Language / My Learning Polish Woes... [64]


I would agree with that. A great thing my teacher does is dictation. She reads aloud a passage in Polish and we write it down. It's difficult but it really helps with understanding. And it helps the other way too, as we know how to pronounce written words properly. Usually...

Language / My Learning Polish Woes... [64]

It definitely does get better. Try not to worry too much about getting everything precisely correct. Context helps. for example if you walk into a room, people will know you are saying 'Hi', and are not likely to think you are saying 'six' to them...

I like to practice as much as I can, and love it when I find someone Polish to talk to. The problem I find is that they usually want to practice their english, so I don't get the chance to test my skills.

I never thought of the DVD subtitles thing though, I'm going to have a good look through my collection now.

Life / "Gdzie jest barszcz?" How do I get talking Polish with real Poles? [16]


This is understandable. I tried speaking to a few Polish people in various places like the local Polish shop, in the street etc and they were definitely humouring me, quite rightly. (yes, you can say 'dzien dobry', well done...)

The good thing about helping out the Polish group was that it was very much two-way. They were learning as much from me as I was from them. They loved practising their english on me and were happy to point out all my mistakes (curse your instrumental case...) What I found useful was hearing the difference between 'book-learning' and the way Polish is really spoken, it helped me to sound a bit more 'natural' in my conversation.

Life / "Gdzie jest barszcz?" How do I get talking Polish with real Poles? [16]

I used to help out with a local Polish community group. They would meet socially every week and occasionally go on trips etc. I would often just sit and listen to the conversations and try and pick up what I could - it was great for me to hear 'proper' Polish being spoken rather than the text in a book. Maybe you could check with your nearest library or college, they might know of something similar in your area and you could volunteer to help.

Language / Correct Polish spelling [69]


Great, thanks.

My daughter is Katie, short for Katriona - she is now also known as Kasia...

Language / Correct Polish spelling [69]

I know quite a few Gosias but they never use Małgorzata.
Is Kasia short for Katrina?

UK, Ireland / Poles returning to Poland from UK [21]


Good!

UK, Ireland / Poles returning to Poland from UK [21]

Is this a trend across the whole country, or just in some areas? We have a well established Polish community here in Aberdeen, and I haven't seen signs that many are going back at all. I sometimes get the impression that there is a real difference between the North and South of Britain. Scotland needs all the workers it can get I think...

UK, Ireland / The best place to buy a house in the UK [120]


This to me is the crux of the problem with this thread. Arise St George cannot simply claim to be describing his community, he is clearly expressing his own views that non-whites and asians are directly responsible for crime. This is not only completely idiotic, but actually illegal. The result of this is a complete derailing of the discussion into pointless arguing over points which are of no use whatever to the original poster.

This should have been stopped straight away by some quick pruning. This is what moderation should be.
To be honest the complete lack of moderation on this site is really starting to put me off coming back. All too often a perfectly good discussion is ruined by idiots running amok wth no control whatsoever.

Anyway, to get back to the original point, I would offer up Scotland as a good place to come to. I'm in Aberdeen, and it has everything. A beautiful place, friendly people and plenty of jobs. Unemployment is currently less than 1 percent. Houses can be a bit pricey, but I reckon it's worth it.

Language / how are you - jak sie masz? (saying hello in Polish conversation) [10]

Piękny, dziękuje.
That is very helpful. I just don't want to sound like I'm reading from an old-fashioned book.
Now I just have to master the pronunciation of 'co słychac'...

Language / A question + a website about learning Polish Language I stumbled upon [5]


I'm a beginner as well, but I'll have a go -

Informal -
Jak masz na imię?

Formal -
Jak Pan Ma na imię?

Answer -
Mam na imię xxxx

You can also use the verb Nazywać (to be named) but I don't think this is so common, and I think means you are asking for their full name (1st and 2nd names)-

Informal -
Jak się nazywasz?

Formal -
Jak się pan nazywa?

Answer
Nazywam się xxxx


Quite a useful list, but it could be confusing that it doesn't show the right accents (ą and ę etc)

As I said, I'm new to this too, so forgive me if I've made mistakes. I'm sre someone will keep us both right though...

K.

Life / Angina, Polish resources needed [27]

We're discussing 'Angina Pectoris' though, which is NOT tonsillitis. In English, 'Angina' = heart disease. Read the link which Brian provided...

Life / Why is Poland so slow; it takes a lot of time to arrange anything here [53]

That's funny, I was in my Polish lesson two days ago when my teacher (who is Polish, obviously) set us an exercise to do. I took some time to think about it, and the teacher said "Oh Keith, you are so Scottish!..." I asked her what she meant and she said "Scottish people are sooo slow - compared to Polish people you take forever to do anything"

I guess it's just a matter of personal opinion, rather than a national thing.

UK, Ireland / any polish ppl in aberdeen who make there own music [5]


I know exactly where you're speaking about, as I work in that area. I can assure you it's not true at all about the shop. I spoke to the owner about it and he was genuinely shocked that anyone thought that. It is possible that there has been some language barrier at some point that has given someone the wrong impression, and the story has grown as stories tend to do when they are wrong...

Are you trying to talk to Polish people in polish or english? My experience in that area is that Polish people are very quiet and reserved, until you speak even a little bit of polish to them, when they open up into some of the warmest, friendliest people I've ever met. Even a quick 'dzien dobry, jak się masz?' works wonders.

Think of it this way - if you went to live in Poland, how easy would you find it to talk back to people on the street? It's a fair bet you'd spend most of your time with other Scottish people that you could talk to, at least until you could get to grips with the language.

Interestingly, just 50 yards away from that Polish shop is a language centre which is packed out the door with Polish people learning english...