Travel / Seven Secret Wonders of Poland [17]

These dwarfs must be something new.
I agree that Wieliczka would be much more interesting to a visitor.

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]


Tha may change.
Now they have populist at the steering wheel. We may even see mucho new monuments to the victims of sub-prime loans fiasco. It will be just like your beloved and oh so great N.Korea.

Life / What is the reason for POLISH jokes ? [486]


Your "understanding" appears to be ill founded. Why don't you do some serious reading on the history of WW2 instead of relying on stories heard while paying for a six pack in a corner store where people have only a vague idea what WW2 even stands for.

You can't create the 4th largest army in the European theater of war out of cowards, who btw. volunteered to fight.

Language / WHY IS SATELITA MASCULINE? [25]


This is an interesting word that follows some rules of Polish grammar. Originally (I'll spare everybody Old Slavonic forms) the word for "man" was "mąż", now meaning a married man.

"Mężczyzna" used to be understood as singularium tantum and meaning a collection of men, sometimes (though not as often) the quality of being a man/masculine.

In the latter part of the 16th century a Polish writer stated "Krzyżacy posiekwszy mężczyznę wszystkę, dziatki i niewiasty pobrali" which meant "all men". The word, then, used to be of feminine gender describing a collection of masculine elements. Only around 17th century the meaning was beginning to lean towards one person of masculine gender, and that's about the time when it acquired masculine grammatical form.

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


Nah. It has a good chance to last till his last days. After all if she stops visiting him at an old folks home he may change the beneficiary of his life insurance policy ;)

Life / Reasons for moving to Poland [291]


What risk?
People seem to love the experience they get in Poland. There sure are some negatives and there is undoubtedly a lot to be improved but to give you an idea...

My daughter, born in the US, raised mostly in Canada. Until some 3 years ago she considered herself Canadian first. The she went to Poland for about 2 months and now she considers herself Polish first. She loved it and she vowed to go back.

She's in her second year of university and heading to Poland next Spring. She says for a year or two, or as long as the school will pay for her studies. I took no part in her efforts at all. As a matter of fact I was told about her plans after she had already taken a lot of steps, including contacting schools in Poland, the family and a few skype buddies from Poland.

Until you go and check it out you won't know.

Language / Free and accurate Online Polish-English / English-Polish translator? [49]


Free and user friendly? Yes.
Accurate? No such thing exists for Polish translators.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]


Not to be picky, but the example still ain't very fortunate :)
I think you need to abandon that argument until you make it bullet proof.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]


Not to weigh on the "Polish or German" issue, but the example doesn't apply. Russians did not fight on the same side as Poles. Russians fought on the same side as themselves. Any benefits for Poles were a side effect. Their war effort had nothing to do with fighting with or for Poles. The shortest road to Berlin simply lead through Poland. Just a short years before, Russians and Germans, were drafting plans to erase Poland from maps and to annihilate the Polish nation.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]


This is a filthy idea ;)

News / Polish-American soldier and his wife murdered by four marines [163]


Do you live in Southern Brooklyn, the middle of The Bronx or Downtown Detroit?


You don't. But others may need it. Without it you wrote.. well... bs.

News / GERMANS WANT TO GERMANIZE KOPERNIK (COPERNICUS)! OUTRAGE! [1016]


Outrageous indeed. How does one Germanize a dead person?
Did they exhume him for the purpose?

News / Polish-American soldier and his wife murdered by four marines [163]


do you have a source for this?

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


There is no problem with the active side of your English. The glitch is with your attempts to read between the lines. You assume things are said when they aren't, and then you do what you accuse Poles of doing - you become arrogant, take easy offense when obvious flaws in your post are pointed out, you apply blanket statements and you don't admit mistakes. You may have heard the term "projection" as understood by psychologists. Try to control it.

You have some experience with Polish speakers and teachers of English, I supplemented that with mine, which is contrary to yours. In fact I was an ESL teacher in New York City myself and my employer did not see any problems with the fact that English is my second or third language. About the only issue was my, then, RP accent. The school's management wasn't particularly thrilled about it. They like NYC drool much better. It took me about a year to fix that.

American professors from renowned schools offer highest praises to Polish universities where English language and literature are studied. But you know that this is not possible, huh?

Oh, and let me assure you - if I wanted to offend you I would leave no doubt in anybody's mind that this is exactly what I am doing. For now I don't even have to do it. I would suggest that what you wrote here is more offensive to yourself than anything you think you found between the lines of my posts.


I don't believe in any miraculous methods. They are mostly gimmicks. The method that always works is a lot of time, mind and practice put into the learning of a foreign language.


I feel honored.
Thank you.

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


In some cases some things will receive more exposure than others. In a debate about language I would expect a certain level of... demonstrated language skills. If you fail in that respect I will point it out and I will do it without guilt or shame. The guilt and shame are on you and I see no need on my part for apologies. I see the need to correct errors in understanding on your part. That's what those in the know do. Others keep dragging the subject and then jump onto other issues, such as Polish culture this Polish culture that. Language skills have nothing to do with Polish culture or with your spats with Phillios.

If you can't hold your ground in a debate without desperately resorting to unrelated matters then cede.


I didn't. You just popped in ;)
Read the post again.


Thank you for the kind words. I was beginning to feel lonely ;)

Hitting the hay now. Have a good night all.

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


With all your remarks about arrogance of Poles you seem to be misunderstanding what I write, and looking for trouble where there is none. I wrote about my experience but you just couldn't take it at face value and that is simply arrogant. This is arrogant because by denying that the experience is true and, psychoanalysis back at you, you are in essence suggesting that Poles cannot learn Polish at a native level without a native teacher. Well, they can and some do. I met such Poles, you haven't. The fact that you haven't experienced something doesn't mean that other haven't either.

What you mentioned earlier about the impossibility of native level proficiency without years of study is largely true. One thing you fail to realize that some people do devote years of study to the language at lengths that are probably not even within the reach of your imagination. I have no idea what they do in Poland now, but when I studied English, phonology alone was a two year course. Led by a Pole. UK and US profs taught literature. Not one was employed to teach the actual language.

Those (students) who cared achieved a decent level of proficiency. Those who didn't... well, I know Poles and Italians in Buffalo, NY who speak perhaps 10 words of English after 40 years in the US. Nurses learn more Italian during a patient's week long stay in a hospital than some Italians learn English in decades.

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


Semantics is a critical part of language skills. Without it there is no meaningful communication. You are rejecting statements I never made.


So now you're a psychoanalyst and you know what my intentions were? These American teachers of English are a very versatile bunch :)

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


See? You're doing it again!

What you quote says I have experienced more than a fair share of Poles with competent English skills. It doesn't say there is a fair share of Poles speaking English at a level rivaling a native. This is really basic English, isn't it?


I never said or alluded any such thing. You are learning Polish, so you should know better what I alluded to. Although from my experience native English speakers have a harder time learning a foreign language than many other nationalities, Polish is simply too damn difficult to be compared to English in terms of degree of difficulty and the students' requirements for native speakers. English is one of the easier languages to learn. Polish hits the top 5 most difficult languages in the world.

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


I never said there is a fair share of Poles speaking English at a level rivaling a native


I do not have to make such attempts. I am an intellectual and I do not make statements to offend people, but I do point out failures in their arguments. You gave me reasons to do that.


Would you say my alleged arrogance matches yours?

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


That's the problem. How does an American become fluent in Polish? :)


You are not in a position to disagree because you have no idea who I met and who the people were and how good their English was. You have lived mostly in the US so your experience is what it is but it doesn't prove anything in regards to my experience. In short, you have responded to a post you haven't understood or thought through. You certainly failed on the level of basic communication. You read the words and you responded using words but your response makes no logical sense.

Is that the alleged superiority of the native speakers of English?

English is not really that hard to learn. The pronunciation is a physical exercise and to be successful, a learner needs a lot of practice. The degree of phonological and grammatical fluency is directly related to the effort. Many people do not learn to become native speakers of the foreign language but to be able to communicate for specific reasons. Such persons will never speak RP whether they are taught by a UCLA prof. or by a half-asss teacher of English from Poland.

Again, I have met sufficient number of Poles speaking English with native proficiency before they had a chance to even go to the US or UK. Among them prof. Wiktor Jassem whose works are frequently quoted and used in the academia around the world. Another one is now the director of a teaching school in Poland, credentialed by British Council with the highest qualifications. He's specialty has been English phonetics and his English would put to shame many native speakers of the language.

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


There is quite a bit of difference between an American trying to teach Polish and a Poles trying to teach English :)

I agree that many Poles with the so called teaching credentials suffer from a pretty thick accent and they spice it up with some funny grammatical errors. Still, I have experienced more than a fair share of Poles with competent English skills, easily rivaling those of some native speakers of the language.

Language / Recommended for learners: Michel Thomas Method Polish Audiobook [60]


Actually, in Poland very few teachers of English have German accent ;)

USA, Canada / What do Polish people think of the USA [287]


This is a shocker! I didn't realize that. Is it that bad in the US now?


American corporations wish the same :)

Life / "Londynczycy" - new Polish soap [62]


This clearly goes against some claims that Poles did not integrate in the British society? ;)

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]

OK, you win.
As a penalty though, you will have to pay prices higher than those paid by Poles ;)

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]


Hmmm.

Resident tuition fees in an average US university.

Non-Resident fees for the same.

You don;t even have to be a foreigner. All it takes is be from a different state.

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]


Perhaps not a hotel room, but for decades the US used the the status of a "privileged nation" (not sure if it's still in force). Foreign exporters would be charged varying amounts on the same kind of good depending on the country of origin. Rude enough?

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]


Yes, in 1987 :)


Yes, they were.

Screwing foreigners is the name of the game.
You buy a T-Shirt with Eiffel Tower logo on it for $20 (cheap). The French laugh at you. You buy a T-Shirt with some Polish logos, Poles laugh at you. All merchants have a laugh. I had some too.

Years ago I was sending jeans to Poland where they were sold for $30 (cheap). I bought them in NYC for $2 a pair - wholesale. The same jeans would cost $30 in a NYC "discount" store.

Again, the objective of business is not to be ethical but to make money. As much as possible. Ask any banker.

Life / Getting ripped off in Poland! Is it normal? or should it be tolerated? [97]


No you didn't but you said:

I do not understand the business mentality here.. I can't help but read it as "here" is something unique, when it's not. You should said simply: I do not understand the business mentality and that's what I addressed.

Look at all those sweatshop enterprises. Nike started in Europe and US and a pair of decent shoes were at about $100. They moved their factories to Vietnam where they pay around $0.50 a day (or is it an hour?) and the prices is even higher now. That is just business mentality.

There surely is discrepancy. When I went to the US for the first time I brought with me a pair of boots. It cost me $0.50 in Poland. The same pair of boots (literally, since these were imported to the US) cost $65 in the US in 1987. Do you think Americans were being ripped off?

Life / School system in Poland? [59]


civics