ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to an account of the history of and the present situation of the Polish diaspora in Norway. Polish presence has grown substantially after the Norwegian labor market became open for EEA-countries’ (The European Economic Area) citizens in 2004, and immigrants from Poland are today the largest group of immigrants in Norway. According to current policies, the citizens of EEA are not entitled to free Norwegian courses, and many of the Poles learn Norwegian on their own. Children born to the Polish parents in Norway attend the Norwegian school system, but they also have the possibility to attend one of Norway’s Polish Saturday schools. Many of the children are bi- or multilingual, but the degree to which they master the heritage language varies. In the second generation of Polish immigrants, there are traces of a visible language shift to Norwegian. In addition, stereotypes may affect Poles’ language attitudes and desire to invest in learning the host language and maintaining the heritage language.
