Language / How to learn Polish ASAP? (speaking is my priority) [22]

i was afraid someone would say that!! thank you for the advice.

Language / How to learn Polish ASAP? (speaking is my priority) [22]

thank you all for your advice, its just all a bit intimidating at the start i think.

History / Katyn - the Polish movie [29]

i bought a copy in Warsaw, it has English subtitles. as to the other questions asked in this post; i believe that so far 'Katyn' has not found a major distributor in cinemas in the U.K. or the U.S. -which i think is a great pity: it's an important story and beautifully filmed and as such it deserves to be seen by a worldwide audience.

History / Katyn - the Polish movie [29]

i think english subtitles come as standard on all editions of the dvd as my copy has them and i bought it in Warsaw.

UK, Ireland / 33% of Poles in Ireland to return to Poland in 2009 [30]

It's quite possible- the Irish from all backgrounds are starting to emigrate again. Irelands economic boom is well and truly over, it was based purely on construction. Now Ireland has a surplus of housing, and the government did not invest for the future, so it's black days ahead for Ireland, irrespective of a global downturn. Ireland was doomed anyway.

Love / What is the sexiest part in a polish woman body? [78]

Personally i like their eyes, lots of Polish girls have beautiful blue or grey eyes

UK, Ireland / 33% of Poles in Ireland to return to Poland in 2009 [30]

I recently heard on the Irish news that unemployment is expected to increase in Ireland by a further 120,000 in 2009, and 50,000 people are expected to emigrate, that is, leave Ireland in the new year. And most of those expected to leave will be Irish, they being the section of the population that have mostly mortgaged themselves to the hilt with wildly over-priced property, and needed high paying jobs in construction to pay their way. Most of those jobs have disappeared now, so they have to look for work abroad to pay the bills, or alternately sell up and emigrate permanently. Not so easy when most of their houses are well into negative equity. I can see a lot of the Polish staying on, as they seem to live more frugally, they are more sensible with their money, and most are renting, the property collapse will also be good news for them (unless they work in the building trade), as places to rent are becoming more numerous and cheaper. Ireland is loaded with empty properties now, with lots of landlords keen to rent or sell at reduced prices. And about time too.

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

I'm half Irish, but I could never get into reading Joyce. the Irish have a habit of exaggerating the talents of their (mostly) mediocre artists- witness for example the singer Sinead O' Connor, a one-hit wonder who maintains her high profile by spouting controversial pap in the tabloids every 6 months or so. She is chiefly famous for this rather than any singing talents she is supposed to possess. The actor Gabriel Byrne, an ex-soap star, now ex-supporting actor in a few forgettable flicks, but regarded here as our own Al Pacino. I could go on, but the list would be endless. But then Ireland has a culture which rewards mediocrity- if you don't believe me then just look at our politicians. I'm expecting flak over this but I think Joyce is overrated, O.K, his writings have a unique style, but does that make it great literature? The problem, I think, lies with pretentious literary critics, who, like pretentious wine experts, only have to give something their approval and the herd will blindly agree for fear of appearing uncultured and unknowledgeable if they do not concur. Stream of consciousness? Or stream of drunken ramblings? But that's just my opinion.

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

SeanBM : 1, I'm fully aware that the post was by a non-Irish person.
2, I've long held the belief that the Nobel prize is a bit of a joke, just look at some of the more recent winners of this dubious honour.

3, The apparent confusion between my use of 'our' and also 'Irish' stems from my upbringing, which was as part of the Irish diaspora, to believe that I was Irish, and then my later disillusionment with Ireland when I went to live there and realised that all the positive things I'd been told about the country and the character of the people were largely B.S.- and I could point out quite a few Polish people who would wholeheartedly agree. I'm not saying it's a bad place- just not remotely close to what the hype would lead one to expect. Proud to be Irish? Well, not really, not anymore, not unless someone could explain to me exactly what there is to be proud of. I'm at a total loss.

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

SeanBM: Actually I wasn't thinking of Al Gore, I'd quite forgotten about him. I don't think my views are so ill-informed, I've lived in a few different countries, and by 'hype' I refer to the same hype that surrounds Joyce, mostly a great deal of immodest trumpet-blowing. When I started to voice my opinions of Joyce and Irish culture in general, I had no idea it would hurt your feelings so much. Don't take it so personally, it's just a few minor gripes, ok? To spell it out clearly- Ireland is very good at singing its own praises, but doesn't have a lot to back it up. That is the point I was making. And again, I'm still not sure exactly why I should be proud to be Irish- nobody ever explains that bit.

P.S- the coat of arms isn't Irish.....

UK, Ireland / POLES SUPERIOR TO BRITS? [260]

I would have to say that generally the Polish seem to behave better in public, generally more courteous (except on the road perhaps :-) ) and very definitely have better food! I think even the most fervently patriotic Briton would have to give them that!

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

Well, thank you for the compliment (at least I think it was!) I usually find (generally speaking) that there are two types of Irish: the returned emigrants who have been out in the big wide world, broadened their minds and their outlooks. And then there are the ones who only ever ventured abroad on holiday and tend to be much more parochial in their outlook- I repeat, generally.

but I digress again- what do I consider good literature? I suppose something that keeps me turning the page and entertains me, but without the writer patronising me by explaining the plot step by tedious step as if I were a 5 year old (Stephen King is guilty of this style, it's as if he assumes that the reader has an I.Q slightly higher than that of a hamster- and he is the worlds top-selling writer, what does that suggest about dumbing-down ?!!?).

In my humble opinion two vastly underrated writers are J.G. Farrell, an Anglo-Irish writer who only completed 3 novels before he died in an accident, and a Cork man, William Trevor. Their writings are so subtle that often the full meaning of what they were conveying only dawns on the reader the next day. Another author I like, but purely for entertainment is Derek Robinson. Incidentally he lost out on the Booker prize in '71 to Farrells' novel 'Troubles'- Perhaps unsurprisingly this was set in the twenties in Ireland. Of course, back in '71 the Booker prize was awarded to writers on the merits of their novel and not because a certain style, setting or ethnic group were in vogue, unlike now.

But to get back to Joyce- when a pretentious, pompous ass with an affected accent and mannerisms like David Norris proclaims himself a Joycean scholar then it should be a clear signal to give Ulysses et al a very wide berth!

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

Wel, I'm glad that we are all still friends- in cyber space anyway. There's nothng really wrong with Ireland, it's just nothing special, that's all. In fact my Irish side of the family were so obnoxious that i had to change my name by deed poll, convert from catholicism to Anglicanism and join an Irish cavalry regiment in the British army before they finally took the hint and stopped contacting me with the begging bucket. But that was 20 years ago. Anyway, I wish you all a very happy 2009, and may your God bless you (as Dave Allen used to say)

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

I cannot imagine what a strange fellow your friend was- my parents are from Limerick, and I would be hard put to find a place less likely to inspire poetry, a small, dim, backwater that the locals like to think of as a city for some strange reason.

Anyway, I find the title of this post interesting, especially the word 'Admiration'. I wonder how much the post writer would admire Joyce, or anything Irish if they knew how much the vast majority of Irish resent, or indeed actually hate, Polish immigrants. Every day at work I listen to a never ending stream of bigoted bile regarding the Polish.

'they're taking our jobs, etc, the country is ruined because of them, etc'
Fact: the Polish helped to fuel the Irish economy over the last few years- which was solely based on construction- by building houses, so that Polish builders could live in them, to build more houses for Polish builders who would live in them, who in turn would build more houses for Polish builders to live in, etc, etc, ad infinitum...- and they are so far helping to prevent a complete collapse in the housing market by paying rent in properties that would otherwise be empty (expect a lot of property bargains in Ireland when the Polish start to leave), and also many of them are working in low-paid jobs that the locals will not do.

Another thing about the Irish that irritates me intensely is that they say that the Polish are bad drivers. I don't claim to be the greatest driver ever but having been driving cars, motorcycles and trucks since I was 17, including a 12 year stint continental driving, I can safely attest that the Irish are by far and away the most hopeless, clueless drivers I have witnessed in the 16 European countries that I drove in on a regular basis. Any time that the incredibly high death rate on Irish roads is mentioned one will always hear it blamed on 'de forrinurs'. But the fact is that Ireland had a colossally high accident rate long before immigrants arrived here en masse. Yet woe betide an immigrant who is involved in an accident here, it does not matter if they be Latvian, Lithuanian, whatever, and that it was very probably the dopey Dub who was wrong, popular opinion will label the foreign person a Pole and automatically blame them.

It's also annoying to hear Irish people saying that the Polish do not speak English very well- after 17 years living off and on in Ireland i still have a struggle to understand the locals guttural accents, even the pretentious Dublin 4 set with the psuedo-english-home-counties accent. Generally the Polish are far more coherent.

UK, Ireland / POLISH ADMIRATION FOR THE IRISH GENIUS JAMES JOYCE [63]

Someone who can't write in English anyway, I haven't a clue what they are rattling on about.

Re Joseph O'Connor: again, this is just my opinion, but I think he is another vastly overrated writer, overrated in Ireland at any rate, he doesn't seem to be particularly famous outside these shores. One wonders if he would ever have come to anyones' notice had it not been for having a famous sister. Many years ago I read his 'Secret life of an Irish male', I wonder now that he is older, and hopefully wiser, he ever looks back on this dreadful book with embarrassment? At any rate it was enough to put me off him for life.