News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]

Small scale migration has been the human norm. Large scale migration is a sign that something's wrong with the country of the emigrants. Priority should be placed on fixing that.

Work / Briton teaching freelance - and the law in Poland [21]

First, are you sure the prospective students want this to be on the books? Who's paying? The company or the individuals?

Back in the ancient past when I still did private lessons no one wanted anything official, it was all hand to hand and off the books (by the students' choice). Times change but I'm not sure if they've changed that much.

If the company is paying officially they should be able to tell you what you need (though the relevant people might not want to try to find out).

Also, if this is on the books you should tell them how much you want after taxes (and let them figure out what the pretax level is to achieve that). 50 zl per hour in hand is not that very high (it's what I was getting over ten years ago).

As for not knowing Polish, you're not teaching grammar, you're teaching conversation. Your students won't want (and won't appreciate) you trying to explain grammar which they've already had plenty of.

And unless you have the right training you'll screw it up. Hint: unless you have linguistics or TESL training most of what you think you know about 'grammar' is just plain wrong.

There's still plenty for you to teach them in terms of naturalness and style and register. Here you use your intuitions to figure out what they want to say and how to say that in a more natural way (and how to sound more or less formal depending on the occasion). Don't try to explain principles or general rules just specific examples.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


No,but the 'poor helpless native' narrative of diversity bullies like EM Wave really irritate me. There were a lot of abuses in colonial times but to blame continuing dysfunction on colonialism (with some exceptions) is condescending to all concerned.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


And chaotic, dysfunctional and/or non-existent local leadership made European colonialism possible....

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


That's pretty much a myth. Usually there's at least as much local dysfunction to blame. One partial exception might be Congo (Belgium was the worst colonizer period, no question about it) but the local system is still screwed up enough that it remains a hopeless mess without European meddling.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


Well my interest (in terms of immigration to Poland) is the longterm best interests of the existing local population. If that's not a concern then you'll perceive things differently.


Does it matter what the source of the problems is? It either works or doesn't and if it doesn't (which is often the case in West Europe at present) then maybe there should be some serious rethinking.

Again small scale immigration by people who don't expect a safety net and who intend to integrate/assimilate can be a good thing. Large scale immigration by those who expect to be supported and who despise the local culture and don't want to be part of it ... isn't.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


Yeah that's the point there aren't any examples of multi-ethnic multi-cultural cities that work _without_ some kind of authoritarian rule or a common culture/language that all are expected to belong to.


My own bias was in _favor_ of muticulturalism and peaceful co-existence of different cultural systems. But, I have enough intellectual integrity to realize when reality doesn't support my biases (or at least I try).

And you haven't addressed cases where multi-culti isn't working (like mass muslim integration .... anywhere in Europe).

Love / Indian wife wants divorce from her Polish husband just after two months. [52]

This makes them different from other men ..... how?

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


The Austro-Hungarian (and Ottoman) empires come to mind as maintaining multi-ethnic cities for a long time (which largely ceased being multi-ethnic when the empires ceased to exist). Not democratic and not a lot of interaction between the groups but that's the point.


Internal organic change is generally better the externally driven change as can be found in Vollsmose (neighborhood in Odense Denmark where (mostly muslim) immigrants are trying to drive out ethnic Danes:

liveleak.com/view?i=e73_1327591131


That makes no sense, Putnam's bias was _in FAVOR_ of diversity and he was badly shaken up by his findings (which suggested that diversity is not an unmitigated good). He was so shaken up that he sat on them for 10 years....

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]

Why can't you define 'multiculturalism' or address the research concerns raised by Putnam?

Can you really look at places like Rosengrad (Malmo Sweden) or self-declared Shariah zones in the UK or the banlieues of France and see only good?


I thought multiculturalism wasn't about immigration? For the record, I think small scaled immigration by people who know there's no social safety net for them isn't necessarily a bad thing, but as the man said "democracy, multiculturalism, mass immigration — pick any two of three" (because no one has successfully combined all three).

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


That about sums it up.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


Then stop being lazy and define your terms (and address the research that shows it's not necessarily a never-ending street carnival of grooviness).

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


How do you account for Robert Putnam's research conclusions that diversity decreases social trust (necessary for the functioning of advanced civil societies)?

In very diverse societies it's not just that people distrust those different from them, they distrust those who are like them as well....

News / Internet snoopers in Poland not giving up! (and PO scores another own goal) [5]

No, I've always thought that about all political parties. For a time, their particular brand of self-serving actions seemed overall less harmful than most others. That time may be passing. I wanna see what happens next.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


This is nonsense. Assimilate to what? Define your terms please.

Mine: The onus is on immigrants to respect the values already existing in their new countries and to become economically and socially productive. If they can't respect them they should not stay. This includes:

a) learning the local language (and making sure their children learn it as well) maintenance of the native language is nice, but can't be the priority.

b) not expecting the host society to rearrange itelf for the immigrant's holidays or religious practices

c) fitting into the local working culture (including encouraging wives and daughters to work if that's the local custom)

d) if handouts from the local government are necessary the immigrant should be grateful and do everything they (legally!) can to not need them.

e) remember that no one invited them

This doesn't mean they have to accept everything uncriticially, but they need to negotiate for the changes on the inside instead of making demands from the outside.

The hosts should do what is possible to help this process along and if they can't then immigration to that society is probably not an option worth pursuing.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


Yes, i think the more that immigrants accept the values of their new country and the more they try to be economically productive adults and improve the education of their children the better things will work out.

Once again, can you find counter examples?


If you mean the victim of another impoverished person then I agree.


Apart from not understanding what you mean by "over-willing immigrant" I think that if the hosts are unwilling to have a bunch of impoverished people dumped into their society then maybe alternate solutions to whatever problems immigration is supposed to fix should be looked for.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]

How so? Can you find counter-examples of large groups of Somali or Congolese immigrants improving the social capital of their new country? I'm not talking about isolated individuals, but enough in one place so that you can talk about "The X community". How many times do people say: "That area is really safe, it's full of Somali immigrants!" or "Yeah, you can trust that company, they're Nigerian!"

For a not rich country, there's no place for feel good policies concerning immigration, if you want immigrants at all, you want ones that won't increase the crime rate or riot and who will assimilate. Those who are very well off financially can insulate themselves from the bad effects of indiscriminately bringing in immigrants who don't value work or education and who have no shame about accepting welfare. Everyday people aren't so lucky.

News / What is the population of Poland's non-european minority? [142]


You're arguing like a twelve-year old. Actually, real empiral studies (as opposed to airheaded fantasies) show that multiculturalism has a serious negative effect on social cohesion and social capital, look up a guy named Putnam (who was so upset by his results that he sat on them without publishing them for 10 years).

Traditionally stable multiculturalism (that is w/o a large amount of immigration) works best when there are boundaries between social groups that are comparatively impermeable so you can't easily marry across them and you can't easily have access to different economic/political/social opportunities than your ancestors in your particular group did. A government with no interest in educating you or concern about how you might vote is also a plus.

On a purely practical level, when you start importing people you're also importing their values. That is, some immigrants bring more value with them others. For Poland Vietnamese immigrants carry their own weight economically (and then some) and show high levels of education and other kinds of social capital. Ukrainians and ther ex-Soviets quickly assimilate as well. On the other hand, Muslim (and Sub-Saharan African) immigration tends to not work so well in Europe. Individually, many or most Muslims (and Africans) might be wonderful people, but the more of them you import the more they tend to recreate their home conditions in their new country (with bad results for them and their hosts).

Law / Poland has too much redtape [14]


Nah, it's related to something sociologists call 'uncertainty avoidance' which is very strong in Poland. Countries with high overall levels of uncertainty avoidance have bigger and less transparent bureaucracies than lower level countries (like Ireland).

On the other hand, enforcement is hit or miss and everybody bends the rules, The regime is strict but implementation is restrained. Once you learn how to navigate the system you'll probably come to prefer it.


Partly this is about uncertainty avoidance (see above) and partly this really is a holdover from communist times and the infamous and decades long accute housing shortage (which impacted people's lives the way that natural disasters do in some places).

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]

I don't think of Poland is especially poor but many or most Polish people subjectively feel poor.

Travel / Driving in Poland, are there any rules at all? [149]

"are there any rules at all?"

Basic rules of driving in Poland....

1. Figure out the fastest possible speed on a particular stretch of road, then go at least 2 kph faster

2. Only look straight ahead (never look behind you or to the sides)

3. Faith in god and pedal to the metal!

4. The various colors of lights are only suggestions, which you should feel free to ignore.

5. Ambulance, shmambulance, why should they have priority?

6. People who walk are inferior to people in cars

That about covers it.

Language / Sorka means przepraszam [17]


It's not so much the vowel (my vowel in sorry is the same as in father and not so different from Polish a) but the consonant. The English retroflex glide/resonant just doesn't happen in Polish (no reason it should) and the Polish r (between vowels) sounds more like a t or d to Americans. City in US pronunciation sounds a lot like syryj (or syrij).

Mostly though sorry and sorka just bug me in Polish. Many English borrowings don't but sorka sounds almost as bad as the horrible native expression 'do zobaczyska' (yech!)

(and I wished that either the spelling or pronunciation of pub was changed in Polish, as a native speaker of English I can tell you that etymological spelling is more of a headache than a benefit and you need to nip it in the bud.

Logic is not heavily involved in this kind of judgement.

Language / Sorka means przepraszam [17]

It always throws me off since if it were a borrowing from spoken English it should be 'sari' and 'sarka'.

But it seems to be a spoken borrowing from spelling-pronunciation English which sounds kind of .... stupid.

Life / Can most people in Poland speak Russian? [43]

No.

On the other hand, it's gained popularity as a foreign language in some circles. The aesthetics of Russian and parts of Russian culture appeal to many Poles (but politics get in the way....).

News / Wisława Szymborska died. [30]


I have no quarrel for those who don't find her work aesthetically appealing (de gustibus and all that). I just find criticisms of the type given by the PiS MP's in question to be .... odd.

They're basically criticising her on political grounds (she didn't adhere to their vision of nationalism) and don't see the irony at all.

News / Wisława Szymborska died. [30]

I can certainly see why some Poles don't care for her work on aesthetic grounds. Polish people tend to think that important ideas have to be cloaked in important sounding (that is, intricate and complex) language. Szymborska was one of the few practicitoners of plain languge in Polish whcih makes a lot of what she did seem 'too simple'. I disagree.

Nothing is harder to combine than true simplicity and real feeling. Szymborska managed it (for me, admittedly not a poetry person) a very high percentage of the time.

The funeral poem is one of my favorites, a snapshot of a moment and dozens of conversations, none about what they're supposedly there for....

News / Wisława Szymborska died. [30]

And now some PiS MP's are complaining that her poetry wasn't simple mindedly patriotic enough....

"her work doesn't remind me of Polish willow trees..."

Love / Unmarried couples in Poland = pathology [310]


I'm pretty sure it was an accident (though I never really believed the mother's story). I'm trying to be charitable and ascribe her behavior to grief-induced panic.

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]


Yea for free pûrn with impunity! In your face (in a manner of speaking) Polonius3!!!

Seriously, most legal analysts say this has no real meaning. It just means he won't push ratification but the process will proceed.