Study / Good university to study at in Poland (non-EU citizen) [7]


For non-STEM fields, it is a rip off, with very very few exceptions. For STEM fields, particularly engineering, it is, as you say, generally a poor investment of time and money rather than a rip off.

Language / Inanimate vs animate nouns in Polish language [16]

@Lyzko

Not quite. In the singular, there are four genders: masculine animate (including facultative animates), masculine inanimate, feminine and neuter. In the plural, there are two genders: virile (male humans) and non-virile (everything else besides male humans).

Work / How much salary should I ask for IT Business Analysts in Wroclaw ? [17]

@Harry


No, they won't.

Travel and relocation expenses, including visas and permits, amortized over 12 months will be more than 1000 PLN alone. This is what they have to pay from their income just to be in Poland.

A two-bedroom apartment will be 2700 to 3200 PLN all inclusive, rent, administration fees and all utilities except phone/internet/TV. A one-bedroom apartment from 2200 to 2700 would make more sense.

Food and routine household and baby supplies is 1500 to 2500. Less if cooking all meals at home from scratch using cheaper local ingredients. More if you more than occasionally eat, drink or snack away from home or cook with expensive foreign ingredients.

About 400 for basic phone/internet and travel passes.

At least 500 PLN a month for occasional expenses like clothes, bedding, furniture, dentist, medicines and taxis, babysitting, etc.

So that's at least 5600 PLN right there, and that's without recreation/hobbies/entertainment and vacations, which is a wild card, depending on travel back to India. or any serious savings. So 7000 PLN a month with savings limited to only a modest rainy day fund is a pretty close estimate.

Study / Good university to study at in Poland (non-EU citizen) [7]

@Aravind sairam

If you want to earn a saleable masters, then either study at a good university in your own country, or in a country that spends a lot on R&D: the richer European countries like Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway; the English speaking countries, the United States, the united Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; and the richer Asian countries, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Especially try to study in the country you wish to eventually live and work in.

The thing about English-language courses in Poland being inferior to Polish-language courses is generally true. Less so for engineering courses.

The main disadvantages of studying in Poland are:

1) Courses are heavy on theory, and light on practice. Lab facilities are poorly stocked with antiquated equipment.

2) Polish universities do not have strong ties to business and industry, so making useful professional contacts is quite difficult, especially if you do not speak fluent Polish.

3) There is very little R&D done in Poland. The emphasis is on production, especially outsourced production of components, Therefore, interesting research projects are far and few between, and generally go to those in the Polish-language courses.

4) The degrees from English-language courses are not as valued by employers in richer countries.

5) There are no scholarships or student loans available, and finding a part-time job is difficult or next to impossible unless you have some advanced exotic coding skills that are highly in demand.

Studying at a good IIT is by far a better option for you than studying in English even at the best engineering schools in Poland. By far the best option is to study in the country in which you wish to eventually work and live.

Genealogy / Searching for my father's relatives. Family names of Foroszowski and Makar in Moczary, near Jalowe. [4]

@LianeSekhar

Good news is that Foroszkowski is an exceedingly rare surname, and that anyone with that name is almost certainly related to you. Froszkowski may be a variant, but you will need documentation to prove any ties to that surname or any other variants.

Bad news is that Makar is an extremely common surname used by many different families, not only in Poland, but in Just about every other Slavic country, especially where the Orthodox Church and the Greek Catholic Church are found. You can count on not being related at all to by far most people with that surname.

Both names are distinctively "eastern". If your family were considered "Ruthenians" or Ukrainians rather than ethnic Poles, then they might have been forced to leave the Sanok area during Operation Vistula:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vistula

Work / What salaries are for IT specialists (Senior QA Engineer) in Poland? [59]


About 8000 PLN a month. If you come alone, you could theoretically save up to 3000 PLN a month if you are frugal, and even 4000 PLN a month if you live like a monk on potatoes and cabbage in a studio apartment.

If you bring your wife, then savings are not going to be very much. Count on less than 1000 PLN a month, and possibly nothing at all if one of you has to go back to India for a funeral or something like that.

If serious saving is a priority for you, then Poland the countries in the eastern half of the EU are not good countries for you. Try the richer countries like German, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, or the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Work / How much salary should I ask for IT Business Analysts in Wroclaw ? [17]


Your figures are about right. You can do it if you live modestly and carefully, but savings are not going to be all that spectacular. On the minimal side for a family of three. That is the worst thing about working in Poland: savings potential is frustratingly low.

Language / Inanimate vs animate nouns in Polish language [16]

@cinek

There are some "rules of thumb", but plenty of exceptions. The following are generally facultative animate:

One-piece tools
Car brands
Units of currency
Mushrooms
Fruits that are not native to Poland (like tomatoes and bananas, mentioned above)
Articles of clothing, especially men's clothing
Dances
Games
Parts of the body
Polish towns and cities

There is a whole list of them on pages 71 to 74 of Swan's reference grammar. Go to this site and click on "Reference Grammar" to download a pdf file:

lektorek.org/lektorek

Work / What salaries are for IT specialists (Senior QA Engineer) in Poland? [59]

@vishrocks21

For that amount of money, it would be best if you came alone and left your wife at home to continue working there. You'll have enough to cover your living expenses, but you won't be able to save much if your wife comes along.

Also, it's very unlikely that your wife will find a job in Poland after she arrives. If she wants to work in Poland, too, then make sure she has a job BEFORE she leaves India,

Law / My Polish friend can sponsor a visa to me, what are procedures in Poland? [3]

@Fazil karatt

Your friend will have to go to the Division for Foreigner Affairs at the Office of the Wojewódzstwo in which they live and provide proof that they have the money to support you during your stay. Then the office will issue a letter of invitation. You have to take that letter along with you when you apply for a visa. You can only apply for a Schengen visa, 90 days or less.

Just because you have an invitation does not mean that they will issue the visa. Applications based on invitation letters from "friends" are often denied, especially if they are not convinced that you will leave the Schengen zone when your visa expires. You will have to have solid documentation that you have very strong ties to India proving that you do indeed intend to return.

Work / What salaries are for IT specialists (Senior QA Engineer) in Poland? [59]

@Dirk diggler

No. That's for a one-bedroom apartment, which is called a two-room apartment in Polish (2-pokojowe).

Figure on about 500 PLN more for a two-bedroom apartment.

Language / When to use celownik (dative) in Polish language? [11]

@BumSkillet

I think your last post was directed to G (undercover).

In any case, in order to understand Polish verbs, you will have to wrap your head around the idea of grammatical aspect. The reference grammar I gave you a link to has the best treatment of aspect that I have seen.

Work / What salaries are for IT specialists (Senior QA Engineer) in Poland? [59]


And you'd shoot yourself in the foot if it turns out they were prepared to offer 18k. Sorry, but an foreigner is going to have a very hard time figuring out the going rate for different positions in Poland. The published figures vary a lot, and a lot are out of date or clearly erroneous. If an employer wants you, they will eventually make a concrete offer. Just keep your cards close to your chest until they do.

Language / When to use celownik (dative) in Polish language? [11]


Refer to the reference grammar that I gave you a link to in the other thread. There is a very good treatment of all the cases in it.

Work / What salaries are for IT specialists (Senior QA Engineer) in Poland? [59]

@vishrocks21

Breakdown of your costs:

Travel and relocation, including air tickets, travel to and from airports and embassies, residence permits and shipping of minimal essential items, amortized over 12 months: about 1000 PLN a month for the both of you.

Housing, basic one-bedroom (two room) apartment in a decent neighborhood with easy access to ground transportation, all inclusive including all utilities except phone/internet/TV: 2000 to 2700 PLN a month, the former for the cheapest cities, the latter for Warsaw.

Groceries and regular household supplies and expenses: 1500 to 2000 for two people. Less if you cook and eat exclusively at home using less expensive in-season local ingredients , more if you cook with non local ingredients or if you often eat, snack or drink away from home.

Occasional expenses like clothing, shoes, bedding, furniture, kitchen supplies, computers, cell phones, doctor, dentists and medicines, taxis, etc.: budget at least 500 PLN a month. You and your wife will need to buy a complete winter wardrobe, including good shoes.

Plus another 300 to 400 for phone/internet/TV and monthly local transit passes. Forget about a car. It isn't necessary anyway. Public transit is good.

So that is at least 4500 just for necessary expenses to live a modest, no-frills lifestyle in the cheapest cities, and up to 6000 in the better cities, like Wrocław, Kraków and, especially, Warsaw.

Then there is recreation, entertainment, travel and vacations. Trips to western Europe or back to India will be very expensive. You are also going to have to pay to keep your wife occupied so she doesn't go crazy. This is a wild card. It can be anywhere from 500 to 2000 a month, or more, depending on whether you travel back to India.

And then there's savings. The budget above will give you a minimal rainy day fund at best. You'll have to add your savings goals to the above total.

So let's say 8500 to 10000 PLN with modest savings (enough to save up for an eventual move to a richer country). That comes out to 13000 to 16000 PLN a month gross, the lower figure for the cheapest cities, and the higher figure for the better cities like Wrocław, Kraków, Poznań, Gdańsk and especially Warsaw.

If you're not making at least that as a senior engineer, then there is no point in taking the job.

Also, never tell them your salary expectations, no matter how much they insist. Always kick that ball back in their court and make them provide an offer first. Revealing your salary expectations puts you in a very disadvantageous position during negotiations.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

I doubt that any teacher can awaken much enthusiasm for Romantic-era German literature in a group of American high school students. Yes, the teachers were responsible for their mistake, but their mistake was choosing grossly inappropriate reading material, both for the level and for the demographic. Come on, Die Leiden des jungen Werther? Sheer torture to any normal teenager. Or Tod in Venedig, a book that can be understood only by men well into their fifties? It's one of my favorite books now, but then, I'm well over fifty. Same with Lalka in Polish. Great if you are a mature and experienced male. Incomprehensible if you are not.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

@KoszalinChris

You're welcome.

I also found exactly what you are looking for. There is a series of graded readers that you can download in PDF form with side-by-side English translations and embedded soundfiles, and they are not at all expensive.

lppbooks.com/Polish

Click on one of the readers, and you can view a sample .pdf. This will help you a lot to start reading.

Good luck learning Polish. You've taken on quite a task!

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

@Tempus

If you are an absolute beginner, then you will have to have a good-sized basic vocabulary and a good command of grammar before you could tackle even the simplest reading material in Polish. Unlike in English, different grammatical forms of the same word can look very, very different in Polish.

Go to this site: lektorek.org/lektorek/

Click on "First year Polish course", and then on "Lessons" on the page it takes you to. That is by far the best textbook for leaning Polish for English speakers. The course has short readings in each lesson, graded and annotated according to level.

"Polish Reference Grammar", and you will download by far the best grammar of the Polish language that is available in English. It will answer practically all of your grammar questions.

From the same page, you can also click on "Polish Reference Grammar", and you will download by far the best grammar of the Polish language that is available in English. It will answer practically all of your grammar questions.

And it's free, courtesy of the author.

After you finish that course and read over the grammar, you will be prepared to tackle real literature, like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. With some difficulty at first, but you will quickly improve.

Language / Polish participles and gerund? [3]

Go to this site: lektorek.org/lektorek/

Click on "Polish Reference Grammar", and you will download by far the best grammar of the Polish language that is available in English. It will answer practically all of your grammar questions.

From the same page, you can also click on "First year Polish course", and then on "Lessons" on the page it takes you to. That is by far the best textbook for leaning Polish for English speakers.

And it's free, courtesy of the author.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]


I went to Latin school and have an undergraduate degree in classical languages and spent this morning reviewing my Latin, so I am certainly not demonizing classical literature. It's just not suitable for learners at the early stages.

I really regret that my high-school German course focused on 19th century literature. God, it was boring. Soul-numbingly boring. I wanted to shoot young Werther and put him out of his suffering, for all our sakes. And the poetry! I would rather get a root canal than endure 19th century German poetry at that stage of language learning again.

At least Latin had Caesar, who was cool and interesting. Something a teenage boy could sink his teeth into. And Tacitus was even cooler. Even the Aeneid was cool. You barely noticed that it was poetry. Same with Ovid.

But Romantic Era German literature, no thanks! I would have learned a lot more, a lot quicker, and with a lot more enjoyment if we were reading contemporary popular young people's fiction, like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

Study / I'm thinking to study in the Wrocław University of Science and Technology [55]


I agree. Giving up your home court advantage doesn't make sense unless the payoff is big, and, in this case, studying in Poland does not improve the payoff much, if at all. Not enough to justify the cost, both financially and socially.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

@Lyzko

Really, classic literature is boring as hell to read until you are advanced enough to appreciate the style. I didn't get to that point until I had read twenty-five or so books, when I read Lalka and was able to appreciate the language.

Reading Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn comes with the same problems I had with Marek Piegus: lots of slang and non-standard expressions that a learner won't find in the dictionary.

As for range of vocabulary, nothing even comes close to science fiction and fantasy literature. I owe a great debt to Andrzej Sapkowski for hugely expanding my Polish vocabulary. The English equivalent would be Jack Vance, who wrote with an enormous range of vocabulary.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]


It might seem "obvious". but I found children's literature was often harder than adult literature. "Niewiarygodne przygody Marka Piegusa" was about the tenth book I read, and it was packed with school slang, alcoholic slang, criminal slang, police slang and stage-entertainer slang and other non-standard expressions that I couldn't find in my very comprehensive dictionary. "Przyjaciel wesołego diabła" was about my twentieth book (after reading all nine of Sapkowski's Wiedżmin books), and it was also a humbling experience. Children's literature presupposes a very intimate knowledge of the language.

On the other hand, the easiest book I read was a translation of Agatha Christie's "Halloween Party". It was about the sixth book I read, and after having plowed through Lord of the Rings. I hardly needed the dictionary. I was underlining one word a page or less.

When I was learning German, the main thing that helped me started speaking was Asterix. I read every single one of them available at that time, because the school library had the complete set. Asterix is also available in Polish.

Study / I'm thinking to study in the Wrocław University of Science and Technology [55]


I second that. All that an unpaid internship for a for-profit company says to prospective employers is that you are incredibly stupid and that they can treat you like $hit because you have no sense of dignity. Paid internships for for-profit companies and unpaid internships for non-profit organizations are a bit better, but there are still much more productive ways of spending your time.

Work / Information about jobs for Indian students in Poland [286]

@massras

No. That's about 65000 PLN. 30000 PLN plus $9000 US, or about $17,000 US in total.

Language / The use of 'sobie' in Poland's language [16]

@DominicB

To get a feeling for the "unhurried, self-absorbed, unbothered, leisurely without a distinct and immediate goal, just for fun" sense of "sobie", it's best to concentrate on purely intransitive verbs that never take a direct or indirect object, like "iść". The sentences with translations on this page give will help you understand the many ways this can be expressed in English:

context.reverso.net/t%C5%82umaczenie/polski-angielski/idzie+sobie

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

@KoszalinChris

Read a Polish translation of a book that you have already read in English. I started with Lord of the Rings, for example. Harry Potter is another good choice. Children's' literature can be quite difficult because of the reason you stated. By reading a book that you already have read and know, you will not feel as anxious and lost.

Underline ALL the words you don't know or not completely sure of until you have about thirty words underline, then stop and look up those words in the dictionary, and reread each sentence with an underlined word until it sinks in. The go back to reading until you have another thirty words underlined. And so on.

Language / Melody of Polish and listening skills [8]

@BumSkillet

Polish has little in the way of "melody". It's a rigidly syllable-timed language where the rhythm is a rather monotonic "Bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bam-bum", like a machine gun.

The best way to learn to listen to the language is to listen to audiobooks.

When I was learning Polish in Poland, I was listening to an audiobook where the reader read exactly like a machine gun. Monotonically and with absolutely no variation in pitch or rhythm. To me it sounded odd and mechanical, but when I asked my Polish friends, they didn't find anything remarkable about it.

As an American, you are going to have to get used to the fact that all syllables are pronounced fully with the same length. Stressed syllables are not pronounced longer, and unstressed syllables are not weakened or shortened. Also, word stress is a lot weaker than in American English. This can make it difficult to identify word boundaries until you get used to it.

Language / The use of 'sobie' in Poland's language [16]

It can, if the context suggests that the person in question suffers from trichotillomania. Otherwise, like the first example I gave, it is just the possessive use: "He was pulling HIS hair out".

Work / Information about jobs for Indian students in Poland [286]

@massras

Any of the IIMs would be the best choice, or other good universities in India. If you cannot afford to pay 100% of your study and stay and study, then Poland is not a possibility. With few exceptions, MBA programs taught in the English language in Poland are not worth very much on the job market. If you can't afford or get into schools like Harvard, Stanford or London School of Economics, there's no advantage of studying for an MBA outside of India.