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Posts by Moonlighting  

Joined: 28 Apr 2007 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 5 Jun 2021
Threads: Total: 31 / In This Archive: 18
Posts: Total: 234 / In This Archive: 112 		From: Native Belgian, living in Krakow since 2010.
Speaks Polish?: Tak.
Interests: Movies, cooking, classic French literature and my job (running an IT business in Poland).

Displayed posts: 130 / page 2 of 5
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Moonlighting   
13 Sep 2009
News / Polish Poland vs westernized Poland [6]

Probably they want to eat and drink what they have at home,listen the music they have at home and do everything like at home with Krakow as a decor.

They maybe they should stay at home! Always lame to see people visiting a country then not wanting to "jump" into it and try appreciating it...
Moonlighting   
12 Sep 2009
Life / List of Polish movies on DVD with English subtitles [30]

"LEJDIS" : About the worst movie I have ever seen. Made me ashamed of being Polish. Thanks anyway. And thank you Brzostek.

I'm curious to know why you don't like the film. Personally, I'm not a big fan of such comedies. But any other specific reason for you? And so, finally, which film did you show to your boyfriend ? ;-)

To get back on topic, the DVDs I bought in Poland over the last year had English subtitles :

- Lejdis
- Katyn
- To nie tak jak myslisz Kotku
- 33 sceny z zycia

However, Seksmisja didn't have them.
Moonlighting   
10 Sep 2009
Law / What name would sound appropriate for a company in Poland ? [13]

Thanks for your reply.

"Eco" ? that sounds interesting but wouldn't many Poles be inclinded to accidentally pronounce it "etso" ?

And by the way, I have a question. I never managed to know how to pronounce the name of the ITcompany "Comarch". Should it be the English way (comaaatch), or Polish (tsomarrr) or "komark" or anything else? ;-)

Yeah, finding a company name is a hassle but also a lot of fun...
Moonlighting   
10 Sep 2009
Law / What name would sound appropriate for a company in Poland ? [13]

Hello,

I"m about to set up a Sp. z o.o. in Poland to provide services to foreign customers at the beginning, then to Polish ones after a while. I'm curious about what name I should find for my company.

I'm curious about the different trends (if any) in creating company names in Poland. Which kind of name sounsd good or bad/strange from a Polish point of view? Even if rules of marketing are international, there are cultural differences.

For example, in Belgium, the businnes I've been running for 12 years is simply called by my own name (nazwisko) followed by the word "Consulting". Is that a common practice in Poland to use the name of the "wlasciciel" in the company's name?

Another trend in French-speaking countries here for a while was to use names with a latin or greek influence, probably because they sound "serious" to many people, due to the latin/greek origins of the French language.

There are also names consisting of abbreviations...

Well, what kind of name sounds better or is easier to remember by a Polish ear? Which sequences of sounds should be avoided because they may be hard to remember, or to pronounce, or would sound ridiculous from a Polish perspective?

Thanks
Moonlighting   
4 Sep 2009
Language / Declension of "-ość" - miłość / zieleń [19]

Merged: Declension of "zieleń" ?

Hello,

Still one of those names where we cannot guess the declension because it looks like non-standard. "zieleń" is a female noun, right ?
What is the declension table ?
Can it be applied to all female nouns ending in "-ń" ?

Thank you very much in advance.
Moonlighting   
31 Aug 2009
Life / How much Zloty to have an average life in Poland? [98]

OK, I'm also asking the question as I'll move to KRAKOW soon. So how much would I need to live like this ? It would be temporary of course (max. 1 year) :

- I prefer Bronowice or Krowodrza / Krowodrza Górka.
- I don't need something big (a separate bedroom is not even required) but I want something clean and "working".
- I have the possibility to bring in my own furniture from Belgium.
- I won't need to buy extra clothes or shoes during that year.
- I don't smoke or drink, and don't need TV (don't watch it much here though).
- I will need a mobile phone subscription and ADSL at home.
- I can cook and don't need to order meals or go to the restaurant (except once in a while).
- Let's say that I would go to the cinema once a week, but very rarely to a pub and never to a dancing.
- I will need a tramway/bus monthly card (I have a car but prefer to leave it and avoid traffic jams).

Oh by the way, when you move in somewhere, do you have to give a financial warranty, like for example giving the equivalent of 2 months of lease ?

Thanks
Moonlighting   
6 Aug 2009
Language / Things Polish people who speak English language say [180]

[Btw, don't you say in French: récemment (lately) vs. dernière fois (last time)?

Exactly. And I had a problem with understanding what "ostatni" refers to in Polish, because in French, "lately" can be expressed either by "récemment" or "dernièrement".

Your comment made everything clear for me. Thank you.
Moonlighting   
6 Aug 2009
Language / Things Polish people who speak English language say [180]

Last time instead of lately

As a native French-speaker, I'm interested in that because I think I do the same mistake when I speak/write in Polish.

Am I correct with this : "lately" = niedawno, ostatnio.

But how do you say "last time" ? Examples :
"It's the last time that I [do something] !"
"The last time I [did something], [something else happened]"

Thanks
Moonlighting   
18 Jul 2009
Language / Things Polish people who speak English language say [180]

Not too much to worry about that: 1. the "przyjaciel" is a noun that doesn't fall into any specific declension of nouns; 2. using z or not with the instrumental has been a matter of change in the language over past ages; yet if the notion of a thing serving you as an instrument is so strong as in your example, there's no need to support the instrumental case with "z".

I was always taught that utility/instrument is without the preposition, whereas accompaniment requires it. But even that is not obvious. For example: "sos z winem" (wine sauce).

When I first said it spontaneously, I said "sos winem". My Polish friend corrected me: "sos z winem". I said why? The sauce is not accompanied by wine, it is made of it. So it implies the notion of utility/instrument (as wine is here an ingredient), not accompaniment. She replied: anyway we say "sos z winem"...
Moonlighting   
18 Jul 2009
Language / My Polish keyboard setting doesn't include all characters [9]

peter_olsztyn
Wow. Thanks for posting the image of the keyboard. I personally had no problem, but i learnt I could get the Euro sign by typing AltGr+U. Just didn't know that before... ;-)
Moonlighting   
18 Jul 2009
Life / Why build a supermarket with 20 checkouts with only 3 till staff? [46]

Is this situation mentioned by OP general in Poland and in all supermarkets? My only experience is in Kraków, at the Kaufland of Krowodrza Górka and the Alma of Galeria Każimierz. Never had to wait too long there, always a sufficient number of tills on duty.
Moonlighting   
17 Jul 2009
Language / FUTURE OF VOCATIVE IN POLISH? [14]

I was always curious to know the vocative form of Aga. Is it simply Aga? Maybe Ago? Certainly not Agu...
Moonlighting   
16 Jul 2009
Language / FUTURE OF VOCATIVE IN POLISH? [14]

I think "Gośka" doesn't have a vocative case, or it is the same as its nominative

Wouldn't it be "Gośko" ?
Moonlighting   
8 Jul 2009
Language / Declination of feminine nouns ending in -ia [4]

Hello,

I have a problem memorizing the rule to decline feminine nouns ending in -ia into singular dopełniacz, celownik and miejscownik. I know the declined name is supposed to end in -i but it's not clear for me when the final -a is dropped or when it is replaced with a second "i".

So, names in -ia:
In which cases do they end in "-i" ?
In which cases do they end in "-ii" ?

Thanks
Moonlighting   
8 Jul 2009
Language / The Dative Case [62]

I also learn Polish and I compiled here everything I could find about nouns in celownik.

Masculine nouns
============

"-owi" except the following:

Bóg => Bogu
brat => bratu
chłop => chłopu
chłopiec => chłopcu
diabeł => diabłu
kot => kotu
ksiądz => księdzu
kwiat => kwiatu
lew => lwu
ojciec => ojcu
pan => panu
pies => psu
świat => światu
wół => wołu

Neuter nouns
==========

"-u" except names in "-um" (muzeum, centrum...) which remain in "-um".

Feminine nouns
===========

-b,f,m,n,p,s,w,z- => -ie
-t- => -cie
-d- => -dzie
-r- => -rze
-ł- => -le
-k- => -ce
-g- => -dze
-ch- => -sze

-c,dz,sz,rz,ż,cz- => -y

-l,j- => -i
-nia => -ni
-ość => -ości

Plural
====

"-om" but there are some irregularities:

dziecko => dzieciom
imię => imionom
zwierzę => zwierzętom
-ość => -ościom
Moonlighting   
30 Jun 2009
Life / Poles in Poland: How did you learn your English? [60]

I think the problem Christy mentions is mainly the spoken language. It's the difference of sounds. Our ears aren't used to identifying the same sounds in different cultures.

I've been learning Polish for two years in evening classes. I can express myself quite spontaneously by mail, but spoken language still lacks spontaneity. And I still understand almost nothing of what people tell me in Polish, even simple phrases. I'm a native French speaker and Slavic languages rely on sequences of sounds we're not used to, therefore it's very difficult for us to catch what somebody says and identiy the words, especially with all those declensions which we have to recognize. Not to mention the order of words which may vary.

Probably the other way round is easier, for English looks simpler from a Slavic point of view. Now for an Asian person, perhaps the fundamental language differences really add to the difficulty...
Moonlighting   
9 Jun 2009
News / EU elections in Poland: excuses for not voting please [43]

I voted.

Quite satisfied with the result on a European scale, but horrified by the result in my region ("Wallonia", southern part of Belgium) which saw the combined triumph of Socialists and Ecologists. Yes, in Belgium, we also had a regional election at the same time as the European one. So I quickly switched to TVP Polonia which showed me what I needed to go to bed with a smile.

My girlfriend also allows me to go to bed with a smile, but she desperately resides in Poland. :)
Moonlighting   
8 Jun 2009
News / How to register in wp.pl email account? [16]

Are you sure it was not simply a display problem ?

I already experienced this on the WP webmail : in the left column (where there is the mailbox list), the quantity of unread messages is inferior to the quantity of messages which subject is displayed with bold characters. So it looks like a message was not read while in fact I already read it on my previous session, probably because some HTML code is stored in the browser cache and not correctly renewed, but after one or two session it's OK.

Maybe you experienced the other way round. An unread message appears as read, for some reason...

You can check yourself when was the last logging on to the webmail by clicking on Opcje -> Parametry konta (on the left) -> then read Ostatnia wizyta on the right.
Moonlighting   
1 Mar 2009
Language / Declension of "-ość" - miłość / zieleń [19]

Hello,

I'm trying to find a declension model for female nouns ending with "-ość" but I cannot find any rule or explanation in my books. So, if one of you could pick an example and write down the declension for all cases (and plural), I would appreciate.

Thanks.
Moonlighting   
28 Feb 2009
Life / Confirmation / Bierzmowanie - tradition in Poland [9]

I had it when I became an adult, even after my studies. It was my choice and not my family's pressure. I was happy to do it. It was indeed a "confirmation". Actually my family didn't put any pressure on me for religion (on the contrary, as it is now in many countries of Western Europe - I'm Belgian). And when I'm in Kraków with my (Polish) girlfriend, we sometimes go to Church and it's so different (so crowded, even so many young people). I like it.
Moonlighting   
23 Feb 2009
Language / The traumatic experience of "jak" and its variants :-) [4]

Hi folks :-)

I'm wondering about how to correctly use "jak" and other words based on it.
As far as I know, it means "how, like, as" (examples below).
"Jak się masz?" = "How are you doing?"
"jak zwykle" = "as usual"

But I was wondering in which context it can be declined, and what's the rule? For example, imagine an intranet where users receive the following message after logging on:

"Pan jest zalogowany jako [+username]" or "Pani jest zalogowana jako [+username]".
In this example, I'm surprised to see that it is written "jako"? What does it mean exactly? I would rather expect "jaki" or "jaka" and if the related subject was of neuter gender, I would expect "jakie".

Next thing. What do words like "jakiś" and "jakoś" mean exactly?

Finally. A word like "jakikolwiek". I know what the suffix "-kolwiek" mean, but then again, what would "jakokolwiek" or "jakkolwiek" mean? What are all existing forms made of "jak-" and "-kolwiek", including those with "-ś-" (if any)? What do they mean?

Thank you
Moonlighting   
5 Feb 2009
Language / Star Wars and Polish language in it :) [30]

YESS! Even I (non-native-Polish speaker) noticed it while seeing the film again recently.
and funny too, that "żaba" means "frog", often associated with how Jabba looks like ;-)
Moonlighting   
1 Feb 2009
Life / [Poland movies] "Sztuczki" (2007) Has anyone seen it? [4]

I didn't like Amelie. I thought the first half was great, but then it gets annoying, without a lot of imagination.

I finally saw Sztuczki last Wednesday as scheduled. Very good film indeed, although the rythm was a bit slow for my taste. I'm not sure it deserved so many prizes. As for imaginary world, the big difference is that the impact of actions from the boy gets bigger and bigger as the story unfolds, reaching limits of danger sometimes, as if the author also wanted to express how the combination of a boring small town lifestyle combined to frustration from a damaged family leads teens to borderline behaviour... But I might just be overdiversifying here ;-).

Where was it shot? I have the impression that some locations are quite similar to what I see when I drive to Poland (and come back from it), crossing Dolnośląskie, Opolskie and Śląskie.