News / Is it possible that Polish president was assasinated? If so then, by whom? [921]

In any situation like this, there will be initial contradictory information (often speculation or rumors passed off as 'information') for lots of reasons:
each media outlet wants to be first to make information public (so they publicise things in the rumor stage which later turn out not to be true);

officials feel pressured to say something, anything before they have the facts themselves; confused witnesses;
people making stuff up to be on tv etc.

A lack of initial contradictory or later refuted data is in fact more suspicious than the presence of some amount of same.

The passengers were a mixed enough group that it's hard to figure out who the targets were (there are problems with Kaczynski as main target - related to the mostly ceremonial role of president) or what the motives might be or why such an awkward, unsure method would be chosen or set up under such short notice.

I'm open to something that passes the smell test as evidence something fishy's going on, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

News / Who will be the next President of Poland? [51]


Of course! How could I forget the Jews?! Next thing, I'll forget the Masons and the Knights of Malta...

News / Is it possible that Polish president was assasinated? If so then, by whom? [921]


Of course, trusting Putin is something most sensible people have on their list of things to never do.

On the other hand, a majority of Polish people also realize that in the absence of credible evidence (which has certainly not yet surfaced) there's no reason to assume this is anything but a tragic accident.

News / Who will be the next President of Poland? [51]


Now just wait a minute, I thought Tusk was a crypto-German whose daddy was Hitler's shoe shine boy. Now you're saying he's a Kremlin stooge? Is there any end to his traitorous ways? Next you'll be saying he's an American puppet.....

History / Kaczynski's Legacy [88]

I won't pretend that I was ever a Kaczynski supporter or that I would have voted for him (had I been able). And I disagreed with his policies more often than not.

On the other hand, I do think his primary motivations were always to do what he thought best for the country. There are many politicians (including some whose policies I generally agree with) that I wouldn't say the same about.

Life / Wearing "strange" things for poles and consequences, is it true? [44]

What beet truck have most of the commenters here fallen off of?

Earrrings on guys are no big deal anymore in Poland (at least among late-teens, young adults and in big cities). They're not as common as in some western countries, but they're common enough among university students (judging by where I work).

Things would be different in the countryside in villages, but no matter what they think the likelihood of them giving you any trouble is very, very small.

In cities, even if people think you're gay (doubtful in the cities) the chances of getting attacked are probably no higher than in Italy.

The thing to remember is that every country (sometimes city) has its own dangers, Poland is basically very safe (almost certainly safer than Italy) but the warning signs of things to stay away from aren't necessarily the same as in Italy.

in Poland:

- stay away from soccer fans, especially on game days

- keep a respectfu distance between you and guys wearing track suits with shaved heads, don't show fear, just .... don't get any closer than you have to

- don't go wandering around by yourself after 11 at night in neighborhoods you don't know well

- don't interact with groups of young drunk guys

that's about it.

what to say in Polish:

when you're upset:

kurwa mać!

(curva macci - stress the final word, pronounce ć like Italian -ci but without the -i warning, very, very bad. don't use when older Polish people are around.)

when you're kind of impressed by something:

ale jaja! (pronounce this as if it were Italian with the j like i )

when you like something or want to agree:

zajebiście! (z like in English, everything else like in Italian except ś = English sh)

Life / Your favourite Polish female-singer [name and YT link] [17]

I'll be a little different:

First Polish popular diva?

youtu.be/JYD4tTfXb-Q

Great classical artist!

youtu.be/FpESkAS3_fo

More conventionally, a favorite pop song:

Biggest selling female vocalist for a lot of the 90's
(with their typical hatred of Polish financial success, cirtics haaaated her)

Life / Why do majority of Polish are afraid to admit their nationality? [28]


The stereotype is that Polish people established in a place (outside Poland) have a tendency to .... prey upon new arrivals. And there is certainly some truth to that. If you remember when Poland joined the EU and Polish people started arriving in numbers in the UK there were lots of stories of people getting cheated by friendly Poles they met just as they got off the bus.

Personally I've noticed when I've been abroad with Poles they seem uninterested in other Poles whose paths they cross. An American in a foreign country who hears an American voice will often say a quick 'hello' while Poles mostly don't.

Life / Why do majority of Polish are afraid to admit their nationality? [28]


IME most Polish people aren't interested in meeting new people by chance. They prefer to meet new people through people that they already know. Also, Polish people especially do not seek out other Polish people when abroad (and guidebooks often explicitly advise Poles moving abroad to avoid other Poles). I could easily imagine that a stranger coming up them in public speaking oddly accented Polish (if you've been away 12 years) would set off the warning bells.

UK, Ireland / A Brit moving to Warsaw with his Polish wife [12]


I think being a woman with a wife might have something to do with that. There are many great things about living in Poland but the treatment of same sex relationships is definitely not one of them (except for closet cases since most Poles have no gaydar whatsoever).

I'm sure that Poland will catch up eventually but at present the level of pubic debate on the issue is stupefyingly awful.

@jon18343,

It might help to have a word or three with the wife ahead of time and remind her that even though you've been here before, you still have a lot to learn and she needs to let you know when you're going off course (in a non-hostile way). A code word might help that she could use to let you know to stop whatever it is you're doing and just sit there until she can explain what's happening.

Staying with the family is a mixed bag. You'll learn lots of practical Polish and having relatives stay for months on end is no big deal here but you might find yourself missing some privacy. If you don't have safe places to go in Warsaw to be by yourself you'll want to find some right away. It's liable to become an issue for you and one your wife is liable to not understand.

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]


What, you no understand? You drivin' me crazy, you!

Anyway, if your typical Brit hears that there are jobs in Poland that require Polish people living in their own country to speak a foreign language (English) they probably think that's great.

If they find out about a job that almost no British person wants that's in Britain and English isn't mandatory (not prohibited, just not necessary) then the sky is falling.

If understanding not serious on make how. you not at all is. I not how to sure make clear it.

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]


Yeah, I noticed that. It's that double standard again.

(I'd actually translate it as "No English (language) required" or "(Knowlede of English) not necessary" but that's a quibble.)

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]


See? You have the same double standard! One standard for English speakers and another for all the rest. English speakers expect to be deferred to and get huffy when they aren't.

As far as I can tell, this company is happy with Polish workers and wants more of them so it offers training in Polish and does not seek out other nationalities very much. Demand, meet supply.

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]

British people have not historically minded when others are forced to speak English and/or discriminated against in hiring if they don't.

Actually, if you keep up with this forum, you'll find that there are many (not all, maybe not most but many) British people who live in Poland and expect anyone and everyone they come into contact with in Poland to speak English and often get miffed when people don't or won't. I've known ones who were upset that the Polish government makes them fill out forms in Poilish.

Why should anyone feel bad about this trivial little case?

What I think is probably going on: They have a good record with Polish workers and they have enough Polish applicants that it makes sense to have training in that language (for safety purposes*). I wouldn't be surprised if the real people they're trying to keep out aren't native British but other immigrant groups whose work records aren't as good.

*I remember in the movie Fast Food Nation how they had Mexicans in a meat packing factory watch safety training films in English, a language they mostly didn't speak.

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]


I'm not bitter at all, I'm a realist. People who get angry about this mostly do so because they have a language double standard.

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]


No. I'm not Polish either (though I do speak Polish).


The British public gets an inkling of what life is like for billions of people around the world who are discriminated against because they don't know some language well enough. Think of it as an opportunity for personal and societal growth.

UK, Ireland / No job unless you're Polish [201]

I'm sure this is being blown out of proportion and there's more to the story than being reported.

But, even if it weren't it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. The world is full of language prejudice and situations where native speakers are discriminated against in their own counties.

Why shouldn't English speakers experience a taste of that? They've dealt it out enough.

History / Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Serbia- segmented. Who is next? Poland? [90]


define illegal (especially since AFAICT almost all of them had yugoslav citizenship).

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]


That's pretty much always the case. Generally soldiers prefer shooting at civilians (since other soldiers are more likely to fire back).

History / The Gustloff - one of the worst maritime disasters that seemed to never have happened [66]

Recently saw a (not very good) fictionalized German movie based on this incident.

imdb.com/title/tt0991156/

It should be available in dvd rental places in Poland (and was shown on Polish tv). In German, so not for the Polish challenged.

Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

Any top notch English program needs both local teachers and native speakers of whatever language is being taught. Ignoring one side or the other is .... not good.

Students also benefit from both (if not at the same time then at different times). Ideally local and native-speaking teachers can complement each other as they tend to have different strengths and weaknesses.

Language / have a sip - Chcesz łyka? [56]

Because it's a finite verb. It has a subject (I) and tense (present) while infinitives don't have subjects on their own or tense. Most of the time in English the bare infinitive and the

"I just randomly pick a tense"

I = subject

just = adverb (modifying the verb or the following adverb there's more than one way to analyze that)

randomly = derived adverb (also modifying the verb)

pick = verb, 'simple present' tense

a tense = object

Language / have a sip - Chcesz łyka? [56]


uh .... pick is not an infinitive here (just sayin')

Language / have a sip - Chcesz łyka? [56]

Seanus, 'chcesz łyką' is nonsense. It could only make sense if łyka were a feminine adjective.
Chcieć usually governs the accusative and the only accusatives ending in -ą are feminine singular (nouns ending in -ni and all adjectives).

łyk = facultatively animate masculine noun, that means that for the accusative, either

Chcesz łyk?

Chcesz łyka?

Are both technically correct, but the second is far, far more frequent and the first is liable to strike many natives as incorrect (although it technically is okay, just not idiomatic).

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

One of the biggest barriers to real fluency in Polish is a basic lack of infrastructure on the Polish side.

It's easy for anyone with half-a-brain and a little determination to become functional in Polish while living here. On the other hand, just living here isn't enough for impressive fluency. And for the most part, classes offered for foreigners never get much past basic functioning.

This means the more dedicated will outgrow the courses offered for foreigners and won't be able to find classes for the really advanced leaving them to work on their own (a one way ticket for ..... not getting much done).

Or, think of this way. A Polish person with some basic classes who lives in the UK for 8 years without any academic guidance might be pretty functional, but they probably won't be able to give impressive public speeches in English and they probably won't do much reading in English either. On the other hand someone who's never left Poland but has a degree in English will be able to give a better formal speech in English and might read books in English but is still liable to have some bad usage "I don't know what should I do",

"this people" or might miss not understand some points of popular usage the one living in the UK has no problems with.

Foireigners in Poland are mostly like the former, functional but not eloquent and not looking for deep fluency.

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]

Yes, this is normal operating procedure in private schools (not the only reason I don't work in them, but up there). My favorite is the one Harry describes where they don't respond and then get upset when you take another job.

There are a lot of reasons for this, some historical, some cultural, some milieu-based. This isn't the place to describe them all. There are also little signs that are perfectly obvious for Polish people which foreigners are oblivious too. They may think you know exactly what's going on (because a Polish person would) when you're clueless.

A few things to consider:

- Polish employers are very much bird-in-the-hand oriented. Being on the spot is more important than qualifications from abroad.

- Native speakers (regardless of qualifications) are generally regarded as being unreliable (showing up drunk for lessons if at all, not knowing how to teach, sleeping with students, etc) and a flight risk. There is an assumption that they will be unable to thrive in Poland. (This is one of the reasons for the first point).

- Never wait for them to contact you. _ALWAYS_ say that _YOU'LL_ contact _THEM_. I cannot stress this strongly enough. This is not rude at all and while they may protest it's not necessary, ignore that. Always end interactions by telling them the time that you will contact them. Then do it. If they don't respond to emails then call. Polish people like assertive behavior and this won't bother people. Being perceived as a little too pushy is far better than being perceived as not being pushy enough.

- Once here. Do not expect the boss to take much interest in you. Depending on the school, another teacher may or may not be assigned to help you. If none are assigned then try to befriend a teacher who can help you arrange various things. Be aware that you'll be expected to do things for them (like proofreading translations and the like) for nothing. You can also use a student for the same purposes but you'll be expected to give them private lessons for free.

- Once here, don't go through channels. You can pretty much ignore your immediate supervisor, if you need something go straight to the director of the school hunt them down like a fox (wherever they are, whatever they're doing) to get their permission or signature or whatever. Trust me, they won't mind, they're used to it (and it shows you know how to get things done).

Living and working in Poland is not easy for the beginner. It takes time to learn how to get things done and the challenges are many and substantial (and there's often not much help to be found).

On the other hand, once you do know how to get things done it can be a lot of fun and very rewarding.

USA, Canada / REFUSED A HOLIDAY VISA TO THE U.S CAUSE IM POLISH [323]


Well, English starts easy then gets really hard and the longer you study it, the harder it gets (kind of the opposite of Polish which starts hard, gets harder and then gets a lot easier, you're probably not at that stage yet). No language is 'easy' and in the case of English early ease is more than paid for by later failure to master.

Collocations are a lot harder (more irregular) in English than in Polish and so is almost any kind of embedding (putting one sentence inside another). There's more, but that's a start.

And, since proper intonationn (which is difficult) and the distinction between count and non-count nouns are mostly not part of early instruction (which would make early instruction a lot more difficult). It's almost impossible for more advanced learners to actually .... learn them well.

There's also the little fact that many who take English classes just aren't into it as a language (generally unhelpful for longterm learning). Actually those who take German or Russian (not to mention Italian, or French or Spanish) are more likely to be genuinely interested in those languages and do well in them (compared to the indifferent results of most English learning).

And most English learning materials (unlike materials for German, French etc) are not meant to substantively help students learn English. The random hodge podge of hard to assimilate usage and McLessons are meant to satisfy English course requirements and (give the illusion of learning while keeping the students as ignorant as possible for as long as possible so they'll still keep paying for classes).

Travel / Poland to Romania (and back!) [18]

I flew from Warsaw to Bucurest last year (came back by train). The passengers seemed to mostly be Russian/Ukrainians, probably using Bucurest as a hub for further travel.

Bucurest is a strange city.... Interesting, but kind of odd. Seems to not have recovered from the communist times as much as Poland has (but then they were hit much harder than Poland, Poland in martial law was about like Romania duirng normal Ceausescu times.

USA, Canada / My boyfriend is being deported to Poland because his US visa expired, help needed [53]


1. Go back where you came from and go through the legal steps to emigrate to the US (or get a visa that will allow you to stay longer)

2. Try to convince US immigration that you're Mexican, change your name to Covalsquez or Gonzalska.

3. Go elsewhere looking for sympathy in your endeavor to break the law to suit your whims. By overstaying your visa, you're subverting everything that built what you find so attractive. US culture is founded on people OBEYING THE LAW, WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT!!!! It's not based on just doing whatever you want to do.

My sympathy guage is on ........ minus 2.

USA, Canada / REFUSED A HOLIDAY VISA TO THE U.S CAUSE IM POLISH [323]


I'm a born US citizen who's lived over 30 years there, though I haven't been back in [mumble, mumble] years.

I agree that the majority of the US population is against mass immigration, illegal or not. If the matter were put to a popular vote then US policy would be very different. But it has not been put to popular vote and will not, because the leadership of both parties (and the political commentary class) are all firmly in favor of illegal immigration and don't care about the majority opinion of the citizenry.

What part of this do you not agree with?