Life / BMW Poznan cutomer service is surprisingly good! [8]

I have quite an opposite experience. Organizations in Poland - and everywhere else I've been are not so unfriendly. Maybe it is the way you act and what and how you say something to other people. In my opinion most often it's how you act causes your interlocutor to re-act in a particular way. Simple as that.

As far as quality of service - that's what has to be improved a lot in some places. But there are also very positive exceptions, like Dnz gave. Only when service providers or clerks are rude then it's time to "unleash the hell" and retort properly. There's no other way than to bring such a person to the ground (and I don't mean ad personam).

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]


Klingon is not artificial, is it? :) A lot of Klingons speak it:))

You were right about Esperanto and native speakers - there are some. I can only add that there is still a dispute over Esperanto being an artificial language or not.

Study / Studying Swedish in Krakow [11]

Hi,

first step would be to check university courses, there is some faculty with Swedish.

bpz.ae.krakow.pl/kurs_jezyka_szwedzkiego_2.html

Also private language schools or private lessons:

e-korepetycje.net/malopolskie/krakow/jezyk-szwedzki

here's a price list for a course in one of language schools:

lingualand.pl/szwedzki-cennik.html

Ol.

Language / Problems remembering Polish vocabulary [20]

Hi! It is possible, but I'm guessing it depends what network you're connected to - if it's cable tv o sthg else. Definitely it's broadcast so that you can watch from sattelite tv.

Real Estate / Renting in Krakow, Poland - the safest district? fairly close to the city centre... [25]

Ok, true. I meant rather old districts incorporated into Krowodrza around 1950', such as Kleparz (or Nowy Kleparz, quite close too), £obzów is not so far either. I'm not much of a walker myself and yet I walk almost every day from work to Nowy Kleparz. It takes me 15 minutes.

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

Apart from Esperanto, there are other artificial languages: ido, interlingua and volapük. There exist/ed couple of dozens more, but less popular. Anyway they do not have native speakers, so they would have to be imposed somehow. I think English serves the role of international language now as it is fairly eaasy, not as rich as e.g. Russian and has much more simple grammar than e.g. Latin, or Finnish or.. Polish. Before that French was common. Also colonization helped in spreading "countles" places English, French, but also Spanish, Dutch (Aafrikans in RSA is based on it), Portugeese. I guess English is still official language in many places outside the UK (India?, Singapore).

As many of you said it is a natural process to influence one language by another. Almost any language borrowed some things from others. BUT it's not like we should all instantly accept it without thought some foreign words and expressions as Polish.

There are Polish words for almost everything.

Law / Polish Cop Took My Car Registration :S [143]

Why in the name of all gods, did you have your windows tinted? You don't want to see too much outside while driving? The procedure is rediculous, no argument to that, but your car windows are too.

Language / Problems remembering Polish vocabulary [20]

Reading stuff in foreign language helps a lot, so try some Polish books, but choose simple ones or ones specially designed for such occasion, like there used to be Penguin books with easier vocab etc. Ask in a good language bookstore.

Also watch TV in Polish, not only with English subtitles! This is on Polonia TV but any other channel is good; news programmes especially. TV helps because you see and hear at the same time.

Genealogy / Toczynski name? [18]

Yep, way over 300 Toczyńskis in Poland. So not so rare as you can see.

Real Estate / Renting in Krakow, Poland - the safest district? fairly close to the city centre... [25]

Ced
Hi,

Yep, Prądnik Bialy is not so bad. But bear in mind that you'll have to commute longer from there than from some less remote districts. I'd recommend rather Kazimierz district or Krowodrza, both are walking distance from the Main Market Sq. and much more prestigeous too.

regards