Language / Rodziny wychowawczo niewydolne? [3]

i know this means families incapable of properly rearing their kids but is there a nice.neat English term for it? Educaitonally nreglctred might be OK, except the next sentence talks about children negelcting their school obligation.

History / Gomułka -- a true believer and realist? [6]

Last night there was a programme on Władysław Gomułka on TV (TVP1). It portrayed him as a person of limited intellectual horizons but a true believer. He believed socialism was the onły viable option for Poland but was also a realist. In 1956 when Khrushchev flew to Poland in the wake of the Poznań Bread & Freedom riots, Gomułka begged for Soviet support without which socialism could not survive in Poland. He realised socialism was not popular in Poland and believed in time it would prove its worth and win the the Polish nation over. He also opposed large-scale collectivisation, allowed small-scale private entrepreneurship and a measure of cultural autonomy and tolerated a certain amount of religious freedom. That ran counter to what was happening the remaining far more hard-line Soviet-bloc countries. He called it "the Polish road to socialism". After he had settled into his leadership role, he turned the screw a bit, but the net result was far more liberal than elsewhere in the bloc. Maybe that's why it was said that "Poland is the jolliest barracks of the socialist camp!"

Work / English teaching or English language preschool in Poland? [15]

Would a native speaker of English at present be more likely to find a good job teaching English in Poland or would setting up an English-language preschool be more profitable?

Food / Is black tea disappearing from supermarkets in Poland? [29]

Gradually black tea, once the standard mainstay, seems to be disappearing from Polish supermarkets (maybe not only Polish ones?). I mainly shop at Carrefour and they feature a host of green teas, herbal teas and fake-fruit teas but good ol' Yunan, Ceylon, Madras and the like are getting hard to come by. Even Lipton Yellow mostly contains artificial, lab-produced lemon flavour. Has anybody else noticed this?

Life / What's the best way to send money to people in Poland? Other than bank transfer, Western Union and Moneygram. [13]

One can wire money bank to bank or use Western Union or Moneygram.
Many Poles do not have bank accounts. I understand Western Union money transfers have to be collected at WU offices, and in smaller towns and rural area those are few and far between. Personally, I feel Moneygram is best. The recipient collects the money at his nearest post office and there's quite a few of those. Any other suggestions?

Language / obydwoma - obydwiema? [3]

One increasingly hears TV presenters say things like "zapoznał się z obydwoma sprawami" rather than "obydwiema". We all know what the norm is, but is there a tendency to ignore the distinction and use obydwoma throughout? Is that already regarded as admissible?

Another point: tę v tą. More and more one hears and occasionally even reads: Poproszę tą czerwoną apaszkę or Weź tą łapę! Is this becoming acceptable?

The bottom line is: does it grate you when you hear obydwoma for females or tą in the feminine accusative singular? If it doesn't, then that means that it will eventually (maybe quite soon) become the norm. Languages evolve and when something gains general acceptance it soon becomes the norm.

In future please provide a translation for the benefit of those members who don't understand Polish.

Language / "Cup of coffee" translated in Poland as Kubek kawy. Why not a mug? [70]

For some reason Poland's younger set is translating a "cup of coffee" as kubek kawy rather than filiżanka kawy. Anyone know why? Only a mug (or beaker) is a kubek. The kubek thing can also be seen in TV and online adverts.

News / Why no reprivatisation in Poland? Holocaust-era property ownership. [119]

Poland is repeatedly criticised for not carrying out a full-scale reprivatisation programme. Here is one such criticism:
"Poland is the only major country in Eastern Europe that has not passed legislation to address the loss of Holocaust-era property. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish homes were simply taken and no compensation ever paid."

There have been attempts but a reprivatisation law passed by the Sejm was vetoed by ex-commie president Kwaśniewski. The law did not single out the ethnicity of former owners but pertained to everyone whose property had been illegally confiscated by the PRL regime..