Life / Experiences Installing a Wireless Home Network in Poland [12]

My first thought is why get an all in one device? If you buy seperate devices (modem/router, network switch, wireless access point) you can always replace the WAP later if the signal isn't strong enough or you aren't happy, or just add a couple more WAPs in different locations.

You shouldn't have any problems with connections or compatibility. The only problem I had was configuring my router because Poland uses slightly different settings to the UK (namely VCI=35).

Language / adding się [21]

It's because spotkać like many many Polish is sensitive about whether it is used transitively (i.e. with a direct object such as "him" or "her") or intransitively (without in which case się is required).

Life / PESEL and the White Pages [16]


If there is I don't think it is commonly used. When I set up a phone line I was asked if I wanted to be listed and I declined. I think most people do that.

There is a yellow pages for finding companies here:.pkt.pl

Don't know where the white pages one is though.

Law / Linux, Unix, and Open Source in Poland [119]


The nice thing about Linux is that you can pretty much customise anything and everything. Don't know what linux you tried, but I run Ubuntu (hardy heron) and the graphics look fine to me. I changed it anyway to look more like Windows XP just so my wife found it more familiar to use.

Life / moving to Poland, and importing my car [5]


that is a scam. They aren't allowed to do that. Probably they don't want anything official to show they are renting it out to avoid declaring the rental income.


Yes, this will all be done based on where your zameldowanie (registration) is.

Life / moving to Poland, and importing my car [5]

I did exactly the same thing but with a motorbike from the UK. The procedure is the same. If you previously owned it and used it whilst living in your previous country then you don't pay tax. You just have to write a declaration that this is the case. All the details including costs and time taken here: britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/02/importing-a-motorbike/

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]

Here is how you set up a regular self-employed działalność: britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/09/opening-a-company-in-poland/

I recommend you see an accountant or someone qualified to advise you. No point setting up and having to pay for something you don't need, or pay to change it later.

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]


Depends on what his needs are, which we don't know. Possibly this business needs to be a seperate legal entity. Also I am not sure if he can trademark a brand name country wide with just a simple działalność.

Law / HOW DO I REGISTER MY BUSINESS NAME IN POLAND? [17]

If you want to set up an sp. z o.o. (limited liability company) then you need to front a 50 000 PLN security deposit. It is not a straight forward process - you will need to draw up court papers etc.. and this all costs money. I expect you will need the help of an accountant and possibly solicitor. I have heard it can take a couple of months too.

Setting up as a self-employed person or partnership is much much simpler and cheaper (and no deposit) but I guess you are after an sp. z o.o. as that is what you asked about.

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]


Yes you are totally right.


Don't worry, they probably just think you are Czech! Today I was asked if I am from Slovakia. Don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing!

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]


No, it's nominative. It's just that this is the adjectival form as we've already discussed.

But I think you are right in that Ulica Katowicka is not in the genitive because it isn't a street dedicated to Katowice, it's most likely a street heading to Katowice.

but you seem to have the right idea about meaning anyway, regardless of the grammatical term for it. That's the main thing I'm sure....

Personally I quite like grammar because I have a mathematical mind and I like knowing the reason for something being the way it is. But then I am a geek, I admit it.

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

Many streets in Poland are named after famous people or events. Therefore you see streets such as "ulica Nowakego", or "aleja 5 listopada" [read piątego]. They are written in the genitive i.e. street of Nowak [or Nowak's street] as opposed to how we might do it in the UK which is to leave it in the nominative - e.g. Nowak St.

It causes me a lot of problems with my sat nav because I try and look up "ul. Putka" but the full name according to my TomTom is "ulica Doktora Putka" and so I can't find it without knowing the fullname :-(

edit - spelling

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]


Sorry not sure I follow exactly what you mean..?


Yes you are right - that happens sometimes


In general no. Normally it is clear from the context which it is. Either the adjectives give it away as you have already mentioned, or a verb will give it away.

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

I don't know whether Szymanski is related to Szymon or not. But that aside you're getting confused because we often use the genitive on the English side when they just use an adjectival construction on the Polish side. That doesn't make the adjective form genitive though.

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

Yes - that would be the genitive construction

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]

Yes you can say that but they are not using the genitive there. They are just using an adjective - what you have written there is more like "[the] wrocław rynek"

Language / Plural nouns in the accusative? [30]


No it's not. Kowalkski is an adjective and it's in the nominative form. Genitive would be Kowalskiego.


Names are quite complicated. According to the book I have in front of me (Kiedyś wrócisz tu... by Universitas press):

Masculine surnames ending in -ski, cki, dzki and female ending in -ska, cka, dzka decline like adjectives.

Masculine surnames ending in consonants (including foreign surnames) such as Nowak are treated as masculine nouns.

Feminine surnames finishing in a consonant or -o (such as Nowak) do not decline.

Both male and female surnames ending in -a decline like female nouns.

Male surnames ending in -o decline like those in -a.

Female surnames ending in -owa or -ova decline like female adjectives. Those in -ówna like female nouns.

Genealogy / Where do I get Poland Birth Certificate [27]

Doh!

Language / Verb patterns 'BYC' [29]

Disclaimer - I've just had a couple of beers so what I write might not appear as logical as it is in my head, but here goes:

The reason verbs of motion are tricky is that in addition to the regular perfective and imperfective there is a 3rd form. Basically imperfective is split into 'determinate' and 'indeterminate'.

For example with the verb "to go" you have the 3 forms as follows:

perfective - pojść (pojdę...)
imperfective determinate - iść (idę, idziesz, ...)
imperfective indeterminate - chodzić (chodzę ...)

Now you already know when to use the perfective so I won't go into that. The difference between determinate and indeterminate is whether you are referring to specific activities or general activities. For example:

Idę do szkoła - I am going to school (i.e. right now I am walking to school)
Chodzę do szkoła - I go to school (i.e. this is a habit, a generalisation, I am not doing this right now)

Another example with the verb "to fly":
Ona poleci jutro do londynu - she will fly to London tomorrow [perfective]
Ona leci do krakowa - she is flying to Krakow (right now) [determinate]
Ona cała czas lata - her feet never touch the ground (literally "she flies the whole time" with a general, habitual aspect) [indeterminate]

Does that make sense?

Work / Need help about employment process in Poland [23]


Well you've answered your own question. Up to you if you want to take the risk of whether you papers are done on time. What happens if your work permit is delayed because of some random problem or they 'lose' your paperwork?

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]

Depends. In somewhere like Krakow or Warsaw I guess you are right. Where I live in the countryside where there are no native speakers then they don't care.

However as the OP is already a teacher and just wants to learn about English grammar etc.. then I was just suggesting it as an option.

Life / Living In Poland For The Expat [67]


Yes but that's exactly what they teach you on the TEFL course. You can even do online ones if you don't mind starting at the screen for 40 hours...

Genealogy / Where do I get Poland Birth Certificate [27]

Sorry I don't know. The only link I have is archiwa.gov.pl but the site is only in Polish and not particularly easy to use.

Genealogy / Where do I get Poland Birth Certificate [27]


Urząd Stanu Civilnego - office of civil affairs.

In Poland each town has a USC that is responsible for registering stuff like births, deaths, marriages etc..

Each USC keeps their own records for something like 30 or 40 years (I really can't remember exactly) before they are sent to the county archives.

Without knowing the location you might be stuck.

Language / What exactly all these grammatical terms mean! - feeling frustrated [19]

I can also recommend a skype tutor so will PM you later on too...

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]


yes plus pay the whopping great akcyza fee as discussed....

Law / Can Builders registered as self employed in Poland and then work in EU? [4]

On your side yes. For your UK company all you need to put the bill through your company is an invoice with the worker's name and address etc... On your side you don't even care if it has a NIP number. You don't care if they have a VAT number as they don't charge you the VAT even if they are VAT-registered.

On their side also yes. They should register as self-employed in Poland and give you an invoice (rachunek) with their company details and NIP number, or a VAT invoice (faktura) if they will be VAT registered.

This is presuming they are Polish resident and just there short term like you say.
Also I am not an accountant. My knowledge is just based on running a UK LTD company and being self-employed in Poland and doing the book keeping myself.

Law / Can Builders registered as self employed in Poland and then work in EU? [4]


I think anyone can register as self-employed so I don't see why not.


Again don't see why not. I am self-employed in Poland and send invoices to UK companies no problem.


Normally you pay tax in the country you are resident. As a guide this is normally the country where you spend 6 months of time in a given year and where you have some sort of ties such as family or house etc..

So the answer to this depends. If you are working in Germany for 9 months out of the year (in total) but want to pay tax in Poland the Polish authorities won't have a problem, but the German authorities might.


All self-employed people have what is called a NIP number. This is the person's tax reference number and is also used by the company. The person might also be VAT registered and have two VAT numbers - the Polish one and one for use in the EU.

Law / Bank interest rates and deposits in Poland [14]

Normally the longer you agree to tie up your money with a bank, the higher the interest rate they give you, but right now because the Polish banks expect the base rate to be reduced by the national bank the highest rates to be had are for short 3 month loans at the moment. They were talking about this this morning on RMF FM as it's a bizarre situation...

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]


so that puts an end to the trick of having a deliberately low invoice price then...