Study / University in Poland is too easy [68]


On which universities are theses estimated by the title, not the contents?

Travel / Szczecin -> Bydgoszcz by train....is it sensible and safe? [12]

Keep an eye on your stuff, and you will be safe. There's nothing scary about Polish trains.

Life / Halloween in Poland? [77]

Actually, there are Halloween club parties in Poland. But it's not a widespread tradition, it's just another excuse to make a party.

Life / 16 y.o. starting from Scratch. Moving from Canada to Poland, $11K in bank [9]

I wouldn't be sure if a person under 16 has a right to rent a flat.

Life / What to do on All Saint's Day (Nov. 1) in Krakow? [20]


Where are you going to play golf and tennis on a day, when everything is supposed to be closed?

Life / Halloween in Poland? [77]

Last night I saw something that made me laugh:

In a cemetery, next to a big cross in the middle of the main alley, people put a lot of candles (as it always happens in Poland on 1st Oct.). But in front of all these candles, someone put ... a jack-o'-lantern!

Travel / ŁÓDZ..is it worth a visit? [25]


£ódź? Bombarded? Where?!

I think this city is most interesting on its 'dark side'. We've got great cemeteries, a lot of abandoned factories, post-industrial areas etc. In the Jewish cemetery (which is beautiful, anyway), you can even look at an old 'bed' that was used to wash the bodies before the burial. In the Old Cemetery, especially in the Protestant part, there's a lot of big, impressive graves and tombs (about 100 years old) and a great neo-Gothic chapel (it looks the best on a foggy night). In some small roads in the centre, you can admire interesting 19th century architecture but in most cases in a very bad condition. There are many hidden details which add some taste to this place: you enter a gateway to the yard of some old, derelict tenement house, and suddenly see some interesting sculpture on the wall, in the most unexpected place. Or you enter the annexe of such a house, look up, and on the ceiling, there is some wonderful, although crumbling, moulding.

Not long ago, an old drain pipe under the main square was opened for tourists and a museum was made there. It's a round tunnel with walls made of red brick, with some old photos and 19th cent. devices - a really cool place but not for the claustrophobic. And even that shopping centre is quite bearable because some of the original factory architecture was preserved.

For a conventional trip, £ódź is not the right place, but I can't say it's not interesting. All the 'touristic' spots, like Piotrkowska or Poznański Palace are boring, but off the track it's really got a charm.

Life / American moving to Poland [34]

I wouldn't recommend moving to Poland before graduation. Native speaker teachers are usually required to have a higher education (doesn't matter what). In case of other jobs available with secondary education - I can't think of any in which speaking Polish is not necessary, that would be enough to survive.

As an English teacher, lecturer or a manager in a company, one may work in Poland without the knowledge of Polish. But without higher ed, only manual jobs are left - not a very good prospect, is it? The payment is not enough to rent a flat, and pay for food, so it makes one financially dependent on someone else.

Food / Question on Polish sausage recipe [6]

What the hell is the holiday keilbasa fresh sausage?

Food / Good Polish Wines [74]

Komandos, Wino marki Wino, Lipa z Miodem, Czar Teściowej...

Tanie wino jest dobre, bo jest dobre i tanie...

Food / Good Polish Wines [74]


So buy a Polish jabol - it tastes very similiar and it's much cheaper.

Travel / Typical Polish Weather In December [15]

Hard to say. It may be +5, it may be -15. The weather has become quite unpredictible during the last few years. Last year, there was practically no winter, but 2 or 3 years ago there was enormous snowfall, and later the were few days with temepratures like -18, -20. But December isn't that cold, I'd be surprised if the temperature fell below -5.

I hope for some true cold (for me: below -15). Trees covered with rime frost in the sun are so beautiful...

Language / Share Perfective and Imperfective Polish verbs [105]

dać - to give
dawać - to be giving

:P

Life / Religions in Poland. [64]

Since someone revived this thread, I'll make one thing clear:

Deism (as well as agnosticism and atheism):
1) is not institutionalized
2) is not a set of beliefs but one single belief
3) doesn't have any practices connected to it

Life / Religions in Poland. [64]

Deism - there is a god that has created the universe
Atheism - there is no god
Agnosticism - maybe there is, maybe there isn't

Religions are composed of many more beliefs than that. E.g. in Christianity:
1) God is almighty
2) God is just
3) God cares about what people do
4) God created the moral law and gave it to people
5) God revealed himself to people (in the Bible)
6) Human beings have immortal souls
7) There is life after death
and a lot more.

Deism doesn't have it all, it's just a belief that there is some creature that made this world and left it alone. No other features are ascribed to that creature and there is no eschatology in it.

Life / Religions in Poland. [64]

I prefer IPU.

Life / Religions in Poland. [64]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn

Life / Religions in Poland. [64]

Flying Spaghetti Mosnter is not as smart as the Invisible Pink Unicorn: it hasn't got the divine ability to be invisible and pink at a time!

Study / Study Drums (Jazz performance) - academies/universites in Poland [5]

I've heard a lot about jazz and popular music department in Katowice - I think it's the best in Poland. But you may have a problem entering a music academy without previous formal musical education.

This is the Academy website:

am.katowice.pl/Pages/general.html

There is no English site for Jazz Institute, but anyway:

am.katowice.pl/Strony/uczelnia_struktura_wydz_V.html

Life / Polish Work Ethics: One guy working, 5 others watching? [19]

There are some places where communist work ethics still lingers:
Czy się stoi, czy się leży, dwa tysiące się należy.

(Standing or lying, you deserve 2000[zlotys])

Study / Study Drums (Jazz performance) - academies/universites in Poland [5]

As far as I know, for Polish citizens there are no tuition fees but there are some for foreigners - it's like that in all the state higher schools.

News / Poland Needs to Shape up [43]


What for?

Food / Vegetarian food in Poland? [83]

I really recommend Green Way. It's cheap, tasty and nourishing. I can eat my fill there for around 10 zł though, in general, I eat quite a lot.

News / Poland's Most Quoted [22]


Aliena laudatis, vestra ignoratis - I don't know who said that, but I think it wasn't Mickiewicz or Jachowicz.

A few quotes in popular use:

Gombrowicz:
Koniec i bomba, a kto czytał ten trąba!
(a nonsense rhyme saying it's the end and who read the book is a fool)
Słowacki wielkim poetą był.
(Słowacki is a great poet - sentence used to satirize claims that are supposed to be accepted without any arguments supporting them )

Also the author of many expressions in common use: "dorabiać komuś gębę", "upupiać" - quite complicated phenomena, so I don't feel like defining them today.

Mickiewicz:
"Czucie i wiara silniej mówi do mnie niż mędrca szkiełko i oko" - Feeling and faith speak stronger to me than a wiseman's glass and eye.

"Glass and eye" - used commonly as a metaphor of scientific thinking

"Ciemno wszędzie
Głucho wszędzie
Co to będzie?
Co to będzie?"
"Dark everywhere, quiet everywhere, what's gonna happen?"

Nietzche:
Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker.
In Poland known as: Co mnie nie zabije, to mnie wzmocni.

Also many film quotes are in popular use:
Seksmisja:
"Kobieta mnie bije.." - A woman is beating me...
"Ciemność, widzę ciemność, ciemność widzę." - darkness, I see darkness, darkness I see
"Kopernik była kobietą!" - Copernicus was a woman.
"Hej! Nasi tu byli!" - Hey! Ours were here!
"Żeby facet nie mógł z gołą babą w windzie..." - [it's horrible] that a guy can't do it with a naked woman in a lift....

Rejs:
"W tak pięknych okolicznościach przyrody... " - In so beautiful circumstances of the nature
"I kto za to płaci? Pani płaci, Pan płaci.. Społeczeństwo." - And who pays for it? You pay, madam, you pay, sir. The society.

"Mnie się podobają melodie, które już raz słyszałem." - I like melodies that I've heard before.
"Te pytania są tendencyjne" These questions are tendentious.

Language / Why Polish people use so many words to describe a situation? [122]

I agree with Magdalena.

It's even not a linguistic problem. The fact that people don't give short explanation doesn't mean it can't be done.

Language / Why Polish people use so many words to describe a situation? [122]

As I said, giving long explanations by Polish people is not the matter of language. Coming back to the matter of explaining the way, you can say:

"Go straight down this road, turn left at the second crossing and after some 500 m you'll see that bank"

or:

"You see this street here? So, it's called Piłsudskiego St.. Now, you have to go Piłsudkiego St. in that direction, you see? Ok, so you'll soon get to the crossing with Żeromskiego Rd. So, once you're at the crossing with Żeromskiego Rd., don't turn left or right, no. Just go straight ahead, right? So, after you have crossed Żeromskiego, you have to go straight (of course, you can't go any other way, so no point in mentioning it) and you will get to the crossing with Kochanowskiego Rd. Yes, it's the next street after Żeromskiego. So, while you're on this crossing, you have to turn left - remember left into Kochanowskiego Rd.. Then, you will see a Biedronka shop - so go past it. Then, there will be a post office - you have to go past , too. And finally you'll see a big, modern building, you know, with a lot of glass etc. And this building will have the logo of this bank. So, this will be that bank you're looking for."

I think this illustrates the problem of long explanations.

Language / Why Polish people use so many words to describe a situation? [122]

Magdalena, some English expression are hard to translate into Polish and some Polish expressions are hard to translate into English. Try to translate this Polish classic into English:

"- Może by zaorać co...
- A co?
- Ano czy ja wiem... Choćby i pole...
- Iiii...
- Albo co...
- Eeee..."

Language / Why Polish people use so many words to describe a situation? [122]

Some are, some aren't. I am, for example... Each time I write an essay, I have to cross out half of the text later.

I believe the founder of this thread came across those overly descriptive ones. And that's the whole problem.

Language / Why Polish people use so many words to describe a situation? [122]

Jack of all trades - złota rączka

Jack of all trades, master of none - zna się na wszystkim i na niczym :)

News / Polish culture would collapse if Ministry of Culture would be abolished? [14]

If it can't survive without a ministry, it's not worth it.
Most of that stuff supported by the Ministry is boring.

In my city, for example, there's a lot of theatres, but only amateur or student theatres make some interesting shows. The ones supported by the ministry are... not very appealing.