Language / Common mistakes made by foreigners in Polish [90]


yeah, that was hilarious. and it is true

Study / Polish Universities - are there any entrance exams? [6]


there is no such a dependence. medicine is extremely difficult studies and it's quite difficult to enter...


Generally, higher education in Poland is free, but most university departments require applicants to take an entry test. of course there is a limited number of students that will be admitted. these who won't can apply for the non-residential courses (but these are not free of charge)

There are also private universities/colleges where you only enrol and pay for tuition.

when it comes to grants, you can get scholarship if you have good grades. there are also social(?) grants for students who have low monthly income, but it's not much money.

Love / Czech girl's opinion about Czech, Polish, and Russian girls. [25]

does she know any Polish or Russian girl to express such opinions?

Food / nalesniki na drozdze [5]

Yeah, I suppose you mean placki drożdżowe or racuchy. They are made of:
wheat flour,
milk (lets say two glasses, you can replace half a glass of milk with water),
a yolk,
yeast (30grams I think),
a pinch of sugar...

I don't know the exact proportions, but the dough should be quite thick. First you have to mix yeast with warm milk (half a glass) and sugar and leave it in a warm place to swell. next add the rest of milk and yolk. finally add flour. deep fry in oil forming pancakes with about a 7 centimetre diameter. I cannot assure you the pankakes will taste like these made by your grandma but you can try this recipe and modify it:) for example you can add more sugar, less milk etc.

Language / Your Funniest / Strangest / Sadest Moments with the Polish Language [63]

hehe, I have no idea:)

Language / Your Funniest / Strangest / Sadest Moments with the Polish Language [63]


there is a word 'dziewka" in Polish (rather old fashioned, still may be used in some dialects but I'm not sure) and it means 'a girl'. probably it's not used in standard polish anymore because of the similarity to the insulting 'dziwka'

Language / Sayings in English that seem odd in Polish? [22]


does it make any difference? my 17-year-old cousin, whom I teach english, always asks why english speakers have so strange sayings. the answer probably is that each nation (society?) has developed certain way of conceptualising world and the sayings often reflect the way the perceive it.

personally, I often wonder if "not my cup of tea" has something to do with the tradition of drinking tea:) I never use this one, although I know the meaning because it seems strange to me

Food / Polish Christmas table [26]


that's right


I would. we drink it only once a year, it's different but quite tasty, I really like it although I couldn't drink it in the summer:D. maybe you have to be used to that taste, a bit specific indeed

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


sorry, I made a mistake, he makes some effort to learn polish of course. sorry once again, I"m thinking faster than typing:D

Language / Feminine nouns ending in 'c' [9]


plenty of them: pieczeń (roast meat), kieszeń (pocket), kość (bone), maść (ointment?), śmierć (death), sierść (fur), pierś (breast), miłość (love), męskość:D (masculinity) etc

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


maybe I'm oversensitive, too much phonetics in the university:)

but I wasn't the only person who thought his way of speaking was pretty amusing..
It doesn't mean I laugh at people who do not speak english well [!!!] I'm not perfect either.
as I said, maybe because the guy doesn't seem very serious to me, many things he does make me laugh

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]

I have an American teacher who also makes an effort to learn some english and we really appreciate it. poles are easily impressed because they are not used to the idea that foreigners speak their language:D

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]

that's nice the British want to learn Polish to communicate with immigrants.. I rather thouht they expect the immigrants to speak good english.

Life / Choosing a Polish Name for Your Newborn [15]


my sister is Kasia:) quite a popular name indeed..

Life / Spending a few months in Poland [23]



you took it out of context. I didn't say you need 50zł on average, I said it's a minimum (why do I have to explain it to everyone, wasn't that clear?)

ok, then, nightlife ~ 200zł - ....

apparenty, you cannot have a good fun without much money.

Life / Spending a few months in Poland [23]

I know:) but when I go with friends to a pub or a disco (in case of disco 10-15zł for entry), drink not more than 4 beers :D (4x 6zł =24zł), and take taxi home (5-10zł when we share costs) I spend about 50zł.

of course if we take drinks (more expensive than beer:D), bowl or play billiards, eat sth etc we spend much more

50zł is a minimum

Life / Spending a few months in Poland [23]


renting a flat ~ 1000 - 2000zł per month
food ~ 1000zł (?) depends on how much you eat:D
public transport ~ 100zł per month (?) depends on where and how often you want to travel
nightlife ~ 50zł - ...? per night
cinema ~ 15 - 20zł

Life / Polish Parents are controlling [58]

maybe she wouldn't be so much interested in your life if she had her own?

Life / Choosing a Polish Name for Your Newborn [15]


yeah, but nowadays, apart from going back to the traditional names, many parents give children foreign names: Nicole (or Nikola), Victoria, Angelika, Bryan (spelled Brajan <lol>) etc.

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


hmmm, for a pole who studies english language it is funny, believe me:) I linked it to my friends and we had a good laugh. the point is that the guy (who was the polish minister of education at that time) gives a speech, which is of course perfectly prepared, but his pronunciation is awful! maybe it seems hilarious for me also because the man is funny in general:)

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


yeah... but I think it's an extreme case:D

Life / Brits moving to live in Poland [88]


dnz, this guy is so hilarious, I've seen it before but each time I'm listening to him I just can't help laughing:D

another case of ponglish (which always makes me laugh):

Food / NAME THIS FOOD PLEASE (Hungarian pastry / Zurek?) [9]


was it a dessert? we eat placek węgierski (hungarian pancake) but it's not sweet. it's a kind of pancake made of grated potatoes and served with sauce (with beaf, I think). that's the only dish I know that has "hungarian" in its name.


It must have been ŻUREK, that's the only soup we serve in a bread bun. but not every restaurant serves it like that, żurek is also served in a plate:)so you should say you want żurek w chlebie (zurek in a bread bun)

News / Poland adopting the Euro, but when? [65]


I think not earlier than in 2012


I don't mind, although i like złotówki:)

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


I meant that every vowel is "fully" pronounced, not reduced to schwa as in english. You're right, I should't have used the word "stressed". And I don't think it's funny, I just expressed it in wrong words. sorry, I didn't want to mislead anyone.


No I didn't. "Th" is the most difficult consonant for poles to pronounce, but it's still easier to produce TH than some of the vowels. you just have to put your tounge between you teeth:)

in case of vowels, in polish there is no distinction between short and long vowels (that's why poles often mispronounce "peace", "beach" etc) so poles have difficulties in grasping the significance of such distinction.

another vowel, called "ash" (like in "cat"), is also hard to produce, as there is no such sound in polish.

and finally, "schwa", the unaccented vowel, poses many problems, because the phonetic value of polish vowels doesn't significantly change even if fast speech (try to say the word KOLORADO in polish, and you'll see that even if you say it fast, you have no doubts there are three "o" and one "a" within the word)

that is why I think TH is simpler to pronounce than english vowels.

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


The main problem which makes it so difficult for poles to acquire truely english accent is that english has dynamic stress while polish is a tonic laguage. it means that in an english word only one or two vowels are stressed while in a polish word we stress all vowels (and even if you do not stress a syllable, a vowel is "fully" pronounced). it's a great difficulty for poles to produce an unstressed vowel (technically called "schwa") because we simply do not have such a vowel in polish. I suppose a native speaker of english also has problems with polish pronunciation.

another problem is the "th" sound, poles are so ignorant when it comes to pronunciation of "th" (they tend to replace it with t/f/s or d/w/z). we don't have this sound in polish, but it's much easier to produce "th" than any english vowel.

and finally, everyone who wants to get rid of a foreign accent should talk with (and listen to!) native speakers and learn from them.

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


true. according to a recent survey, over 50 per cent of Poles don't speak any foreign language

Life / are sending and recieving sms free on all polish networks? [7]

in polish networks, if you have roaming, you never pay if you receive an sms. if you sent a message from abroad to poland (having polish network) you pay for the message about 5 times more that usually. but if sb sends you a message from poland he/she pays normally (no extra charges).

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


you know, I'm Polish and I can't understand it :D maybe it's because I don't like vodka

Language / Why do people want to study Polish? [90]


meaning where?