Life / People from Poland are the most upfront and kind. [7]

That's nice you wish us all the best:) dzięki:)


But the truth is that it is the generation of our grandparents/parents who remember the "hard times". young people nowadays are not concerned with the past, I mean the times of communism, not to mention wwII. so maybe their mentality is slightly different...


yeah, that's quite sad, I think that the youth want to get rid of that Polishness in favour of sth more European (universal?)

Life / How much do you HATE POLISH PEOPLE and POLAND [1260]

And what about English - French antagonism?(British - French? I'd like to know if Scots, Irish or Welsh hate French as much as Englis do) Generally, historical reasons are really important and it's the past experience that make us at least "reserved" toward other nations.

Life / How much do you HATE POLISH PEOPLE and POLAND [1260]


Right, a bit long:) but I see what you mean. For Scots not France but England was the opressor. (in fact I should have remembered it from my history lectures;p)

Language / Jestem ze Szczecina or Szczecinia? [15]

ze Szczecina, ze Szczytna, ze Wschodu, when you have consonant clusters like these, use ZE

the same goes for w/we eg. w poniedziałek, we wtorek etc

It's simply easier to pronounce when you have a vowel:)

Food / Beer and syrup - tastes better! [48]


why used to be drunk? it still is:) I think raspberry syrup is perfect for beer. in polish pubs beer is also served with ginger syrup.


don't care about this:) indeed more girl than boys drink beer with syrup but it's not the rule.

as for żubrówka, try it with apple juice and a pinch of cinnamon. it tastes really good:)

Travel / Age requirements when going out to clubs in Poland [13]

I would take both, I mean the 18+ card and the passport.

in some clubs you have to be over 21 to get in

Language / conjugation of verb wspiąć się [39]


wespnę, wespniesz etc is a future tense. in present it would be:

wspinam się
wspinasz się
wspina się

wspinamy się
wspinacie się
wspinają się

News / Man from Zakopane who cut off his own genitals [53]


of course , how come you didn't know that?! that's the standard contraception in Poland :D

Life / are sending and recieving sms free on all polish networks? [7]

sending messages from the internet is free but not from mobiles

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


unfortunately, bribery is still common in Poland especially in health service and higher institutions. You do not encounter it in everyday life, but when you are in a hospital you realise that to receive good care you have to bribe nurses and doctors.

Law / Noise regulations in Poland [3]

from 10pm to 6am there is CISZA NOCNA which means that you can't play loud music, drill, hoover etc

Food / Questions on Polish food: Oscypek and Zurek. Also zeberka. [18]

inkrakow, unfortunately you're right. I spent a month in Zakopane and often talked to local people, they admitted that they neither use goat's nor sheep's, but cow's milk to produce oscypki. they also talked about colouring, that they simply "paint" oscypki because the process of smoking is quite long and they want to gain profit in a relatively short period. of course tourists are blissfully unaware of such practices...

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


meaning where?

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


you know, I'm Polish and I can't understand it :D maybe it's because I don't like vodka

Life / are sending and recieving sms free on all polish networks? [7]

in polish networks, if you have roaming, you never pay if you receive an sms. if you sent a message from abroad to poland (having polish network) you pay for the message about 5 times more that usually. but if sb sends you a message from poland he/she pays normally (no extra charges).

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


true. according to a recent survey, over 50 per cent of Poles don't speak any foreign language

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


The main problem which makes it so difficult for poles to acquire truely english accent is that english has dynamic stress while polish is a tonic laguage. it means that in an english word only one or two vowels are stressed while in a polish word we stress all vowels (and even if you do not stress a syllable, a vowel is "fully" pronounced). it's a great difficulty for poles to produce an unstressed vowel (technically called "schwa") because we simply do not have such a vowel in polish. I suppose a native speaker of english also has problems with polish pronunciation.

another problem is the "th" sound, poles are so ignorant when it comes to pronunciation of "th" (they tend to replace it with t/f/s or d/w/z). we don't have this sound in polish, but it's much easier to produce "th" than any english vowel.

and finally, everyone who wants to get rid of a foreign accent should talk with (and listen to!) native speakers and learn from them.

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


I meant that every vowel is "fully" pronounced, not reduced to schwa as in english. You're right, I should't have used the word "stressed". And I don't think it's funny, I just expressed it in wrong words. sorry, I didn't want to mislead anyone.


No I didn't. "Th" is the most difficult consonant for poles to pronounce, but it's still easier to produce TH than some of the vowels. you just have to put your tounge between you teeth:)

in case of vowels, in polish there is no distinction between short and long vowels (that's why poles often mispronounce "peace", "beach" etc) so poles have difficulties in grasping the significance of such distinction.

another vowel, called "ash" (like in "cat"), is also hard to produce, as there is no such sound in polish.

and finally, "schwa", the unaccented vowel, poses many problems, because the phonetic value of polish vowels doesn't significantly change even if fast speech (try to say the word KOLORADO in polish, and you'll see that even if you say it fast, you have no doubts there are three "o" and one "a" within the word)

that is why I think TH is simpler to pronounce than english vowels.

News / Poland adopting the Euro, but when? [65]


I think not earlier than in 2012


I don't mind, although i like złotówki:)

Food / NAME THIS FOOD PLEASE (Hungarian pastry / Zurek?) [9]


was it a dessert? we eat placek węgierski (hungarian pancake) but it's not sweet. it's a kind of pancake made of grated potatoes and served with sauce (with beaf, I think). that's the only dish I know that has "hungarian" in its name.


It must have been ŻUREK, that's the only soup we serve in a bread bun. but not every restaurant serves it like that, żurek is also served in a plate:)so you should say you want żurek w chlebie (zurek in a bread bun)

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


dnz, this guy is so hilarious, I've seen it before but each time I'm listening to him I just can't help laughing:D

another case of ponglish (which always makes me laugh):

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


yeah... but I think it's an extreme case:D

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


hmmm, for a pole who studies english language it is funny, believe me:) I linked it to my friends and we had a good laugh. the point is that the guy (who was the polish minister of education at that time) gives a speech, which is of course perfectly prepared, but his pronunciation is awful! maybe it seems hilarious for me also because the man is funny in general:)

Life / Choosing a Polish Name for Your Newborn [15]


yeah, but nowadays, apart from going back to the traditional names, many parents give children foreign names: Nicole (or Nikola), Victoria, Angelika, Bryan (spelled Brajan <lol>) etc.

Life / Polish Parents are controlling [58]

maybe she wouldn't be so much interested in your life if she had her own?

Life / Spending a few months in Poland [23]


renting a flat ~ 1000 - 2000zł per month
food ~ 1000zł (?) depends on how much you eat:D
public transport ~ 100zł per month (?) depends on where and how often you want to travel
nightlife ~ 50zł - ...? per night
cinema ~ 15 - 20zł

Life / Spending a few months in Poland [23]

I know:) but when I go with friends to a pub or a disco (in case of disco 10-15zł for entry), drink not more than 4 beers :D (4x 6zł =24zł), and take taxi home (5-10zł when we share costs) I spend about 50zł.

of course if we take drinks (more expensive than beer:D), bowl or play billiards, eat sth etc we spend much more

50zł is a minimum

Life / Spending a few months in Poland [23]



you took it out of context. I didn't say you need 50zł on average, I said it's a minimum (why do I have to explain it to everyone, wasn't that clear?)

ok, then, nightlife ~ 200zł - ....

apparenty, you cannot have a good fun without much money.

Life / Choosing a Polish Name for Your Newborn [15]


my sister is Kasia:) quite a popular name indeed..