. One thing you need to remember is that people don't like other people "criticising" their country, they get quite defensive, even when it's not meant harshly. That can lead to being told (as I have been) that "how we do things back home" is not relevant. And they were right. It isn't really.

Because there's a whole pile of back history that leads to people doing things in one way in one country, and when you don't know all that, it will seem strange to you and you will come across as unfairly critical. Even when you're saying something that locals can say easily.

But when you really get to know the country (if you're interested in politics and history etc anyway - which some people aren't, even in their own country) you start to see why. Sometimes you see that it's how it is in your own country that is unusual/not ideal.

One example in Ireland would be the over-protection (IMO) of the right to personal property. I know why that came about, but a foreigner won't. So they don't get why there are so few open walking areas, or why access to the beaches is not always possible. Along most of the Atlantic coast in France (some parts were marshland so weren't included) there's a footpath that goes along the coast and houses built on the coast are forbidden from blocking access to that path. For example:

https://blog.trip-my-france.com/2020/09/23/the-gr34-in-brittany-hiking-the-waves-on-the-customs-trail/

Such a shame we don't really have an equivalent in Ireland. Much of the coastal road in Ireland is so busy that it's a nightmare to hike on. The Wild Atlantic Way is an attempt to fix that, but it's nothing like an actual footpath for miles and miles.

Another reason people may stay out of politics is that it depends on where they came from. Even Poland doesn't have a long history of welcoming democratic debate, so a Polish person might feel they should just stay out of it. As for an English person expressing an opinion on Irish politics, well I'd expect that would go down like a ton of bricks.

NIMAN

Forget about foreign countries, having lived there or not, I know a few people who seem to take no interest in any news at all, even from home.

The number of times you'd say something to them about a major news story and they'd say, "what's that now, never heard that", despite it having been on the news for days.

pgj2015

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122577532#Comment_122577532

Just on that, I was chatting a nice foreign lady lately who said we shouldn't focus on reviving the Irish language and more or less should let it die off, I was way more offended by a foreign person saying such a thing.

volchitsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122579601#Comment_122579601

Yes I think I would be shocked too, but thinking about it, she bears zero responsibility for the state of the Irish language - that's on all of us. So maybe she's just not being hypocritical about it?

I've zero interest in the place I live, I couldn't tell you who the mayor is. I hate living here but unfortunately can't do much to get out of the place as I don't have the means to financially so it's a rock and a hard place and at least here I have a roof over my head. I did leave when I was in my early twenties but due to family circumstances had to come back. I wish I could leave again and I know I'd never return.

Strumms

In France I lived in a very historical area, loved learning about it, visiting and touring the various sites, museums, parks and places and buildings of cultural and historical significance…not because I felt I had some kind of moral or social obligation I just love that stuff, an Irish person I worked with there wasn’t bothered. I’d ask what they did at the weekend and “cinema, TV, shopping, exercising”…always found it weird. I loved that lots of the city it had been preserved with care from the Romans time, WWII and the ancient was accessible to everyone .

There is a lot of rich history in the area of Dublin I’m in now, just no physical signs or remnants, a particular beautiful and historic house and demesne was bulldozed nearby to accommodate a residential development in the 1960’s…. You look at photos of it back then and there should 10000% been a preservation order, you’d expect a few brown envelopes changed hands by the looks of things.

Thelonious Monk

I've only ever lived in other anglophone countries so found it very easy to get involved with people and things going on there. It's way harder when there's a language and cultural barrier though.

thereiver

I have no interest in sport or trad Irish music I think Irish food is very basic .I can't watch tg4 unless it's a program in English .

Most programs on rte or tv3 are UK or USA comedy dramas. I only watch a few Irish programs like google box Ireland .

Theres 2 Irish writers I would read .I like some programs on newstalk rte radio .

I don't expect every person who comes here to be fascinated by Irish culture.

I think Irish pubs are good if you go with friends

Take America for example it's gun obsessed other countries don't have school shootings every month extreme republicans seem to want to go back to 1900 as regards women's rights Anyone can buy a gun or even automatic weapons

Irish politics is boring we end up electing fianna fail or fianna gael

I think Irish people are generally friendly and not racist and easy to talk to

Theres probably gen kids who watch TikTok YouTube American tv films exclusively or play games

I don't know the parts of culture that are designed to exclude foreigners

I listen to BBC 4 or 4 extra radio as they make great podcasts and comedy programs

I think think Ireland is a very open welcoming country if you are just well-mannered and polite

I think there's plenty of places to walk in Ireland

I don't expect everyone to get involved in Irish sport or culture

Most people have access to many tv channels and internet access

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