Feedback / CLOSING THE TRANSLATION THREADS [55]


total joke for those who make them, but for the poor chap who asks the question and doesn't understand a single word of Polish they may seem as serious as anything.


I SO DON'T wanna start arguing with Michal again, but haven't you ever heard of the sworn translators?

Food / Help with baking ingrediants. [18]


sledz, I think valmoe1 is an American living at the present moment in Poland, so your advice isn't helpful :)

You can find in any store with food:
baking soda = soda oczyszczona
baking powder = proszek do pieczenia
(they aren't exactly the same as American, baking powder in Poland may have slightly different ingredients and baking soda probably no additives, but I think they serve the same purpose)

aromat waniliowy - vanilla fragrant oil (liquid)
cukier waniliowy - a mix of sugar and vanilla fragrant (could be vanilla pods or extract, but usually available the cheaper versions use synthetic vanillin)

wanilia - look among spices (powdered vanilla - in small paper bags, a popular producer of spices in Poland is Kamis, but you can buy other, just avoid those really cheap, below 1 złoty), you can also buy whole dried pods (quite expensive, about 10 zł for a pod)

cream of tartar - I can't help you, I have no idea what it is.

Language / Confusion about genitive plural [30]


yes, Maryja (for Virgin Mary) is still used in Church, because that's how it sounded for centuries (also Austryja, partyja and so on) , but now it's considered obsolote, with Maria, Austria, partia etc. taking over. And I have never heard in Poland anyone using the arhcaic forms (except "Maryja" in prayers), I guess those forms ceased to exist in spoken language about 50 years ago.

Language / Polish language learning games [16]


That would be "Nie ma osła"

Language / Confusion about genitive plural [30]


Like Mafketis said, these forms (Marias, chemistries) aren't really used in Plural except some very rare circumstances, so no need to worry about it.

And you'll notice later some nouns (especially those ending in two soft consonants) don't follow exactly the cioć/ulic rule (stem only)
przyjaźń / wiadomość (fiendship / news) - plural: (Nom.) przyjaźnie / wiadomości; (Gen.) przyjaźni (not przyjaźń) / wiadomości (not wiadomość).


I don't know where in Poland you live, but I never heard any difference in the pronounciation of those pairs of words. Not in real life nor in TV. Maybe I'm just deaf (or have hearing impairment).


did you mean 'fotografije'? That probably was an archaic pronounciation (maybe even spelling)

Food / how do i make a hot beer,and what are the herbs they put in the hot beer? [8]

there are probably regional variants of it, so I'm not sure how they serve it in Zakopane, in my area it's simply beer (normal pilsner, yellow not brown), sugar, egg (not sure if whole or only yolks), I'd have to ask my parents, because I prefer my beer bitter and cool), put in a pot, heated on an oven. I haven't seen my folks add any herbs.

Language / Polish language learning games [16]


did you mean "nie jest osłem" (he/she/it is not a donkey)?

Life / Tradition of blessing food in church at Easter in Poland [15]

food baskets for blessing:





Wiki article in Polish:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Święconka
Według badań CBOS (2000) w zwyczaju święcenia pokarmów w Wielką Sobotę uczestniczy 95% obywateli Polski
(According to a 2000 poll, 95% of Polish citizens respect the custom of blessing food on Holy Saturday)
It's just one of those harmless traditions, noone see why s/he would have to abandon it :)
I respect it too, and I haven't been to a church service for 20 years or so (except weddings and funerals)

Wiki article in English: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Święconka

Edit:
Without going into religious considerations, this custom is usually loved by kids (of course most of them want to eat before Easter Sunday, so you just have to keep the basket out of their reach, but they are also introduced to the concept of fasting which is good as a an example of abstaining from certain things, usuful later in life, as you can't get everything you'd like to have), therefore when they grow up, they keep those fond childhood memories.

Just one of the reasons I can think of right now.

Life / HOW CAN POLISH PEOPLE AFFORD IT?? They are said to earn very little..? [43]

Some things have been mentioned here, so I'm sorry for repeating them.

The statistical average figures are rather misleading if you want to understand the problem. You simply have people who earn much for Polish conditions and those people can easily spend big, on the other hand you have people who earn 800 zł (~350 $) a month, those people don't go out to restaurants, don't travel abroad (or at all) for holiday etc.

Other factor (probably not mentioned here) - about 20% of Poland's population are small farmers who don't pay normal income tax, of course they pay something in different forms of indirect taxes (VAT, taxes on oil etc.), but they don't have to make their annual declarations for Urząd Skarbowy (Polish IRS), I'm not sure how they are counted, are they included in the average salary statistics or not?

15-20 years ago, a month of working abroad (picking fruits or some other jobs for non-qualified workers) was worth a year's income in Poland, whoever invested wisely (for example land, real estate) his money earned abroad has now some additional sources of income, sometimes quite big.

Unlike other communist countries, we didn't have much of collective farms, most of the land was in private hands, if you happened to own a small piece of agricultural land close enough to a big city, you could make some big money in the recent years, because for example people from Warsaw buy land and build their houses as far as 20-50 kms from the city.

Size matters :)
The size of the family. Living with your parents longer than a statistical Westerner, gives you a few extra years of saving lots of money. When you finish your university studies you may even have some cash on your account (provided you were working a bit), not a 50,000$ debt (well, maybe I'm completely wrong about that, buyt that's what I understand about student loans in the U.S. for example).

Language / Sit down - mogę usiąć? [6]


it's "za pomoc"
:)
(pomoc - noun
pomóc - verb)

Life / Cool Polish names [133]


but there's Jagna,

Jagna Marczułajtis (snowboarder) and her daughter's name is Jagoda, so 2 Jagusia's?

Food / what kind of sauce should I make for my gołąbki? [63]

ketchup for gołąbki (or pizza) is evil :)

News / The polish Zloty getting stronger versus British pound? [15]


Probably, unless something really unexpected happens.
For example US dollar was equal 3,50 or even 4,00 złoty (once upon a time, in the 90's); then for a longer time around 3,00 zł, now it's about 2,50. It's a firm tendency, despite all the ups and downs in Polish and international economy. And I remember the times when British pound was equal almost 7,00 złoty.

Love / My son is marrying a beautiful Polish girl... [4]

I don't know how the wedding will look like, if it will be more Polish or rather American style, and what her family thinks of it (how they want it to be).

First rule: talk, discuss things, even in Poland the traditions differ from region to region, so you are not expected to know it all, you have to ask the other part and agree things (the sooner the better, it allows a better planning). If you don't feel comfortable asking her parents what you should be responsable for, ask your son to do it in your name.

In your case (the distance between Florida and Washington) noone would be expecting you to actively be in Florida to help (unless you're a retired/unoccupied person with lots of time on your hands :)

In case of a "home-made" wedding the general rules in my area (central Poland) are that the groom (or his parents) pay for:

1/ minister/priest + other church expenses
2/ the band at the wedding
3/ alcohol and soft drinks
(normally for all the guests, but if there's a strong disproportion in the number of guests from both sides, let's say there are only 40 relatives and friends of the groom and about 100 of the bride, in that case you'd pay the double of "your" guests, i.e. for 80 persons, leaving the remaining 60 at the bride's (and her family's) expenses)

If the wedding is organized by a restaurant and you don't have to take care of foods and drinks, just to pay the bills (with a fixed amount per guest) then usually you pay for groom's side guests and they for bride's side guests.

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

and Krzysztof is basically celebrated by everybody on the 25th July, there are maybe 2 more days in the year with my Nameday, but they are virtually unknkown (and rarely given in normal calendars, with 2-3 names per day, only in those extra expanded listing 4-5 names each day)

Language / (part 2) Polish Language Pronunciation - Sample Words and Phrases [311]

ivosoftware.com - did you use this? (some people complain it's speaking a little too quick, but you can try, choose both male and then female voice)

Language / Dokonany/Niedokonany - Perfective/Imperfective [46]

you're asking 2 diffrent questions here :)

rozumieć (imperfective) has the following basic forms (1st person, singular):
Past - rozumiałem
Present - rozumiem
Future - będę rozumieć/rozumiał

while the perfective form (zrozumieć) has the following basic forms (1st person, singular):
Past - zrozumiałem
Present - (none)
Future - zrozumiem

Language / Most commonly used letters in Polish [37]

no, I planned to finally introduce myself in the 1000th post (properly, in English, in the introduction section), but I used this thread instead (with the additional obstacle suggested by osiol)

Language / Most commonly used letters in Polish [37]

I can't say, I was working (I mean my real work) and adding a sentence or two now and then, I guess 30-45 minutes

Language / Most commonly used letters in Polish [37]

For Osiol,
Where is my prize?

Introduction (only two hundred words, sorry, no time for more right now)

Dwieście słów o mnie (mój post numer tysiąc):
Imię moje Krzysztof (Christopher w języku królowej Wiktorii).
Polskie Forum odkryłem w czerwcu ubiegłego roku i stwierdziłem, że jest interesującym miejscem, by dzielić swoje poglądy o tym, co w ojczyźnie pierogów, gołąbków i bigosu dobre i złe, miłe i uciążliwe, oczywiste i niepojęte; gdyż konfrontując swoje myśli z tym, co piszą o tej ziemi życzliwi cudzoziemcy, możemy lepiej zrozumieć, co powinniśmy lub moglibyśmy tu zmienić.

Jestem trzydziestokilkuletnim mężczyzną, urodzonym w środkowej Polsce, gdzie spędziłem większość (dwie trzecie) mych dni, z jedną dłuższą przerwą. Mój pobyt w stolicy Wielkopolski, od roku 1989 (tysiąc dziewięćset osiemdziesiątego dziewiątego) z powodu studiów uniwersyteckich, przedłużył się i w rodzinne strony wróciłem dopiero w nowym stuleciu, czyli obecnym tysiącleciu.

Interesuję się kinem (preferuję filmy włoskie i polskie, lecz nie stronię od innych) i muzyką rozrywkową (głównie rockową, odrobinę dżezem), lubię podróże, chętnie jeżdżę do Włoch (rok temu zwiedziłem Florencję i okolicę słynącą z czerwonych win i oliwek), byłem również w Norwegii, Szwecji, Niemczech, odwiedziłem stolicę Węgier. W lecie tego roku obiorę nowy kierunek: Wiedeń, by wesprzeć drużynę Orłów w boju o mistrzostwo kontynentu (jeśli wylosuję bilety w loterii), bowiem sport jest moim kolejnym hobby. Kibicuję głównie futbolistom, Widzewowi £ódź, i kilku drużynom z innych dyscyplin.

I to już wszystko, chwilowo, bo nie chce mi się więcej męczyć próbując ominąć niezwykle powszechną w języku polskim literę :)

Word count:
I don’t include in the word count the number 1989 in letters, I wrote it only to prove there’s no “forbidden” letter in it (not present in the English text either, just for kicks), I omitted the English words too (Introduction, Christopher).

Language / Most commonly used letters in Polish [37]



coming soon :)

but someone has to post here, I want to make my post # 1000 (and now I have to edit this one, can't post a new one)

Language / Most commonly used letters in Polish [37]

Mr. Osiol,
How many words should this thing count?
A thousand is simply too many :)
Is logic obligatory, a plus or totally insignificant?
Would you put forward any particular topic(s)?
Truthfully yours
Krzysztof

(I waas able to write 34 words in English with no E's, I'm proud)

Life / Daylight Savings Time in Poland [15]

easy to remember:
the whole European Union switches to DST at 1.00 AM UTC (Greenwich time) on the last Sunday of March and back to "normal" time on the last Sunday of October, again at 1.00 AM UTC.

Poland has had DST for many years, but we used to switch back to CET (Central European Time, commonly called "czas zimowy" - winter time) on the last Sunday of September (before 1995) and sometimes even on a movable date (decreted by the government)

Language / Się and Non-Się [6]

reflexive verbs are common in European languages (German, French, Italian, Slavic and of course Latin)
some exist in pairs (refelexive + non-reflexive), but some verbs only have the relxive form.

Food / Feeding of Livestock in Poland [13]

a vegetarian here :)
(but not tempted by meat like previous posters)

Rakky, it will depend on whether you will be served home-made meat (then probably livestock fed in a more natural way) or some meat bought at shops (then probably animals fed like on all mass production farms, unless it's from "organic" production, but then it costs 4-5 times more than the "normal" meat in shops and is usually available in bigger towns with lots of rich people who can afford to pay extra for the quality)

Language / 'Na pole' or 'na dwor' ? [32]


na dwór = direction (to go) - iść na dwór, wyjść na dwór
na dworze = stay (to be) - byłem na dworze, "Mama jest na dworze, zaraz ją zawołam"
na świeżym powietrzu = open air [literally: fresh air] (in opposition to indoor activities) - Lubię wypoczynek na świeżym powietrzu.

Language / 'Na pole' or 'na dwor' ? [32]

you assume correctly, osiol, when I leave my spaceship I always say "idę na dwór" (I'm from central Poland)

News / I love Poland because... (in 10 words or less) [182]

G = Grzegorz

Polonia / Getting Polsat channels outside of Poland. [7]


actually Polsat and TVP 1/2 are two different broadcasters

eastern Germany (close to the border) - you can probably receive terrestrial signal from Poland (TVP 1, TVP 2; Polsat; TVN)
if you want a dish + decoder - you can buy one in Poland, but you should have a Polish address (they don't want to sell abroad, because, I guess, it's some kind of written or unwritten agreement, between braodcasters)

if you already have a dish, there are no special Polish satellites, our 3 "digital platfoms" (Polsat Cyfrowy, Canal+, n) use either Hotbird 6 (13 degrees East) or Astra (I don't the parameters)

The problem is that there are very few free-to-air channels, most are crypted, so you have to subscribe (without Polish address may be difficult)