Travel / Winter clothing for Poland (Gdansk) [11]

@ari_bits

It's definitely worth bringing (real) wool, (real) down, (real) fur and (real) leather, if you have it. it's probably not worth bringing cheap polyester stuff.

Work / Cost of living in Gdańsk, average salary for experienced software engineer in Poland [64]

@mertszgn

It's half or less what an experienced SAP consultant makes in the richer countries. Yes, that is a big difference, not only in terms of wages, but even more so in terms of savings potential. The big problems with working in Poland are low wages, high cost of living compared to wages, and abysmal savings potential.

My guess is that you have not carried out a proper job search. The best jobs are always advertised solely by word of mouth, face to face, in the real world. Internet sites and recruiters get the table scraps that no one in the know is interested in.

Build up your network of personal real-world professional contacts and use them to help you find a good job in a richer country.

I don't think this job in Poland is a "good start". As I said, experienced SAP consultants are in demand everywhere, so you should have little trouble finding a much better job before long in a much better place if you rely on your network of real-world professional contacts. It will probably be easier for you to do that in your own country than in Poland.

Work / Cost of living in Gdańsk, average salary for experienced software engineer in Poland [64]

@mertszgn

That seems about right. You can always ask for 17 k and see if they will negotiate. Experienced SAP consultants are in demand, especially ones willing to work in countries with low wages like Poland. However, you should consider focusing on finding a job in a richer country with higher wages.

Study / Polish dictionaries and works by Polish authors [17]


This is the best online version:

wsjp.pl/#

Study / Polish dictionaries and works by Polish authors [17]


Two mistakes here. First of all, you should look up every word you don't know, and not rely on context, which is not very reliable. Second, we are talking about tens of thousands of words, and the extra time it would take to look them up in a Polish-Polish dictionary would be considerable. Also, Polish-Polish dictionaries are not designed for learners, but for people who already speak fluent Polish. I've never cracked open a Polish-Polish dictionary myself. No need to, and no point in it, either.

Study / Studying English in Krakow, private tutors, schools or universities [49]


The OP is obviously far beyond the graded reader stage and is certainly able to tackle reading real literature. I suspect his main concern at this point is accent reduction.

Study / Studying English in Krakow, private tutors, schools or universities [49]


Actually, it isn't. What is hard to read is children's literature. The hardest book I ever read (for my level at the time) was Marek Piegus. Lots of school, criminal, alcoholic and artist slang.

As for mysteries, the first book that I read in Polish that I had never before read in English was an Agatha Christie mystery. Not very demanding at all. It was a perfect choice. After reading Tolkien's four books, it was a breeze. Barely had to use the dictionary at all. Sapkowski was a much tougher nut to crack because of his enormous vocabulary, but the amount of new words I learned from him was astounding.I would not have been able to tackle Sapkowski without having read simpler books like Agatha Christie, Ender's Game, Frida, and some books by Sienkiewicz.

Well over 90% of the work of learning any language is vocabulary acquisition. Without an adequate vocabulary that you could use both receptively and productively, the scope of situations in which you are able to benefit from the language is greatly reduced to a few boring and mundane topics, and even then, only the most boring and mundane aspects of those topics.

USA, Canada / Thousands of undocumented Poles in Chicago [33]

@Crow

Actually, when I was living in Chicago, the only Serbs I ever heard about were the hundreds who were detained and extradited for crimes against humanity. You couldn't pick up the Trib without finding at least one article on at least one warlord being deported to stand trial for raping and slaughtering countless innocent civilians.

Study / Polish dictionaries and works by Polish authors [17]


It was the first book I read in Polish (actually, four books). And then nine books by Sapkowski. And then all of the Harry Potter books. And about ten other books, including some Polish fine literature. That was fifty to seventy hours per week for about a year.

Not at all too much to ask of someone who has acquired a decent-sized basic vocabulary and has gone through Swan's grammar book. Much more time effective than dicking around with short texts and magazines. They are fine for relaxing, but not for serious learning. When I would take a break from reading, I would read Polityka, Tygodnik Powszechny (in it's heyday), Nasz Nocnik and other magazines just for fun.

As for it being intimidating, it sure is. It is one perverse language that is short on short-term rewards. Latin was a breeze by comparison.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

@Firefly

If you are young and get hit with a large medical bill, you can recover financially. Retirees generally can't do much to replenish their savings account. Once they are wiped out financially, they usually stay that way until they die. Retiring without as good health insurance as you can get is a very foolish move for a retiree unless they have super abundant savings. Rifling though the dumpster behind Biedronka for outdated throwaways is no way to spend your retirement.

Best advice: If you cannot afford to retire comfortably, then don't retire until you can. Work two jobs if necessary. And someone quibbling over a lousy 70 pound health insurance policy is very, very far from retiring comfortably, in Poland or elsewhere.

Study / Studying English in Krakow, private tutors, schools or universities [49]

@Sappy

The only thing you need private tuition for are pronunciation and direction. If you want to learn the language well, read your a$$ off. Read twenty or more hours a week, and look up any words you don't know and compile a list of questions for your teacher. By reading, I mean real literature, not technical or academic literature, or journalism or anything on the internet. Science fiction and fantasy literature are best for learners because of the huge range of vocabulary.

If you are not spending twenty hours or more a week on reading, then there is little that a private teacher can do for you.

Study / Polish dictionaries and works by Polish authors [17]

@jacobcmartin

There are three stages of learning a language:

1) Acquiring a basic vocabulary of several thousand words. The best way to do this is with thematic and picture dictionaries and flashcards. This will take a year or more, depending on how many hours you are willing to invest a week.

2) Grammar and syntax learning. There is only one serious book for this, Swan's. Fortunately, it is available for free online. Again, this will take at least a year.

3) Intensive reading of real books. At first, Polish translations of books you have already read in English, like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, and then of native Polish literature, especially science fiction and fantasy, which have a huge range of vocabulary compared to other genres. And then audiobooks for comrehension.

Polish takes thousands of hours to learn, and speaking ability develops very slowly because of the complicated grammar. You have to have serious motivation, drive, perseverance and patience to get you through years of hard study. It isn't a language that you can acquire without serious commitment, especially of time.

So get some picture and thematic dictionaries and start making flashcards by the thousands and memorizing them intensively.

As for the dictionary you are asking about, there are only two dictionaries you will ever need. At the beginning, the Collins concise Polish-English dictionary, and later, a serious Polish-English dictionary like the Kościuszko Foundation Polish-English Dictionary or the PWN Polish-English dictionary. You will not need an English-Polish dictionary, and definitely not a Polish-Polish dictionary.

Work / Poland Work Visa information (Indian citizen). Can my spouse work in Poland? [11]

@Shivani

Definitely not. No one would ever hire you. You won't be considered a native speaker, and no one would go through the hassle of getting a work permit for you when there are more than plenty of teachers available who don't need one. It's even difficult for Americans to find teaching jobs in Poland. You have no chance.

Law / Poland's temporary residence permit through a consultant [5]


Indeed. There are tons of scam artists calling themselves "consultants", "agents" and "recruiters" out there who prey on poor, desperate and gullible people who want to emigrate to the EU and other richer countries. You can report it to the authorities, but that won't change the fact that your money is gone, never to return, and there is nothing you can do about it except not be as gullible and foolish next time. A hard lesson from the school of hard knocks.

Study / Overview of the WSGE university in Poland [42]

They are on the very border of what can be called legitimate educational institutions. Southbank, at least, has a pretty decent nursing program.

The school the OP is talking about is closer to a fly-by-night visa school, or low-quality trade school masquerading as a "university". Yes, there are lots of those in the UK, too. And in every country that attracts gullible and desperate third-world immigrants.

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


Almost certainly not. You're chances of winning the jackpot on the lottery are much higher. First of all, courses in hotel management are worthless on the job market. It's a waste of time and money. Secondly, even more so. English-language courses at private schools in Poland are worthless on the job market. Third of all, to get a job in that field in Poland, you would have to speak Polish, a language that takes many years to master.

Study a field that actually helps you get a job. And do it in your own country. For Indian students who don't speak fluent Polish, Polish schools are no better, and often a lot worse, than good schools in India

Study / Overview of the WSGE university in Poland [42]

@syeda

Don't waste your time and money. A "diploma" from this fake school is worth less than used toilet paper. It will not help you get a job anywhere.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]


The OP, on the other hand, will have savings and, presumably, property that they can take to cover the cost of healthcare provided and any associated fines if he tries to pull a fast one.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]


One article sums up nicely what I found: "Zbliża się termin zapowiadanej przez rząd likwidacji NFZ. Fundusz powinien zniknąć 1 stycznia 2018. Wciąż jednak brakuje konkretów..."

And another: "Zdrowia będzie postawiony w stan likwidacji, ale nie oznacza to jego likwidacji, będzie kontynuował swoją pracę, dopiero później przejmie ją administracja państwowa - powiedział w piątek w Białymstoku minister zdrowia Konstanty Radziwiłł. Nie podał jednak szczegółów."

So it seems that the NFZ is certainly not being liquidated on said date, in any case. As for anything else, concrete details remain to be released. My guess is that this is just political posturing on the part of PIS, and that nothing will ever come of it.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

@dolnoslask

That article seems to be about a proposal that was kicked around a year ago. I'm having trouble finding any evidence that it was, or will be, actually implemented. In fact, any search I carry out on the topic leads to this same single article, and nothing else. Did you find anything more concrete than this?

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

Go ahead. It's your life. Some people learn best at the School of Hard Knocks.

Study / Which out of Warsaw University of Technology CS, Eastern Mediterranean University CE, Maltepe University SE? [6]

That's too bad, because the ABET accreditation means a lot on the global marketplace. Maltepe seems the logical choice, then. You'll have the home court advantage, and that means a lot in terms of time and money, as well as comfort.

One thing you might want to consider, though, at this early stage in your career is a a more lucrative field of engineering, like petroleum, geological or biomedical engineering. Your lifetime earnings will be much higher than with IT engineering.

Like I said above, Poland does not have a reputation for providing high-quality education for non-Polish speaking foreigners, and it does not provide a good environment to study in. It would be different if you spoke fluent Polish, but the English-language courses are mostly crap, with few exceptions. This is not one of them.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]


More so for someone who has never put even a dime into the system in their entire lifetime.


Precisely. What makes you think you are "entitled" to anything? What have you ever done to earn this "entitlement"?


You'll soon find out that I am one of the nice guys. At least I was kind enough to take the time to tell you to seriously consider making alternative plans.

Sorry, but you have an extremely warped sense of perspective. You're in for a very rude awakening. And, if anything, that is one thing Poland specializes in delivering. With glee.

Law / Am I eligible for the Polish citizenship? (married for 3 years, lived in Poland for 2 years) [12]


According to you, you don't have a Polish spouse. You might have a Polish fiancee, but repeatedly referring to her as your "wife" or "spouse" is dishonest and very off-putting.


I'm an American, native born and bred. And I lived in Poland for twelve years.

Again, I just don't buy your story.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]


Health care for a measly 400 PLN a month IS a huge carrot. That's a hefty subsidy on the part of the Polish state.

Seriously, bud, you are vastly overestimating your value to "the local economy". And I mean VASTLY. You have an arrogant sense of entitlement. Again, if this is the attitude you are coming to Poland with, your going to have a miserable time there. Best forget about it and try one of the more welcoming countries instead.

I'm saying this to spare you a very unpleasant experience. Good luck with your retirement. I hope you find a place where you can fit in and thrive.

Law / Am I eligible for the Polish citizenship? (married for 3 years, lived in Poland for 2 years) [12]

@Honeymoon55

Why do you keep referring to her as your "wife" when you are not married yet? And why are you asking such basic questions on some random internet forum instead of asking your "wife"? Sorry, but I don't buy your story. There's something fishy going on here. And as for you "carrying a passport that is actually much higher in rank than the Polish passport", that is dubious indeed. You've been very secretive about which country you are from, a sure sign that you come from a third-world country. And the "don't judge" line is a dead giveaway that I am far from the first who had suspicions about your motives.

For someone who claims that they are not going into a sham marriage, you have acted precisely like someone who is going into a sham marriage would, and nothing at all like someone going into a genuine marriage.

Study / Which out of Warsaw University of Technology CS, Eastern Mediterranean University CE, Maltepe University SE? [6]

Doesn't mean much if you are starting from such a low base.

Law / Questions on Civil Wedding Ceremony in Poland- Do we get the certificate on the day? [25]


I'll pass him on to Delph! There's some sham marriage $hit going on here, for sure. Otherwise he would be asking these questions of his supposed "fiancee", and not on some forum.

Law / Am I eligible for the Polish citizenship? (married for 3 years, lived in Poland for 2 years) [12]

No. You would have to reside in Poland for at least two years on a permanent residency permit (karta stałego pobytu), not on a temporary residency permit (karta czasowego pobytu).

Sorry, bud, but you are not going to get Polish citizenship any time soon. Entering into a sham marriage is not going to work.

Life / Health cover for a married couple in Poland [70]

@Firefly

It sounds like you are going to have a very hard time adapting to everyday life in Poland. Perhaps you should consider retiring in a place that is more welcoming to self-funded retirees. Like Costa Rica or Nicaragua or Cambodia or the Philippines?