Law / Overstaying Tourist Visa and not getting deported from Poland? I'm from USA [13]

Not everyone's a jerk Tyler, it's just sort of toxic around here at times.

If you hear of anyone being deported, fined or banned, I would be interested if you have the time to drop back to the forum and detail it or send me a PM.

Certainly though you should want to be legal and there is a process to go through to stay long term. Someone posted the link in a post in the last couple of days on one of the government sites detailing the process. Then again, if you can get the student visa and are actually being a student, go for it.

Good luck and please share the info as you experience it.

Work / Polish Natives Teaching English in Schools [3]

All the time in Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Additionally, other teachers tell me that it is equally common in Russia (esp in the Central and Eastern Regions) and almost everywhere that you have teachers who learned English from books .

Not ALL the teachers of course, but this is not uncommon among students that come from local teachers. Aside from pronunciation, we also get words that have fallen out of use, less than perfect constructions and, as you point out, somethings that are out-right wrong.

Some of my favorites:

Clotheses - I want to buy new clotheses (they say clo-zez-ezes and other variations of an added -es/-s trying to make it plural).

I have heard the "lifes" you mentioned. Many are not understanding that there can be a short or long "i" depending on whether lives is a verb or a noun.

Pity - I pity for you. (Confused with sorry.)
Clever - He was very clever in all his university subjects. (Confused with smart.)
Delete - I deleted the potatoes since they were still raw. (Confused with remove and throw away.)

You will also hear words and phrases which have fallen out of use, particularly from American English, due to reading writers such as London. Twain, Dickens and Christie. Great authors but several of the words which were normal in their times have faded to obscurity.

Most anyone who has taught in Eastern Europe, the CIS and the FSU have examples like these.

Work / NO JOBS IN POLAND FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE EXCEPT TEACHING? [44]

I've noticed this around the world in our industry. You see English-language advertising on the job-sites and on the web-sites all the time with poor grammar, misspellings and unclear phrasing. When you offer up corrections the attitude I have always seen was, "It is not your business."

Poor presentation should tell folks something.
.

Language / Slavic accent correction [110]

Pretty accurate.

She was what people wanted, pretty, articulate,.......ruthless, decisive.......

I remember seeing pictures of her in different homes, on student notebooks, always front page press, on TV a lot and her rallies were well-attended without quite as many of the paid protesters showing up.

Young and middle-aged people liked her, the hard-line Communists respected her strength and willingness to overcome obstacles.

My personal beliefs were that she was certainly as crooked as any other Ukrainian politician but she presented herself with a veneer of sincerity and poise to the people, giving them hope that the country was moving forward rather than staying mired in old-style power structures. Her popularity is what landed her in jail. Yushenko was also crooked but his popularity numbers make him an insignificant threat to the rulin elite. As long as he is content with his loot and sits in his dacha or goes skiing in Austria, they are perfectly happy to leave him alone.

And yeah, in her day she was pretty hot for a middle-aged politician on the world stage.

Love / Why a polish girl would prefer a relationship with a foreign man? [30]

Ah, they're fascinating to some folks.

And, FWIW, I agree you are right that some are trolling Polish men trying to pick a fight or provoke a reaction while others are dealing with some mental issue of their own as they try to justify that some Polish gal will fall in love with them.

Love / Why a polish girl would prefer a relationship with a foreign man? [30]

I think Lenka is closest to "reality" for those looking for real relationships.

Although, there are so many different motives for dating than love, the reasons are countless. Some date for money, some for sex, some for showing off, some to hide their true sexuality, some for publicity, some for.......blah, blah, blah.

People looking for lasting relationships look for a person, not a nationality.

Language / Slavic accent correction [110]


It's not that simple. heavy and light don't say anything about the ability to be understood or express positive or negative situations. I know people with heavy Irish and Scottish accents who were understandable as well as people with light Azeri and Russian accents who could not make a sentence.

Many people try to make the word accent mean something negative. In fact, it is neither positive nor negative.

OH MY GOD, did you hear his Polish accent?

I think she has a sexy Russian accent!

Go to the party and find the tall man wearing an expensive suit and speaking with an Azeri accent.

A person can have a horrible accent or a pleasant accent. Saying someone speaks with a Russian/Polish/Azeri/whatever accent says nothing positive OR negative. It is merely information unless someone puts positive or negative adjectives or adverbs in the sentence with the word..

.
She communicated poorly due to her German accent.

His thoughts were all confused by her seductive French accent when she spoke English.

I could barely understand him due to his pronounced Scottish accent.

This (your misconceptions) is what happens when you try to take neutral words and read positive and negative meanings into them.

Language / Slavic accent correction [110]

One situation would be the person has NOT mastered the language and the accent affects their ability to communicate OR is perceived to leave an "unprofessional"/unfavorable impression.

The second situation is strictly a personal preference to talk differently.

SO "should" they? See, situation #2. It's that individual choice.

Maybe there are people who "sell" this sort of service but I doubt they are successful except at some sort of elite level.

Language / Slavic accent correction [110]

I had told Vlad to choose male singers since I assumed he was male.

If you're female, by all means go with female. It isn't like you're going to magically begin growing hair on your knuckles or chest but I'd stick on the right side of the gender line if it were me.

I don't know which actor you have heard but someone like James Earl Jones had a remarkable voice with clear enunciation and a very pleasant accent (IMO).

Language / Slavic accent correction [110]

You have audio of a model speaker whose accent you like?

Should work although you're going to want more than one reading. Can you assemble 10 or so that are from 3 different readers you like? Are scripts available so you know the word being spoken?

I've never heard of anyone doing poetry but it should work. Might be a bit slower since the timing and accents won't have the music pulling you along.

Language / Slavic accent correction [110]

Where are you Vlad?

Vlad, I could tell there was a missing post somewhere and finally found it.

You probably don't want to go through dealing with speech therapy and I'm much more the expedient sot of guy anyway.

My advice to you is to sing as much as you can.

The thing is that you have to be the one who brings the discipline and perseverance to your project.

You want a simple program which should begin showing results in about a month if you have that discipline and determination to make it happen?

1. Pick 2-3 male singers in your approximate tone range and reflecting the "accent" you want to move towards. See below on selection.
2. Select 3-4 songs from each and burn yourself a CD or put them in a folder on your MP3 player.
3. Go to one of the lyric websites and print out the lyrics of the songs.
4, Spend as much time as you feel you should put into your project singing with them as loud and strong as you can do without bothering anyone or hurting your voice.

5. Do this for a month and then assess your accent for changes.

Advice on selecting singers and making it work.

1. Go for single or dominantly voiced songs. Avoid duets or ones with lots of different vocalists coming in and out of the piece.
2. Select music which uses real words rather than street slang or over-focused on drugs or sex. I really recommend the country-western genre and folk ballads although some of the classic rock works well too. Regardless, you should pick music you will enjoy. Making your project fun helps you devote the time and energy to it that will change your voice. PM me if you want the singers I recommend to students who really want to make this work.

3. Make sure you are singing the right words, don't make up sounds that you hope are right. Refer to the printed lyrics until you have the song memorized.

4. Sing WITH the singer and remember, this is work, but have fun.
5. If you have a word that you have done your best on but just cannot quite hit correctly, seek out the plainest speaking friend you have and have them describe tongue placement/movement, air flow and pay attention to the stresses they are using. Repetition (over several days) is your best bet until you can get it out clearly and consistently.

It's up to you.

Good Luck!

Love / Woman 23, man 47 years old. What do you think about ? [162]

LOL, to each their own.

A very, very few of these work. Everyone of course, wishes to believe they are the exception and they have found a pure, true love. Others are more honest and just "ride" it out for the pleasure and eg boost of a younger partner.

As long as both parties are being honest with themselves, it should be of little matter to others.

The problem comes about when one of two things happens. You either have to listen to someone bragging about their trophy and implied youth or sexual prowess OR the crying and whining about being cheated on and left as they aged and the partner went looking for another toy or even true love of their own.

It's entertaining the first dozen or so times you see the old guy with white hair and boat shoes trying to convince everyone that the sweet young thing wearing her stiletto heels and faux fur jacket while hanging on his arm is in awe of his "studliness" and then crying when he discovers her real boyfriend or she leaves when he runs out of money. After awhile though, it is just tiresome and your patience wears thin at the stupidity.

News / Price for the US ambassador position in Poland? $2,300.00 [10]


Let them enjoy their fantasies.

It never crosses their minds that in the US, there are millions of individuals who donate to campaigns. Obviously, people who care about campaigns are interested in government, politics, social issues, foreign affairs and public policy. People interested in these things are often already working for the government, academia, international business, etc. So, I would be more curious as to how many ambassadors did NOT contribute to one or the other campaign.

An Ambassador makes a decent salary ($150-200K) and the job includes housing, child education, transportation (for the family), great vacation options, drivers, household staff, security and an entertainment budget. Often you meet interesting people but sometimes you have to introduce your wife to a criminal with a straight face.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

Effectiive to what extent?

I'd categorize it as pretty limited effectiveness beyond having to engage 3-4 missiles in an event.

Magazine size is going to be a factor. Number of launchers and deployment space is limited.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

Yes but this was simply follow-on to a question regarding America's military capabilities rather than predictions or desires.

Most of us appear to believe neither has the capability to invade the other with any real chance of success. One or two folks seem to feel otherwise.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

Cool, we don't agree.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

You do understand that when those two are built, two get retired? Ten is the new target number for operational carrier groups and you have to factor in their maintenance schedules.

Also, you don't seem to understand that the US is down-sizing and cutting spending while the PLA is growing rapidly in all areas. Here's a partial assessment of the impact on the Army alone:

Army: 78% Of Combat Brigades Will Skip Training Due To Sequester, CR

defense.aol.com/2013/02/05/army-sequester-cr-mean-78-of-brigades-must-skip-training

Note the comments about bringing stuff home and getting it repaired for re-issue. We are about to go the route of the British military and drop drastically in size

and capability.

On top of everything else, these shutdowns and force level drops are going to have an impact on the unemployment rate, welfare outlays, severe impact on certain local economies and the general morale of the military.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]


Quite true. We're also downsizing the carrier fleet (we're down to 10 now) and you can't send ALL the carriers to one theater of operations. On the other hand, CHina has ALL of their aircraft, ships and military at home. Imagine trying to take the troops out of South Korea, strip Afric and NATO clean and empty all the American bases. Then there's the whole bit about fuel, munitions and protection from missiles. When you're firing from your home base it's a whole lot easier to reload than when you have to have a chain of ships bringing them across the world's largest ocean.

The other part you need to think through in an invasion is how many troops would actually have a seat on the planes and ships trying to get here, how many would make it and how many bullets, missiles, toilet paper and replacements it takes to destroy the fighting power of 1.3B people. We have about 2 dozen Amphibious warfare ships. If you put ALL of them in one spot and landed every person possible without any causalities you might have 2 divisions ashore. We have 2 Airborne Light Infantry Divisions (as in lightly armed). Assuming for a minute we have the airlift to drop them from across the Pacific, how long can 40,000 last against the PLA plus their paramilitary police forces while you race back for more soldiers, fuel, heavy equipment, bullets, artillery shells, etc.?

I doubt the Chinese could get as far as Hawaii with an intact force but, if they did manage to take it they would be in no shape to continue on across to the West Coast.

Honestly, I'd say we would find it much easier to fight and defeat the Russians than the Chinese.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

We don't agree. I believe neither side could carry it off for the reasons stated.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

I think you overestimate the effectiveness of our military in general [for this scenario] and the matter of supplying deployed troops directly onto an invasion point in particular. Unlike Vietnam, we would have no friendly ports closer than Korea or Japan. The Chinese Navy, Air Force and Army is huge and growing, ours is downsizing (especially since Homeland Security absorbed the Coast Guard) and has just come off 10+ years of high-utilization deployment. The military supply situation was workable thanks to Turkey and Kyrgyzstan and our control of the Persian Gulf. Trying to invade into China would be a nightmare far beyond planning and supplying the Normandy invasion. Even Normandy was jammed up on the beaches and running short of supply until they broke out from the beachheads. The Chinese would see us coming [literally] a thousand miles off. Neither side has the ability to maintain that sort of supply tail across the Pacific Ocean.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

Probably correct.

The only one that would give me pause is China. As the Russians quipped, "Quantity has a quality all it's own." Fortunately, both sides are held at bay by the realities of a cross-ocean war. I doubt either could win if they tried to actually invade the other without benefit of some combination of odd alliances. The supply tail is just too long.

Classifieds / Language exchange group, Tricity [60]

We'll be happy to see you there!

Classifieds / Language exchange group, Tricity [60]

We'll see you there!

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]

Not everyone seems to agree with you....

The homeland of the Basque people is Western Europe in the areas of southwestern France, western Spain and Portugal, where they have lived since ancient times.

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]

For an island, they developed a ton of dialects and accents. I remember the first time I met one of the guys who spoke like the actor in this clip. He had been fired in his first week of working for a language school and a Brit asked me if I would meet with him and try to help him out (I was recruiting some teachers at the time). I couldn't even make out his name after three tries. I apologized and said there had been a mistake because I thought he was English. It was funny because, so help me he looked like someone out of an Agatha Christie novel with tweeds, umbrella and a bowler hat. He sat through a Sunday brunch of other English teachers and students but was only able to talk with two of the Brit teachers. I heard later that he went back to the UK to regroup and try to figure out what to do next.

youtube.com/watch?v=Cun-LZvOTdw

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]


Wow, I love Russian, seems full of life. At least though I didn't get stuck talking like some Brit with my poor pronunciation and inability to keep the language cleaned up.

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]


Always a bone of contention with locals no matter where you are. The rational ones will see the logic of the numbers though.

My method is to develop the "survival" level of the local language: numbers (Money issues and addresses), things at the grocery stores, introductions, greetings, farewells, acknowledgments and food items (for menus and entertainment). Concurrent with that I'm trying to get the pronunciations and any alphabet differences (for reading maps and signage).

I would prefer to develop my Russian past survival stage in order to hit a much wider group of people but lately am thinking about trying to reacquire Spanish if I can find someone for language swaps in either one of those, maybe on weekends.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

I sure hope so.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

LOL, of course a government can still screw themselves up through so many other ways like social spending, corruption and a faulty taxation system.

Unfortunately, you have to look at Japan, Germany and Korea differently. Aside from our basically rebuilding them with a new industrial base after the wars they are a far cry from the situations in the other countries. There were/are tens of thousands of troops in those three countries for decades. The footprint of roads and infrastructure from all those years is far, far beyond anything in countries where we just has a couple of air and naval bases.

Begienski (sp?) is correct though. If the government is smart they will use the payments from the base for infrastructure improvements and direct costs incurred.

News / American SM-3 ballistic missile site in Poland by 2018 [86]

I count Iran as a -stan but should have ID'ed it separately I guess.

We'll see. Life is full of unlikely things happening. I went to a party one night and met Bill Gates and ahalf-dozen other tech uber-millionnaires. Was not likely but...

Fortune favors the prepared.