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Paper short abstract

Study of Taiwanese women married to Polish men in Poland. Newer arrivals often manage daily life in English, reducing linguistic stress but reshaping belonging. Polish learning (or not) emerges as a strategic decision of time-investment shaped by work, family, and transnational ties.

Paper long abstract

This study examines how language choices shape belonging among Taiwanese women married to Polish men and residing in Poland. It argues that for more recent arrivals, the pressure to acquire fluent Polish has softened, enabling everyday life to be managed through English and “good-enough” Polish. Rather than treating this only as a pragmatic adaptation, the paper presents the affective stakes: language proficiency becomes a medium for managing comfort and friction in public encounters, workplaces, and family relations, including moments of confidence, fatigue, embarrassment, and relief. In many professional settings, Polish is not required because employment pathways are increasingly oriented toward English-use roles, which can reduce exposure to stressful linguistic situations while also sustaining a sense of partial social distance. Social media and online platforms function as emotional infrastructure, maintaining local and transnational ties that buffer loneliness and provide recognition, yet may also limit deeper immersion in Polish-language social worlds. The findings show that women recalibrate the costs and benefits of language learning in ways that protect well-being and prioritize portable professional skills and English-based networks. Conceptually, the study links intimate migration and mixed marriage to shifting regimes of integration in a globalizing Poland, highlighting how “comfortable distance” becomes a lived form of belonging.