“If you don’t speak Norwegian well, they think you are stupid”: Experiencing and responding to linguistic racism by Polish migrant workers in Norway

Although Poles constitute the largest migration community in Norway, they sometimes remain invisibly present in language policies and practices (Opsahl, 2021). Studies have also shown that Polish migrants tend to be stigmatized (van Riemsdijk, 2013; Sapieżynska, 2022), exploited on economic basis (Rye & Andrzejewska, 2010), and overlooked in integration policies, specifically, language courses, which are aimed at non-EU citizens only (Gmaj, 2018). As language is assumed to be crucial for professional success, the knowledge of Norwegian or lack thereof may include or exclude individuals from professional spaces in Norway (Kraft, 2019). This qualitative study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) adopts an emic perspective and examines how Polish migrants to Norway linguistically navigate the workplace and make sense of their experiences. Guided by the constructs of linguistic racism (Dovchin, 2020; Olszewska, 2022; Tankosić & Dovchin, 2021) and Whiteness (Andersson & Rye, 2023; Fylkesnes et al., 2024; Thomas et al., 2023; van Riemsdijk, 2010), this paper drew upon narrative inquiry (De Fina, 2021) to gain in-depth understandings of participants’ perspectives and stories. Through convenience and purposeful sampling, 22 participants with a wide array of jobs were recruited, each of whom was of Polish background, was employed in Norway, and used Norwegian at work. The data included semi-structured individual and focus group interviews, surveys, and researcher’s reflexive journal. However, interviews played the leading role as “[at] the root of in-depth interviewing is an interest in understanding the lived experience of other people and the meaning they make of that experience” (Seidman, 2013, p. 9) which aligned with the goal of our work. Findings of this study provide nuanced insights into Polish migrants’ linguistic realities in the workplace. Specifically, the study demonstrated: (a) how participants experienced various types of linguistic racism and (b) how participants responded by either denying, rationalizing, opposing, and challenging linguistic racism. Results of this study can be helpful in addressing Polish migrants' needs in creating linguistically just workplace settings for Polish migrants by, for example, designing and organizing workshops for Norwegian employers. A better understanding of Polish migrants’ perspectives in Norway may lead to a more inclusive integration and better mutual understanding between Poles and Norwegians.