Language / Capitalisation in Polish language; uncapitalised car marques (fiat, buick, honda)? [17]

Ha ha! Yes I know and Notty didn't pick up on it either, he missed a golden opportunity there :)) You see Harry when I make an error I'm merely taking a liberty or toying with accepted conventions - when somebody else does it they're just wrong.

Language / Capitalisation in Polish language; uncapitalised car marques (fiat, buick, honda)? [17]

As you won't accept my word for it here's an explanation from a PHD in English:

katherinewikoff.com/2012/10/18/whats-the-difference-between-grammar-punctuation-and-mechanics

I understand what you're trying to say, that by using a capital letter and a full stop you are creating the grammatical unit of a sentence but linguistics doesn't see it that way.

Language / Capitalisation in Polish language; uncapitalised car marques (fiat, buick, honda)? [17]

No, Notty, It's mechanics, not grammar. That's another example of how we have usages within English that are accepted though not strictly correct. It's easier to bring everything under one handy heading but mechanics, punctuation and grammar are separate and capitalisation is classified under the heading of mechanics.

Language / Capitalisation in Polish language; uncapitalised car marques (fiat, buick, honda)? [17]


Notty, once again, capitalisation is not a part of grammar. Yes, using a comma instead of a semi-colon is an error but still not anywhere in the same league as failing to capitalise the word 'American'.

Now let's get real here. The fact is that certain widely accepted liberties are taken by educated people in informal written communications. The other main poster in that thread, Dominic, is far better educated than you or I, and his posts also contain numerous 'errors' such as beginning a sentence with 'and'. However, you will find that he wouldn't do that when writing up formal documentation. You would also find that however casual he might be in some respects, he wouldn't fail to capitalise the name of a country - ever - and nor would I.

Language / Capitalisation in Polish language; uncapitalised car marques (fiat, buick, honda)? [17]

[moved from]


Capitalisation is not part of grammar. Anyway it abides by fixed rules. Punctuation is more flexible. In the example you give, a semi-colon would be more appropiate than creating a separate sentence. The use of a comma instead of a semi-colon is a bit sloppy but it's not as grave an offence against literacy as the failure to capitalise a country or nationality.

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]

As a matter of fact Slavic we are - some people are significantly better in a whole variety of ways, be it intellectually, morally, socially. Now that's not to say that I am necessarily better than you but I pay attention to detail (in this case capitalisation) which is something you would do well to emulate if you intend to pursue a legal career. Also it will improve your chances of success in life if you learn to listen and reflect on what people tell you. Nobody here was trying to humiliate or hurt you with their advice, two intelligent, mature people who have experience of teaching and tutoring speculated on your options. The greatest benefit you could have derived from that was to join the discussion like a mature adult rather than pouting and flouncing and head tossing.

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]

Dominic offered you very sound advice. Nothing to get depressed about.

I questioned whether you were academic enough to be considering law. I did so because of your average grades which, having some idea of the standard of the content in ACT tests, is not really university material by European standards. Now those grades may well be less than you're capable of. Perhaps you were bored in school and didn't bother to study. Nobody, no matter how bright will pass exams if they don't know the syllabus. But if that's the case, then you would need to get your act together before embarking on third level studies as a law degree requires enormous amounts of very dull, very dry reading and memorising.

Anyway, best of luck and remember to use a capital letter for American :))

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]



I'm not sure you fully understand the Montessori approach Dominic. Don't mistake freedom of choice for lack of discipline,order and structure. The Montessori curriculum itself is highly structured and the emphasis on order is such that many parents worry that the kids will become obsessive compulsive! Madame Montessori was of course not only a medical doctor like your good self but also a brilliant mathematician and the maths materials she designed have never been surpassed let alone equalled. I challenge you to find a more successful concrete representation of the Theorem of Pythagoras or the conversion of vulgar fractions to decimal fractions. The students you mentored wouldn't have needed that mentoring if they'd been lucky enough to attend a proper Montessori school from the ages of three to twelve.

I don't know if you're aware of the Montessori Magnet schools within the American public school system. Here's one such example from East Dallas where the children are mainly from low income families, many without English as a first language. The local high school graduation rate is less than 50% but for those children who attended the Montessori school up to the age of nine, the rate is 94% with 88% going on to attend college.

public-montessori.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/EDCS%20Outcomes%20Charts%20and%20Graphs.pdf

One of the most interesting features of Montessori is that even just three years spent in the pre-school seems to have a permanent impact on a child's learning. Just one example is children who began their Maths education Montessori pre-school faring better at Maths throughout their school career than children from conventional pre-schools. I think overall what it gives them though is the ability to focus on a task, be self-aware and self-disciplined. Well those are our goals, to give the child a sense of order and concentration, independence, self-discipline, self-awareness and to foster the natural inherent disposition towards learning which unfortunately mainstream education so often seems to destroy.


I'm not sure about that Dominic. I don't think you'd find too many mentors willing to have their 'mentee' move in with them!

It's a pity the OP didn't get back to us with any futher information about herself. I'm presuming that's because she hasn't been back to check here for any responses to her post. Otherwise I would expect to see at least a brief thank you from her to the people who have taken time to consider her situation and advise her. It's amazing how far basic manners will take you in life. One of my favourite pieces of advice to the young and annoying :))

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]

Obviously the best American schools are of high quality (and of course the best of your universities are of the highest quality or rather certain programmes within those universities are world leaders). However a child from a working class inner city family in Poland will get at least the same curriculum as a rich child, which isn't the case in America. If we take the extremes out of it though, general standards of high school education in America fall below that of Europe and there are many countries in Europe where the advanced maths curriculum for example is equivalent to undergraduate level maths in the States.

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]

Something I overlooked in your examples Dom, but which I consider significant is that all three had been through the Polish education system which, whatever its flaws, is more demanding than the American one. America doesn't even have a National Curriculum so there is considerable variation in the methodologies, learning content and objectives from state to state.

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]

Dominic I absolutely get what you're saying. Bear in mind that I am not only a teacher but a Montessori trained teacher and the cornerstone of Montessori philosophy is 'to educate the human potential'.


And that would be the Montessori belief too. It was through her work with educationally sub-normal and seeing how much they managed to learn using her methods, that she concluded how much more the 'normal' child was actually capable of.

I am very much aware of the fact that an intelligent student can fail for a whole range of reasons. The success stories you relate are very heartening BUT they all had one thing in common - you. The OP won't have that and would be very lucky to find such a mentor. In any case there are also many people who despite every effort and input will remain no more than average and that there are many who are not inherently academic and whose untapped skills and talents lie in other areas.

Life / Why are Muslims seen as a deterrent to Poland? [564]

Yes, I noticed that too Maf! However, I'm afraid the pesky old Holy Trinity complicates matters a bit. For Muslims, Jesus is a prophet but not divine, for Jews He's not the Son of God, for Christians He makes up part of the whole. However all three religions would agree that there is only one Creator, regardless of what He's called. So yes, Harry could have phrased that better. He'll now continue to argue it until we're all blue in the face :))


I don't think there's a specific ban on calling Jesus Satan now Harry is there. Just a general blasphemy law that would cover it. Anyway it's hardly a fair comparison.

Study / Need advice with admission to the University of Warsaw!! Please help!! [26]


That may be so but the OP says he has only average grades and thus he's clearly not suited to any of those options. Without wishing to be derogatory, that's average grades USA standard which is considerably lower in real terms than European standards. Somebody who can only score average grades in the American high school system is clearly not academic at all.


Terri, pay attention dear! He said he wants to do a basic humanties degree in Poland in order to gain admission to a law degree in America later on.

Slavi, rather than focusing on the ease or otherwise of getting into a Polish college, maybe you should completely rethink your career plans. Dominic is right in what he says about studies in Poland. And to be honest, cheap options are always cheap for a reason. The money you save by studying in Poland will not pay off in the long term. Bear in mind that if you later change your mind about law, a degree in International Relations is absolutely useless. It qualifies for you nothing. It's the kind of degree that in Europe gets you a job as a trainee Manager with a supermarket chain, or a basic administrative role in an office.

Why do you want to become a lawyer? The truth is that if you're not academic and you certainly don't appear to be, you will struggle terribly with the work load of a law degree. Is there anything else that appeals to you? I would say, look more closely at your options at home first. I don't know much about the American higher education system but aren't there ways of taking courses gradually/part time and building up your points towards a degree? That might be more manageable for you and is a more flexible route. You could possibly combine it with a job.

Life / Why are Muslims seen as a deterrent to Poland? [564]


Yes, we saw a touch of that when I was teaching Muslim kids in Ireland. There was a three year old girl who was constantly saying 'haram', making hideous faces and pointing to other children's toys such as Barbie dolls or pencil cases with Dora the Explorer! I mean what one can find objectionable in Dora, I don't know. But anyway I simply told the mother that it had to stop, can't have her upsetting other children etc. And in fairness the mother apologised. But as the other teachers pointed out, where does a three year old get such an idea from, if not from her parents and home environment.

I also taught a little girl of about seven in a mixed class of boys and girls who wouldn't hold hands in games, like Ring a Rosy with any of the boys. I think she was Libyan if I remember correctly and her father wore the full gear if you get my drift, never saw him in Western clothes. He was doing a PHD and was only in Ireland until he completed his studies. She said her father had told her she must never touch any of the boys and that she was not allowed to play with them in the school yard in case they accidentally made contact. I spoke to her father and told him that although I wouldn't assign her a male partner in games, I couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't accidentally encounter one during the course of PE and I wasn't prepared to oversee it either. We had a bit of an argument about it but I told him that it wasn't my role as her teacher to uphold her family's religious beliefs, that it was a Catholic school and the religion followed was Catholicism, not Islam. I wasn't prepared to disrupt classes in any way to accomodate that.

The other time when I felt myself getting impatient was when I was handing out sweetie treats (yes I'm not a complete monster :)) and the Muslim kids would be peering at them suspiciously and then asking me about the ingredients in case there was any pork fat in them in the form of gelling agents. Occasionally they would refuse them 'just in case', ah well more for the Christians so some good came out of it :D

Language / How long to to learn Polish? In hours? [64]



There are plenty of people who couldn't do that in their own native language let alone in a foreign one! A fact that never seems to strike people when learning a second language is that if you don't have a wide vocabulary and aren't especially erudite in your own tongue, you're unlikely to achieve stunning, idiomatic and richly expressive fluency in a second language. So I think there's a point at which people should be satisified with what they've achieved. As you say, it's about expectations. One person's basic is another person's advanced.

Life / Why are Muslims seen as a deterrent to Poland? [564]


Maf do bear in mind that I come from a very Catholic country and taught in Catholic schools and I don't know anyone under the age of eighty who believes God made the world in a few days.


Not so much mythical perhaps as symbolic and allegoric. The Bible is really a collection of early literature.


Yes, those are the Bible belt ones I referred to.


Notty was saying that Christians believe (as if it's a general principle of the faith) that the earth is less than 4,000 years old. Now that's a branch of Creationism within itself, the Young Earth society and it's considered by mainstream Christians to be way out there and really cuckoo.


You're right. That's the crucial difference between Christianity and Islam.

Life / Why are Muslims seen as a deterrent to Poland? [564]

As far as Creationism within Christianity goes, there is no requirement within the Catholic or Anglican faith at any rate that congregants must accept a literal interpretation of the Bible, it's entirely up to oneself and as Maf says most Christians reject Creationism. When I was teaching I remember being very startled when an Algerian Muslim lady whose child I was teaching, made some passing comment about all of the peoples of the world sharing common ancestry because of Adam and Eve. I had never heard such a thing from a Catholic. What made it startling was that she was a very modern, educated, Western type of woman, jeans and t-shirts, no head coverings, a very moderate Muslim.


I do know about it. I spent fourteen years in a Catholic school. I know he rested on the seventh but he kept alert just in case..........

Regardless of your dear Babcia, it's not the norm amongst the wider Christian community.

Life / Why are Muslims seen as a deterrent to Poland? [564]

No, you've put your great gallumphing foot in it again. Stop backtracking. You said:


That is a lie.Christians do not believe that. Some Christians believe it and only a small number at that.
You don't need to tell me about educated, 'normal' Muslims, I've known plenty of them.

Life / Why are Muslims seen as a deterrent to Poland? [564]

Notty is your ignorance really so boundless? Creationists child, Creationists, not Christians. You do understand what a Christian is don't you. The word encompasses followers of all religions which accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Look up Georges LeMaitre the Catholic priest/scientist who first proposed the Big Bang theory. Einstein was present at its first airing and declared it 'beautiful'. The majority of Christians nowadays other than a few weird fundamentalist Bible Belt types in the USA, do not believe that Himself Upstairs created the world in seven days, nor that the world is only 4,000 years old. Where do you get these ideas from???

Feedback / Is it Possible to Get Permanently Banned From the Polish Forum ? [27]

Yes but to be fair, he's also offered to cook me an omelette and hash browns. Whenever Johnny is around I keep the salt cellar handy if you get my drift - God knows what state my blood pressure is in at this stage:) I don't mind Johnny trolling tough old nuts like Delph and you who are well able to repel all boarders or cheeky upstarts like Notty but I don't like to see members having a go at 'innocents' like that poor Japanese girl who was just trying to share a bit about Japanese culture and had her words twisted and thrown back at her in a most unpleasant fashion.

As to permanent bans, yes I suppose it's possible to officially ban someone for life, but it can only be theoretical because as others say the banned person can rejoin with a different IP or whatever the techincal malarkey is.

Love / How much Polish guy cares about ladys' age? I'm from Japan. [32]

Johnny, why are you being so nasty? I'm disappointed in you. You often criticise other people on this forum for attacking newcomers and chasing them away and now you're doing exactly the same thing yourself. Selena sounds like a nice, genuine young woman and she's just trying to have a bit of an exchange of information about Japanese and Polish culture. As for why her first marriage broke up that's most certainly none of your 'beeswax'.

From what I understand of Japanese culture she speaks the truth. Japanese women are expected to be compliant and somewhat doll-like. For men, work comes before family and not because they want to provide for lazy women, but because material success and status within the company is more important than human relationships. And Johnny, Japanese business men have a well renowned reputation for enjoying the services of upmarket prostitutes as part of their business perks. They're not lily white by an means.


No I wouldn't say that. Boys and girls are equally valued (although of course it may vary from family to family but it's not a cultural norm that boys are considered more important). However Polish mothers and grandmothers are very attentive to children of both sexes, so when the boys grow up it tends to result in men who expect the same degree of attention to their comforts, from their wives/girlfriends, that they would get from a doting grandmother!

Life / Winter clothing what to buy in Poland [5]

Testuser, don't spend too much money on winter clothes as there's really only a few weeks of it left. It's just not worth paying for a down jacket at this point. About eight weeks from now the temp will be getting up towards 20 degrees. Probably still a bit chilly if you're from India though! But yes, layering is the way to go. If you're talking 600zł, you will struggle to get all the items you mention at that price in any kind of good quality. I would ditch the jacket plans and go for the best shoes you can afford. Then save up for the jacket for next winter if you're planning to stay that long and get a good one. In the meantime get yourself a few layers of things that you can discard as the weather gets warmer and pile back on when it's chilly.

As for where to buy, if you're on a tight budget it's always worth trying the Targowisko/Bazar outdoor market places. The quality of a lot of their stuff is just as good as the cheaper clothes shops and if you only want to wear it for a single season it should be fine. There's also the hipermarkets like Auchan and Carrefour for cheapish jackets. Their quality is very variable, some of their stuff is really raggy and rubbishy but some is ok. You can always try TK Maxx. You often get end of the line good quality stuff being sold off cheaply there and finally the Dutch chain store C&A. Reasonable quality, reasonable prices, and always a few bargains. Good luck and happy shopping!

History / Seeking details of Polish Soldier - Carol Biscupec/Biskupec [7]

The British forces service records for Poles who served in WWII are held by the UK Ministry of Defence. (However they are in the process of transferring them to the Polish state. This will take a long time and are not likely to be available to the public in Poland for several years.) Although the MOD can do a search for you, you need to have the full name, date of birth and service number of the deceased so I'm afraid it's of no use to you.

However I did a quick search here using the variants of the name you provided and didn't turn up anything:
forces-war-records.co.uk/units/4981/royal-engineers

Sorry not to be of more help :(

Language / About? - Polish Grammar; worried about the bill - martwi się rachunkiem. Instrumental case [9]

Sophaloaf you can't translate literally word for word from English to Polish. In this sentence the change of the noun 'rachunek' to rachunkiem indicates the 'about' if you understand me.

Love / How much Polish guy cares about ladys' age? I'm from Japan. [32]

Yes Selena, complaining is just a cultural thing very common in Poland. Men and women both do it. It can be hard to deal with if you are a cheerful, optimistic type of person yourself. You need to watch out that you don't end up joining in! Try not to get sucked into the Moaning Michael/Minnie syndrome and after a while your new boyfriend (Oh how sweet!) may take a leaf from your book and become less of a complainer.


Now this is definitely an issue with Polish men. It may be changing now, but any guy in his thirties like yours, will have been brought up in the traditional Polish style where boys are petted and cossetted and girls are pretty much trained to wait on them hand and foot. My own husband for example told me that in his family, after meals, the boys would help to clear the table and bring the dishes to the kitchen, then their sister would help the mother with the dishes while the boys had a nap!! They were trained by their mother and grandmother to lie down after eating and rest. But this wasn't considered necessary for girls, no their digestions must be different because they can go straight to the sink and do a bit of work on a full stomach, but not the boys :))

Another example would be that it was quite common when they were teenagers for the girls in the house to prepare snacks and meals for the boys. My husband remembers once being round at a friend's house and they were just hanging out and they were hungry. So his friend's sister and her friend cooked them a meal. They didn't eat anything themselves, just cooked for the boys. Now I'm Irish and let me tell you, you wouldnt' find an Irish girl doing that. The boys rustle up their own snacks. He says that if there were females in the house it was pretty much expected that they would stop whatever they were doing themselves to feed the men.

Another thing is that Polish mothers fuss over their childrens' health a great deal. The smallest sniff and they're kept home from school. This carries on when they grow up and if they have a bit of a sore throat or a cold they'll make quite a fuss over it and may have a few days of work.

You could sum it up by saying that Polish women are quite domesticated and Polish men expect them to be. Roles are quite traditional in Polish relationships, woman cooks, keeps the house spotlessly clean and tidy, man expects her to maintain those standards even if she's working outside the home. Men don't generally do things like dishes or vacuming but is very willing to carry heavy shopping, take out the rubbish/trash, mow the lawn, do the DIY and home improvements, any heavy work basically, they expect to do it and they're happy to do it. Polish men tend to be good fathers, very interested in spending time with their kids and actively enjoy spending time doing things together as a family. One great thing about Polish men is that they seem to actually enjoy shopping with their ladies. They're incredibly patient and will wait for hours outside changing rooms, walk for miles carrying bags and take a genuine interest in everything. You just need to keep them fed and watered. The way to a Polish man's heart is definitely through his stomach!

News / Should Poland's taxpayer money be used to finance illegal theatre productions? [53]



Do you know what you should do? Take those ideas and see if you can get them staged/produced by anyone, anywhere and then you'll have your answer. If you're prosecuted you'll know that they don't come within the bounds of artistic freedom.

Love / Are girls aggressive to chase men in Poland? [13]

Well Magadalena, don't assume that Polish men don't play around! Many will take a bit on the side if they can get it but they are less likely than a 'Western' man to leave their wife and kids for another woman. But marriages in Poland break up of course and there are plenty of divorces.

Love / Are girls aggressive to chase men in Poland? [13]

I wouldn't say Polish girls are aggressive but they take a business-like approach to relationships and they don't waste time faffing around with a guy who won't formally commit. If they've been going out with a guy for more than two years, they expect to see an engagement ring and if it doesn't materialize they will move on even if they love him. Most of them want to be married before the age of thirty and prefer to have their children early. A man's ability to contribute financially is very important to them. Head usually rules the heart for Polish women.

News / Should Poland's taxpayer money be used to finance illegal theatre productions? [53]


But not within a fictitious context. Calling for the assassination of a politician by standing up on a soap box is an offence but depending on the person doing it, even that may simply be downgraded to a public order offence, rather than incitement to murder.


So in that case, hard core pornographic magazines and movies shouldn't be for sale in Poland, nor should there be sex shops and Gabinet Eroticzny with large signage declaring their purpose. I don't know many observant Catholics who aren't offended by such things and remember that these things are clearly visible to children and we all have to see them, we don't have a choice in the matter. Plays, books etc are a matter of choice. One doesn't normally go to see a play without finding out a bit about it first and if, when you get there, you find that it offends you, you're free to leave. Quite frankly it boils down to common sense and people need to exercise that for themselves.


Empty waffle. Give an example. I'll help you out. I'm a producer who wants to stage a play about a young Catholic homosexual man struggling to come to terms with being gay. I go to the censorship board with it and they tell me it's offensive to Catholics, but you can stage it if his religion isn't mentioned, just tweak the script a bit to take the religious element out of it. But, we reply, it's the whole point of the play, the struggle between his sincere religious beliefs and his sexuality, his love of God which is deep and sincere and his confusion as to why God should have given him this cross to bear etc etc. No, says the censorship board, we have to respect the sensibilites and taboos of the majority of people of this country, Poland is still a Catholic country etc. Or imagine it's a play about domestic abuse. The man is a 'good Catholic', in church every Sunday and active in the parish but he beats his wife. No says the censorship board, you can't show a Catholic beating his wife.

However, I see no reason why theatres shouldn't have some kind of warning system on their posters and advertising material in the same way as TV programmes, 'this play contains scenes which some people may find disturbing or may offend religious sensibilities'. That way nobody will waste money on a ticket or be offended.

As far as films go there is already an adequate method of dealing with that, by grading the suitability according to age.

Then we move on to printed material. If you're going to introduce new censorship laws for plays, then you need to also control what people write. That means monitoring books and newspapers..........you're basically talking about a return to Poland in the Communist era and a far greater waste of taxpayer's money.

Love / How do I find out if someone is a bigamist? [20]

Here's an interesting case of bigamy involving a Latvian woman who married bigamously in Ireland - 100 euro fine and was given six months to pay it - not too bad considering the offence carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

thejournal.ie/bigamy-limerick-court-3127863-Dec2016

I presume that the man mentioned by the OP would have to be prosecuted in Poland as that's where the alleged offence took place.