UK, Ireland / Passed theory in UK, failed driving. Possible to take driving test in PL? [23]


Given that Ireland is an EU member country, I guess so.

Life / Is it expensive to give birth in Poland? [26]

My wife gave birth in Poland and I blogged about it here: britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/06/giving-birth-in-poland/

Our experience tends to go with what Wroclaw Boy is saying. We didn't bribe anybody at first and the duty doctor didn't step outside his office. Once my parents-in-law arrived at the hospital and felt that my wife wasn't been given enough care, 500zl later and the Doctor magically appeared and then couldn't do enough for us.

I got the impression that we would have been looked after to a sufficient standard without any 'łapówki' but a few sheckle made a big difference.

Life / Paying bribes in Poland - necessity or a luxury? [41]

on the subject of bribes - I saw a poster in the reception of a police station here that was an anti-police-corruption type poster. Had a picture of a load of officers with a slogan along the lines of 'we don't take bribes!' Made me wonder to myself how big a problem police corruption must be if it warrants a poster campaign...

I wish I had taken a picture of that poster because now I can't find any pictures of it on the internet...

Life / Satellite type connections in flat in Poland [18]

probably cable TV for the block. You should check with your building manager.

Life / Deadly Roads - "Are polish roads really THAT dangerous?" [139]


I live on a main road and there is a car accident in front of my house on average every 2 or 3 months. So I would say yes.

Life / Deadly Roads - "Are polish roads really THAT dangerous?" [139]


I don't follow your argument. You are hearing about accidents all over town. I am talking about one 200 metre stretch of road. I think that an accident in one place every 2 or 3 months is very high and I am surprised that the council or road department or whoever hasn't done anything about it.

Life / Can you keep a right hand drive car in Poland? [57]

fantastic info - very interesting! Nice one.

Travel / Snow tyres in Poland... legal or reccomended? [25]

if anyone is interested I wrote about this very topic here: britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/03/summer-and-winter-tyres/. I usually shop around online to get the best tyres and then take them to my local garage to get them changed over.

Real Estate / What is a "jard" [10]

it is called an "are" in English:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are

but of course nobody has ever heard of it as we don't use ares in English speaking countries.

Law / How do I get a .pl / Poland domain name? [9]

personally I just buy .com domains even for my Polish projects because 200 zloty is outrageously expensive in my opinion.

But if you really want one go to dns.pl/english/fees.html

Law / How do I get a .pl / Poland domain name? [9]

in fact the last time I checked Poland and Portugal have the most expensive domains in the whole of the EU. I can only guess that because they don't sell many the cost hasn't yet come down....

Life / Paying bribes in Poland - necessity or a luxury? [41]

and in Lisbon when I was there....

Food / MIÓD PITNY = MEAD / dwojniak - trojniak [13]

yes I was given a bottle from zakopane. Very nice. At the time I looked up what "miód pitny' meant and was just as confused when I saw 'mead' as I had never heard of mead before...

Love / Tips for organizing Polish-English wedding in Poland with US guests. [17]

I was at a Polish wedding where some English guests were invited. The English were told beforehand what to expect and English speakers were put near them and it went absolutely fine. I am sure it will go fine for you too.

Work / NIP number - can I get this before I am employed? [13]

There is a picture of the form here: britishinpoland.com/blog/2008/10/how-to-get-a-nip-number/

There are actually quite a few sections so I suggest you take someone with you. Plus they will ask you why you want a NIP number too.

Work / NIP number - can I get this before I am employed? [13]

Yes, it doesn't make sense at all. Welcome to Poland.

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


That means something else. Chłopak (guy/boyfriend) and chłopiec (boy) are two different words.

UK, Ireland / Registering a Polish car in UK..? [13]


For that you will have to check with the local council that covers that area.

Life / PAYING TO TAKE A PISS IN POLAND, it's BIZARRE [77]

my theory is that in the small towns everybody has outdoor garden dogs that never get taken for walks, as opposed to pet dogs that live indoors and get taken on walkies on pavements and then crap everywhere.

Language / What do you find difficult about learning Polish? [98]

Personally I didn't mind the perfective/imperfective. Once you get your head around that concept the verb tenses aren't too bad. Took me a while to feel the difference between the determinate and indeterminate verbs of motion though (e.g. chodzić versus iść, latać versus lecieć).

For me I find it hard to get the pronunciation right. I am making a big effort to pronounce cz, sz and ż hard as opposed to the soft ones like ć/ci and ś/si and zi. There are so many difficult words to pronounce. An example is "wszcząć" which I came across yesterday and made me stop and think for a few seconds!

I think the hardest think is that there are so many exceptions to every rule. Just when you think you have got the hang of one rule you find a bunch of words that appear to work differently....

I am planning to sit the Polish exam for foreigners when they announce the dates for next year so am studying hard....

Law / My father is 100% Polish, mother is 0% Polish. Citizenship in Poland. [29]

No, Gregorz is right. There is nothing to stop you having Polish plus other citizenships (as far as Polish law is concerned), it's just that Poland will not recognise your other citizenships. As far as Poland is concerned you are 100% Polish if you are in Poland or travelling on a Polish passport.

The complication is that sometimes the other country (e.g. Japan I think is one) might not allow you to have multiple citizenships and so you have to give one up.

But there is no problem in having both Polish and American, or Polish and British etc..

Law / Working in Poland - do I need a work permit as a British citizen? [7]

You can read to your heart's content about tax, NI and all the different bits of paper you will have to fill out here: british in poland.

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

No - the case has nothing to do with the tense. But normally in sentences talking about identity such as "Tommy is a Policeman" the occupation is in the instrumental not nominative.

But I am going to guess that to keep the exercise simple they used the nominative as that is the dictionary form.

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

I think you need to add the zero first when you dial as in other countries.

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

this peculiarity of using the instrumental like this leads to the funny following case - if you say "Jestem samochodem" then that can mean either "I'm driving" (in the sense of don't give me any alcohol) or it can mean "I am a car" (if for example you were playing a role playing game or had some serious mental problems)...

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

You are right in that cities are usually 2 digits but 607 is in fact a mobile phone. You can see the list here:

pl.wikisource.org/wiki/Telefoniczne_numery_kierunkowe_w_Polsce

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]


Not exactly because the area code is "22" not "022" for Warsaw. Dialling within the country you add a zero whether it's a mobile/cell or landline. All domestic calls start with 0 because that tells the phone system you want to dial a domestic number. Likewise all international numbers start 00 because that tells the system you are dialling internationally.

But you are correct in that for a landline call you need 0 + area code + number. In some countries (e.g. UK) often the number suffices if you are calling within the same area code.

News / Phone numbers in Poland - should I add a ZERO ? [11]

I am going to guess that mobiles are smart enough to work it out so you don't need the zero.

UK, Ireland / Irish Tax / Polish Tax [3]

Basically if you are now resident in Poland you are required to pay tax in Poland. Normally you are resident in a country if you spend more than 6 months per year there, but that is a grey area and can depend on where your main house is, where your partner/kids live etc.. etc..

As vndunne has said, always best to get advice.

Life / Calling Emergency Services in Poland [6]


In fact it is the universal number across the EU:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-1-2

They called it the "European Health Insurance Card" or EHIC for short.

ehic.org.uk/Internet/home.do