Language / Listening to music and learning Polish [45]


sample 01 is probably Justyna Steczkowska (I don't know the song, but I looked for the lyrics and it's a 19th century poem by Cyprian Kamil Norwid, and from google it seems that Justyna Steczkowska made a song of it). Here's the poem:

"W Weronie" ("In Verona", Romeo and Juliette theme)
1
Nad Kapuletich i Montekich domem, Spłukane deszczem, poruszone gromem, £agodne oko błękitu -
2
Patrzy na gruzy nieprzyjaznych grodów, Na rozwalone bramy do ogrodów, I gwiazdę zrzuca ze szczytu -
3
Cyprysy mówią, że to dla Julietty, Że dla Romea, ta łza znad planety Spada - i groby przecieka;
4
A ludzie mówią, i mówią uczenie, Że to nie łzy są, ale że kamienie, I - że nikt na nie nie czeka!

Edit:
If you want the English translation of the poem, you can find a video with the same song performed by Wanda Warska, she sings in Polish, but there are English subtitles:

W Weronie - Wanda Warska
youtube.com/watch?v=wsuRbAKgtF4

Sample 02 is Zakopower:
"Poziom adrenaliny" ("Adrenaline Level", about Tatra mountains
W Zakopanem, w Kościelisku, Dzianinie
widzi mi się, widzi mi się
W Chochołowie, w Bukowinie, na Klinie
i tak, i nie; i tak, i nie

Syćkie te dziedziny dźwignom ci poziom adrenaliny
Syćkie te dziedziny dźwignom ci znacnie poziom adrenaliny

Skrajny Granat, Kazalnica, Świnica
tu świstocek, hań kozica
Wierch Kasprowy, Pośredni Goryczkowy
wybijom ci śporty z głowy

Tynkowe Kominy dźwignom ci poziom adrenaliny
Tynkowe Kominy dźwignom ci znacnie poziom adrenaliny
Tynkowe Kominy dźwignom ci poziom adrenaliny
Tynkowe Kominy dźwignom ci znacnie poziom adrenaliny

Love / How to seduce Polish girls: Tips and advice [118]

edit, no joking on people's love affairs :)

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

no :)
it's kurde (kurna too, but it's rare)

Food / Sauekraut and Peas served at Wigilia [15]

kapusta z grochem (or groch z kapustą - but in this order it has also a figurative meaning - a mess, mish-mash)
normally sauerkraut = kapusta kiszona/kwaszona, but for this dish you just use the word "kapusta" (cabbage) without adding "kiszona" (fermented)

Love / Polish Girl & an Arabic Guy - at first it was hard, but now it's great! [46]


believe that's what most of them do when they are abroad, I met several Muslim guys from Arabic country during my university studies, and they didn't have a problem with drinking alcohol, going to discotheques and other things. They may be shy at the beginning, they behave like they were taught at home, but when they realize most of their fellow Muslim students (who have been abroad for a longer time) are doing these forbidden things, they start to.

Work / Average monthly salary in Poland is around 1000 PLN (few hundred bucks). [387]

Silesia isn't, but Katowice (together with Gdańsk) are on the first two places, Warsaw is only third (in recent statistics, Warsaw was always 1st before), anyway the differences are very small (like 50-100 złotych/month), and I think the average was about 2,900 zł gross/month for those 3 cities, so I'm not sure how 2983,98 zł can be average for the whole Poland, but probably I got the numbers wrong - they said those numbers in a recent TV news program and I wasn't really paying much attention :)

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]


I think you meant "jaki pan, taki kram" :)
but that's not colloquial speach, it's rather one of those sayings that are sometimes used (it's not a proverb, I think, but close to one).

some euphemisms for the verb "umrzeć" ("to die")
przekręcić się (to turn around, roll over)
kopnąć w kalendarz (to kick [in] the calendar)
wyjechać nogami do przodu (to leave with the legs forwards - in a hospital the nurses are usually superstitious, so when they transport you to the operation room, they almost always position the bed on wheels with your head in the direction of the movement, while transporting a body of a deceased the legs are in the direction of the movement)

Language / Polish Lessons Units [189]


it's pedał, but you're correct about the other ones, they come from the Latin (or Greek)

Real Estate / Substantial amount of agricultural land in Poland - what to do with it [23]

I don't know Pacyna (nor Podatkówek - spelling?), but Żychlin is almost exactly 100 km west of Warsaw (Kutno is about 120km) and it lies at the train line Moscow-Warsaw-Poznań-Berlin, also not far from the road Warsaw-Poznań (I can't call it motorway, because it's just one lane in each direction, but still it was the main road on that route for decades), but the new highway goes a different way, I think, more to the south (it goes close to £ódź and then back north-east in the Warsaw direction)

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

Avalon, you clearly lost your mind!
offending Poles and some Polish TV, while you don't know the rules of the UEFA Cup :)
THERE WAS NO PENALTY SHOOT OUT!
first leg result 1-1 (in Munich)
second leg 1-1 (in Getafe), hence the extra time, which ended with 3-3, and Bayern advances to the next stage thanks to away goals (they scored 3 in Spain, while Getafe only 1 in Germany)

Polonia / Ever been to Sweden? [185]

I was to Sweden twice in the early 90's, but if I start posting my thoughts and impressions, it may come out too close to Michal's rants about Poland 20 years ago, so I just say I didn't like the country/people at all :(

Life / Streaming online Polish TV [85]

Yes, but nothing good, some cheap channels, none of the serious ones (with something interesting in their program offer) stream.

Language / in Polish slang, what is the difference between Siema and Siemka? [64]


pejorative


definitely the first option (negative meaning), diminutive is more two-ways (smaller or nicer).


zamczysko - dark, unpleasant castle (with nasty ghosts, for example :)


dupa - ass (arse, bottom)
dupeńka, dupcia - diminutives
dupsko - pejorative

osioł - ass/donkey
osiołek - diminutive (to underline that it's a nice ass)
oślątko - diminutive (to create "baby" version of the big animal, so a young offspring of donkeys)

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]


coz normal spelling would be Kukułka (without the "l" before the 2nd "k", and of course "ł", not "l")

Life / Disco Polo - No No No No No! [95]


definitely roommate (from £omża near Białystok, that was the capitol of the Disco Polo in the 90's, so I guess the "genre" is more persistent in the area)

Travel / POLISH PKP BAD ATTITUDE [14]

PKP is a state-owned company, and such companies usually suck when it comes to customer service, they don't need to work hard to get their benefits, because they always stretch their hand for public money when they need them (so basically all the time). So it's a hopeless case (for now)

/end of the rant

Language / Przypadki (Polish language cases) [59]

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

Karpathian Mountains - both in Poland and Romania, so some similarities aren't a surprise, besides parts of modern Romania used to be Polish vassal states several centuries ago :)

Food / How many Poles are vegetarians? [52]

btw, I'm not a vegan, just a standard vegetarian (for 20 years now), eating milk/cheese/eggs. I think I couldn't survive on a vegan diet in Poland in 1987 and it stayed that way.

Food / How many Poles are vegetarians? [52]


lol, I NEVER ate tatar in my life (nor móżdżek), and I stopped eating meat when I was 17 yrs old, so I had a plenty of opportunities, but I just couldn't take such barbarian dishes in my mouth.

and bigos is really fine without meat
kiełbasa and "kurczak z rożna" were my favorites, I missed their taste even 5 years after I had stopped eating meat, but I was strong and resisted :)

Food / How many Poles are vegetarians? [52]

not many (vegetarians nor shops)

in my small city (30.000 people) there's 1 shop with "health food", I think, and there are some small stands in most markets, but for example usully I can't even find a natural soya sauce (water, soya, salt, wheat, nothing else) for weeks, so it's hard.

When I was living in Poznań (450.000 inhabitants) I had no problems with shopping or veggie restaurants, even 10 years ago, so it's not bad in bigger cities, but the small ones suck.

and of course there are vegetarian versions of Polish food, for example no meat bigos, vegetarian gołąbki, etc., all as good as the meat versions, IMHO (for me of course much better)

Language / Polish/Ukrainian words similarities [209]

I think it's up to them to decide how it worked out, remember that remaining in the union with Poland meant partitions, WWII, communism - not really a much better fate, and if a nation suffers, they'd rather suffer for their own sake

of course we may speculate that both Poland and Ukraine would be much better off remaining in the union (one stronger state, weaker Russia etc.), but it would be just speculations

Language / Polish/Ukrainian words similarities [209]

well, Michal was in Kharkov in 1982, I figure people simply spoke Russian then, with a little Ukrainina accent, that's why he thought he understands the language so well :)

News / PIS and PO - what is the difference in their programs? [35]

What I meant is that for him some problems seem more improtant, for me not. What's wrong with religion in Poland? I've been an atheist for 20 years now, since I'm 16 and I never had any problems with that, not with my family (mostly religious) nor friends not even in church (because of wedding and baptism formalities). So it's hard for me to see why Poland is regarded as a church-dominated, backward country, because it's a huge exaggeration, IMHO. And about abortion, yes, I know our law is more restrictive here than normally in the Western world, but you need to see things in proportion, how many people are really affected by that law, it's not like every pregnant woman wants to get rid of the baby/foetus.

There are real and much bigger problems, affecting all the country and yes, they are connected with the fact that



it's not about talking, it's about finally doing something.

and sticking to the topic, it's not the programs of the parties that matter, it's how they realize their program in practice, which, unfortunatelly in Poland is far from the promises made during the electorial campaign.

I really have a big headache because of the coming elections, I won't vote for PiS, because I can't forgive them forming a government with thieves from Samoobrona (Kaczyński's almost own words - two months or so before the election, of course he couldn't use the word "thieves" because of possible legal preceedments, but it's how he was talking about Lepper & Co., and I agree), but the alternative according to the current polls is a coallition of PO and LiD, and the Kwaśniewki party ruling (even as a smaller party in the government) this country again isn't any better. So let's say I see the future in black colors, when it's come to the political life :(

News / PIS and PO - what is the difference in their programs? [35]



you see, hello, first you ask about abortion/religion and then say anti-communism is not an important thing, well I can say the same about abortion and religion, for me they are less of a problem for Poland (generally) than our communist burden (that still affects many areas, including economy and social life)

Genealogy / Some Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian Second Names look Polish! [38]

it's not Macedonian, it's simply common for both languages, -ski names are considered typically Polish, so I was quite surprised when Macedonian players started to appear in the Polish soccer league and they all had the names like Mice(v)ski, Boce(v)ski, Whateverski :)

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

I forgot about oscypek, maybe because he's going to Gdańsk, so quite far from the mountains :)

Food / Types of CHEESE in Poland [150]

well, first of all (if you want to know Polish cheese) try the ones mady by Polish companies, not all those Danone, Hochland etc. that might have their factories here, but still use their French/German/international recipes :)

- typically Polish is "twaróg" (white cheese)
- then we have "serek/twarożek wiejski" (or "Grani") - similar to cottage cheese, it can be plain (just twaróg, sour cream, salt) or with some vegetables (szczypiorek is the most common)

- decent products of other types (IMHO) - Lazur (blue cheese), Turek (Camembert/Brie)
- I'm not keen of Polish versions of hard cheese (we call it "yellow") - you know Ementaler, Gouda, Edam or similar
- I like (but not too often) "twaróg wędzony" (smoked white cheese) - "twaróg wędzony" is not the same as "ser wędzony"!

- if you want to feel the old times (communist era) try "ser(ek) topiony" (again by Polish companis, like SerTop for example, not Hochland), which for years was the most popular, because it was the only type widely disponible.

- another "relics" from the past, even more connected to those times is "serek homogenizowany" (plain, not vanilla or fruit taste), warning for vegetarians, they probably use gelatine from cows/pigs for it, so I wouldn't recommend, besides you'll have troubles in finding it, it's almost "extinct"

Food / Need some Polish dessert recipes [47]


there's at least one thread about Pączki in the cuisine section of this forum, browse some older topics (I hope it's still there)

Life / British sky satellite TV in Poland [87]

btw, if you buy Polsat Cyfrowy right now (I mean on Friday), and get someone to install the dish lay the cables and set up the decoder on the same day (a technician did it for me for 120 złoty, cables included, took him less than 1 hour), you probably get more channels than normally immediately, including PS Extra and Eurosport 2 (which shows sometimes - but only delayed - Aussie rules football)

here's how it worked for me in December:
149 PLN for the dish + decoder (+120 for a techinician, but you can install it by yourself if you know how)
I chose the standard plan (Pakiet Familijny - 35 PLN/month, contract signed for 18 months) - and the first month is free, plus I also got (only for the first month) the channels that are paid extra (15 PLN for Pakiet Sport and 10 PLN for Pakiet Filmowy), now I pay only for Pakiet Familijny, but I can buy Pakiet Sport on monthly basis, if I know/expect that there would be something worth watching in the next month. Generally Polsat Sport Extra and Eurosport 2 are dull, so not worth it IMHO.