Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

funny how Russian people come to Poland to study and a year later they are rabbitting away in Polish at a very high standard

A Hungarian friend learned Russian at school and at an integration meeting in Prague she kept saying that all the Czech
people were speaking a funny kind of Russian dialect


sorry, no sale

A reminder: "Shocking! school test standards"

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

I worked with Dutch people for years and never understood a word

.....then again, I am borderline retarded

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]


thanks for the clarification

a Polish friend of mine went on some pro anarchy marches in Poland and felt that the Poles were extremely well behaved
and met quite a few non-Polish political agitators who were most distressed by the lack of mayhem being caused

I feel that Polish people are very pragmatic but mildly apathetic at the same time. the whole concept of protesting just for the sake of protesting

is quite alien for them

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]


you don't feel that the Poles being instrumental in the fall of communism through their protests in the 1980s counted for anything then?

UK, Ireland / Obtaining driving License in UK or Poland ..which is easier [8]

good lords

this is completely at odds to what I have seen

don't get me wrong, I am not doubting you

for example you are happily driving along some leafy suburb when a driving instructor decides it would be a good time for his charge to

execute a three point turn and pulls out right in front of you causing you to slam on the brakes

I have not done the test in Poland but I did take driving lessons when moving to Warsaw as I really felt I needed professional help

before taking to the unforgiving streets of Warsaw. My driving instructor was an ex taxi driver and he was cool and he
taught me some new expletives at no additional cost

UK, Ireland / Obtaining driving License in UK or Poland ..which is easier [8]

you used to be able to buy your Polish driving licence

it was enough to give the examiner a bung and he would pass you

however as far as I know it is more or less impossible to buy a driving licence in Poland now
the driving test itself is recorded on film and you simply cannot cheat anymore

you need to weigh up the cost of the test and any additional lessons in the two countries and
make a decision which is the best option

I believe that the Polish driving instructors are the scum of the earth
they are mostly taxi drivers and allow their students to do the most stupid things including crashing
into kerbs at speed. I have never once seen them apply the dual control brakes.

anyone care to comment?

Law / Do foreign students graduated from Polish university need work permit before finding job? [24]

you seem to be ducking the question about your country of origin and your first post contained some absolute grammatical whoppers

good luck

Law / Do foreign students graduated from Polish university need work permit before finding job? [24]

there is a big difference between an expat and a recent graduate. The foreign expats working in big business over in Poland have been sent here by their firms and many work at senior management level. You are looking for an entry level position. there is a world of difference.

please answer some basic questions then I might be able to help more

1 city you are in at the moment?
2 what course did you do?
3 home country?
4 do you speak Polish?

that way I might be able to give you some practical advice

Law / Do foreign students graduated from Polish university need work permit before finding job? [24]

I am not being mean at all

I am telling you the reality of applying for a work permit in Poland with no job secured

if someone was mean, they would lie and tell you that you are guaranteed to find a job and that it is really easy to find work in the Polish city which

you neglected to tell us that you are living in, That way you would blow all your money chasing after a job that you could not possibly

hope to get as no one is going to sponsor your work permit. Sad, broke and dejected you would then have no other option but to return to

your home country

rather than do that, I chose to tell you the reality of the situation and you then have the adacity to call me mean

I was in fact trying to help but you do not seem to realise that

Law / Do foreign students graduated from Polish university need work permit before finding job? [24]

I take it that you studied the course in English?

your sentence construction is utterly bonkers

you are not going to be able to get a work permit unless you have a job offer.

it is very unlikely that you are going to find an employer willing to jump through hoops in order to obtain a work permit for you

did your university promise you a job at the end of your course?
this seems to be standard operating practice with many Polish universities in order to 'sucker in' overseas students

where is home by the way?

News / Controlling the internet ACTA in Poland (Like SOPA) [34]


I was speaking to some IT dweebs and the law kicks in tomorrow apparently

it will be interesting to see if the torrent sites will still be up and running and accessible from Poland

however it could be an end to downloading films and music

how in practice, the authorities are going to enforce all this downloading is anyone's guess
however blocking access to the torrent source sites would be a good place to start

News / Controlling the internet ACTA in Poland (Like SOPA) [34]

youtube.com/watch?v=zYV-qYeWPkk

just to put things into context, I saw the following quote posted under this Monty Python video posted on YouTube

''Sopa will ban this video and the owner will be in jail for probably 5-10 years or a 500 000$ fine. Please protest''

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]

a lot of Polish Americans who I have spoken to said that they spoke Polish until they started going to school as they were raised by their grandparents however their parents did not see the need for them to speak Polish in America and the children themselves could not see the point of carrying on speaking a language that they probably would not need in the future

Genealogy / Perz and Jakobowski genealogy [16]

evening

There was a Johann Perz sailing around the time of your ancestor. Unlikely that his name would have been John if he was living in the Prussian section of what is now Poland

Although this is an English geneology website, there are the records of the passenger lists into New York
and the best bit is that there is a two week free trial

Happy Geneology

Law / Dying in Poland - Inheritance tax ? [62]

what possible advantage would there be in opening an offshore account in this situation?

Law / Dying in Poland - Inheritance tax ? [62]

I cannot comment. I never worked with them but I knew some of the people who worked there and they were lovely. I have not heard any complaints except about them being expensive

Law / Dying in Poland - Inheritance tax ? [62]


I have used them and they are a complete disaster zone
badly managed and complete and total pathological liars

there is a nice Scottish guy who is an absentee landlord type of manager and his underlings are the scum of the earth who would eat their own young

although useful for free advice

News / Poland - Third World Country?? [300]


you'll be missed

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


one can live in hope that mentioning the B word results in a lifetime ban though

homophobic abuse is the least of our worries.
we have had advocates of murder, terrorism, genocide and racism all happily posting without so much as a by your leave

stuff that even Stormfront would take a dim view of on account that it is giving neo-facism a bad name
oh the irony

Law / Dying in Poland - Inheritance tax ? [62]

personally a lot depends on the amount. if it is a good whack, it makes sense to have a chat with professionals. if it is a smaller sum, bite the bullet and pay the tax in the UK and (waits for howls of anguish from his fellow posters) do not declare it in Poland. No one is going to find out

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


not that weird. It is one of the few Indian tribes that I can spell

I was originally going to try and spell Commanchee
however now having checked it turns out it is in fact spelled

Comanche

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]

this entire busia argument thing is getting more ridiculous by the day

who cares if it is not a word used in Poland now

It is becoming an obsession for some of you and it is a real bore

would you go to Australia and start correction Australians by saying that
the G in G'day ought to be pronounced as Good and that they could not
claim British ancestry as a result of having bastardised the English language?

Americans do tend to play the ancestry card when it suits them though.
Just wait till the Apaches get a licence to open a new casino in your neighbourhood and watch
all the Italian, Irish and Polish Americans who just happen to conveniently remember that
granny might have been Apache. Having said that I would do the same thing.
Furthermore, if you are a complete mutt, you will claim the ethnic group that you feel is coolest
hence Jon Bon Jovi - a self confessed mutt but he claims Italian ancestry because it probably
enabled him to walk around with a poodle hair do and not get the good kicking he deserved.

now it is my turn to go squealing to the Mods. could we have a lifetime ban for anyone
who starts squabbling over the word busia please?

Law / Dying in Poland - Inheritance tax ? [62]

lets have a try

first off I understand that probate has been carried out in the UK, yes?
what nationality are you?
where do you reside for tax purposes?
what nationality was the deceased?
what was your relationship with the deceased? ie nephew, friend, son etc

armed with this knowledge I can give you my personal opinion which is not worth a hoot
but much cheaper than a lawyer

Law / IT department (computer programming) - Opening up an Office/Business in Poland [53]

there are a load of young people in Szczecin who would work for the price of a cup of tea

having said that every time I have taken investors there, they have hated the place

Law / IT department (computer programming) - Opening up an Office/Business in Poland [53]

@ Tobias

stay out of Warsaw

the salaries you will have to fork out will be higher and also you will have to deal with prima donnas in the form of employees

then again if your clients are all based in Warsaw( which your's probably aren't) then you will have to have a presence there

Work / Is it true that foreigners in Poland can teach English without any teaching certificate? [30]

I am talking about simplifying English to make it easier for global communication

if academics want to use a refined form of English good on em
in the same way you can speak the queen's English but talk in dialect amongst your friends or use your mother tongue if not a native speaker

Work / Is it true that foreigners in Poland can teach English without any teaching certificate? [30]

I do a lot of work throughout Europe and am very careful to grade my language

I do not use phrasal verbs and idioms, because they are a recipe for disaster

so I would say I respected someone rather than looked up to them

it means the same thing except the phrasal verb is more likely to result in misunderstanding

I believe that we are heading to a some of standard European English which is what will be taught in the future
and will be the official language for world communication

rather like Hoch Deutsch replaced the German dialects

as for the OP foreigners can teach English without any teaching certificate
nothing will happen they won't explode or anything and I have met some great French and Belgium English teachers

UK, Ireland / Can i get insurance for a British car in Poland? [16]

thanks lads I had no idea

I stand corrected

UK, Ireland / Can i get insurance for a British car in Poland? [16]

interesting

I left the UK 5 years ago so I am not completely au fait with UK insurance

however I was paying 350 quid all in for a Ford Mondeo in the UK fully comp

my Jeep which is less value than the Mondeo costs 700 quid to insure fully comp

UK, Ireland / Can i get insurance for a British car in Poland? [16]

interesting

on what car?

what is your age and no claims status?

feel free to PM me if you do not want do disclose to all and sundry