Life / What type and brand of cars do Polish people like? [51]

I'd vote for Nissan too.

UK, Ireland / Are polish pupils harming native british childrens education? [280]


lennyd, I sympathise with your position but you could at least try to use sound arguments. After all, the fact is that more than just a sample of your forefathers paid taxes from "work" they obtained in the foreign lands they invaded and occupied and, not such a long time ago, in a country that wanted to invade their homeland.

UK, Ireland / Are polish pupils harming native british childrens education? [280]


Where there is a will there is a way.
You need to update your skills :)

Life / I want some Polish Christmas. [22]

just make sure you don't start dancing or playing rock music on Christmas Eve. That would be kinda "progressive" Polish Christmas :)


and an extra set of plates and such for "an unexpected guest"

News / Is The Warsaw Voice in British or American English? [39]


So what's your point?

Travel / Health Tourism in Poland [17]

I know a lot of Poles living in Canada and USA who go back to Poland for dental treatments. The average savings is about 50%, even with plane tickets included as a part of the cost.

As for the quality, I hear it is at least the same, often better than what they get here.

Of course this will not apply to a small filling or dental cleaning, but rather fairly major procedures.

News / Is The Warsaw Voice in British or American English? [39]


Have you ever seen "The Lancet"? "Sky News"? "Globe and Mail"?

The fact that you haven't seen some magazine says nothing about the magazine.


That is a very tricky question :)

News / Is The Warsaw Voice in British or American English? [39]


Who told you it costs Poland aything? The Warsaw Voice takes in approx. $2,000,000 in circulation income alone. And the there is advertising income.


This is from their site:

Readers:
- foreign and Polish businesspeople
- self-employed professionals
- diplomats
- researchers
- representatives of the foreign media
- teachers and students
- business travelers
- investors
- participants of fairs and conferences
- tourists
- representatives of foreign governments

General profile of distribution:
- The Warsaw Voice subscribers in Poland and abroad (64 countries)
- management of Western companies in Poland
- diplomatic institutions and business establishments in Poland
- top Polish companies and banks
- foreign entrepreneurs and bank managers interested in Poland
- embassies of foreign countries in Poland
- international organizations and institutions including the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the OECD
- NATO headquarters and offices in Europe
- European Union directorates and other institutions based in Brussels and other European countries

History / Katyn- forgiven and forgotten? [111]


This is my take on the issue of apologies:

The thing of (possible) Russian apologies is actually pretty important for the future relations between Russia and Poland. As of now, the official line in Russia is (give or take) that Poland was the aggressor (cultural, military and political)against Russia, and an ungrateful one at that. After all, all Russians "know" that Poland has so much to be grateful for all the Russian "help" during communist times. They honestly think we owe them. While an average person off the street doesn't really have much say in politics between two countries (and certainly not a Russian person), the status quo does create a situation where any constructive co-operation and mutual tolerance is not really possible, except if Poland starts kissing the Russian butt. The amount of hatred towards Poland in Russia can be rivaled only by the hatred Chavez has towards the US.

Btw. I saw the movie. A piece of sad history but certainly ot a piece of art.

Love / Polish women are the best!!!!!! [77]

We can often appreciate only what we understand ;)

Love / Polish women are the best!!!!!! [77]

alas, isn't life itself but a temporary state? :)

Love / Polish women are the best!!!!!! [77]


and there is always beer to help out:

USA, Canada / Dual Citizenship: American and Polish? [53]


I agree. Triple citizenship is better.

Food / Is lamb big in Poland? [53]


Also depend on the region.

£owiecko, łowiecko, abyś ta jesce gotówac umiała

Love / WILL HE OR WONT HE??? [24]


While in Paris, just be careful where you step ;)
Have fun and good luck!

History / Polish Jews - they changed their Jewish surnames to Polish [532]


Also, many Jews did not speak a word of Polish, even though they came fro families who lived in Poland for generations. Many Germans spoke better Polish than a good number of Polish Jews. (Milosz's Memoirs are a good source of info on the subject)

Food / Horse Meat - popular in Poland? [36]


Good point.

- Can you imagine in Europe and America they eat beef? (said an East Indian)
- Some eat pigs!!! (added an Arab)

Language / Jestem ze Szczecina or Szczecinia? [15]

Some of the above is correct, some is not.
Let's do it again, all in one place and correctly:

jestem ze Szczecina
ze Szczytna
ze Wschodu
ze Sławy (notice S followed by a consonant)
ze Zgierza (notice Z followed by a consonant)
z Zakopanego (notice Z followed by a vowel)
z Sopotu (notice S followed by a vowel, also see note)

Note: There is no place in Poland calle Zapot. The confusion stems from the German version of this placename, which is Zoppot (pron. tsopot) so it is likely to be pronounced by English natives as Zappot.

Language / Jestem ze Szczecina or Szczecinia? [15]


Are you sure?
I'd say "z Zakopanego" and "z Sopotu"

Language / Conditional - tryb przypuszczający [21]

yup, bąbelek sounds huggable

News / The new Polish Minister of Finance is British [29]


OK, I could be in for the slavdom but under some conditions:
- Cyrillic alphabet is dropped
- Russian language is eliminated as an official language
- all drunks are executed (Russian, Polish and others)
- Perun is declared the chief god
- I am declared the president, or a king (do not confuse with kink)
(other details to be discussed)

Edit: I almost forgot:

- I need a new laptop too.

Language / Conditional - tryb przypuszczający [21]


There's another catch: pęcherzyk in Polish also means bladder, the one that has to do with peeing :) That was my first understanding of your Polish sentence. It may also mean blister, especially one that is similar to those cause by skin's exposure to high temperature.

bubble, with the meaning you probably intended, would be perhaps bańka, banieczka, kulka, kuleczka.

Language / If The Polish Language Is Too Hard >>> Sing Instead [18]


As I said, it wasn't easy. I took the first shot at Early Morning Rain, took me 2 hours and a glass of of Albanian cognac.


I created a thread just for that: https://polishforums.com/archives/2005-2009/language/abecadlo-alphabet-15142/

History / Poland-Russia: never-ending story? [1341]


Don't kid yourself. We're talking about technical people here, and as such, they love toys. AutoCAD is one of them, and though a standard, it is just a piece of software and of one of many at that. Poland's computer science depertments rank ahead of many of America's best.

I work with that stuff (computers, not architecture), and one thing that became obvious to me - it takes years to produce a good architect. It takes a couple weeks to produce a competent software user.

btw, Autodesk has its offices in Poland too, and for a reason:
autodesk.pl/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=553660&id=9351473

USA, Canada / NO VISAS to Canada for Poles in the near future [62]

I wouldn't consider TOEFL a big deal.
From what I hear, right now it takes 1 to 2 years to have all the qualifications recognized. Sure, it's a year or two lost, but then, when you emigrate there are some costs other than just money.

Language / Voiced consonants in final positions in Polish [6]

Michal, apparently German is not your forte.


Check German pronunciation here: utils.ex.ac.uk/german/pronounce

USA, Canada / NO VISAS to Canada for Poles in the near future [62]


Winters in Canada are similar to Winters in Poland. In both countries they can be dreadful. My sister considered moving to Canada a few years ago. She and her husband found Summers here way too hot, so they stay in Normandy.


Yeah, outside hurricane season, that is. And due to some of the highest crime rates on the continent, preferably in closed communities.


After a couple years of residence in Canada, there are sually no problems with US visas for Poles, and then with the Canadian citizenship it's automatic.


Actually, they are entitiled to pensions if they pay taxes. They are also entitled to schools, medical care etc (contrary to popular belief outside the US). As for the cost to the State, I wouldn't call it a small fortune. It is a huge amount of money that, together with ongoing social payments are estimated to run into trillions of dollars. Remember, the low income persons usually use up in benefits more than they contribute.

Life / Poland: The Things That Make Foreigners Lift a Brow [123]


That part shouldn't be really so exotic to visitors from UK.

What was that recipe for hagis?

Stomach bag of sheep, sheep's liver, sheep's lungs, sheep's heart, gravy from liver. Of course some spices to kill the foul taste :)

--


Admin should remove the "Admin" from the header of the quote ;)

History / Polish culture and clothing 1400ad [10]


There is a book by Henryk Sienkieiwcz "Krzyzacy". And English translation is available as "Teutonic Knights". The book is fact based fiction and contains a lot of information on customs of the times. The action of the book takes place in 1409-1410 and is culminated with one of the greatest battles of Europe - The Battle of Grunwald.

A movie (the same title) was based on the book, and while it is not a documentary, the costumes were designed based on mundane historical research. The book itself is also a faithful reflection of the customs of the times.

Other sources that may be used are Polish works of art of the period. They too squeeze in some information on the every day life. These are easy to get but I am unaware of English translations.

There are more academic works on the subject but, again, monographies are usually in Polish.

Language / If The Polish Language Is Too Hard >>> Sing Instead [18]

I'm discovering some latest and greatest in Polish music here :)

Turnau is not my style either, but from the few songs I just heard, he sound pretty clear. The the lyrics I heard are OK but too... lyrical for every day speech. It is till useful, even if only for the benefit of getting some of those words stuck in your mind.

I'd like to stress though, that what I'm saying here is just my personal take, not some kind of science. I used to listen to and memorize songs when I was taking my first steps in English.

For me the song had to have an easy melody line so I could sing it along, or on my own. The lyrics, well, that was a toss because at the time the Internet was not available to the public so I couldn't have known what songs meant untill I translated them myself based only on sounds (I scratched a few LPs in the process). That was quite mundane and hard, especially when I tried Bob Dylan :)