Racism towards romanians in universities?

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Reply 20

The_Internet

Original post by wildrover

It's not racist to be against open door immigration.

What on Earth has that got to do with any thing I said?

Reply 21

Swanbow

Don't worry OP, in my experience Romanians and Bulgarians are treated the exact same as other students from the EU :smile:

Aside from a drunken idiot accusing you of stealing jobs you won't come across much racism.

Reply 22

lNurl

I don't discriminate against anyone, but tbh I hated Romanians in my class/department because they messed up my language class. I thought it was extremely disrespectful of them. I always wanted to do Spanish, but never had class or new how say "hi". In our uni u can do any language from extreme beginner lever to pro level, so I registered in to beginner where you have to sign in that you don't know anything about the chosen language. 90% of the class were Romanians! and guess what Spanish and Romanian is extremely similar, and Romanian people were grown up watching Spanish movies in Spanish!

Tutor just went though the topics once and very briefly (I can understand her, when you ask "is it clear" :90% says yes, and jokes with you in Spanish). I was refused one to one class.
Next year these students were doing level 5 Spanish, haha, how it's even possible in 6 month to improve from beginner to almost pro level.

In general I wouldn't ignore, disrespect them, It was just my uni story about the Romanians, so you won't do the same ^_^

Reply 23

SaFa1237

Original post by de_monies

You're international?

Nope, but loads of people I've met are and some of the friends I've made, moved here when they were young. So naturally, I ask them how to swear in their language. :tongue:

Reply 24

AdampskiB

I've only ever met one person in my life who has said anything negative about Romanians, and I confident I could say I've met a fair few people. You'll be fine.

Reply 25

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Gabriela8

I recently started researching in depth the problem of british discrimination towards romanians and bulgarians, including reading posts on TSR. I noticed that people's opinions are much more mean and purely racist than I ever expected, a lot of them not knowing the difference between gypsies and Romanians or, even worse, generalising based on some examples of Romanians who've moved to the UK to pickpocket or benefit off the well maped British system. As a Romanian highshool student planning to go to uni in England starting 2014, it's really worrying for me, since I fear I will be left out or viewed badly just because of the bad reputation Romanians have. I am very sociable and a nice person and proud of my nationality. Will I encounter such problems? Are British aged 18-23 more accepting and do they welcome people of other nationalities? Thanks! :smile:

P.S. I mentioned British aged 18-23 because that's the predominant age in unis, but I'm also interested in older people's opinion and views.

Posted from TSR Mobile

The Romanians I've met and chatted with have been lovely.

How did you research views about Romanians in this country? A lot of news stories and public statements are connected to virulent campaigns in the Daily Mail and Daily Express (somewhat supported by other sections of the media) that have a long-running hostility towards inward migration of all kinds. These powerful media voices tend to obscure more reasoned responses from ordinary people and those who are not reflex-haters of immigrants.

The right wing press do seem to be deliberately conflating Roma (eg, 'gypsy') immigration with Romanian immigration generally - they are raising the fear of gypsies as a hot button issue and using it to throw dirt at the EU and immigration policy generally.

People in the UK have experienced a large inward migration from E. Europe during the last 10 years and this does concern many people, in particular, it causes a strain on public services and during a recession and government austerity, this makes it worse but is also seen as an easy target for right-wing extreme parties like Ukip to win votes by playing the immigration card. Their real agenda is anti-EU, but that wasn't winning them many votes, so they have shifted ground to immigration.

Britain is generally very good at absorbing migrants, but the population is rising sharply, so there is also a genuine concern about the ability of a crowded and recession-hit island to cope. These concerns are of course widespread in W. Europe and not just here.

Most people can distinguish between these political and social concerns and the way they treat individuals who have come here from E. Europe for economic reasons, such as work and study.

Reply 26

vasaftei

You shouldn't have any problems at all. I'm Romanian myself and I get along just fine in university; fair enough I've been here since I was a kid, but people in university really don't seem to push their prejudices on me. So long as you're sociable and friendly, like you said, everything will be just fine. In fact, the majority of people you will come across are pretty open minded and know better than to solely rely on what the media says.

Best of luck! :biggrin:

Reply 27

The_Internet

Original post by SaFa1237

Nope, but loads of people I've met are and some of the friends I've made, moved here when they were young. So naturally, I ask them how to swear in their language. :tongue:

Ah fair enough. Funny how I've rarely been asked to swear (not Intl but then again my Punjabi is pretty bad :tongue:

)

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 28

Naiad

Original post by Gabriela8

snipped

Hi, I'm a Romanian girl who's currently studying at a University in the UK. If you want to discuss this or ask anything, just PM me.

P.S.: Buna!

Reply 29

Ornlu

Out of interest, not that I mean to highjack the thread, but how many of ye TSRians know the difference between the Romanians and the Romani (gypsies)?

Reply 30

A Mysterious Lord

Original post by Ornlu

Out of interest, not that I mean to highjack the thread, but how many of ye TSRians know the difference between the Romanians and the Romani (gypsies)?

I'd have thought anyone with an IQ of more than 10 would know.

Reply 31

Ornlu

Original post by A Mysterious Lord

I'd have thought anyone with an IQ of more than 10 would know.

You'd think that but most people think Romanians are the same as the gypsy folk... Unless most people have an IQ of 10 or under :eek:

Reply 32

pmc:producer

Original post by Gabriela8

P.S. I mentioned British aged 18-23 because that's the predominant age in unis, but I'm also interested in older people's opinion and views.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Play your tiny violin elsewhere please.

Reply 33

mimi112

english people are white. just as the vast majority of romanians are (except roma gypsies that originated from india). therefore it cannot be racism. does not compute. the most you can claim is xenophobia.

Reply 34

pmc:producer

Original post by Fullofsurprises

How did you research views about Romanians in this country?

That's exactly it - she didn't. She read posts on TSR. Hardly an 'in-depth research project'.

Perhaps when you was researching she sutmbled across articles like this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9896121/Up-to-one-in-three-Romanians-arrested-figures-show.html showing 30,000 of the 68,000 Romanian's already here have been arrested.

That way she'd have a reason as to why some people were apprehensive about opening our doors to them - which is a mile away from being racist towards them.

Then again, maybe I'm 'xenophobic' for pointing these black and white statistics out.

To the OP: If you're a nice person, you'll be treated accordingly. It really is as simple as that. You won't be heckled walking down the street, you won't be refused a seat on the bus for being Romanian and you won't feel singled out because of your nationality. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that most people will struggle to even pick a Romanian out - most of the big cities are as multi-cultural as they come. You'll blend in just fine.

Reply 35

A Mysterious Lord

Original post by Ornlu

You'd think that but most people think Romanians are the same as the gypsy folk... Unless most people have an IQ of 10 or under :eek:

The best selling newspapers are the Sun and the Daily Mail.

Reply 36

Gabriela8

Original post by pmc:producer

Play your tiny violin elsewhere please.

Sorry, I don't know what you're trying to say :smile:

Reply 37

Gabriela8

Original post by pmc:producer

I said "including reading posts on TSR". I didn't say that's all I did. I read various articles from various newspapers on the subject, but I also read multiple post on TSR and not only here, because that's where people actually express their opinions and thoughts. A newspaper article says something in general and I don't like to generalise, that's why I raised this question on TSR.
I do understand your worries about opening our doors to us and I agree with you to a certain point, but I am not talking about people who are afraid of exactly that, I am talking about people who say thing like Romanians are not welcome here, they are all burglars and murderers.