Travel / Holiday - accommodation recommendations in Poznan. [4]

I've had good experiences with the Lech and Polonez hotels in Poznań. They both have convenient city centre locations, with good quality rooms, reasonable prices and friendly, helpful staff who can speak English. If you're OK with a 3-star I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either.

Travel / Night Travel Warsaw-Prague [5]

I've never taken the night train in Poland. However you can get the train times from here: rozklad-pkp.pl/bin/query.exe/en?

Language / ANGLO-MANGLING or "Does your DUMB COW SKI"? [6]

I used to work in a warehouse that had a lot of Polish guest workers, and they appreciated my faltering attempts to pronounce their names properly on the tannoy because apparently none of my predecessors had bothered. Some of them wondered if I was actually Polish or part-Polish myself, or had lived in Poland. This was before I went over there the first time and before I started learning Polish seriously.

If you watch a football match with Poland or a Polish club team and English commentary and take a drink for every mispronunciation, you're not going to be sober by the end.

Life / Poznan. The most hated city in Poland? [21]

I've never been to a town or city in Poland I didn't like, but Poznań is probably still my favourite. It was the first place over there I properly explored, with the help of my then-gf who is a Poznanianka herself so knew all the nice places to go a bit off the beaten track. Haven't been for a year now but intend to visit again before the end of '08.

I was talking to a guy in Katowice who wasn't as impressed with Poznań as I was, and for her part my ex was not fond of Katowice. Is there some kind of rivalry between those two cities, like Manchester and Liverpool in the UK?

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]


The Greater Internet F***wad Theory, from a Penny Arcade comic. Normal person + anonymity + audience = complete f***wad.

A lot of the hate you find in the UK is from people who like to blame anyone except themselves for the fact that they're too lazy to get jobs. I imagine you get wastes of space like that in every country. I remember walking to work with some Polish colleagues at the warehouse I used to work at, and we went past a wall some idiot had written "Polish go home" on - lost for what to say I managed "most of us aren't like that" which is true, and they'd been here long enough to realise that. There's just a minority of f***wits with nothing better to do than stir up trouble. Not helped by the gutter press, of course. I'd imagine the anti-British business in Poland comes into the same category - I've certainly never had any problems over there because of my nationality, even in places like Krakow where drunks give us a bad reputation.

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]


This is true, and that wasn't my intention. I have nothing but contempt for the kind of low-life scum I was referring to, but that doesn't blind me to the danger they can pose.

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

He was quoting me but the quote box cited noimmigration for some reason.

Life / Polish bureaucracy - it went to a new level, they ask to pay for search [21]


Yes, Britain allows dual nationality.

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]

The Polish verb być "to be" takes the instrumental case, the suffix -ą for feminine gender nouns (and a few masculine gender ending in a), -em for masculine and neuter nouns and -ami for plurals of all genders.

You use "panu" (dative) if something's being given or done to the gentleman and "pana" if he's the object of a sentence (accusative) or you're talking about something belonging to him (genitive). I can never remember the declension of "pani" but I think "panią" is the accusative. (EDIT: it is, as well as the instrumental.)

Hope that helps. :-)

Language / Correct form of BYĆ. Please help! [96]


If it's as good as her other Polish grammar book I'd second this recommendation.

Vincent, glad I could help. I know studying the declensions gave me a few headaches when I started learning Polish. Complicated but absolutely essential.

EDIT:


Indeed. I don't think I could have summarised the suffixes for other cases quite as concisely.

Life / Can an American in Poland renew American Passport here? [18]

If there's an American equivalent of the British Foreign Office's travel advice website, it might say on there.

Travel / I'm off to Poland tonight :) is there anything should take with me? [20]


I've started drinking Polish beer over here, and I'm not the only one judging from the fact that Tyskie is now one of the top 10 selling brands in the UK (which can't all be down to Polish immigrants after a taste of home!) Give us an option that's stronger, cheaper and tastes better than most English beer and what do you expect?

Best of luck on your first trip to Poland!

Travel / ŁÓDZ..is it worth a visit? [25]

I've heard it compared to Manchester a few times, and the descriptions do make it seem like quite a similar place.

Travel / Ryanair cancelling flights to Poland at short notice [55]

I'm having a week in Poland in December and this is making me seriously consider getting the coach or train rather than flying. I've done it before and it's not as bad as you'd expect.

Travel / Ryanair cancelling flights to Poland at short notice [55]

I've been on the coaches and they're exactly what you'd expect 24 hours on a bus to be like. The train seems doable, especially if I get an early train from Norwich.