Language / Some Ideas for a band name using the Polish language? [94]

Some words I just like the sound of (and not embarrassing AFAIK) suggested respelling when the original is maybe too exotic for anglophones nb. the words are chose for sound alone and are not a criticism of your band....

miazga - myazga(h) pulp, collquially catastrophe

pasożyt - pasozhit - parasite (darmozjad - darmozyad means the same thing and also sounds cool)

niezdara - klutz

kartoflanka - potato soup (also a kind of suffle I think)

zomo - abbreviation for old commie riot police, very much hated in their time but a cool word

History / "Lithuania! My fatherland, you are like health.." [37]

This is a nice example of how difficult good translation can be. As far as I can tell there's no good way to translate the first three words into modern (American) English (I won't make any claims about any other variety).

Let's look at the obvious possiblities....

1. Fatherland, technically the most 'accurate' but what good is 'accuracy' when the word will likely trigger unintended negative connotations in a large segment of modern readers?

2. Country, kind of blah and colorless

3. Homeland, I would have preferred this before the "Department of Homeland Security", But now the word has acquired political connotations (whether positive or negative for a given person) so that clash with the poem's aim. It was a little dicey before since a lot of people might also associate the word with the old South African aparthheid regime. Personally I like it the best but it's problematic now.

4. Motherland, better than fatherland in terms of connotations and 'mother' matches the feminine gender of ojczyzna(!) but it's still far from natural.

5. Other options? 'Land of my (fore)fathers'' of "My forefathers' land" might work but is too many syllables (since Lithuania is also a lot longer than the oriignal).

And that's not even touching the fact that the Lithuania in question is not the current country of the same name... Obvious to Polish readers, but far from obvious to Anglophones. I might suggest either

a) Litwa (with an English w) IIRC Weyland uses the adjective form Litwan
b) Lithua - a neologism but one without the connotations of the modern Lithuania

Perhaps something like

"Lithua, my forefathers' land"
or
"Lithua, my father's land"
or
"Lithua, land of my fathers"

might end up being best, but probably won't be accepted for a number of reasons

History / "Lithuania! My fatherland, you are like health.." [37]

Fatherland as a vague nazi vibe in modern English (blame WWII movies)

my go at those opening lines;

Lithuania, my homeland. You are like health,
your worth is known only to those who have lost you...

There is a need I think for a good prose translation of Pan Tadeusz into English, maybe printed as verse but with no effort at rhyme or rhythm.

The story and allusions are already hard enough for an English reader and the verse just makes it that much harder.

UK, Ireland / How long would it take for an English style restaurant in Poland to go bust? [80]


Just a quibble, when I was in Southern Mexico (Chiapas) they put raw cabbage and beets(!) on little flat tacos with black beans and yuca. And most food there was served very mild, the chilli peppers were always served on the side and people used them to taste.

I'm not sure of the breakfast thing, outside of hotels I just don't see Polish people having breakfast in a sit down restaurant on their way to work... It seems like a lot of overhead with not much possible return. I'd start off from 12 noon at the earliest and only try breakfast on a trial basis once things are up and running and going okay.

UK, Ireland / How long would it take for an English style restaurant in Poland to go bust? [80]

A couple of things to bear in mind.

People in Poland have never been as oriented towards going out to eat as they are in some places. At the extreme end there's an assumption that eating in restaurants is a one way ticket to food poisoning (there were times where such fears were justified). Those ideas are fading but not real fast and the younger people that are more open to eating out have less money.

Also Polish people, on the whole, are not what you might call adventurous diners. As you note, they like what they like and they like it that way.

And "English food" in Poland has _very_ negative connotations. Justified or not, that's the way it is and anyone trying to market traditional British food in Poland is facing a very steep uphill climb.

IME een the most Anglicized Polish people have a low opinion of the stuff (the Polish translator of Harry Potter takes several potshots of English food in the indexes/glossries of the books).

All that said, the restaurant market is crackable here, but entering the market without previous experience and/or very deep pockets is going to be something of gamble. My advice would be stress the idea of "European cuisine" and "European standards" rather than "English home cooking".

News / Overcoming (or fostering) political hate speech in Poland? [15]

Anyone who follows the media here realizes very quickly where the most hateful rhetoric is coming from (hint, it's not PO or even Palikot, an obnoxious but mostly harmless clown).

Either PiS is formenting the really nasty rhetoric or is somehow helpless against the smoother media tactics of PO. Neither option says much good about their ability to govern.

Note that Komorowski unilaterally apologized for offenses he might have caused and all Kaczynski would answer was "He has a lot to apologize for".

Stay classy, Jarek.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


Almost everything?

The thing I noticed right away is that the ELT industry's main operating goal is to get students into the system and paying money and keep them there as long as possible. For this to work, you need to make sure students don't really learn very much (British textbooks like headway or whatever they're using now are great for that). I'm generally a very good language learner and I can't imagine actually learning anything from most monolingual textbooks. At most they're helpful practice for staying at the same level. And finishing one level of textbook doesn't really prepare you to do anything but .... the next book in the series.

Also an awful lot of ELT advertising (official and unofficial) is based on the idea of competitive advantage. That knowledge of English will give you more opportunities. But it doesn't work in reality since the more people know more English the level needed for an advantage is always going to creep up. There's a feedback loop where no amount of English learning is 'enough'.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


At last! Another person in Poland who recognizes that ELT is largely a racket!

It also has some elements in common with a pyramid scheme...

USA, Canada / Giving up canadian citizenship for a Polish one? Cant be true! [20]

LeAnne, who is telling you you'd have to give up your Canadian citizenship?

That doesn't sound like any Polish practice that I've ever heard of.

If the Canadian side said that what's stopping you from getting a Polish passport and not mentioning it to the Canadian government?

Work / Polish Residency Cards. Is there a Permanent ID card for Foreigners? [37]


Define "valid identification" I've often used mine as ID (usually when asked for 'dowód osobisty'). The few objections (wanting a passport) were easily come by my reminding the person asking that the karta was given by the Polish government and my passport wasn't.... (maybe not much of an argument, but it's always worked for me).

Law / Poland residency dilemma - illegal worker affecting my income [19]

How do you know he was telling the truth?

I'm pretty sure the school has some idea of his status and doesn't want to risk fines etc by payng under the table or into his hand (as they say in Poland).

Law / Poland residency dilemma - illegal worker affecting my income [19]

How do you know he's illegal?

Law / Poland residency dilemma - illegal worker affecting my income [19]

Are Polish employers fined for hiring illegals?

News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]


That's an understatement. During the presidential campaign he was unusuallyt subdued and some people thought he'd changed and would be more diplomatic in the future. It later came out that he was drugged up at the time (this from Jadwiga Staniszkis, usually a Kaczynski supporter).

Since coming off those drugs (and starting new ones?) he's all but openly accused Tusk and Komorowski of actually planning the crash (or knowing it would happen). That's the only way to interpret some of the things he's said.

There's a core PiS constituency that will support him no matter what (because who else do they have?) but that's not enough for PiS to get back into power. But nothig they're doing now will get the middle of the road voters they need. Some younger members of PiS have tried to tone down the rhetoric but they get marginalized or kicked out for their efforts.

It's sad, really. Poland needs some kind of effective opposition but Kaczynski is no longer that. Bu

News / Politician shot in Lodz - two assistants to lawmakers from Law and Justice (PiS) party [66]


Barbara Blida

The suicide/accidental death/murder(?) helped evaporate enough public support for PiS that new elections were called and PO became the governing party.

News / Should government monitor the net in Poland? [38]

Reposting from another thread:

You better be good, you better watch out, you better not threaten, you better not shout...

The Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) is coming to the forums.....

PiS wants political forums monitored and for administrators to inform on users who seem threatening.

tokfm.pl/Tokfm/1,103087,8540447,PiS__Groza_nam_w_internecie

New content: As for the question, the great thing about the net is how is levels the playing field and its harder for the elites (of whatever stripe) to carefully control what gets said in public. Poor, sad, old politicians like Tusk (and Kaczynski) can't stand it and don't know how to deal with it.

On the other hand, his comment 'we'll look into it' is just politico speak for "leave me alone". The whole designer drug kerfuffle was a pointless distraction as is the in vitro kerfuffle.

News / Politician shot in Lodz - two assistants to lawmakers from Law and Justice (PiS) party [66]

This is either the work of a) a mentally unbalanced madman acting on his own or b) a despicable and evil person acting on his own

One might hope that this would be a clue to tone down the rhetoric, let's see what some politicians from PiS have to say:

"Tusk is responsible"

"PO is responsible for this death"

"The killing of the opposition has begun in Poland"

Sigh.

Look, this is a horrible thing to happen and I'm sorry the guy was killed and I hope the scum that killed him is locked up and never sees daylight again. But Polish politics is really entering the twilight zone now. Let's have some sanity for a change and stop trying to milk the unfortunate deaths of politicians for public support. It's gruesome.

Study / Student from Nepal travelling to Poland with dependent for further studies. Any job? [87]

It depends, the school in £ódź used to get students with no previous Polish (from Asia, Africa, Latin America) fluent enough to take unviersity courses after one year (still do for all I know).

On the other hand, the students were expected to study Polish full time (as in several hours of classroom instruction a day five days a week with homework). And the students had been kind of pre-selected for academic ability.

Not sure what the case is with current students from Asia is.

Love / A Polish womans relationship with her mother in law. [44]

My best guess. It's not her, it's him.

It sounds to me like he's probably lying to both of you to keep you at odds. The question is why? I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't continued on with his .... not very good ways and doesn't want his wife and mother to be able to team up and pressure him to get his act together.

Just a guess.

My advice: Politely point out that your the grandmother and want a relationship with your grandchild. Ask what you need to do to establish that.

(for the record, no, there's no rule about Polish women not speaking to mothers-in-law, since in the recent past many women lived with their husbands parents for some years after getting married that wouldn't be practical. I bet he's just making it up).

Work / Salary for an architect with 3years experience in warsaw [37]

Does anyone deny this? (though enough daily things are still going to be done in Polish that an employee with no or minimal Polish skills is going to be a burden a lot of the time)

But it's of no real relevance to an independent non-native speaker of English in architecture (which deals so heavily with Polish government regulations and a mostly monolingual Polish work force that not knowing Polish will be a plain liability). And that's not addressing the fact that there are lots of qualified architecture graduates looking for internships and then jobs. I'm not sure what a non-Polish architect can bring to the table that can't be filled more simply and cheaply by local talent.

Work / Salary for an architect with 3years experience in warsaw [37]


And the ESL option is basically just for native speakers (and I'd bet a lot of money that zizi does not belong to that category).

Work / Salary for an architect with 3years experience in warsaw [37]


Are you saying that most large architectural companies in Poland use English on a day to day basis? My (limited second hand) information would indicate that's just not the case.

And unless you're a really good architect for high profile projects (in which case you're probably priced out of the Polish market), a non-Polish speaking architect is not going to be an asset inside Poland.

Work / Studies In Poland, is it easy to survive on part-time jobs? [259]


But they mostly don't hire inside of Poland, especially students from non EU countries who don't speak Polish.

Work / Studies In Poland, is it easy to survive on part-time jobs? [259]

Poland was never a British colony. That means knowing Polish is more important than knowing Enlgish in finding a job in Poland.

This is maybe different from certain former colonies where English is still more important than local languages. But again, knowing Polish is more important than knowing English here. As a general rule, English only helps if you have really fluent Polish.

Is that clearer?

Work / Salary for an architect with 3years experience in warsaw [37]


You should have written that then. The way you wrote helps further the idea that newcomers don't have to learn Polish, the quicker that idea dies the horrible death it deserves the better.

Work / Salary for an architect with 3years experience in warsaw [37]


You live and work in Poland and don't speak Polish? Aren't you ashamed?

Work / Residence Permit for an Australian in Poland. Applying for another one.. [41]

If anything, a quickie marriage will make them more determined to deport you....

My best guess (without knowing the officials involved but knowing something of the mentality of Polish bureaucrats) is that you'll get a very stern talking to and talking down to, but they might offer a roadmap to legality. The residency and visa rules were not written to expell economically productive westerners and enforcement tends to take that it into account. Not fair (for some others) but it might work in your favor.

The best thing is to work out several possible strategies depending on how things work out and play it by ear (if that seems possible).They may be looking for reasons/justification to let you stay.

On the other hand, the particular local officials might think there's no need for non-EU English teachers anymore and be looking for a halfway good reason to kick you out. There's no way to know ahead of time.

My advice is also to make sure you have a _qualified_ interpreter (not someone whose English is sort of okay who will misinterpret things for you and may get you in more trouble than you are already). It would be better if you thought you could work things out in Polish alone (IME a foreigner who can go through the bureaucracy on their own is more favorably regarded than one who can't) but if that isn't feasible then bring someone who knows what they're doing. Theoretically they may be obliged to supply an interpreter but you're better off not pointing that out.

UK, Ireland / The more subtle differences: Ireland/Britain v Poland [310]


My favorite is the condoms next to the candy by the check out in smaller stores. Sme years ago the video place I went to had just a few shelves of dvds (they were still relatively new).

The pûrn shelf was just over the children's shelf (just over the general videos). Of course they occasionally got mixed up so that Anal Adventureland would end up next to Toy Story.

Work / Residence Permit for an Australian in Poland. Applying for another one.. [41]


I was under the impression that if you have karta pobytu you're entitled to work anywhere that will hire you (roughly) the certified school part was (I thought) just for those wanting to work without a work permit/karta (or until you do get the karta pobytu). I know, regulations may have changed since I was last dealing with these issues several years ago, but that's what I was told at the time at more than one office.