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Posts by jon357  

Joined: 15 Mar 2012 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 21 Aug 2025
Threads: Total: 74 / In This Archive: 51
Posts: Total: 24855 / In This Archive: 10045 		From: In the Heart of Darkness
Speaks Polish?: Tak

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jon357   
25 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

And in Polish, mężczyzna is spelled as a feminine word.

And in Polish, a person is feminine and a door is plural - not actually that hard to remember, especially once you've got your head round it.

Although I'm a francophile, things like le fauteuil/la chaise and le chateau/la maison only seem to make sense if you don't mind a. setting aside logic (and egalite) or b. your name's ZIMMY. The English language is far from perfect - it is however very egalitarian as well as both logical and almost infinitely flexible.
jon357   
25 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

As for English, it's only considered as an "easy" language because of its huge influence both culturally en economically. But honestly speaking, the hardest part in English would be the pronunciation, which is absolutely irregular. Ask a beginner in English to pronounce the word "archive" for instance. As you see, it really differs from "achieve".
Same for other words like "tough/thought/though".

Horses for courses. A native speaker of French may find that taxing, however remembering a bit of pronunciation is as nothing compared to gender-based languages like French. Especially when thay are like French, completely illogical. Le vagin for example - what's masculine about a lady's trou?
jon357   
24 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

Fairly obviously, there are more and less formal ways of speaking Polish. Just as in any other language.

Absolutely - and since independence (after which regionalism was frowned upon) and the post-war movements to areas that were ethnically cleansed there's been a homogenisation of dialects unfortunately.If you like, an estuarisation. But, as I said originally, their isn't a register of Polish which is specifically a second language.

Yet.
jon357   
24 Oct 2013
Law / International student from Poland traveling to Norway on Karta Pobytu? [54]

"studying" on a dodgy Polish private "university" - which name he does not want to tell -

The OP's said on another thread that he's studying at the Akademia Morska. Not private and the opposite of dodgy - it has a very good reputation and as well as mostly Polish students also gets people from other seafaring nations. I've worked on ship with plenty of graduates from there.

am.gdynia.pl/en
jon357   
24 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

Or your language skills aren't sufficiently advanced for you to recognise nuances of register in Polish.

They are; there isn't such a register currently used in PL. The nearest thing I suppose would be Lwow Polish - very easy to recognise - not just because of the accent.

Polish is "hard" only relative to one's ability in the language, that's all.

This is very true. Though there are always surprises..
jon357   
23 Oct 2013
Law / International student from Poland traveling to Norway on Karta Pobytu? [54]

Indeed. Whenever I've been there (only Stavanger unfortunately) I've always thought that it must be a pleasant place to live - even to visit for a weekend in Oslo.

If I'm going to go somewhere for a week though, and Venice or Moscow are the same price - the decision isn't hard. I was considering a few days in Oslo, but when I checked the hotel prices I nearly fainted ;-)

Perhaps one day, though.
jon357   
23 Oct 2013
Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

My ire though is raised when, for example, various European nationalities in particular (and I think we all know which ones!!) appear on the one hand to blatantly discourage foreign visitors from attempting to speak their language, claiming that it sounds awful, at the same time, being encouraged by tongue-tied foreigners to by all means speak English,

Spot on.

There seems to be (in the case of a country not unconnected to this forum) a kind of inferiority complex about their language - considering (or pretending to consider) it to be impenetrable while claiming mastery of other languages that they mangle. You get the same with Welsh, Irish, Scots Gaelic speakers too - as much to do with history as the structure or vocabulary of the language.

One of the crazier things is people insisting on speaking English, even though their English is far worse than your Polish.

Polish isn't hard at all - there isn't however any particularly well-developed register in the language for non-natives as there is for, say, English or French.
jon357   
23 Oct 2013
History / History and old pictures from Nowa Huta [11]

I'd imagine that the iron ore still comes from Ukraine.

Ever since the Kielecki/Swietokrzyskie mines ran out they've had to import. At the moment, all is imported - not only from Ukraine and Russia - a lot comes from Brazil.
jon357   
23 Oct 2013
History / History and old pictures from Nowa Huta [11]

A British geologist was asking me where did the Nowa Huta plant get its iron ore from. I learnt from browsing the internet (not much material) that there is no large source of iron ore in the vicinity of Krakow.

There is ore around Częstochowa and Kielce which are quite near.

Silesian coal field

Is near and well connected by rail.

Although Krakow is not directly between the two, in terms of rail transport it has very good connections with both. Places in between the two regions tend to be on high ground and there is a national park in the way which would be unsuitable for heavy industry..

This is quite remarkable in a world where steel mills have more or less all closed down in Britain

WTF??? The UK produces a lot of steel, almost as much now as in the 1970s - it's the 4th largest producer in the EU (Poland is 5th) and in 2009 produced 3 million tonnes more than Poland.

eef.org.uk/uksteel/About-the-industry/Steel-facts/Steel-production-facilities---UK.htm
jon357   
22 Oct 2013
Travel / Incorrect passport date on boarding pass [13]

All I'm saying is that it would be better if his details are correct when flying to another country. It is not unknown to be refused a boarding pass because some detail is incorrect with the ticket/passport. If the airline company stop you then it is unlikely that you will even reach as far as boarder control.

This does happen - I saw it last month at Warsaw Airport. The person in question didnt get further than check-in. For some journeys they also check passport details at the gate - though as far as I know this is more about visas/entitlement to enter the destination country and they weren't looking for minor discrepancies.

It's likely that nobody will notice - I've checked in with one passport and flown with another without problem, but there are of course no guarantees.

It is easy for us to give our two cents, but at the end of the day it might rest on which person is on duty at the check in desk.

+1
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

Why wouldn't she?

Quite a big issue about parking charges and the US embassy right now.

A British newspaper used it too, so I guess it must be correct

You guess wrong.

I'm not a Nobel winning ex-President lol and I have absolutely no idea what the procedures are in such case.

His office do. Lol.
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

You should probably read the post carefully before asking for clarification however since it looks like you don't want to, I'm happy to clarify: it's a bad translation. przejście is not a przepustka.

A better translation would be special treatment, or. VIP treatment, something nobody is entitled to get, but as a Nobel winning ex-President, he'd certainly be given if his office informed LHR of his travel plans. It wouldn't have exempted him from the security check though.
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

what kind of translation mistake?

The one I pointed out above - seems obvious enough,

Basically, it looks like he enjoys comfortable travelling and yells if he doesn't get the free treatment. On a similar note, I notice that Hilary Clinton's limo got a parking fine in London today. I wonder if she'll pay it...
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

Paulina, 'przejście VIP-owskie' isn't any kind of 'pass' (przepustka). I'm surprised you didn't pick up on the translation mistake.

All it means is that they meet & greet, let him in one of the better lounges regardless of his ticket class and that he goes into the fast track (at big airports, not always that fast) for the queue. It doesn't give him customs privileges.

I think though we can agree that Wałęsa has once again behaved like a tit.
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

I meant with the UK's Foreign Office. Polish Embassy asked them for the VIP pass for Wałęsa and they declined.

I wonder what you mean by VIP pass? Normally they just call the airport and in any case, no sort of 'pass' except diplomatic accreditation exempts people from customs.

As I say, histrionics on Wałęsa's part and rather a bore that he put it online.
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

Or maybe he was asking about it 3 times because at first and second time they were saying sth like "We're working on it".

Entirely possible they were fobbing him off. Nothing to be "working on" - they just inform the airport.

P3, as for waving his knickers to the crowds, I'd bet a lot of money that they were doing nothing of the sort. Histrionics is far from rare among Poles, and in his case, the guy is a known drama queen and enough of a showman to do political broadcasts dressed in period costume...
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

Or just had his bags checked. "showing them to everyone" indeed! Those customs rooms are practically empty. It sounds like he's being a drama queen because the Polish Embassy don't pull strings to get him the red carpet treatment any more.

If his office had faxed the airport VIP centre directly rather than pestering the Polish Embassy three times he'd have been rushed through and given a glass of champagne.
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
Life / Are dogs allowed on buses in Poland? [6]

I just noticed that your doggy's a pup still. This means you probably won't have to worry about the muzzle for a little while. They're usually OK but it's a bit of a lottery whether or not the driver's a dog lover.

;-)
jon357   
15 Oct 2013
News / Lech Walesa vs Immigration: Brits humiliated him at London Heathrow Airport [105]

So I don't know what happened - the Polish Embassy didn't inform Wałęsa that he may be subjected to a control at the airport or what?

And this is the strange thing.

Wałęsa is highly regarded in the UK - one of the few foreigners to have an honorary knighthood and Polish/British relations are excellent so we can rule out any sort of diplomatic provocation or deliberate mistreatment.

The key thing I suspect is this. As Paulina mentions "Wałęsa asked the Polish Embassy three times whether they got a VIP pass for him for the British airport and they said they did. Also at a Polish airport Wałęsa asked about this and he was reassured again."

Given that airport procedures are something frequent fliers just have to live with, why did he ask the embassy 3 times if he had a VIP pass? It must have been really important to him.