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I received a message in English \u2014 brief, specific, a little stiff. A question about a website. The tone suggested the sender wasn’t a native English speaker, but not clumsy enough for it to be obvious. I replied \u2014 also in English. After a few more emails, something started to feel off. And then \u2014 in the third message \u2014 I spotted the footer:<\/p>\n
Best regards, Jan Kowalski<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I smiled to myself. It wasn\u2019t deliberate. Most likely, he was using a different mailbox, with a default signature set back in Poland. But for me, it was a clear signal.<\/p>\n
One Sentence Was Enough<\/h2>\n
So in my next email, I wrote in English again, but started with:<\/p>\n
Just out of curiosity \u2014 do you speak Polish?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The reply came almost instantly \u2014 all in Polish, filled with visible relief and amusement. Turned out Jan had only recently moved to the UK and was starting his own business. A British friend had recommended me, so naturally he assumed he had to write in English. He didn\u2019t know he had contacted a fellow Pole.<\/p>\n
I know that feeling all too well.<\/strong> I started the same way. I also carefully weighed every word. Not because I didn\u2019t know the language, but because in emigration, everything you say or write is your business card<\/strong>. You want to come across as professional. To give no reason for judgment.<\/p>\n
A Shared Language Is More Than Just Words<\/h2>\n
From that message on, the conversation changed completely. No more tension, uncertainty, or overly cautious sentences. There was laughter, a sense of connection, and above all: trust.<\/p>\n
The website I was building was for an English client.<\/strong> But the project was shaped by two people who both understood what it means to start over. In a new country. With a new language. But with the same story behind them.<\/p>\n
Because sometimes all it takes is a footer to realise you\u2019re not alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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It All Started Quite Ordinarily I received a message in English \u2014 brief, specific, a little stiff. A question about a website. The tone suggested the sender wasn’t a native English speaker, but not clumsy enough for it to be obvious. I replied \u2014 also in English. After a few more emails, something started to feel off. And then \u2014 in the third message \u2014 I spotted the footer: Best regards, Jan Kowalski I smiled to myself. It wasn\u2019t deliberate. Most likely, he was using a different mailbox, with a default signature set back in Poland. But for me, it was a clear signal. One Sentence Was Enough So in my next email, I wrote in English again, but started with: Just out of curiosity \u2014 do you speak Polish? The reply came almost instantly \u2014 all in Polish, filled with visible relief and amusement. Turned out Jan had only recently moved to the UK and was starting his own business. A British friend had recommended me, so naturally he assumed he had to write in English. He didn\u2019t know he had contacted a fellow Pole. I know that feeling all too well. I started the same way. I also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawelopitek.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}