News / Poland in big development - what are the negative results? [37]

Can anyone provide me a list of simple Polish traits that people are accustomed with this culture/stereotypes

1. i.e Irish known to be "drunks" etc.
2. Are Polish known for drinking? Dancing? Racism (as I understand it) etc. those kind of things. Add to the list or correct the myths.............

If you say Polish what can a person "expect" you to be like?

Travel / What can you tell me about Silesia Poland region? [10]

Well, my father did tell me this weekend that my relatives come from the rural regional area of Silesia, Poland and Trembatschau, Poland, and Neudorf Poland. I have no idea where these places are or what is poignant about any of these cities but that is all I know for now.

What can you tell me (if anything) about these apparantly rural farming areas?

Apparantly Neudorf is now called Nowa Wies Poland?
polandpoland.com/nowa_wies.html

I googled Silesia and it is a legit region but found nothing for Trembatschau. Is it the same as Trzemeszno? Also, nothing for Neudori (these are all the ways my father spelled them).

I originally thought these 3 names were <b>cities</b> but alas they are still only geographic regions. I still don't know the cities that my relatives come from but I am getting closer! What do I do next?

I do not know the city they would have lived in but I think it would be Upper Siliesia because that is the part that speaks Polish (as opposed to Lower Silesia (German) and Upper used to be part of Prussia. I am guessing a city like Katowice but that is just a guess.

Travel / What can you tell me about Silesia Poland region? [10]

What else can you tell me about these three cities? try and bore me! The only wikipedia I can find on Śląsk is in Polish and thus I cannot read it. Can someone translate it or does wikipedia offer an English translation?

(I live in the U.S. by the way)

News / What is happening in polish politics? [51]

Is there anywhere where I can get Polish immigration (into Poland, and the U.S. statistics) as well as how many people are emmigrating (leaving) Poland?

Also, what is the European birth rate? Polish birth rates? Are they really as bad as projected? Why is European birth rate going down? Is life really that bad over there that people don't want to (or can't afford) to bring enough children into it?) Sorry if it sounds ignorant, but that is what we are taught in the States.............

News / Polish/German/Russian relations [304]

Went to school with a German foreign exchange student (well actually a lot of German foreign exchange students) but this one in particular didn't care for Polish I could tell.

Her host father commented on the only German National Basketball Player (U.S.) Dirk Norwitzki and he asked if 'ski' was German as I don't think he knew how to spell it. She immediately said "No! That (ski) is Polish!" (with a laugh).

I emailed her some weeks ago during the World Cup and I sincrely think she didn't write back because she knew I was Polish.....

News / What is happening in polish politics? [51]

Birth of a notion: Incentives offered for having more kids

By Veronika Oleksyn

The Associated Press

BEN RADFORD - GETTY IMAGES

A French fan holds a baby prior to kickoff during the World Cup semifinal match between Portugal and France in Munich on July 5.

VIENNA, Austria - Europeans are thinking twice - and sometimes three, four or five times -before having kids.

But benefits that are the envy of parents elsewhere may be boosting birth rates in some countries, baby step by baby step.

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003144171_eurobabies22.html

I know this is Aussie but it is still kind of relavant since it mentions Poland.

Aussie birth rate increases in wake of cash incentives

DPA , SYDNEY

Advertising Australia's birth rate has risen since the government sang from the "one for Mum, one for Dad and one for the country" songsheet and began paying out A$3,000 (US$2,100) for every new baby born, figures released yesterday showed.

But Treasurer Peter Costello wants to hear the pitter-patter of more tiny feet and is urging citizens to "procreate and cherish" in order to reverse the declining fertility rate that is the bane of Australia -- and most other rich countries.

taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/07/25/2003320319.

Travel / 1st time in Poland [78]

Frank,
Any other links like the one you provided with Warsaw? Any for Lodz, Katowice/Silesia region, email them to me or post on this board. I may be going to Poland (Europe for sure) after I graduate in a year and have no idea where to go

I live in the states too but hopefully, I don't sound as ignorant as "Steve" sorry steve, I think its cool that you are interested in Poland but come on, do what they say and give that junk food up for a week and experience a whole new culture.

News / What is happening in polish politics? [51]

Norway's welfare model 'helps birth rate'
Birth rates in the European Union are falling fast.
In the third of a series about motherhood and the role of the state in encouraging couples to have more children, the BBC's Lars Bevanger in Oslo examines whether generous family policies explain why Norwegian women give birth to more babies than most of their European sisters.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4786160.stm

SWEDEN AND NORWAY
Nordic governments employ a range of policies designed to help couples have more children. These governments have a long history of social policies aimed at helping people balance their work and family life. This is part of what is known as the "Nordic model".

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4837422.stm

News / Countries in Europe where abortion is allowed/not allowed? [110]


Yes, you would think that if abortions were outlawed, the birth rate would have to go up. I guess I just don't understand why Europe is declining, especially when countries like Poland have a large GDP and seem to be growing. Further, if one can afford it and WANTS to have kids, why wouldn't they?

The argument I keep hearing (not just on this site) is that the conditions are so bad (economically, society etc.) and the government incentives are so low (mother cannot afford to miss work, little materity leave if at all) that many people choose not to have any at all.

Finally, I think it is a growing theme-correct me if I'm wrong, that many families are happy with only one child? Is Europe really running around with 3 member families?

I am not trying to advocate anti abortion on anyone its just that would be an easy way of explaining that is a reason birth rate is going down, if it is not the case, I have no idea. Also, I have no idea how Europe will turn around their alarming trend of declining birth rates.

News / Countries in Europe where abortion is allowed/not allowed? [110]

Babies abound in family-friendly France

PARIS -- It's almost a "bebe" boom: France had more babies in 2006 than in any year in the last quarter-century, the state statistics agency said Tuesday, capping a decade of rising fertility that has bucked Europe's graying trend.

The government trumpeted the figures as a victory for family friendly policies such as cheap day care and generous parental leave -- many of which were launched under Socialists like Segolene Royal, the presidential candidate who was family minister in the early 1990s, and have continued to grow under today's conservative government.

France had 830,000 new babies last year, the highest annual total since 1981, the Insee statistics agency said. That brought France's population to 63.4 million people as of Jan. 1, up from 62.9 million a year earlier.

The fertility rate was 2.0 children per woman, up from 1.92 in 2005 -- and that might make France the most fertile nation in the European Union, Jean-Michel Charpin, Insee's director, predicted.

In 2005, only Ireland had a higher fertility rate: the Irish rate was 1.99, to France's 1.94. Irish figures for 2006 were not yet available.

More:

jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/01/19/news/world/da91 14535f2b1150872572650079e11b.txt

News / Poland's Growth Fastest in 10 Years [95]

good first fix the economy so people can take away the excuse that "career comes first" and then maybe Poland (along with the rest of the EU) can do something about their 1.5 birth rate so Europe does not become a muslim continent.

News / Polish-German Relations in the Present [697]


:)

UK, Ireland / 700 are arriving every day from Eastern Europe into Britain [50]

I find it ironic that many countries like Britain, Scotland and others in and around the UK have many of the same problems with Poles and other Eastern European immigrants that we do here in the U.S. with Latinos. Believe me, thank yourselves each day you don't have that problem. At least E. Europeans are still Western in philosophy.

Polish immigrants swell Scotland's new baby boom
news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=935812007

Life / JOKES ABOUT POLISH. Have we deserve it? [68]


What I have always heard (and concluded) from the potato famine jokes (Irish) to movies like Gangs of New York, is the reason there are Polish, Italian, and Irish jokes (to be specific) is way back in that era U.S. saw these immigrants as foreigners with a wierd religion (catholocism) that they did not accept (the U.S. was a very Protestant nation) and to further things, they did not see Poles, Irish, or Italians as truly white Europeans.

I think a lot of this was based off of fear of not truly knowing the cultures of these countries. Now that these people have proven they can adapt they are accepted and the migrants who have taken their places as underlings in U.S. society is Latinos. I for one would much rather see Eastern European immigratation to the U.S. as a "problem" then the crap they have now. If only we'd have known but hindsight is 20/20.

We can thank Pres. Lyndon Johnson and his Immigration Act of 1965 which loosened the immigration standards and opened up the still lax borders for the multicultural mess we have today.

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Services_Act_ of_1965

cis.org/articles/1995/back395.html

UK, Ireland / Unemployed due to Polish who work in the UK [126]


If I were you, I'd be glad it was a Pole taking my job than a Mexican like here in the U.S. At least Poles speak English and are Western and legitimately Christian in their beliefs. Think about it-you have more culturally in common with a Pole than you ever would with a Mexican who can't and many who won't speak English. Be glad you don't have those people....

USA, Canada / Polish fest in Milwaukee,WI [48]


Milwaukee IS one of the nicest places in Wisconsin. As for the Mexicans taking over, that is typically what they do. They are leeches who come in and infest a nice neighborhood only to turn it into crap. Their motive seems to be-the nicer it is the harder we have to work to make it more representative of home. This is what seperates our common sense culture with their culture.

News / What can Poland do to maintain its Ethnic Integrity? [118]


Simple, stick with their own kind. Form ethnic enclaves and mingle only with like minded native 100% slavs. People who share a common culture literally have more in common thus should stick together.

Language / Verb forms and conjugation [28]

Can anyone tell me if this book would be a good purchase for someone willing and wanting to learn Polish and how to use it correctly.

Polish-Verbs-Barrons-Klara-Janecki

Most of the reviews are positive. I just don't want to get something too complicated like all the different forms many of which I will never use because I won't know how or when to use them (like imperfect or infinative). I guess in English we use this without knowing it so it doesn't bother me. Basically I'd just like present, past and future tense and conjugation.

Any other books you'd recommend? What about books with phonetics so I know how to pronounce the words. Any ideas on this? You can stare at a word all day but if you don't know how to say it as many polish words/verbs don't sound like they look (byc) for example, you are wasting your time.

Also is there anywhere I can download a Polish keyboard? You notice I don't have the ' over the "c" which creates the "ch" sound.

Thanks.