Life / what is the most common and the most beautiful name in Poland? [58]


Strange as my daughter is Natalia Aleksandra. However, Michal comes first and Elzbieta (my wife's name) must be in second place.

USA, Canada / No US Visa Waiver for Poles - 8/9/07 [96]


I do not know about illegal Polish immigrants but there are plenty, espcially from Latin America.

Language / "301 Polish Verbs" by Klara Janecki [5]

There are some good language books on the market and if you read the explanations that go with the conversations then hopefully you should be able to say 'I said' by page 78. Do not give up!

Language / "301 Polish Verbs" by Klara Janecki [5]


Ja kupilem te ksiazke. Very useful sort of book but you might feel the language a little too daunting after looking through all the grammatical changes. Better to start with a good course book and accommpaning cassettes first. Later on, when you start your own compositions the book will be invaluable.

Language / Examples of Polish Time cases? [13]


wieczorem is using the instrumental case
rano, morning or in the morning-nominative case
po poludniu is in the afternoon and uses the prepositional case

Again, I advice people never to make downloads-you will only pick up other people's nasty viruses.

Polonia / Is there any way to learn Polish by myself, in Turkey? [26]

You might be able to order a course through ebay or Amazon. I would have thought that there would be a limited selection on such items in Turkey. You should have thought about it before going.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]


Indeed, you are right. I person can be very well educated, intelligent with or without a good education but it does not mean that someone is highly skilled. This is why Australia always refers to its skill scales policy in determining future immigrants to its country as it wants young highly skilled entrants who are going to work for many years to come and contribute to the Australian welfare system.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]

No, it is a true story, this man exists and lives in Czestochowa yet lived in Sweden during martial law in Poland. He has a brother who lives in Chicago and he has been there too. I do not make things up. I was surprised because I too would have thought that a qualification from Jagiellonski would be valued everywhere, but apparently not.

USA, Canada / No US Visa Waiver for Poles - 8/9/07 [96]


That is exactly why Poles want British passports.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]

I have not been looking at all the remarks made before but it all depends on people and situations. Euola has an oversimplified attitude towards reality. I have a friend who lives in Czestochowa and lived for eight years in Sweden during martial rule. He learnt Swedish and even had a Swedish passport. In Sweden, he cleaned the streets and met nobody. He finished Jagiellonski but his qualification was not even recognized by the Swedish Government so he had a choice of either being an even better street cleaner or returning to Poland, which he did and now runs a gallery in Czestochowa. Also it is worth pointing out that a lot of these so called Polish Master degrees are in fact nothing more than a British first bachelor degree actually. The Polish will not agree but then again they won World War 2 single handedly as well. The Russian only looked on and watched.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]



Yet you are in the United States and you say that your life is much better there than it would be back in Polnad so you are in effect answering your own question.

USA, Canada / No US Visa Waiver for Poles - 8/9/07 [96]


Not really, it was economic power linked to military power many years ago during empire building that created the divisions. I know that there were Dutch and Swedish (probably Danes too) in America in the early days but the English became dominant. The Poles are a slav people with close ties to the Russians and that is the sphere of influence like it or not. The British Queen is still the Head of State in Australia and Canada because of our mutual historic ties. The ties with New Zealand are still very strong indeed even though it is right round the other side of the world. I am jealous to hell, I want a Polish passport and want to hold my head up high. Nevada, Death Valley in Caafornia, Washington D.C. are all very overrated, a day trip to the salt mines at Wieliczka! Now you are talking!!


Four day trip and yes it was wonderful, stress free and cheap. I was in La Rochelle and I have been several times to Szczecin and I would not think twice if I was asked where I would prefer to live if I had to choose between the two.

USA, Canada / No US Visa Waiver for Poles - 8/9/07 [96]

You should all understand that passports and visas are not important and that traveling is really overrated anyway. Many years ago I packed my bag and took my passport and went and visted my Uncle in South Africa. A few years ago, I took my family to Las Vegas to see my cousin, who lives there. More recently, I took my son to America and we went to New York and we went to the top of the Empire State Building. Last year we went to South Korea and liked it but after a while we headed back to the airport and took yet another plan as far as New South Wales in Australia and looked around the Sydney Opera House. If you ask me, a British passport and international travel is overrated like hell, just think about it, with a Polish passport you can all go for a day trip to Lithuania and do some shopping!! Bondi Beach? What can beat a day trip to Wroclaw?

USA, Canada / No US Visa Waiver for Poles - 8/9/07 [96]


Why should the Poles not have visas? The English always had to have them when traveling to Poland and when you watch Polish television we are reminded every single day about Polish Airman and what they did in the war from English airstrips. You bull now I am afraid to say!


Then they should be thrown out. Worst thing the British did was allowing the Poles to work here without visas.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]

What about taking the train to Sopot via Gdansk. If it is hot you may find rest, peace and a little comfort there. I am sure it is nice in good weather. I was there in winter, another thing all together though.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]

You have to remember that so much of it was destroyed in the last war. I love walking round the 'Old Town' but I suppose that it is a novelty for me as I am so rarely there. It could be a good idea to take a train and visit some other places as trains were not that expensive. Have you been to a place called Kazimierz Dolny (if I have spelt it rightly), it is very nice and not that far south from Warsaw but then again something to do in the summer months. I heard that Warsaw was supposed to be the 'up and coming place' to be.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]


I suppose that it is understandable with so many years of isolation during the Communist era. Everybody must believe in something and religion is what helped to keep them together rather like a crutch-it is something to lean on.


English people had visas to go to Poland until very recently in history. Poland has not been very pro the West either in this regard.

Language / difficult English words for Polish speakers? [119]

Probably because they decided to go to Germany or France and not spend their hard earned money in New York.

Language / difficult English words for Polish speakers? [119]

Have you been a teacher of English?

Language / difficult English words for Polish speakers? [119]


The produce is a collective noun. A country's produce is what a country produces.


To produce the stress is one the last syllable, uce, and in a produce, the stress falls on the first o of pro. Stress in Polish is quite easy as it almost always falls on the first syllable unlike in Russian where it moves all over the place.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]


This of course says very much the same as I said in a debate about TESOL teachers and how Western culture and especially American English is being allowed to take over Polish culture and their language. Instead of Poland doing even better what it did before, i.e. during the Communist era, for example producing some fine films for the cinema and its own brand of modern music (Lady Punk, for one) it is simply now superimposing a strange weak form of a Western culture over the top. The television programmes are dreadful-Polish versions of Who Wants To Be A millionaire?, a Polish version of Blind Date and the list goes on. Here, Poland is in real danger of losing its cultural heritage and identity.


I think for the Poles the church is an excuse.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]

yes, I can understand and appreciate the stresses and strains of modern living.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]


I have heard that life expectancy is falling in Poland at the moment. I noticed when visiting grave yards in Poland that many old people who were alive at the time of say, the First World War, had long lives but I notice that among those born around the 1950's life is very short. My friends lived in Gdansk next to the huge cemetery there (near Orunia) and I went for a walk-row after row of young dead men, almost like a military cemetery, all their dates of birth were after mine even.

News / Poland biggest problem [125]

I could mention a few thing here. One of the worst things about Poland and the Poles is that they never accept responsibility for anything. It does not matter what it is, they always find an external force to blame. In my day it was always Churchill who was responsible for the Russians or the weather! The Polish never have any financial common sense. They never think about tomorrow and know how to save and invest. They also have very little civil pride in themselves, a quick view of modern day Poland shows you that! The Poles are a very jealous people. They moan when they have nothing themselves yet are the biggest snobs when they start to move up the property ladders! they are big church goers which surprises me as there is nothing Christian about them. They will come out of church on a Sunday from a church service and walk right a dying man in the street! It is always well known in the countryside that the Roman Catholic priest drives the best German motor car in town! There is so much I could say here but I would be repeating myself. There are a lot of dishonest people there too-watch out for your wallet! They will steal anything not nailed down!


Yes, I agree, they seem to be obsessed by the church as if it will give them all the answers!


It is the way they spend it in the first place.

UK, Ireland / Advertising for Electricians in Poland to work in the UK [14]


It was not actually me who engaged him. They came to build a down stairs toilet and between them they did a good job. I imagine that later when asked if they can do something else, the thought of easy money tells them that if they simply try they will be able to. There isa Polish expression about having a 'zlota reka' and sometimes they take the meaning too far. I am sure that it happens everywhere all of the time that people when asked say that they can do something when money is involved-it is only later, that you see the results of the work!

Life / Poor Poland? [34]


I liked the small towns in Australia.

UK, Ireland / Advertising for Electricians in Poland to work in the UK [14]


I know Radomsko very well. My wife went to school in Radomsko and much later on of the Polish painters who painted our building in Hampshire came from Radomsko, in fact his wife went to the same school as my wife did but in different years. Whilst we were there last time, we went to the cemetery (the new one), and there lies the remains of one of the London underground train bomb victims who was recognized through her D.N.A..


you want to be very careful about who you take on. We had a Polish electrician who nearly burnt down our house! In fact, after he finished his 'work', we had to employ a neighbour who is a qualified electrician to completely rewire the garage. In a word, it was a total mess!

Language / Use of "and" in Polish... [7]

It is the same in Russian. 'I' means 'and' and 'a' means 'and' but in a sort of 'but on the other hand' sort of a situation. Jutro ja pojade ku Warszawie a moj kolega zosaje w domu. Wczoraj ja kupilem chleb i maslo.

History / Memories of the Polish communist era [115]


I think that the word existed before the Soviet era.

Feedback / forum new feature request ;) - ignore a member [26]


I agree. You are never going to agree with anybody all of the time and if you have personal black lists then you might as well start to discontinue this forum as it would become so artificial. Mind you, there are some people who write all the time so aggressively that I sometimes wonder why they are here and are not letting out their aggression in a boxing ring!