An interesting image of Poles emerges from the notes of foreigners travelling around the territory of the First Republic of Poland – they found many positive features of Poles, such as hospitality or, interestingly, knowledge of foreign languages, but there were also noticeable, among others, violent character and honour-oversensitivity.
In Europe, it was admitted that the Sarmatians adapt perfectly to the customs of other nations, it was written: “A Pole in Paris is a Parisian, while a German will remain German there, an Englishman behaves more English than in London”. Hubert Vautrin believed that in Warsaw they are more Parisian than people are in Paris, and outside the capital city, residents “combine French manners with the brutality of the Scythians and Asian pride”.
Johann Biester, who visited Warsaw at the end of the 18th century, stated that the German language is widely known in the capital and that it is as good as French, and that English and Italian are spoken in many houses.
Polish hospitality was also known abroad, it was known that Poles love social gatherings, they keep their guests at home for months, and more prominent visitors they hand over each other from house to house.