Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


In private language schools, it's more or less what they expect here. There's so many variables that it's impossible to say what's desirable - however, a decent job will demand the CELTA as a minimum.

In public schools, maybe. It depends on the attitude of the school director - however, you'll be working for really, really low wages without a Masters degree.


I think this depends very much on the attitude of the school director. I know a couple of schools here that have native teachers working there without speaking Polish to any decent level.

News / Grafitti plague in Warsaw [84]


So, you won't mind when we come to graffiti your house, then?

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

It's an option, but public school salaries are pathetic to begin with and private schools are very much only open to those "in the know".

It's possible to earn a decent amount as an experienced public school teacher - but Poland will simply ignore overseas experience, even if you have climbed the ladder there - you'll start at the bottom.

As for the qualifications - generally speaking, a Masters degree with a recognised teaching component.

Most teachers are working for private language schools.

Work / Chartered accountant from India joining a company in Poland. Cost of living in Poznan? [29]


6000 is about what you can expect from a non-Big 4 company as a chartered accountant. The Big 4 offer much higher salaries, though - 5000/6000 is about the going rate for a semi-qualified accountant with a couple of years experience at the junior/specialist level.

But as this is an in-company job, they might be paying higher for an Indian national - still, you need at least 8-10k gross to be comfortable here.

News / Kaczyński wants a people-friendly Poland [64]


Oh no. Say it ain't so.

The last thing we need is football hooligans entering politics on the side of PiS - it's just going to lead to a further us vs them mentality and end up in yet more trouble.

Ironic that a party called "Law and Justice" would support the exact opposite.

Language / Why when spelling Polish names abroad, Polish letters are ignored? [68]


Not always true - what about Franjo Tuđman? It's rendered in Polish as Tudjman at times, not the original.

And the names are frequently changed - for instance, Mindaugas, the first Lithuanian king - known as Mindaugas in English and Lithuanian, but changed into Mendog in Polish.

And what about the most famous example of the lot - John Paul II, or more accurately, Ioannes Paulus II.

Polish is really littered with examples like this.

Language / Why when spelling Polish names abroad, Polish letters are ignored? [68]


You might want to start by asking why Poland doesn't allow foreign (ie, non English/Polish) characters on official documents.

Generally speaking, names are always rendered differently in different languages - Michaił Gorbaczow anyone?

I suppose Lech Wałęsa should be Lech Valemsa in English. But that would be silly - so Lech Walesa it is.

USA, Canada / Thoughts/ Opinions on Krolewskie Jadlo, Polish Restaurant and should I order in Polish? [7]


It's from the USA, Germany, UK and many other countries.

Language / Super fast Polish language learning strategies from internet polyglots [29]


Actually, as I was told - you were simply unable to communicate using any sort of advanced vocabulary as would be expected from someone who claims to be "fluent" in the language. Communicative, yes - but not fluent. C2 is defined as -


From what I was told - you don't have that level of mastery, and you failed the exam. Therefore, calling yourself "fluent" is simply misleading. Being able to talk about a party doesn't mean you are fluent.


Fluency is when you are capable in all aspects - your exam results clearly show otherwise. No-one would ever consider someone who failed a C2 exam to be fluent in the language, especially with such low listening scores.


You aren't fluent. In fact, you're actually proving it by admitting that you aren't very good in some aspects of the language.

Odd lag in that online video, too.

Worth pointing out as well that "irishpolyglot" went to Germany with at least an intermediate level of German. So - to go from B1/B2 level to C1 or so within 3 months of intensive study and pracice is really not that surprising, especially with several years of being taught German too.

Personally, I'd be inclined to take him far more seriously if he wasn't trying to make a quick buck.

News / Is it right for Polish citizens/Poles not living in PL to vote? [11]


Of course they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Anything more than 5 years out of the country should immediately disqualify you from voting in elections and referenda - unless on official Polish business, such as being an ambassador.

You just need to look at the last few elections to see how Polish Americans have voted - often after being in possession of some very wrong 'facts' about the candidates. I read so much rubbish about Kaczynski being the "conservative" candidate last time, for instance.

Law / What banks are people using in Poland? [50]


mBank works fine in Ukraine. PKO's operation in Ukraine is totally separate to the Polish bank - it has the same brand, that's all.

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


Anyone with any sort of patriotism would want to be a citizen of their homeland. It really is that simple - of course, being a Polish citizen brings obligations, and we just can't have that, can we?

As I've said countless times - they like to be Polish when it suits them, but when it comes to actually doing anything for Poland, they run away and ignore it. All this nonsense about identifying as Polish - sorry, but it's utter nonsense. As I asked above - how many of them complied with their obligations under Article XI of the May 3rd constitution?

Heck, I wonder how many of them even know what Article XI even is? Or is it just a case of celebrating a day that they really know nothing about? I mean, it's highly unlikely any of them actually know why some nobles opposed the constitution, isn't it?

Then again - given the peasant origins of those Polacks, it's no surprise that they celebrate it.


Many of them don't actually want to move - they like where they are. Many of them don't actually speak Polish too well - and they would always be identified by Poles in Poland as being "Russian" or suchlike. But still, they try all the same.

USA, Canada / Thoughts/ Opinions on Krolewskie Jadlo, Polish Restaurant and should I order in Polish? [7]

I doubt they'll actually speak Polish.


You could start by learning about what "kielbasa" actually is - it doesn't have a capital letter, for a start.

News / Kaczyński wants a people-friendly Poland [64]


If people are mad enough to see conspiracy theories in two-day-voting, then they really shouldn't be allowed near a polling station.

For what it's worth, PiS seem to have fallen for every single one of PO's games.


Usual insult from a deluded PiS supporter who believes that Kaczynski is actually electable ;)

As I said - there's a cordon sanitaire around Kaczynski - we saw it in Podkarpackie and elsewhere that the three other parties will do everything to keep them out.

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


The fact that only 20,000 of them could be bothered to vote for the head of state says it all.


Certainly, the Irish Americans could help Ireland right now - plenty of horses have been left to starve to death, the economic situation is dire and life generally sucks there for many Irish people. Then again, Irish America's biggest contribution to Ireland was providing money for terrorists - so I'm not surprised.


Riiiight. You couldn't even reply to several forum posters when they asked you questions in Polish ;)


Attacking me isn't going to change anything, Polack - you're still unable to speak the language despite claiming to be Polish.


Tinfoil hat - on!
Computer - on!

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


Wouldn't it be better for them to come and help Poland rather than waving a flag once a year?

Nah. Too difficult.


If you can't be bothered to get the citizenship of Poland, you can't be Polish. It really is that simple - anyone who claims to be a proud Polish person would do anything to get the citizenship of their homeland. Heck, there are people in Belarus who are forcibly denied Polish citizenship - yet if they're willing to risk persecution just to hold the "Karta Polaka", what's stopping those Polish Americans?

Ah wait, it's just too damn difficult to get, isn't it?


Morons.


Never crossed the pond? Weird...could've sworn that I was at a Flames game once upon a time.


Incidentally, as you don't speak Polish - how do you know it was Polish? To the untrained ear, Polish is pretty much the same as other Slavic languages.

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


It makes sense - English spelling is awful and isn't standardised at all, so Polish should try and integrate these words.

The problem is - by the time the dinosaurs at the Academy actually integrate the words, people will be used to the English version and will simply ignore what the official version is ;)

Worst one I've heard is "focusować".

Food / Polish food at home or out? [57]


And what would say is Polish?

The vast majority of Polish cuisine could also be called German, Czech, Ukrainian, etc. In general, Polish food is just plain old Northern European fare.

News / Kaczyński wants a people-friendly Poland [64]

His problem is that he simply cannot win - too many people hate him with a passion or simply don't trust him. Can anyone really imagine Pawlak or Napieralski going into a coalition with him after the insults towards them and their parties?

PiS without Kaczynski could be tempting coalition partners if the leader stamped out all the ultra-nationalist nonsense.

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


So somewhere between 20,000 and 250,000 would be the answer, I guess :)


Yeah, you count :)


A simple test would be to name all the Presidents from 1989 to the current day ;)

Language / Super fast Polish language learning strategies from internet polyglots [29]


There's hope for me yet, then ;)


Strange - he was openly telling people in the Berlin CouchSurfing community that he had passed it. As I said - I know someone who knows him in real life (there's quite a complicated web of friendships between the Poznan and Berlin communities - so it's not difficult) who first told me about him and his claims. I'm surprised it's came up now - but it's certain that he's a bit of a fraud.

From what I've heard, although he can speak, he's not fluent in most of them. I know a German girl who called him out on it and used some pretty difficult German in his presence (overriding the natural instinct to 'tone down' the language when speaking to non-natives) - and found that he wasn't fluent as he had difficulties with many non-typical topics.

Worth looking here -
how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19939&PN=0&TPN=9

Those results are far from fluent - with such poor reading and listening scores, he's not fluent in German. Even the grammar score is rather terrible for someone who claims to be an expert in the language.

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

Nothing to do with me, I'm afraid.

Generally speaking however, Polish blood only matters if the parent(s) are actually citizens. Like most countries in the world, Poland practices jus sanguinis rather than jus soli.

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


Not really. They're only Polish when they want to show off - otherwise, they're American.

As I said - how many Polish citizens are among the alleged 1.1 million Poles?

As for the argument about Poles during the partitions - there's no excuse now that there's a Poland to be a citizen of. Poland has been free and independent for nearly 20 years (it's arguable that the real date of independence should be 21st August) - what's stopping them getting Polish citizenship if they're so proud of the country?

News / Kaczyński wants a people-friendly Poland [64]


Kaczynski's only hope is to hammer home the social message - he needs to forget about Smolensk, forget about his personal hatred of Tusk and concentrate on that one single message. If he does, then they've got a half chance of winning - but he also needs to publicly expel anyone who mentions Smolensk and reinvite the PJN lot back into PiS with a public apology to them.

Then, and only then, might he win.

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

Not true. Polish blood doesn't mean a damn thing - what matters is the actual citizenship.

However, if the great-grandparents left Poland before 1962 and gained a foreign citizenship before 1962 - then they were stripped of Polish citizenship. As in Polish law (consistently since 1918) - citizenship is passed from the parents (or just the father, depending on circumstances) - there needs to be a clear trail of citizenship from the great-grandparents to you.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's exceptionally unlikely that your father has Polish citizenship - and with it, you.

If you can confirm when your great-grandparents moved from Poland and when (and where) your grandparents were born, I'll tell you for certain as to what the situation is.

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


You cannot be Polish if you don't have Polish citizenship. Pretty simple, really - any true patriot should hold citizenship of the country that they profess to represent. It's not like Polish citizenship is difficult to obtain.

I've just had a look on the PKW site - and about 20,000 people there voted in the Presidential election of 2010. That's a dreadful turnout if there really is anything like 900,000-1,400,000 Poles there. However, if you look at the citizenship number - then somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 Polish citizens would probably be correct.

News / Kaczyński wants a people-friendly Poland [64]


That swing (between 5-15% advantage over PiS) translates directly into support for the SLD, not for PiS.

The electoral mathematics are such that the electorate is clearly rejecting PiS - no matter how you try to look at it, there's still a good 65-70% of the population opposed to PiS.


I could have sworn he was, but now...I'm not sure. The Polish wikipedia says that he was a lecturer and librarian, then involved with Solidarity in publishing and legal advice. Definitely doesn't seem like he's a wealthy person, anyway.


As far as I know, the subsidies have been cut in half - should have been the whole lot, but anyway. The two day election idea is equally nonsense - I'd support it if the Presidential and Parliamentary elections were the same day, but apart from that, there's no need whatsoever. Longer opening hours (0600-2200) perhaps, but that's about it.

I'm still trying to work out the political logic behind two day elections - PO don't have problems scaring people with PiS, PiS doesn't have problems either - who really benefits? With electoral silence, they can't even push people to the polls...

USA, Canada / Chicago's 1.1 million Polish Americans celebrated Constitution Day [47]


A more interesting statistic would be - how many of them are actually Polish by citizenship?

Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]


Does your father have Polish citizenship?

News / Kaczyński wants a people-friendly Poland [64]


I find it hard to believe that most of these political events aren't subsidised in some way. I mean, PO are backed by wealthy people - but PiS? SLD? PSL?

By the way - do you know anything about Jaroslaw Kaczynski's personal wealth? Always been interested in this - seeing as he went from academia to politics and never had the chance to earn money "outside".