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Posts by osiol  

Joined: 25 Jul 2007 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 10 Oct 2009
Threads: Total: 55 / In This Archive: 49
Posts: Total: 3921 / In This Archive: 3065
Interests: Not being on this website when I'm asleep

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osiol   
11 Oct 2008
Language / How to pronounce long consonants in Polish? [6]

In speech, it is normal not to leave any kind of vocal pause between the words in a phrase or sentence.

I want a cup of tea. < no gaps, so it's like Iwantacupoftea.

If you have the same letter at the end of one word as at the beginning of the next, you pronounce both of them.

Bus stop
I'm mutating
Fish shop

You will probably find you've effectively doubled the lengths of those consonant sounds.

Now try a popular Polish word: inny.

Surely it's as simple as just making that n sound for double the length of time than you would if there was only one n. Maybe this lengthening in Polish is slightly more accentuated than the English examples I gave, but I'm sure there are no other odd things you need to know about it - it doesn't affect the other sounds around it in the word.

I've just remembered a good example of a double-length n in English:
Stubbornness.
osiol   
11 Oct 2008
Love / I like this Polish girl, but she doesn't get my... English sense of humor [124]

I think some people are just better than others at crossing cultural and linguistic boundaries. My boss finds it difficult to explain anything to the Polish chaps at work. I, on the other hand, find it much easier, even when I don't know how to say something in Polish. I found the same thing with Czechs, Slovaks, Lithuanians and so on. If I don't have a laugh with my colleagues, it's tantamount to failure on my part. If words don't work, then I often resort to mime or other forms of visual humour.
osiol   
11 Oct 2008
Language / (part 2) Polish Language Pronunciation - Sample Words and Phrases [311]

This weirdness

Gilbert.

I'm sure I've seen the name of a French company, Guillbert (hard g).
There are plenty of Brazilian musicians with a Gilberto thing in their names - Gilberto Gil, Joao Gilberto, etc. (soft g)

English is sandwiched between the Germanic or Slavic g (hard, although there is a German soft g, it's not like an English j / Polish dż) and the Latin g (which is always or nearly always obvious from the spelling - soft when followed by i, y or e).

Jets confusing sometimes, I know.

LAM BOR GHEE NEE, the conventional way. Sounds classiest!!

My former flatmate used to like saying Ferrari in as English a way as possible, but thought that our pronunciation of Porsche lacked style. "What about Austin Allegro or Ford Cortina?" I thought to myself.
osiol   
10 Oct 2008
Life / Are the Polish the most proudest people you have encountered? [51]

When I was in the UK the Polish people where always saying how they hate the UK how the food is crap

That's funny, when they buy their own food - jars of fasolki, golabki, flaki and other things that end in -ki.
osiol   
10 Oct 2008
Life / Using of a handkerchief by Polish men... [15]

Did handkerchiefs go the same way as hats? You just don't see hats these days like in generations gone by?
Hats deserve their own thread.
osiol   
10 Oct 2008
UK, Ireland / The Orange Order vs Poles...again [37]

Are you Protestant or Catholic?

I am an atheist.

Are you a Protestant atheist or a Catholic atheist?
osiol   
10 Oct 2008
UK, Ireland / The Orange Order vs Poles...again [37]

but they divide people (employers) on simple scale: protestant-catholic

Do you know any Lutheran Poles? What about other eastern Europeans? Any Russians from the Baltic states over there?
osiol   
10 Oct 2008
UK, Ireland / The Orange Order vs Poles...again [37]

just cited somebody

If you cite someone, you give some information about who they are. A name, for example.
osiol   
10 Oct 2008
Love / Plastic boobs in Poland [44]

parents to give their daughters boob jobs for their birthday

Shall we get you a bouncy castle for your birthday?

close to American pancakes

That's got me thinking about food. The two (or should I say three) are not entirely incompatible.
osiol   
9 Oct 2008
Love / Plastic boobs in Poland [44]

Do girls with plastic boobs like men with plastic enhancements?

edit: Reminder to self - one southern on PF is quite enough!
osiol   
9 Oct 2008
Work / Finance Capital of Poland??? [9]

Finance Capital of Poland???

We now know for certain that this is Warsaw.

But which bit of Warsaw?
osiol   
8 Oct 2008
Law / No Karta Pobytu anymore for EU citizens ? [8]

In Catch 22, there were no alternatives. If one bank wants to send you round in nonsensical circles, you can go to another one that is more interested providing a service and taking your money.

we Belgians do not need a passport

Those plucky Belgians! I think most EU countries use their own ID cards in other EU countries and that British citizens are a bit of an anomaly (as per usual).

I wouldn't have commented on this thread if it wasn't for this.
osiol   
8 Oct 2008
News / US DOLLAR = 2.47 on 2 Oct 2008? [54]

One way to benefit is to be able to have a foot in more than one country. I have noticed this from some of the Poles in the UK. Earn some money here, buy some stuff that's cheaper here, then go back to Poland where other stuff costs less and those earnings go further. I'm stuck in the UK permenantly, so my wages are good in international standards, but that doesn't help me, living where everything is expensive.

I am now in the process of buying myself a kalimba (small African musical instrument) over the internet from the great US of A. Assuming that $125 is pretty much a fixed price, I'm better off buying it now than I would have been a couple of years ago. (I'm looking at about £73 - maybe right now PLN is looking even better, but still compare that to level of Polish disposable income). However, I don't pay much attention to currency rates, and I'm far more interested in getting my hands on a natty new musical instrument.

But could I get the same thing from the UK? No. Germany? No. China? Certainly not. There are some things that some countries just seem to do better.

A word of warning, especially, but not just to Americans: don't be complacent. Complacency is not what got you or your country where you are today.
osiol   
8 Oct 2008
Life / Using of a handkerchief by Polish men... [15]

Are handkerchiefs used in any forms of folk-dancing?

Why the hell am I asking this question?

PGT you must be really bored

Probably not the only one.
osiol   
8 Oct 2008
Life / Using of a handkerchief by Polish men... [15]

I work with an old Polish chap who has another use for his handkerchief. Honest to God!

Luckily for him, I don't think this causes his brain to hurt.
osiol   
7 Oct 2008
News / US DOLLAR = 2.47 on 2 Oct 2008? [54]

Well...that is now in doubt!

you can doubt all you want but you'll be wrong again

In this world there are no certainties.
Of that I am certain.
osiol   
7 Oct 2008
News / What is the future of Catholic church in Poland. [154]

There is a way of looking at people's political leanings on a two-dimensional chart like this:

........authoritarian........

left.......................right

..........libertarian..........

Many talk of left and right with their own perceptions of whether the left or the right is liberal or authoritarian, or vice-versa. I think it may be even more helpful if political opinion could be displayed in some sort of three-dimensional sphere-diagram. Maybe even four dimensions, but time is not a practical dimension to use diagramatically:

"Wait for it... wait for it... NOW!
... and that's where I am, politically. Did that work with the stopwatch?"
osiol   
7 Oct 2008
UK, Ireland / Passed theory in UK, failed driving. Possible to take driving test in PL? [23]

It's bad manners to take a swig out of the bottle of vodka you're about to bribe our driving test examiner with. If you don't speak Polish and you want to try this, you'll certainly need to know the words prawo, lewo, prosto and przekupstwo. I still wouldn't rate your chances though.