Language / "nothing special" [13]

In English sometimes we respond to the question 'What's up?'/'What's new?' with the stock phrase 'Same old, same old.' In Polish, this would be roughly: 'No, co nowego?' - 'Wszystko po staremu.' = So, what's up? - Nothing new. (lit. "all as in the old way", or something like that!)

'Nothing special' as a polite answer to such a routine inquiry might also be 'Tak sobie.' Depends, as always, on the context-:)

Language / Verb forms and conjugation [28]

McBubbles is right, of course. In theory, sitting (standing-:) LOL) learning how to conjugate verb patterns can be a bloody waste of time at the very outset. Surely it's important, but only after the basic communicative intercourse is more or less in place. Being able to rattle off 'ciąć - tnę, tniesz, tne etc. ad infintium' hardly presupposes that you can just as blithely walk into some random eatery smack in the middle of Poland and comfortably order a meal without both the wait staff and you lookin' at one another as though you both have two heads!!!

Best at first to focus on speaking (as organic a method as possible, considering that learning a seocnd language is supposed to mirror learning one's mother tongue, no?), allowing for correction from a decent native speaker followed by more of the same. Later, easy reading on the level of a Polish child, i.e. simple stories etc. Later still, writing, much as in the learner's first language.

Worst thing one can do when acquiring a language in adulthood, is to put the cart before the horse and get so hoeplessly confused that the mistakes become near impossible to unlearn. Take it from me!

Życzę wam powodzenia,

Language / Verb forms and conjugation [28]

Spanish and Italian have their extreme challenges too, believe me!
I studied Spanish long before travelling to Spain on business and even after two months in Madrid, Barcelona and half a dozen other cities, I found my Spanish had improved only negligibly. There are all those irregular verb tenses, the two forms of 'to be' (ser/estar), the confounding idioms as well as the phonetic confusion between 'v' vs.'b' in pronunciation.

No picknick, I can assure you.

Incidentally, as a German speaker, I feel I am a relative intermediate in Polish. Were the tables turned, however, I hardly think I could've mastered English as a foreigner quite so easily.

Language / Verb forms and conjugation [28]

Actually, it doesn't state it directly, I merely surmised from studying the various patterns that I counted somewhere in the neighborhood of nine-:) LOL

Perhaps there are even more.

Language / Verb forms and conjugation [28]

There, you see. I haven't 'opanowałem' or even 'władałem' less than half of them-:)-:)!!!! LOL

Polonia / Polish people don't like clubs in Holland :D [15]

'Anglo pop'....

'Brit pop'/'rock', you mean. Wonder if Joss Stone's at all popular any longer. At twenty-something, she's already a little 'old'. Time to retire there, lady!--:)-:)

News / Will Poles fight with pride alongside The Gay Army? [22]

.......well, not if Messrs, Kaczyński have anything to say about the matter.
Just prying open Poland's national purse under the Tusk regime in order to compensate deserving victims of Nazi aggression with former properties absconded with by the Communists, both abroad as well as in Poland itself, is proving too daunting a task. A gay army now??

Good luck, guys!!!

Language / Verb forms and conjugation [28]

According to '301 Polish Verbs': 'siedzIEć','czytAć', 'myślEć', 'iŚć', 'byWać', 'usiĄć',
'znaleZC', 'przedstaWIć' and 'żYć' as template conjugation patterns. That makes,
according to the authors, nine different forms!-:) LOL

I consider myself fortunate if I've "mastered" (władzałem) only several of them, much less the entire lot. A Herculean, indeed almost Sisyphusean, labour, so it would appear.

Language / Sayings in English that seem odd in Polish? [22]

Preferrably a 'piece', and not 'a piss' of cake.-:) LOL

At least Hungarians don't have the same burden of comical pronunciations because of long vs. short vowels (for that matter consonant quality) as do our Spanish-speaking neighbors. Recently, I was asked in class about the meaning of the famous 'Gothic bowel movement'. Thought I would crack up with laughter, which luckily, I managed to surpress.

Language / Sayings in English that seem odd in Polish? [22]

I meant 'siedziEć na szpilkach' -:)

UK, Ireland / WHY DO POLISH PEOPLE THAT COME TO ENGLAND CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH? [118]

"English is the 2nd language in Poland......"

Marek, basic arithmetic is the 1st school subject throughout the world, does this mean we're all great or even good, much less very good, in math??

If you don't use it, you'll lose it and if you never needed to use it why would you?
I'm constantly baffled by this conundrum as well with people's reactions to it. Is it really the speaker percentage which determines a foreign speaker's proficiency in that language? Polish is spoken by a much smaller number of people relative to the size of the country than English which stretches across several continents. By the latter definition, foreigners who learn to speak English should be not only fluent, but perfect in English. This though is hardly the case.

The foreigners whom I've encountered who've taken the time to master Polish speak it FAR better than even the most gifted Poles who've done their level best to master English. And the reason? Simple. People expect less from non-natives speaking English because our standards, at least here in the States, are so low. Polish, Russian or German, on the other hand have the reputation of being 'difficult', indeed 'demanding' languages. Therefore more is expected of those who learn it as the standards for those languages respectively in Poland, Germany and Russia, are so high.

Language / Sayings in English that seem odd in Polish? [22]

Sitting on pins and needles = Siedzic na szpilkach (the Polish has eliminated the needles and kept only the pins -:) Compare Yiddish-English: I'm sitting on shpilkes.

Polonia / What are the similarities/differences to life in Brazil versus Poland? [14]

For the 'non-obvious' ones, I'd need to have experienced Brazil as closely as Poland.-:)

Sorry I wasn't able to oblige!

Language / Use of ze and z [25]

thanx -:)

In English though, a book 'from' you doesn't mean the same thing as 'by' you. Also, Polish may not distinguish between 'of ', 'by' and 'from' as we do in English. But then again, perhaps it does, hey, I'm only a foreigner-:). In German, it's similar, leading to errors when, for example, Germans ask, 'Please, this book is of you?', even, 'This book is from Goethe.' instead of the correct 'by' in both sentences in English, whereas German uses only 'von' to indicate both meanings.

Confusing sometimes. LOL

Language / Use of ze and z [25]

Dobrze. Dziękuję -:)

....figure then that '.....książkę od ciebie' would mean '.....the book by you, i.e. 'your book' meaning 'the book you wrote', correct?

Language / Use of ze and z [25]

In a sentence like 'Zabrałem twoją książkę z tobie.', I guess the translation with 'z' (or perhaps 'od' + 'ciebie??) would be 'I took your book (from you.)-:)

Assistance here, proszę!!

Polonia / What are the similarities/differences to life in Brazil versus Poland? [14]

I've been to Poland myself as well, also as a tourist (really, day tourist LOL) and, although never having set foot in Brazil, can only imagine that the sheer size and climate are severe differences enough! From the point of view of cultural differences, I'd imagine one'd find many more Brasilieiros on the streets of Sao Paolo who speak fluent English than Poles on the streets of Warsaw.

Perhaps I'm mistaken, as usual-:)

Language / Genitive case ("nie ma nic" vs "nie ma niczego") [71]

Dziękuję, Cinku :)-:)!!!!!

Language / Genitive case ("nie ma nic" vs "nie ma niczego") [71]

Whoopidaisy!!!! -:)-:) LOL

By gracious, you're right!

Dzieki, benszymańsku! (I was fooled by the lack of endings in the latter)

Language / Genitive case ("nie ma nic" vs "nie ma niczego") [71]

Sometimes genitive can be used in a negation, whereas the same statement is nominative in the affirmative: "Czy masz czas?" - Tak, mam./Tak, mam czas. vs.

"Czy masz czas?" - Nie, nie mam czasu.

or: "Czy Marek jest w domu?" - Nie, niego (gen.) nie ma. vs. Tak, on (nom.) jest w domu.

"Czy Państwo Kowalscy są w domu? - Nie, nich nie ma. etc. vs. Tak, oni są w domu.

Language / Two verbs: to clean - some examples of usage... [6]

Dzięki, Dariuszu!! :)

When I was first learning, I used to often confuse verbs with similar-looking infiniritives, yet completely different roots, and therefore, meanings, i.e.:

prać = to clean
pracować = to work

bać się = to fear
bawić się = to amuse oneself etc.
etc......

My error! The sentence should read correctly: 'Proszę oczyśćić (not: 'obczyśćić!) buty!' -:) LOL

Apologies,

Language / Two verbs: to clean - some examples of usage... [6]

When I was in Poland, the 'gospodynia', or 'lady of the house', i.e. landlady in this case, always requested of us guests when entering her tiny apartment: 'Proszę,obczyścić buty!!' = Please, clean off (in the sense of 'wipe off') your shoes!!

Furthermore, 'to dry clean', I believe is 'prać', if memory serves me right:)

News / First rabbis since WW2 ordained in Warsaw [4]

Indeed, I find myself agreeing. I'm Jewish myself and I was always told "Poland is now a graveyard for the Jews!"

As other posters here are aware, I've been to Poland and felt zero hostility on the part of anyone, even when I told them I was Jewish. My name is not at all Jewish and as far as my appearance? There are dark Poles, there are fair-haired Spaniards:)-:)

Ironically, the Jews of Poland, especially the former Soviet Union, were all flocking to Germany following reunification.
Go and figure.

Polonia / Polish people don't like clubs in Holland :D [15]

I then would, once more, recommend any of the above places I mentioned:)

A reverse question for you now. Where in Holland, i.e. the Netherlands, do most Polish tourists/visitors tend to go?

When I was a tourist in Holland, for whatever it's worth, I enjoyed Alkamaar, Amsterdam and ?, forgot the name of another small town nearby :)

Ik houde van deze deftige oude burgerhuizen langs de grachten in Amsterdam. Geweldig!!

The architecture I found similar to parts of Poland, e.g. Danzig/Gdańsk.

Polonia / Polish people don't like clubs in Holland :D [15]

Although I'm not Polish either, I'd say that Kraków, Częstochowa (The Black Madonna Shrine) and the Tatry region near Zakopane are probably the most worth seeing.

Ik weet maar niet, of je al Pools kan. 'T is toch anders dan in Nederland, waar bijna ieder meestal goed Engels spreekt:) In Polen is 't heelemaal mogelijk, dat geen mens op straat zelfs in ziekenhuizen, bij de politie enz., zoals op het platte land, Engels spreekt.

In the larger towns though, language shouldn't be much of a problem for you. Some older people even speak respectable German (...though not willingly)!

It depends wholly on your interests as a tourist/vacationer or more serious visitor.

Polonia / Polish people don't like clubs in Holland :D [15]

In Poland. I figure Dutch know pretty much where they liking going in their own country :)

Polonia / Polish people don't like clubs in Holland :D [15]

Whereto then? :)

Polonia / Polish people don't like clubs in Holland :D [15]

Do the Dutch like to visit Poland?? Just curious :)

Language / Polish Onomateopia [26]

For whatever it's worth 'kiełbasa' is used here in the States generically for a type of Polish sausage. In Polish, 'kiełbasa' is the word for 'sausage', rather than a specific variety, among them 'wędliny' etc.

On a coffee shop menu recently I saw 'Polish kielbasy', as though there is any other kind, except the Polish sort :) Rather much like saying 'German wurst' or something of this nature.

News / What does Poland mean to you? [66]

Young Poles seem fairly trendy and sophisticated. Many even know English quite well for foreigners. Yet still a rather polarized country, so it appears to me; there's the upper-middle class who send their kids to the UK or France and return speaking excellent British English or French. And then there's everybody else; those from the less advantaged countryside with rural manners and practically zero knowledge of foreign languages.

An accurate assessment, don't you agree?