UK, Ireland / Why do Poles come to England? [514]

Wow! I found this forum and registered last week and keep coming back to have a read of some of the existing posts, and like nincompoop_not after reading laddy and some of the other posts, here I am.

I am English, and proud to be so, but do not have the same problem that some my fellow countrymen (and women) seem to have with the Poles.

We have about 25 to 30 Poles working here, a number of whom have worked here for almost 4 years. In most cases they are more willing and much harder working than their English colleagues. I think that like with every nationality there are unfortunately a small minority that give everyone a bad name. However, those Poles that I have had the experience of working with are certainly not vermin, and it would be a shame if they all had to leave...not good riddance.

Life / IS IT MY NAME DAY IN POLAND TODAY....? [73]

Wow, thanks nincompoop_not, it appears that I have 2 namedays...and one of them is next Tuesday (or, if I can remember what I've just learnt...w następny wtorek!)

I wonder if I can get presents?

Language / Two questions for people who learn polish [57]

Roublard


What I find the most difficult are all the different possibilities for word endings, and the way that some word stems change when they have an ending added to them! I am learning by myself with the help of a couple of books and the internet (and PF of course!) and it really is the hardest thing to grasp.

I think that the whole language is interesting...and i've only been learning for a few months. The one thing that I think is better for a learner is the pronunciation. Once you know how to say a letter/combination of letters, you can usually have a reasonable attempt at saying a word. I only get told that i'm saying things wrong (when I actually try to say something that is!) because I say things with an English accent. With English, it's never quite that simple! ;-)

Life / IS IT MY NAME DAY IN POLAND TODAY....? [73]

I had been checking it every day and would have missed it because I am on holiday next Tuesday!! :) Perhaps I knew subconciously, that's why i'm off!!!

Language / Not sure if I will be able to speak Polish [53]


As a native English speaker learning Polish I have to agree. However knowing how the letters should be said, and actually managing to say them is something completely different!!

I don't have much opportunity to speak Polish, but I suggest that you keep at it Polskiej_Dumy because you will be retaining more than you realise. I took notes in a meeting where there was a polish translator and I was surprised at how many words/phrases I could actually understand - to the point where I was writing down some answers before they had been translated to English!!!

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]



I was having a moment earlier when I asked the question, and have realised the answer since. If I had learnt about cases at school, I'm sure that I wouldn't be having so much trouble with learning Polish cases now.

I think that I just have lots of practise ahead of me! :D

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]


Thanks SzwedwPolsce I do have a couple of books, one of them is Oscar Swans "Verbs and Essentials of Grammar" and it does have some good examples.

I think it's probably because I'm learning by myself, so I'm not going about it in a very structured way...and I'm trying to run before I can walk ;) ;) ;)

Language / Grammar Cases - would "revisiting" english grammar help with learning? [7]


My thoughts exactly, which is why I asked the question in the first place! Although I don't think there are any "magic" English rules that will help me to make sense of noun cases in Polish. Just when I think I know which case a sentence belongs to, I find that I'm wrong because of another rule. I guess it's just a lot of practice, and I always knew that it wouldn't be easy.

Language / What's the best "Learn Polish" book? [33]


I already had a couple of books and have just bought this one, and I have to agree with SzwedwPolsce. There were a number of things that I was struggling to get my head around with the others, but I have only flicked through this and looked at the first couple of chapters and it is already starting to make more sense!