Study / Where can I study Polish in Wroclaw? [8]

To the best of my knowledge they have stopped offering free English lessons in the UK and there are no free Polish lessons in Poland.

If anyone knows anything otherwise I am keen to hear though!

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]


I am going to guess she's not paying any tax - she's just being paid cash in hand directly by the family. Wyspianska - is that correct?

I presume also that the agency were paid a finder's fee at the start by the au pair and also the family and therefore are no longer involved and thus don't particularly care now. That's usually how it works - again Wyspianska, is that the case?

Realistically there is nothing to stop you just leaving and finding a new family. They might try and scare you about the contract but I seriously doubt anyone will try and enforce it, especially if you are unhappy with the current family.

But as SeanBM says, it would be polite to give them some notice to find a replacement. But I don't know what you reason is for wanting to leave the current family - if they are treating you badly then don't feel guilty about just leaving.

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]


Well I think that technically you aren't supposed to work 'cash in hand'. Normally you should apply for a National Insurance number and pay tax. But I don't think anybody will care about that for au pair work so I wouldn't worry about it.

But that aside then because you are an EU citizen you are totally free to stay in the UK and work or don't work where you choose.


No you don't need anything else. There is no 'zameldowanie' or any other crap. The UK is a 'free' country :-)

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]

Tax evasion? Being reported? These girls are normally earning a pittance - £50 a week or so. I think HMRC have got bigger fish to fry...

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]


But they don't earn a wage - that's the whole point. They just get a little pocket money given that their food and accomodation is covered already.

[Edit - I can't spell today]

Language / Which case for adjectives? [47]

You are muddling up two different words - wszyscy and wszystko.

Wszyscy is similar to "everybody, everyone", where as wszystko is similar to "everything".

When you are talking about wszystkie you are talking about wszystko....

Edit - I probably shouldn't have said "two different words" - grammatically it's probably the same root I guess...

Language / WILL "TĄ" REPLACE "TĘ" SOON? [14]

The more frequently used the word then the slower it evolves. Apparently that's the general rule of thumb. I guess that is why tę has not fully evolved into tą yet like the other forms did and we get the situation now where what is technically correct sounds odd.

It makes life harder for me as a non-native speaker to know which form to go with..

Life / ANYONE CELEBRATE ANDRZEJKI (ST ANDREW'S EVE)? [21]

wow - hadn't associated "andrzejki" with "saint Andrew's day"...

In fact being English I wouldn't have had a clue when St. Andrew's day even was.

I know why it's a big deal in Scotland - but is there any interesting history as to why St. Andrew's day is celebrated in Poland?

Polonia / Bringing a car from Germany to Poland + Registration [5]

you need to have a registered address if you want to register a car in your name in Poland - i.e. zameldowanie. But your vehicle document will only be valid as long as your zameldowanie is, so if your zameldowanie is only 3 months long so is your car registration.

no you don't need a Pesel but there is no harm or trouble in getting one so you might as well.
no - VAT is not reclaimable within the EU for consumers.
I think you have to be careful whereever you buy a car, not just in Poland.

You will also have to pay tax on registering the vehicle. This depends on engine capacity. You can go to the urząd skarbowy in your town to ask.

From another discussion:

Import Tax on LKW and PKW

Can someone tell me the percentage % Import Tax (Zoll) for an LKV with over 2100cc.
Pkv is 18.6% are they classed the same or not?
Is it correct to have to also pay 22% VAT/Mvst also on inported cars form Germany?


they aren't PKW so zero%


yes

Language / WILL "TĄ" REPLACE "TĘ" SOON? [14]


No - fem singular nominative is tamta, fem singular accusative is tamtą

It is just "ta" which is the odd one out and is written "tę" in the fem sing accusative when "tą" might be expected and is usually pronounced.

Language / WILL "TĄ" REPLACE "TĘ" SOON? [14]

It follows the regular ending of "o" and therefore is "tamto".

Te and tamte are plural forms.

Law / Can I apply for citizenship or dual nationality? [5]

I had exactly the same situation. You can read about it on my blog: apparently-im-polish-and-dont-know-it/. I have done my application and expect to get confirmation in the next few months....

Language / WHY "HIGH FEE" for HIFI in Polish? [12]


Yes, I noticed that. My favourite one is when they talk about the tennis at "wimbledon".

They don't pronounce that either fully Polish by pronouncing the w as a v as in:
vimbledon

or fully English:
wim-bol-dun

As Krzystof says another one where they have tried to "rationalise" it...

Law / Ikea suspends all investments in Poland [35]


And what's wrong with that? If you think the landlord is charging too much then don't rent from them anymore. If the price is too high then no-one will rent. Simple facts of supply and demand.

Law / Paypal, moneybrokers etc. - payment options for online Poland's store? [10]

of course people use credit cards, it's just not as common as the UK or USA for example.

I would say the most common is either a direct bank transfer in advance, or payment in cash to the courier on delivery.

Law / Paypal, moneybrokers etc. - payment options for online Poland's store? [10]

I think you are expecting too much. I would say that there is no leading online solution that is commonly accepted such as PayPal. Don't forget that use of the Internet is not as advanced for online shopping as it is in the UK/USA and I would expect Japan.

For example the biggest online auction site in Poland (allegro.pl) has its own online payment solution called "Allegro payments" (płatności allegro).

If you look at a random shop such as elektro.pl you can see on this link their methods of payment:

electro.pl/document-koszty_dostawy-91.html#Formy_p%C5%82atno%C5%9Bci

The choice is either bank transfer in advance, cash on delivery, or via credit card.

Work / Need help about employment process in Poland [23]

can't you complain to headquarters that she doesn't seem to be co-operating?

Work / Need help about employment process in Poland [23]

Tricky situation. Personally I would try to cover my bases and continue to look for other work just in case this falls through or takes too long. You may well find something else/better in the time it takes her to sort out your contract.....

Otherwise I don't think there is much you can do apart from be patient.

Love / polish boyfriend has wrecked my english [48]

Great thread! Glad to know it's not just me. Sometimes I really think I am losing the ability to speak English. I had thought it was just me going mad.... maybe I still am..... but at least I know I'm not alone now.

Love / polish boyfriend has wrecked my english [48]


Yes but it's a specific day because you are making a reference to it, the fact that it's hypothetical isn't important - you are really saying something along the lines of "that specific day when something might happen will be a joy".

Therefore it needs a definite article.

Language / IS "MY Z BRATEM" OK FOR "MY BROTHER AND I"? [28]

It quite simply comes down to:

I = nominative.
me = accusative.

The confusion is because:

you = nominative and accussative

so people start to get confused about whether to use "I" or "me" in sentences combined with "you".

@mafketis:
Would you say "me went to the movies"?
No, of course not, so how can it possibly be correct to say "Me and my brother went to the movies."?
Even though you hear this all the time it's not correct...
But you specified American English, so if you say that is the case with American English versus English as spoken in the UK then I will trust you (with a sceptical smile though) :-)

USA, Canada / Double Polish-American citizenship? [16]


No that's not true. It's been raised a few times on this forum I think if you do a search.

Language / IS "MY Z BRATEM" OK FOR "MY BROTHER AND I"? [28]

I am just surprised that you said both forms "were fine" and even more so to read that you yourself say you sometimes also use the second.

To my ears, the "me" form in the nominative sounds just as painful as "me went to the movies" and I am surprised an educated person would use it.

USA, Canada / Double Polish-American citizenship? [16]


well I read your links and it doesn't say that it's illegal either. My understanding is that it used to be illegal and most of those rules were thrown out by the supreme court. It seems that US policy is that dual nationality is not recommended but is permitted.

In the first you link you gave it reads as though you only have the potential to lose US citizenship if you had intent on losing it when asked.

Law / Poles don't like to use credit cards when buying online? [10]

Yes, the norm is to do a bank transfer up front or pay the postman on delivery.

I have a UK internet site where I sell goods to people. I get charged around 2 - 3% of the purchase price to handle credit cards. There is also a similar fee for receiving payments with PayPal. I simply price my products accordingly so that this cost is absorbed as is the standard practice in the UK or US.

But in Poland credit cards are not so commonly used so merchants have a cash price and then often charge you extra if you say you want to use a credit card - a bit like what the no-frills airlines do. Therefore there is no incentive to pay for anything with a credit card.

Furthermore, when you pay with a credit card your credit card company gives you some protection in the UK if the merchant doesn't deliver or there are problems. There is no such protection in Poland (that I know of), so again, less incentive to use the card...

Life / international singned for post to poland-tracing delivery HELP [28]


what tracking? There is no tracking available at the Polish end. If you pay for tracking when posting from the UK then the tracking only works until the package leaves the UK, so that doesn't really help much.....

Law / Poles don't like to use credit cards when buying online? [10]


Well I won't comment on that. In my opinion things aren't as progressive as in the UK but then I am not sure that is such a bad thing.

Don't forget that Polish people don't buy stuff online as much as in the UK, Germany or the US. Internet use hasn't caught up to those countries yet.

Personally I use the pay-on-delivery option for merchants I haven't used before or don't trust, and after that I do a bank transfer in advance.

Life / international singned for post to poland-tracing delivery HELP [28]


Yes there is tracking in that they keep a record of what the postman did, but there is no online tracking as such so that you can see what the status is of your package which is what Ericlipis was suggesting.

Also, from my experience of querying what happened to a parcel I sent (from Poland to the UK via registered post) they wouldn't check their records for 3 months from the date of posting...

Life / Beware When Buying a Computer in Poland [28]

Personally I run Ubuntu on my main computer but I disagree that it is totally plug and play as ela_lawyer suggests. For example some things such as my webcam and scanner needed 'fixing' (i.e. finding, building and installing drivers manually) and unless someone is confident with working on the command line then they would probably get stuck doing that.

Unfortunately there are still lots of programs that only work on Windows and this means I am forced to keep at least one PC running Windows in my office.

Personally I love linux but think it has a little way to go yet before it is as easy to use as Windows. But I think that ela_lawyer is right in that it has come a long way very quickly and is growing fast. I am sure it's market share will continue to grow.

Law / Costs for importing a car from Germany to Poland. [34]

I don't think VAT is payable. You do a VAT-24 form to free you from paying VAT because the VAT was paid when the car was first bought in Germany.

From my understanding you will end up paying:

first technical inspection - 169 PLN
Tax (akcyza) 13.6% because engine size is greater than 2 litres - 8840 EUR
translation costs - probably 200 PLN
registration costs - about 100 PLN
karta pojazdu (vehicle document) - 75 PLN

You might get charged the ecology fee (opłata ekologiczna) - 500 PLN

There are a few other charges of 10 or 20 PLN here and there that I didn't bother to add. The charges I showed give you an idea though.

Remember that your invoice should show your Polish address and be in both German and Polish to avoid problems later.

Good luck.