Work / Moving to Poland in 3 weeks to study! [30]

Your last point is probably close to the truth. Many university programs here have two tracks, a day track during the week where students study 'for free' (it's an old communist idea that's hung around) and a weekend track for working people who pay for their studies. While the weekend students face some prejudice, their concerns are taken far more seriously and their needs are catered to far more than those of the day students.

The English language students pay a lot of money (by local standards) and are quite naturally treated better while the Polish day students are there at the sufferance of the university and treated that way. The resentment is natural (by local standards) but notice the day students aren't volunteering to pay more for better treatment.

One final note: A friend of mine has done a couple of lectures for the program (not as a regular lecturer for the program but as an outside expert in his field) and wasn't impressed by the organization. In general good organization and smooth functioning are not Polish virtues so it'll help if you're a self-starter. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

Food / Top food products you'd want to see in a Polish shop [32]

I'd say basic ingredients. Theoretically, the ingredients for lots of Polish dishes are available in other countries, but the results are usually ... not the same.

For example, it seems to me that flour in Poland is subtley different (grinding? ageing?) and a lot of the other differences come from that (like bread crumbs).

If I were to come across a Polish store outside Poland I'd want as many basic ingredients as possible. Beyond that, kiełbasa, white cheeses (included smoked twaróg), maślanka, Polish (salted not vinegarred) pickles. And maybe some of the Polish vegetables that aren't necessarily so known or popular elsewhere, especially seler (the root) fresh beets and Polish potatoes (especially the flat ones that are yellow inside).

As for alcohols, the better beers (Żywiec, Okocim) a lot of the herbal vodkas (żołądkowa etc), cheaper better vodkas (never much liked wyborowa, but I like both luksusowa and the new żołądkowa czysta) and other flavored liqueurs (especially fond of cranberry)

Love / My Polish boyfriend fancies are Pakistani neighbor. What do I do ? [291]

The problem is that they could get this poor girl killed. Too many Pakistani men think nothing of killing female relatives who consort with non-muslims (or a non-muslim not approved of by the family). Controling (and bartering) their female relatives' sexuality is a major pillar of the culture (stronger than paternal or fraternal feelings).

If they really like her the best thing they can do is to stay far away.

Love / My Polish boyfriend fancies are Pakistani neighbor. What do I do ? [291]


Why? Pakistanis carry this behavior with them to the UK (along with cousin marriage and arranged marriage and treating daughter in laws like slaves).

I'm sure on an individual basis there are lots of nice people from Pakistan but the culture puts severe restrictions on female behavior and females challenge those restrictions at peril of their life (at the hands of their family).

Language / nice things to say to a girl in polish [103]

"czesc sliczna, myslisz jeszce o mnie czasem"

I think you left off the question mark, in which case it's

"Hey good lookin', do you still think of me sometimes?"

without the question mark:

"Hi gorgeous, you still think about me sometimes." (sounds pretty full of himself)

Language / nice things to say to a girl in polish [103]


"Jestem żalem dla tego co ci zrobiłem"

but what a strange thing to want to say, if you want to say:

"I regret what I did to you."

that would be:

"(Bardzo) żaluję to, co ci zrobiłem." the (Bardzo) is 'very (much)' which may be called for in this kind of situation.

Just call me grammar nazi.

Love / My Polish boyfriend fancies are Pakistani neighbor. What do I do ? [291]


Time for "tough love".

What part of "he doesn't want you" don't you understand? Do tanga trzeba dwojga, and he's looking for another partner cause he doesn't want to dance with you. It doesn't matter how much you want to be with him, he doesn't want to be with you. You can't force him to want you. It's over. Accept it and move on.

Two choices:

Read the writing on the wall and leave while you still have some dignity.

Let him walk all over you and use you until he grows the balls to dump your needy, clingy ass.

Life / Present for Polish friends ~ is anything hard to get any more? [57]

My advice:

Be happy that you don't have to treat a trip to visit Polish friends like a charity mission anymore. Just bring the kind of small gifts that would be suitable for a host in the West.

If, while here, you find there's something that's hard to get and might be appreciated you can send it afterward as a thank you.

Language / Polish v Russian - similarity [17]


I'd be skeptical of that claim unless it's backed by research (comparing both dictionaries and corpuses of usage).

Generally when it comes to 'educated' vocabulary (dealing with politics, humanities and sciences) the Slavic languages use a mish mash of westernized and indigenous vocabulary, often simultaneously (Polish 'auto' and 'samochód' or Czech 'muzyka' and 'hudba') and I don't know which has the largest "western" stock.

Language / Polish v Russian - similarity [17]

1. When Poland became Christianized is irrelevant (unless it was less than 200 or so years ago).

2. IINM the four words you mentioned are all used in Russian too.

3. All Slavic languages have Latinate/Slavic pairs (like Polish lingwistyka/językoznawstwo. I've yet to see research based evidence that one language has significantly more than another (one might but without research we can't say for sure). Anecdotes are irrelevant, what month is it now in Polish? In Russian?

4. Claims about western vocabulary are usually related to claims about culture. Colloquial Czech syntax is heavily influenced by German, which some Czechs claim means they're more westernized than other Slavs, they simultaneously claim they have the purest Slavic vocabulary. Linguists would be skeptical of both claims.

Genealogy / Pole: What is your nationality? I am eurounian.... [30]


No.

I'm not a fan of everything the EU does, but overall it's done much more good than harm (and has the best record of erradicating poverty of any such supernational alliance). And there's no evidence whatsoever that it's erasing cultural differences. I've travelled in Shengen and landing in Hungary or Amsterdam, it's just as obvious as ever that you're in a different country.

But, no one's preventing you from trying to convince Polish people that it's a huge threat and that Poland should withdraw from it. But are Polish people really willing to give up EU money? Do they really want to have to absorb back almost all of the Poles in the EU right away? Do you really want to have to go back to getting visas to cross the Polish border (or going to the post office to try to get your passport)?

There's no such thing as a free lunch and EU membership does limit what Poland can do to some extent, but overall it's a tradeoff that's well worth making.

ps: my nationality is American though I've lived in Poland well over 10 years now with no plans of moving anywhere else (though february mornings make somewhere sunny seem mighty tempting)

Love / When do Polish girls consider it an exclusive relationship? [10]

AFAICT in Poland as a general rule physical intimacy past a kiss (unless both parties are up front about things first and/or you're a jerk) is seen as desire for an exclusive serious relationship in and of itself.

And the defining feature of a serious relationship is the idea that it will end up in marriage (not in a month or even a year but sooner or later). Of course lots of things could happen to speed up the marriage (like pregnancy) or end the relationship before marriage but that's the general cultural assumption.

With cultural expectations playing such a large role, there's no real need for "the talk" and AFAICT it doesn't exist in Poland (unless it's the anti-talk where one person explains why the relationship has no future and do you wanna go ahead and do the wild thing anyway?)

Work / Voluntary charity work (Englsih teaching) - Gdansk [5]

Very admirable sentiments.

Your biggest problem is that the kind of organizations that could most benefit from your offer will be the hardest to find and/or operate in without being competent in Polish. Another problem is they're liable to be in inconvenient places (like the countryside).

Some possible suggestions (without helpful things like addresses).

1. teaching (primarily written) English to deaf kids (but without written Polish or sign language that could be tough)

2. see if there's a branch of Barka (organization for helping homeless people get on their feet) in Gdańsk

3. see if you can find a helpful soul in an unemployment office who could set up classes for job seekers

My main advice is to ask your students and/or acquaintances about likely projects, visit a time or two before actually committing yourself and go with your instincts when choosing (warning: make sure that no one's collecting money from your students without telling you).

Language / "kupić ci drinka" - Is this proper grammar? [26]

Może kiedyś postawię Ci drinka?

I don't like może mógłbym (two words from the same verb móc in close proximity generally sounds worse in Polish in my non-native opinion).

Also ... (getting onto thinner ice) Polish people generally like more direct speech than English speakers do, IME they have a low tolerance for beating around the bush and hinting and offering something without really offering it.

I'd say:

Postawię Ci drinka kiedyś, dobra?

I'll buy you a drink sometime, okay? which also gives her a space to respond, which could be good or bad.

"what's wrong with now?"
"I get off work at six"
"don't bother"
"just the cash, please"

Language / "kupić ci drinka" - Is this proper grammar? [26]


Syntactically it's a particle, morphologically it very much is derived from móc (linguist in me speaking). I'll defer to native judgement on the rest. I was purposefully making it more direct because I had the idea that poor edward needs to be more rather than less direct (he kind of reminds me of English guys I've known who take five minutes to ask a simple question).

What about

Mogę postawić Ci kiedyś drinka? (not sure about optimum word order)

Food / Polish grilling [6]


True, it's one of my favorite Polish dishes. But you really need seler (celery root, the stalks just aren't the same) and I don't know if that's easily available in the US (except maybe in Polish stores).

Language / Ways to say "Ok" in Polish [9]

dobrze,
dobra,
okej,
zgadza się,
zgoda,
....

Life / Karta pobytu help - property ownership problem [13]


What do you mean by 'property'? the building? the apartment?

In my case all I needed was a copy of the deed of the apartment I live in (the owner didn't have to write or do anything IIRC). This was a couple of years ago but I would have thought things wouldn't have gotten harder....

And if your husband is a Polish citizen I thought it was easier still, how is he registered? Is he an owner?... I suspect somebody at townhall is making problems for no reason or holding out for a bribe.

Law / Renewing Karta pobytu in Warsaw [35]


Oh go ahead, rub it in! (muttering obscenities)

To gtd, the problem is that the old system is kind of obsolete and they don't have anything new in place yet. And Polish bureaucracy is at its worst in ambiguous, novel situations (like this!).

My only advice is keep slogging away at it, being as polite as possible and realize that the people you're dealing with are profoundly uncomfortable not having regulations they can rely on. If they get to the point where they recognize you from frequent visits (and realize you're not going to cause nasty scenes) you probably won't have any problems in the future with them once there are regulations in place (no matter what they are and warning: Polish laws tend to be poorly written and ambiguous and often contradictory, how the loopholes and contradictions are handled are the prerogative of the people in charge at the local level which is why you want them to not dislike you).

Try to view the process as helping to build your character (and teaching you a lot about Polish society).

Life / How important is it to have a car in Poland? [37]


I think it's an illusion of self sufficiency (cars are useless without a whole lot of infrastructure that no individual con provide for themselves) so I guess I don't think the way you do.

Anyway, I think for at least 80% of the people that use them in Poland, a car is more a luxury than a necessity. They're a powerful status symbol for many Polish people (much more than in the US) but they're a lot more trouble keeping than in the US too. Gas is more expensive, roads are usually in poor shape, Polish people are mostly awful, reckless drivers with no basic understanding of basic road courtesy, car theft is a real fact of life (not as much as it used to be, but it's still something you have to think about) and trying to park in cities is an exercise in frustration/rage management.

On the other hand, public transport in cities in Poland is better than anywhere in the US and taxis are pretty cheap.

You might decide you want a car to travel around the countryside but basic public transport supplemented by the occasional taxi will probably allow you to enjoy your stay more. I reccomend buying monthly (or 3 or 6 month) passes. It's cheap and you don't have to think about fares, you just jump on whatever bus or streetcar is convenient.

Oh, also. Suburbs (in the US meaning) don't really exist in Poland. It's hard not to be in easy walking distance of stores unless you're way out in the countryside.

Language / Correct Polish spelling [69]

In my experience Polish people mostly don't spell words out loud.
This is because, mostly, there's no need. Polish pronunciation and writing are much in sync than in English.

There are strategies for dealing with the ambiguities that do appear.

1. If a word (esp name) has an ambiguous point you just mention that. "Dahowski przez samo h". "Korza przez er zet"

2. Pronounce a word just as it's spelled and not how it's commonly pronounced. Here, it's possible to voice final sounds that are usually voiced and ą and ę would be pronounced as in isolation. It's not uncommon for Polish people to do this with English words too (to indicate spelling) "'bread' pisane bread" (pronounced breh-ahd)

To clearly indicate a word (or in an argument or to make a point) English speakers might spell a word.
"I'm broke, get it? B-R-O-K-E!"
In Polish you'd say each syllable separately.
"Jestem spukłany, kapujesz? Spu-kła-ny!"

Finally, IME Polish people often don't use the official names of letters (back when I foolishly spelled my name using the official names of letters it almost always got written down incorrectly). Ry and sy are especially common instead of er and es though 'rz' is always er zet.

Life / When in Poland, should I be British or Scottish? [104]


Does it matter? Call yourself Scottish or British and over 90 % of people in Poland are still going to to refer to you as "ta Angielka" (the Englishwoman). Most Polish people don't know or really care about the British nomenclature protocals (though probably everybody can distinguish British and Irish by now).

Law / Renewing Karta pobytu in Warsaw [35]


Okay, apologies for thinking you're a newcomer.

But my basic advice still stands. The problem is that _they_ are not sure what the rules are now and that makes Polish bureaucrats _very_ nervous. With Poland's entry into Schengen, the old system isn't really valid anymore but no new system has been put in place (and I know of no plans to put one in place).

When Polish bureaucrats know just what the rules are, they're much more confident about waving and/or bending them. When things are unclear they retreat to "Everything you've done is wrong" mode (so that they won't be held responsible in the face of regulations that eventually do show up).

It sucks that this has come up while you're trying to get your paperwork in order but I still think the best you can do is store up your patience and contain your rage (and never let them see the latter) and keep plugging away at it, smiling and thanking them for letting you know about the latest paperwork they've asked for.

If you're seeing the same people more than once, then that's good. Once they come to recognize you (and know you're not gonna be making nasty scenes) they'll be much more inclined for your paperwork to finally get through.

On work permits: From what I recall (this might be dated) foreigners don't need work permits to teach their native languages but this might depend on the level you're teaching at. Unversity level instructors definitely didn't need a permit a few years ago (when helping a co-worker jump through some hoops) but lower than that I'm not sure.

But again, Polish laws are almost always badly written (without thinking through all the consequences) and/or ambiguous. It's usually up to the local person in charge of how to interpret bad and/or ambiguous regulations.

Work / Do American English teachers need a Work Permit for working residency? [14]

Found the Polish government's own site with the laws. Bottom line:
Some foreigners who are teaching their native language do not require a work permit but it's not immediately clear to me if this applies to teachers in private schools.

But don't take my word for it, go to the government's site, print it out and see it you can make it apply to you:

isip.sejm.gov.pl/servlet/Search?todo=open&id=WDU20061561116

Also look around for later additions (most of the additions I saw didn't change anything regarding language teachers)

this page has a translation (WARNING: only the Polish version is enforceable so as much as possible stick with that).

europa.eu.int/eures/main.jsp?acro=free&lang=en&countryId=PL&fromCountryId=DK&accessing=1&content=1&restrictions=1&step=2

powodzenia!

Work / Do American English teachers need a Work Permit for working residency? [14]


Actually his problem IINM is not that he's avoiding getting the karta, he wants that, he's trying to find out if he needs a work permit (not so easy to get) to get the karta.

Life / Doing laundry in Poland [66]

One big difference in wash times has to do (I think) primarily with the amount of water used. The pipes are much bigger in the US for both bringing water into the machine and taking it out again. The pipes and hoses used in Poland (probably Europe in general) are just much smaller and it takes longer to fill and empty the machine.

There are probably other scale differences (the machines themselves are smaller to fit into apartments) and it all adds up.

Also IME clothes come out of the machine drier in Poland than in the US (where they're often sopping and dripping). Since in the US you have dedicated driers the clothes don't need to be as dry as if they were going to be hung (as they usually are in Europe).

Also, you don't do the laundry as a single thing in Poland. You put the clothes in the machine and then do other stuff until its done then you hang it up to dry. The overall time from beginning to end is longer but the person doing laundry doesn't necessarily spend that much more time on laundry.

Food / Vegetarian food in Poland? [83]


not that there's anything wrong with that ....

Law / Renewing Karta pobytu in Warsaw [35]

"the question not answered"

Excuse me? In the other thread I pointed you directly to the Polish government's own page with the relevant regulations (including links to any changes to said regulations). How much more of an answer do you need?

I'd suggest breaking out the słownik and improving your knowledge of (shudder) legal language in Poland (first rule never use 10 words when you can use 100 and never use easy to understand vocabulary when you can be obtuse). It's not fun but it's probably necessary in your case.

As for wording things correctly, it's probably best to just call the school a school and not mention that it's private unless you're absolute forced to (and/or look for a second job at a public school).

Polonia / Polonia in Portugal [5]

I don't think there's many Polish people in Portugal. Until it joined the EU, and probably some time afterward, Portugal was probably poorer than Poland and it's still not an .... affluent country though far better off than it was.

Polish people abroad are mostly interested in better off countries and though Portugal seems like a very pleasant place to live (based on a _very_ short stay). The levels of pay and a very hard to understand (spoken) language probably don't make it very attractive to many Poles.

Law / Renewing Karta pobytu in Warsaw [35]


I don't think one exists and "it depends"* is as close as you're gonna get (reread that a few times until it sinks in).

For an American on their own, living in Poland for the first few years requires a high tolerance of uncertain and ambiguous situations. It does get easier over time.

Just file the application without a work permit. After printing out the info that Americans don't need a work permit to teach their language in a 'school' for the people in the immigration office (again try to avoid mentioning that it's a private school) and hope for the best. If the people at the immigration office don't hate you they'll do what they can to help you stay.

*if you really want to know, my guess is that "it depends" on the person that makes the decision, Poland hasn't completely caught up with the 'rule of law' concept and instead goes with 'rule of boss'.