Life / Visiting a Polish friend who's just given birth? Flowers, gift? [23]


No, not really, unless the father is a redneck, or if you want to make such impression yourself. If you really must, a bottle of wine is a much better idea.

Travel / Give me your hand-luggage only tips, please... [13]

Lip gloss definitely counts as a liquid; last time I flew I even put my lipstick in the ziplock bag.

Unless it's a business trip where you need formal wear, just your carry-on should be more than enough for just 2 nights. I fact, in the summer when all your clothes will be lightweight, you should be able to pack one bag for a 4 to 5 days' trip.

If you need tips on what (and how) to pack, www onebag dot com is THE website for you :)

My personal tip: wear as much big/heavy items - jacket, sweater, heaviest shoes) - when you go though security (alternatively, carry them with you as if you've just taken them off).

Also, check the regulations at the particular airports you'll be at. Some airports allow you to carry a handbag/manbag/camerabag/umbrella as a separate item, some don't. You can allot some luggage weight to those, but do check beforehand (I learned this the hard way at the Bournemouth airport where I had to put my handbag inside my carryon and barely escaped checking in my bag - it was 1.5kg too heavy)

Language / Pronunciation difference between Ź and Ż / RZ [83]


Well there's IPA, which is international by definition, so it has all symbols necessary for a phonetic transcription of Polish.

I don't know if there are any practice books (similar to How Now Brown Cow for British English), but a good resource based on IPA that I know of is Słownik wymowy polskiej PWN (The dictionary of Polish pronunciation). It has lots of possible variants for most words, and it includes two very useful "From letter to phone" and "From phone to letter" reference tables. There's also a dual lanugage (Polish/English) overview of the trends in Polish pronunciation and of the phonetic transcription of Polish in general.

Unfortunately there haven't been any new editions published for years now - the one I have is from 1977 - but you might try your luck in online second-hand bookshops.

By the way, Marek, there's a marked difference in pronunciation between 'trzy' and 'czy'.

Language / Pronunciation difference between Ź and Ż / RZ [83]


Sure, but you don't want to sound too colloquial. Recognizing and being able to imitate the variants is surely a useful skill, but there's little sense in learning the (substandard, if you're a prescriptivist) pronunciation associated with the uneducated as your main one.

Language / Popular Polish transcription depends on Anglophone's speech [3]

I'd say it's PAWN-CHKEY :)

Life / Polish Shelf Toilets [32]

Meanwhile I've recently read a interview with an oncologist - an activist for some sort of a colon cancer (and related diseases) awareness program - who bemoaned the fact that 'shelf' toilets are becoming less and less popular in Poland. Apparently something as simple as noticing that your 'average' poop has changed might save your life.

Mind you, I have the 'western', if you like, type of toilet installed at home, but can definitely I see his point, back from when I was going through a CJD/cancer scare.


Seriously? Why?

Life / Polish Shelf Toilets [32]

That's one thing they might tell you to check (to see if you're digesting fats properly? IANAD) , but back in the day I was told to monitor consistency/texture and check for minute traces of blood. Kind of hard to do when it's already sunk & mixed with water ;) And let's not even talk about taking poop samples to the lab ;)

Okay now I'm all grossed out.

Life / What does a Ipod cost in Poland? [22]


But this limit applies only to purchases made outside of EU. Inside EU the limits are much more reasonable, if there are any at all. I'm happily buying things worth a few hundreds EUR on ebay.co.uk and amazon.co.uk never worrying about any additional costs.

Life / Present for Polish friends ~ is anything hard to get any more? [57]


You can buy them (and dozens of other types of crisps) in every other supermarket/deli/grocery store.

I find Poland sadly lacking in Pocky though, so perhaps a few pockets of various flavours? I only managed to buy a Korean knockoff in Poland once; other than that, I relied on care packages from friends.

Life / Is Ritalin available in Poland? [22]

To actually answer your question, as far as I know Ritalin is registered in Poland as Concerta, but is very rarely prescribed.

Language / "kupić ci drinka" - Is this proper grammar? [26]


"Może" is a particle, inot a form of the verb "móc". It means, in this context, "perhaps".

The phrase "może mógłbym" is perfectly fine and commonly used in Polish.

Może mógłbym Ci kiedyś postawić drinka? - sounds v.polite. By using this version you're politely asking for permission to buy somebody a drink.

Postawię Ci drinka kiedyś, dobra? - implies familiarity and is kind of rough, especially the "dobra?" question tag. Said to a person you don't know very well it might be even perceived as borderline rude. IMHO this version does not give the other party space to respods; their agreement is sort of implied and imposed upon them. I wouldn't use this version to woo someone.

Life / Driving in Poland, Zebra crossings in stupid places? [26]


Errr, no. When you go into a roundabout there's technically only one way to go at first (left), therefore there's no need to signal. Everybody knows that a car reaching a roundabout is going to have to enter it. You signal your intention to exit the roundabout so that the cars a) behind you, b) on the next lane, and especially c) waiting to enter the roundabout can react accordingly.

UK, Ireland / How to phone the UK from Poland. [8]

As far as I know there are no coin-operated public payphones left. You buy a pre-paid card that used to have a magnetic strip but now it's most probably a chip card, just like in the UK.

I'm not sure how much it costs to call the UK on a regular card, but I'm sure you can buy special pre-paid public phone cards for international calls, with better rates. They usually have detailed instructions on them how to dial a given country.

I wish I could be more specific, but I've only seen those cards in passing in kiosks and at the post office; I've been using only my cellphone (and landline at work) for the last eight years or so.

UK, Ireland / How to phone the UK from Poland. [8]


They should, or you can look for them at gas stations or a post office.

There are different brands/types - from a quick google search: Telegrosik, Telepin, Telerabat. You can try comparing prices online to see which one offers the best rates to the UK.

Language / Female endings in surnames~ what should I think about this? [6]


I've never heard of anyone doing so. Frankly, it sounds rather contrived and pretentious, as if someone was trying to give their name a foreign-y feel, because a name and a surname mismatched in gender usually indicate an (at least second-generation) emigrant.

Language / Correct Polish spelling [69]

A
Ą
Be
Ce
Cie (=Ć)
De
E
Ę
Ef
Gie
Ha
I
Jot
Ka
eL
e£
eM
eN
eŃ
O
Ó
Pe
eR
eS
eŚ
Te
U
fał (=V)
Wu
Iks (=X)
igrek (=Y)
Zet
ziet (=-)
żet (=Ż)

Language / Correct Polish spelling [69]


From the Latin Y Græca? In most languages it's either a variation on that, or on Ypsilon, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y

I forgot to add the distiction between U and Ó:
ó - u kreskowane / u zamknięte / o z kreską
u - u zwykłe, u otwarte

Life / is there wireless internet in poland [19]

All cellphone providers offer wireless, at least the three still considered to be the majors. Orange has Orange Free, Era has blueconnect, and Plus has iPlus. In your case I think you'd be interested in their prepaid service? Otherwise you'd have to sign a 24-month contract.

The rates per MB are pretty horrid in the prepaid service, but it's getting chepaer, so a year from now it might look a bit better.

Compare:

Orange Free (prepaid)
Blueconnect (prepaid)
iPlus simdata (prepaid)

/all urls link to Polish websites/

Work / NIP number - can I get this before I am employed? [13]


I don't recommend even trying. My brother (who's a born and bread Pole, a student) wanted to spare himself the hassle and get NIP before searching for a summer job. He applied for NIP without stating the reason why he wanted it (that is, he didn't include any employer's details on the application). Insted of getting the NIP number, he was called on to explain himself; most probably they suspected he'd been "working black". It took four months of legal correspondence between the tax office and him before they finally understood that he did not in any way break the law nor intended to do so.

He still didn't get the NIP number, of course.

Work / praca magisterska (master's degree) - any impact on career in Poland [13]


Oh I don't know, they might get elected president for example :D en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksander_Kwa%C5%9Bniewski#Degree