Love / Polish family from Chojnice has stolen my son. [17]

You should either delete the address or request that the mods delete it.

Language / Kupić - Kupować [17]

There are lots of rules about when to use each.

Welcome to the wonderful world of aspect.

The best, 30 second explanation is to think of each verb as looking at the process of buying something from a different viewpoint.

kupić is looking at the act of buying something from the end, after money and good or service have changed hands.

kupować looks at the act of buying something while it's going on.

Kupię (I'll buy it) concentrates on the fact that the transaction will be completed.

Będę kupował (I'll buy it / I'll be buying it) concentrates on the process and not the end state of having bought something. This is why it also refers to periodic or repeated purchases.

kupiłem. (I bought it - it's mine now)

kupowałem (I was buying it (no mention as to whether the transaction was finished) or I used to buy it a repeated action.

Love / I'm pregnant by my Polish boyfriend but he wants me to abort it! [132]

I'm not gonna give you advice except to say that you need to think through this carefully and quick and that whatever you decide the consequences are likely to follow you for years or the rest of your life.

- if you abort, you may or may not come to regret it, possibly bitterly. if you do choose termination then you need counselling before and after the event.

- if you go for adoption the potential negative consequences are also there and often followed by regret. and there's the chance the child will seek you out some day (so be ready for that).

- if you have the baby, you can't count on any moral support from the father (and it's not a good idea to speak badly of him to the kid ..... ever so keep that in mind) you may or may not be able to make him financially responsible but that won't make him a father. if things go the normal way you'll bond with and love your child but it could make finding another suitable life partner difficult and if you fail to bond with the child (which happens occasionally) things will be pretty miserable.

There are no easy answers here, you need counselling (and prayer if you're the religious type). Best of luck.

Food / [Quiz] And you thought you knew Polish cuisine? (in Polish language) [27]

"Twój wynik: na 10 pytań udzieliłeś 8 poprawnych odpowiedzi"

Eat it biatches!

I only missed the first two.

Language / Pan/Pani...usage changes for case distiction? [23]


dzień dobry Panu ; panu = dative (to you) literally: "good day to you

dzieę dobry Panie Janku = vocative (calling someone by name) literally "good day, (Mr) John!"

News / THOUSANDS OF YOUNG ISRAELIS FLOODING POLAND [93]


follow closely:

1. poster criticizes well-documented very bad behavior by Israeli teens in Poland, suggested diplomatic means to address the issue

2. miranda tells him to shut up

What conclusion would you come to?

News / THOUSANDS OF YOUNG ISRAELIS FLOODING POLAND [93]

So you're defening the current thuggish behavior? (which is well-documented)

Food / POLISH "CHEMICALISED" CONVENIENCE FOODS [23]


"They" do? ...... All in one breath?

Life / What should be done to make life in Poland better and more enjoyable? [94]

This asking for change isn't exclusively Polish. I remember it used to be very common in Spain too.

For the other extreme, go to Hungary. Before they got rid of 1 and 2 forint coins they used to _hate_ it if you tried to give them exact change. For example try to give the cashier 567 forints for a 467 forint purchase and they'd glare at you, refuse to touch the 67 forints I just painstakingly counted out and all but throw the change in your face while looking at you as if you were scum o' the earth.

Work / How are nurses graded in Poland and what is their typical salary? [14]

This might be of some use: izbapiel.org.pl/index.php?id=12

Love / Gay Interracial Polish Dating [36]


you'd think so, wouldn't you?

fwiw I think the brother's anger would not be over the gayness (which he surely has an idea bout) but about being made to think about the gayness and being made to admit it exists. Polish people are surprisingly tolerant of gayness when they don't have to admit it exists. Not that doesn't make any sense to me either.

Love / Gay Interracial Polish Dating [36]

Is he out to his family?

In Poland I've known some gay people who officially weren't out to their families though the families would have to be deaf, dumb and blind and in a coma to not realize it. But sweet, sweet denial can work miracles (and beats being thrown out of the family, another common enough experience for gay people in Poland).

As for choosing you over his family .... don't bet on it. Straight Poles will surprisingly choose parents over spouse and I don't think gay Poles are any less likely to (especially if they're not out).

Travel / Poznan - Warsaw Drive or take the train? [10]


The train is about 3 hours (usually less) and I've never heard of anyone making it in a car in under 4 (usually 5 or more) and Warsaw is no fun to drive (or find a place to park in).

The only reason I can think of to drive is if you're carrying lots of stuff.

The last time I went to Warsaw by 4 wheel vehicle (yes, a long time ago) the nice four-lane part was less than half the way and most of it was 2lane hell.

Life / Is it possible to have a NIP without PESEL? [16]

I had a NIP _years_ before I had PESEL.

After my application for permanent residence was accepted (the immigration people were never less than competent and polite with me I have to say) I was told to go to the urząd miejski (where I had done zemeldowanie) to apply for a PESEL. When I got there they told me they had already assigned me one (as part of permanent zameldowanie which I had had to do previously to get permanent residence). This was in 2004 so things have probably changed but the principle is the same, you don't need PESEL to get NIP because many people who have to have a NIP can't get PESEL.

There might different issues now depending on whether or not you're a EU citizen.

Love / Should I Be Nervous About Going to Poland? Black female dating a Pole. [158]

Basically you've been exposed to a lot more open hostility in this forum than you would be in most parts of Poland.

Where are you going exactly (region if you don't want to mention the town)? I've heard different stories about different parts of Poland. For what it's worth Silesia (very roughly Wrocław, Katowice and everything inbetween) has the worst reputation for racist behavior (it's a predominantly working class region that mostly hasn't fared well in the last 20 years). Mostly cities are better than small towns.

What is liable to happen is that people will stare at you (especially if they haven't seen many black people in person) and kids may say things (not necessarily hostile - just dumb kid stuff but it can be a trial to put up with). If you overhear a Polish person say something negative, say something nice to them ignoring what they said - they'll be mortified at being caught and the fact that you're polite in return will shame them more than any open confrontation ever could.) Also .... some men are liable to proposition you pretty openly (when your boyfriend is not around, the best strategy there is to not react at all).

The main thing is to follow local rules of politeness (say 'proszę pana' and 'proszę pani' as many times as possible and have a sense of humor about trouble in communicating but to stand your ground when necessary (Polish people mostly like assertive people who stand up for themselves).

UK, Ireland / Tough times for Poles in Ireland [4]

Bubbles =/= true prosperity, sooner or later _every_ bubble busts. You'd think people would have learned that much by now....

Language / The best way for me to learn Polish [89]

I used to watch Cartoon Network a lot (though I hate most modern cartoons and stopped).

Some of it wasn't great (cow and chicken is dumber in Polish than the original) but others are great. I've always like the Powerpuff Girls and they're even better in Polish (Atomówki). Partly this is because the Professor sounds like their father and not like the disinterested observer he sounds like in American... And Mojo Jojo is also great in Polish (just pronounce the j's as in Polish) maybe even funnier than in the original.

News / Should Poles become a minority in Poland? [150]

I don't know about Chinese, but I'm told that Vietnamese kids in Poland outperform Polish children in Polish class.

News / Should Poles become a minority in Poland? [150]


Then you should be f**king _thrilled_ with Polish immigration. Poles are far whiter than the average white Briton. Coming from a sunny climate I never understand the term 'blush' before coming to Poland.

Poles are white! Welcome them to Britain and ask for more!

News / Should Poles become a minority in Poland? [150]


You had more sympathy from before that little outburst.

Part of me likes the idea of a culturally British Britain but karma is what it is and Britain is now enjoying the karma of its colonial adventures. And vote more intelligently in the future!

News / Should Poles become a minority in Poland? [150]


Considering how much Britain has f**ked up the rest of the world, it's hard to be too upset at the rest of the world returning the favor and screwing up Britain.

Past British governments did everything they could to wipe out the languages and cultures of Africa and the Indian sub-continent, why should Africans and Southern Asians show British culture and the English language any more consideration than they were given?

I kind of sympathise with what's going on in Britain, but it's hard not to connect it with past British policies. Maybe the British voting public should start making better choices than they have for the last 30 or so years.

Love / Could "food" potentially come between us? [25]

I knew some Africans that ate a lot of kasza manna because the texture was close to the maize meal they were used to (they may have mixed some corn flour into it). But they were from East Africa.

But purpleleo hasn't really said what kind of food she's used to. Africa is several times larger than Europe and the food in different parts differs at least as much as food in different parts of Europe.

Love / Could "food" potentially come between us? [25]

niejestemcapita makes a good point about helping to wash the dishes ( keep saying pomogę pani until she lets you help or good naturedly chases you out of the kitchen )

I don't think some posters here realize what a hurle Polish food can be for the non-initiated (hint: it goes against the basic food ideas of most of the world).

I do think there's enough variety in Polish food so that you can find stuff to eat but pretending that adaptation isn't a problem won't help anyone.

hint: do you eat organ meat? flaki (pig or cow stomache) is one of the few Polish dishes that is often served spicy (even if the spice is mostly black pepper).

another hint: the Polish word 'ostry' (literally: sharp) is used of any strong flavor, not just hot flavors (which are 'pikantne') I remember once using a few more drops of magi (something like soy sauce) than was usual in a soup and people were amazed that I could eat such 'ostre' food.

Love / Could "food" potentially come between us? [25]

You need to figure out what the problem areas are beyond "it's different and I don't know it".

Start on a slow course of trying Polish food there to see what you can learn to eat vs what you just don't like at all. Usually people from places with spicy food don't complain about the taste of (most) Polish food, just that it's not spicy so the tastes of the basic ingredients isn't changed much. This is generally easier to adapt to than the other way, it's a lot harder for people used to plain food to learn to eat heavily spiced food.

Anyway, once you've figured out what you can eat ahead of time, your boyfriend can let his mother know ahead of time that you might have problems with the food (he can make up a medical condition if all else fails) and his mother can plan meals so there's always something you can eat.

Also, if you try to have a sense of humor (and are properly apologetic when you can't eat something) it shouldn't be too big of a problem.

If you post the kinds of food you're used to eating, people here might be able to think of Polish dishes that you could get used to.

Love / SOS!! I feel a little hopeless with my Polish husband... [58]

I think your problems are probably more serious than anything that can be addressed on this forum.

You need marriage counselling pretty badly. If you don't have kids (hope, hope, hope) and he won't consider counselling then you probably need to leave him (and mean it). Giving him however many more chances isn't going to do any good.

And remember, the idea that you 'love' him is the _least_ important factor here. If he's not going to man up and be a good husband then no nice feelings on your part will change anything for the better.

Language / Do Polish Movies Help learn the language? [60]


That's only colloquial spoken Polish and subtitles are generally pretty formal. So subtitles wouldn't use the Polish word 'no'.

The situation where the dialogue says 'yes' and the Polish subtitle says 'nie' (or vice versa) is not rare at all.

Life / Where to buy bathroom items in Poland? [8]

Poland (Europe) doesn't have Wal-Marts AFAIK.

There is Tesco and Ikea (and Jysk).

Love / I am heart-broken by my polish guy [25]

You've been dumped. Deal with it.

You've had enough time being sad and brokenhearted and now you need to make yourself move on.

Go out, dance and flirt (or whatever) with other guys even if you don't enjoy it much at first. Sooner or later you'll meet a nice guy you want to be with and you'll wonder whatever you saw in that manwhore Wojtek.

As they say, living well is the best revenge.

Work / I have a "zero" chance to succeed in Poland - I do not have a degree! [93]


Have you ever actually _been_ in Poland?

I mean of all the adjectives I might ever use to describe Polish people "obedient" would be very close to the last on the list. Scratch a Polish babcia and you find an anarchist that makes your average western libertarian look like a nanny state big government enthusiast.

but if you don't know the language you're gonna miss a lot of these things. In the future you might want to pay attention to the evidence everywhere around you and not your prejudices.

Life / How many people really know English in Poland? [53]


Literally, that would be "University of the Third Age".