Language / Things Polish people who speak English language say [180]

The pronunciation CON-troversy is correct, though some poor misguided souls say con-TROVersy instead. I've never heard contro-VERsy before.

Some typical pronunciation errors (as in 'no native speaker says that')

COM-puter (this one drives me craaaazy)
HO-tel
deetER-mine (last syllable pronounced just like 'mine')
MOUN-tane and FOUN-tane (last syllable rhymes with pain)

There's also a general over-reliance on the past continuous when native speakers would use something else.

"I was buying that magazine when I was young." (instead of "I used to buy .....)

News / Buzek. another step to abyss? [41]

ConstantineK, you might not like it but membership in the EU is broadly popular in Poland and Polish people currently see a lot more plusses than negatives (and the EU is the _only_ supranational organization of its kind with a proven track record of reducing poverty).

If Poland is going to be in the EU (the clear political will of the great majority of the country) it might as well have some influence in it.

What would you suggest Poland do, become a Russian client like Belarus to be bullied at will? Russia has no track record of improving the lives of the people that live in it or the lives in its client states. If Russian leaders were truly interested in improving the lives of Russians they would be doing very different things from what they're currently doing.

Which direction do people want to move in: To Russia from the EU? To the EU from Russia?

Kind of says it all.

Language / Things Polish people who speak English language say [180]

niejestemcapita,

somebody asked a question, people are answering it in an informative and non-judgemental way.

What's the problem.

For the record, a fair amount of English speakers in Poland do know Polish to various extents and I think research on the typical mistakes we make would be interesting and informative.

In my case there's:

a tendency to overregularization : as in przyjacielów instead of przyjaciół

poor sense of aspect : pisałem instead of napisałem or napiszę instead of piszę (in my case I understand the concept of aspect but my judgements about when each is appropriate often don't coincide with Polish speakers')

underuse of plain instrumental : Pokroił chleb z nożem. (instead of plain 'nożem')

not declining numbers : widziałem cztery mężczyzn (instead of czterech?)

Overreliance of English like word order (etc etc etc, the list goes on).

Love / What are the perceptions of polish towards homosexuality? [106]

filipina, this question comes up from time to time. Here's my take.

Traditionally Polish people aren't too concerned about the moral status of homosexual behavior but the uncommon nature of it. That is, Poles tend to be conformists and they're suspicious of those who stand out.

On the other hand, contrary to a lot of publicity, a lot of (especially educated) Polish people see tolerance as a basic virtue and when an issue is presented in terms of tolerance then they'll intellectually choose that (even if they can't always follow through especially well).

All in all, things were developing slowly (but well) for gay people until a few years ago when some of the more socially conservative parties (there are no socially libreral parties in Polish politics) paid attention to American politics where fag bashing always wins at the polls and decided to follow suit. Since then, there's been tension between Polish politicians wanting to be taken seriously by the rest of Europe and wanting to pander to the less educated voters by talking up the queer menace*.

Current situation: All in all almost no Polish people have anything like gaydar. Unless you actually tell people directly to their face you're gay no one is liable to notice or care. If you are _very_ open then some people will react negatively (though probably not violently, Poles aren't Albanians after all).

Also, don't pay attention to Harry, he doesn't even know Polish and certainly doesn't understand Polish values at any level. He simply knows they're different from his and so he looks down on them (as he looks down on anyone different from him).

I've been through Radom by bus a couple of times. It's not a beauty spot but it's not awful either.

Finally, your girlfriend is lying. She's not afraid of physical violence (unless you make out in the street). My guess is that she's afraid of her parents. In Poland (probably like the Phillipines) your parents are _always_ your parents and many adults are afraid of telling their parents things they think would upset them.

*sad irony: one of the worst anti-gay demogogues in Polish politics is probably gay himself.

Love / What are the perceptions of polish towards homosexuality? [106]


Good thing I'm here then.


I'll think about it about the same time you stop thinking you're superior to everyone who's not you (or you learn Polish well enough to get your info about the country you live in first hand instead of filtered).

Love / What are the perceptions of polish towards homosexuality? [106]


Radom, dear, Radom.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radom

Love / What are the perceptions of polish towards homosexuality? [106]


I can't be fired, I have seniority.

Love / What are the perceptions of polish towards homosexuality? [106]

Wow, Harry, you're every bit as intolerant as the Poles you so despise, maybe more so. Look in the mirror and spot the bigot.

Love / What are the perceptions of polish towards homosexuality? [106]


Okay, Panie Tolerancki show how tolerant you are of Poland and Polish people and say three unambiguously nice things about the country or the people.

Life / Why build a supermarket with 20 checkouts with only 3 till staff? [46]

One of the things I've heard is that the big hypermarkets like Tesco are having trouble being able to hire (and keep) people. Cashiering in a big box store isn't exactly fulfilling or well-paid.

Also unemployment figures are ridiculously overinflated in Poland (just as they're lowballed in western countries) and a lot more people say they want and can't find a job than actually want a job (sound familiar?)

Some months ago there was a long interesting article in Gazeta Wyborcza on how a lot of the cashiers in big stores in Warsaw are shipped in from the countryside (average commuting time 3 hours each way plus a 10 or 12 hour shift). I've even heard of some of the chains shipping in cashiers from Ukraine but crappy Polish foreign labor laws may make that not a paying proposition.

Work / Are there any of you here that only work in English at your jobs in Poland? [3]

AFAICT the general rule is that monoglot English speakers are assigned to Poland by their companies. English speakers who arrive here on their own are not necessarily in demand unless they speak Polish as well. I don't know of any company has ever successfully implemented an English only policy for Polish employees (and I've known of a couple that tried and failed) and an English only speaker is generally going to be a burden rather than an asset.

FWIW I work as as a teacher but also need Polish to function in my workplace (which teaches a number of languages).

UK, Ireland / Irish Primary schools to teach Polish [223]


You've already been culturally and linguistically absorbed once by outsiders, why put up a fuss now?

Bye bye Eire, hello Rzeczpospolita Irlandzka!

UK, Ireland / Irish Primary schools to teach Polish [223]


I personally have no intention of ever going to Ireland (unless a lot more people actually start speaking Irish, a beautiful and wondrous tongue that I'd love to know) why the Irish prefer boring old English to Irish I'll never, ever understand.

UK, Ireland / Irish Primary schools to teach Polish [223]

My point is the British army stopped hanging people a long time ago and the Irish have had every opportunity to make the switch back Irish and have overwhelmingly chosen to not do so (more's the pity).

Reversion to the native language has happened in every European country to free itself from linguistic colonialists with only one exception ....

Repression against Polish wasn't quite as strong or as long lasting but Poles devotion to their language comes partly from the fact that both German and Russian speakers actively tried to wipe it out for a long time. Poles should be an inspiration to the Irish to rethink their linguistic attitude toward the world. Both German and Russian would have been more advantageous financially and/or politically but the Poles stubbornly stick with their own perplexing and fascinating language.

Language / Example sentences for different cases. [42]


days of the week (very approximate ideas of the meanings)

niedziela = not work (similar to 'nie działa')

poniedziałek = after not working (po = after)

wtorek = second

środa = middle

czwartek = fourth

piątek = fifth

sobota = sabbath

UK, Ireland / How many paddies in Poland? [38]

Have you considered contacting the Irish Embassy in Warsaw? They might have an idea. I don't think anyone here would.

FWIW some years ago I heard of a very large and growing Irish community in or around £ódź (though it may have been folklore, the source wasn't especially reliable).

Language / Things Polish people who speak English language say [180]

Actually kminek is caraway, cumin is kmin rzymski

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caraway
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumin

(I love cumin, indispensable in mexican and indian food and it was completely unavailable in Poland so I'm picky about the name).

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


Because it would be inappropriate in that context? Different languages and cultures have different rules about politeness, people aren't being rude when they follow their own cultural rules (in their own culture).

You say please (proszę) when you're asking for something or you're giving or granting something (or as a substitute for 'yes'). Answering a simple factual question doesn't really any of those.

Technically they could add 'proszę pani' afterwards as in "dwanaście złotych, proszę pani" but that sounds a little .... obsequious.

Language / Example sentences for different cases. [42]

IINM "w Zakopanem" is a frozen form from when the locative masculine/neuter adjective ending was -em instead of -ym (there was some back and forth for a while before -ym won out in the standard).

In fact, the current -ym ending for instrumental and locative is weird in that I'm pretty sure most other Slavic languages have -em (or -om).

News / POLAND'S POPULATION IS SHRINKING... [62]

One of the big reasons for the falling birthrate is that young women are afraid they won't be able to find (or keep) a good job if they have kids. This was less a concern in communist times when having kids was not an issue in terms of employment but in the current system it's changing a lot of behaviors, especially since very few men in Poland make enough money to support non-income-generating wife and kids.

Life / Polish Radio and TV stations online? [68]

In most of Poland most radio stations mostly play English language music (warning: most Poles don't listen to or care about lyrics in English so sometimes songs are cut off or begun at weird times).

I don't know of any easily available radio stations with spoken English.

On the other hand, internet radio from all over the world is available here (just like everywhere else).

Study / Aviation for non-Polish in Poland [11]


A very poor choice for exactly the reasons you give, English phonetics vary too widely from dialect to dialect and it takes too much effort for too many people to achieve an acceptable pronunciation. But the decision was not made on linguistic grounds or taking into consideration the burdens it imposes on the less linguistically gifted.

And how long have you been in Poland, can you speak Polish and if not, why not?

Language / PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH WORDS IN POLAND [24]


And where are they going to find qualified native english speaking translators to do this?

There are native speakers of English who can and do translate from Polish to English (I like to think I'm one of them) but there aren't a lot of us and I can't think of a single one who does it for a living.

There are also problems of training (I'd love a super-advanced course to polish up my Polish a little but they don't exist at my level yet) and certification (important in a country that takes paper qualifications very seriously).

I'm a big believer in the idea that translations should be done only into the native language whenever possible but a lot of the time in Poland that's just not possible at present.


It's the price of popularity. Face it, the great majority of people who learn English as a foreign language don't much care for it as a language so getting little details right is generally not much of a priority. There's no such thing as effective mass learning of a foreign language.

I've also come across the attitude that correctness just doesn't matter in English. Polish (and German and Italian and whatnot) are real languages with standards that need to be met by learners, but any old crap slapped together is good enough for English.

Genealogy / POLISH (-ski) and ENGLISH (of) = TOPONYMIC NICKS [18]

I think you mean 'family names' rather than nicknames.

Life / Tips on Polish television series? [3]

I don't know about ... interesting, but Polish soap operas in general are pretty easy to understand. Especially Klan (is it still around?) and M jak Miłość had/have characters with very clear enunciation who don't speak too fast and who stay clear of dialect and slang.

For smarter native speakers they're probably a little boring but for learners they're pure gold.

Also some of the Polish dubbed shows on kid networks (esp the Suite Life and Just add water) are easy enough to understand (though being aimed at children they might not be so interesting in non-linguistic content and being translated aren't always so completely natural Polish).

Language / words overused in Polish language [40]

bez sensu!

(just like this thread!)

Travel / Travel Time By Train - Warsaw to Wroclaw. [15]

montse, bilet.intercity.pl/irez/

Language / Polish vs. Romanian [21]


No. There's no real basis for declaring any modern Romance language as being 'closer to Latin' than any other. Each has features that make it closer or more distant from Latin. But most imporantly, it's not really a quantifiable distinction. For linguists it's a meaningless question.

(And the Romanian case system is completely different from that of Latin, knowing Latin won't help you with Romanian cases).

That said, for a westerner who knows something of a modern Romance language (any Romance language) Romanian is far easier than a Slavic language.
I've only been a couple of days in Romania but by the afternoon of the first day I could understand numbers when buying things and could ask a lot and understand a lot. My attempts at speaking were truly awful, but I was understood and Romanians were very helpful and kind with a foreigner willing to try to speak their language.

Short story - if you know any French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese then Romanian is a walk in the park compared to a Slavic language. If you don't know a Romance language but know a Slavic language already then Polish isn't so hard. If you know both a Romance and Slavic language then Romanian will still be easier.

Language / Polish vs. Romanian [21]

Not so much easier on the tongue but more shared vocabulary, especially after learning a few simple conversion rules.

UK, Ireland / What are Polish Peoples Views of a Re-United Ireland [80]

I'm not Polish and I don't live in Ireland, but my prediction:

Most Polish people in both the Irish republic and Ulster really, really don't care.

Inside Poland, Poles have a reflex to support independence movements but it really only kicks in high gear when the independence movement is against an enemy (like supporting Chechens against Russia). To the extent that the reunification movement is perceived as damaging Britian, which is perceived as a longterm ally (rightly or wrongly) they don't care.

Also, the great majority of Poles who are now in Ireland are very apolitical and don't care about the government situation as long as they can make a living and save a few pounds.