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Posts by jonni  

Joined: 27 Nov 2007 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 9 Mar 2011
Threads: Total: 16 / In This Archive: 11
Posts: Total: 2475 / In This Archive: 1607 		From: Warszawa
Speaks Polish?: tak

Displayed posts: 1618 / page 39 of 54
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jonni   
27 Feb 2010
Life / COMBATING "POLACK" JOKES [460]

I've lived around Poles all my life and never heard any of these Polish jokes. Is it some sort of American thing?
jonni   
27 Feb 2010
History / Were these Polish people communists? [16]

The required reading list is outrageously long

And so it should be. Shame the stuff he took out was among the best of it.

I bet you have no present-day connection with secondary schooling, do you?

Actually....

The reading list was a cause celebre for luvvies ...

The intelligentsia were rightly outraged.
jonni   
27 Feb 2010
History / Were these Polish people communists? [16]

and was actually quite a good education minister

He wanted to reintroduce school uniforms which was the most sensible idea he had, but he'll always be remembered as the cretin who wanted to remove the Polish classic 'Ferdydurke', the only Polish novel of international repute, from the school curriculum.
jonni   
27 Feb 2010
UK, Ireland / Britain... What the Poles did for us. [444]

Jeez, what an ass, spouting phony-baloney self-aggrandizing blather

Can this person make a post without becoming coarse and abusive?
jonni   
26 Feb 2010
UK, Ireland / Britain... What the Poles did for us. [444]

simply passed on the craking formula to the Brits

Simply passed on. Interesting...

a) Was it the "craking formula" or something else?

b) Was it the same Enigma machine that they used before and during the war?

c) If Poland gave them the answers on a plate, why were thousands of people used each day to search for patterns and manually decrypt messages?

d) What proportion of Axis communications used Enigma and what proportion used Lorenz?

Bletchley Park were deciphering the messages by sheer intellect for a long long time, without any pre-war mathematical codes from Eastern Europe.

But at least a Brit invented computers as a result.
jonni   
25 Feb 2010
Life / Punk and Garage scene in Poland [35]

Forfour44

Thanks, I suspected as much. I googled it, and had a look at My Chemical Romance on youtube. Sounds like a cross between Echo and the Bunnymen and stadium rock.
jonni   
25 Feb 2010
Life / Punk and Garage scene in Poland [35]

and Emo in

Excuse a question from someone who was a punk first time round, long before most of today's punk musicians were born, but what is 'emo'?

Is it big in Poland?
jonni   
24 Feb 2010
History / Were these Polish people communists? [16]

They also weren't actively anti-communist like many of the forgotten heroes of that time.

Exactly. With a couple of exceptions they laid low while others spoke out and caught the flak.
jonni   
21 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

My post stating the fact was at 7.49. Your first post in this thread was 8 hours and 29 minutes later. You need put away whatever it is you're on.

Back again, and still rude.

No shhit. And which language isn't?

English far more so than most. But then you know that.

Sure. And up to 70% of those words in English are of Latin origin and Entered English via French.

A little less, but you're on the right track. Not that that affects anything. By the same logic you could talk about the quantity of Polish words that are of Russian origin.

Nobody can understand ever subtlety.

Some of us can.

And we don't have to look far for the examples. Just read your posts. But... on the seond thought you wouldn't get it anyway.

Rude again. You always do that when you're losing an argument, usually with Harry. Some would call it a cultural stereotype about Poles, however I understand you're in fact Canadian.

You are on drugs, puppy. Indeed, read the posts. Start with the first oe where you expressed your interest in Polish folklore

You mention drugs an awful lot. And shepherds. God alone knows why. Go back through the thread - really. No shepherds or Polish folklore, whatever that means.

That wasn't YOUR premise. It is a well know fact. Known a lot longer before you decided to join this threa

Actually it was, ever since you quoted that Black Country youtube clip. My point is that native speakers, real ones, regardless of regional accent are preferable to non-natives, even the ones who practise their accents. They never quite get it right.

And when he eventually did, he spoke with a Polish accent

I understand his accent reflected his travels.

Some Poles (and other non-native speakers of English) will do the job better than some native speakers of the language.

This however is very very rare. They are few and far between and never quite authentic.
jonni   
21 Feb 2010
Travel / Which cities in Poland are nice to visit [80]

i was in krakow 2 times and its not worth it.

Funny that it's one of Europe's main tourist cities.

Warsaw is great to visit, but Krakow is a much more beautiful city.
jonni   
21 Feb 2010
Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]

UK Maestro cards have had a hell of a time being accepted in Europe

That's what the UK Foreign Office is saying in its advice to travellers to PL. They also mention VISA, but my friend from Scotland who was here last week couldn't use her Maestro card. Luckily she'd brought a credit card too. The FO says that banks are working on the problem.
jonni   
21 Feb 2010
Travel / Credit / Debit Cards to use in Poland [37]

MBank doesnt let foreigners to open debit cards. Period.

If you're legally resident here, you should be able to use any retail bank.

But be careful if you're using a foreign account. There's a problem that Polish banks are trying to sort out at the moment. It involves debit cards from certain banks which are affiliated to Visa Electron and Maestro. Not all Visa Electron and Maestro, just some. If you have the wrong one, it won't be accepted in Poland. Credit cards are not affected, and not all Visa Electron and Maestro are affected.

Visitors should probably bring cash and make sure their credit card isn't at it's limit, just to be safe.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
History / "Poland's Concentration Camp" ?? [570]

It's easy to slander a man but let's face it, nobody here could stand up to him in a debate. He's been around the block and has trawled all the major archives. He would wipe the floor with anyone here which means that his views hold precedence over anyone here. He is streets ahead in a research sense.

The problem is that not only does he have no academic credentials, but his 'research' is deeply selective and carried out with the sole purpose of advancing his ideology. He's quite good at bombarding people with information with the aim of bamboozling them, but his arguments don't stand up to either logical reasoning or impartial examination. As various court cases have proven.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

The Avatar.

Isn't that some sort of 3D cartoon?

I managed to do so without showing any change in my opinion :)

Gradually actually, over several posts, when you realised you were not only wrong but indefensibly so.

That it does. But that is not all it takes.

It takes ability and training. Which native speaker Teachers necessarily have in order to do the job. The English language is highly nuanced - and with a vocabulary double that of French. A non-native can never understand evry subtlety. There is also the matter of being able to co-ordinate and manage courses as part of a wider picture.

So you have no idea about chess either? :)

Rude, rude. And wrong.

You asked me who I would pic as a teacher, a Podhale shepherd or Davies.

A shepherd? What shepherd? Read the post. Or maybe you're just being woolly.

I opted for Davies

As you were meant to. It would be alarming if you chose otherwise.

How is all that your assessment, but not mine?

A leading question, since my premise was right - that ability is more important than accent.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

You need to read more on Conrad.

Strange you think that. Most people wouldn't.

He had some guidance indeed, but it was a guy. Keep on looking.

Nothing new to me. What is evidently new to you is his wife's influence and role. In this respect he was not unique at that time.

On a few occassions I stressed the word "some". Read a few posts back. Of course by linking to a you tube flick I pointed out how SOME Brits talk. Those clips did not contain speech samples of ALL Brits in the areas in question.

I'm glad you've conceded, and accepted what I was saying.

Irrelevant to my argument in which I reject the idea that being a native speaker automatically makes you a better material for a TEF than ever single Pole.

Being a native certainly gives a pretty good headstart.

You offered what I accept as a fact I was unaware of.

Which I offered as an example to back up my assessment. Checkmate.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

That voice is accompanied by the voices of countless others Conrad came across in his life. That is called life's experience

Of course! But only one of those was a published female writer who was married to him. And corrected his English.

Not all native speakers of English will be better teachers of English. Some Poles teaching English will be better at it. I'm not sure how this is a generalization.

Naughty - you're creating a strawman. I called you on your examples., specifically the accent clip from youtube. "Not all natives" and "some Poles". is a whole different thing. The matter was that you were denying that tens of thousands of people living in the region in the map you posted can speak better English than a Polish person teaching it. Do you still think that?

But I'm glad you're coming round to my point of view.

The issue is not whether Brzezinski did or would teach, but whether he would be more suitable for the job than a native British punk with the vocabulary resources amounting to 5 words, 3 of them in deeply localized slang.

Interesting you mention punks. Answer these questions carefully please.

How many punks do you think work as teachers?
How many native speaker Teachers have a vocabulary of "5 words, 3 of them in deeply localized slang"
Would you prefer lessons from a teacher with post-graduate teaching qualifications and experience in teaching their own language or a foreign policy specialist from a different country?

My assessment was correct then.

Actually my assessment, but don't let facts get in the way of truth.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

Both of which are Conrad's.

Despite Jessie's voice being heard across his prose style...

Both are generalizations and both would be wrong.

Actually your example is a generalisation whereas mine stands up to logical reasoning. Look at the area. How many people live there? How many have strong local accents? How many are educated? Have you ever been to Solihull? Selly Oak? Chad Valley? Edgebaston? Do you think the people there sound like your youtube clip?

It's irrelevant what they want to do.

Hardly :-)))

There are plenty of people from the Black Country teaching EFL, though I've never heard (yet) that Zbigniew Brzezinski's been giving lessons.

The question is would Brummie be regarded a better choice for a TEFL than Brzezinski. I'd vote for the latter.

Depends on their pedagogical skills - their ability to teach a language. Since you've cited Brzezinski as an example, perhaps you can illuminate us on the matter of his teaching skills as an EFL teacher.

In general I'd feel safer with Davies. His Polish sounds impressive.

He used to teach A Level Polish, to ethnic Poles in London.

In many instances native Poles don't come even close to understanding what some Gorale (the Podhale sheherds) say.

Me too. And I know plenty of Polish people here in Warsaw who speak very coarse and regional Polish.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

Actually he didn't. His spoken English was terrible.

Again, read the post. I said "no doubt his English was beautiful". Nothing about good or bad, let alone excellent or terrible. Sometimes terrible English spoken by foreigners can be beautiful. I've heard Poles say that about Polish too.

How would you suggest it would be possible for the English native speakers to edit Conrad's works so that they were capable of bringing "a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature"?

Again, read the post.

You are confusing prose style with literary themes.

t the sweeping generalization of "native speakers of English speak better English" is true.

A much bigger generalisation to say they don't. In the area on the map in your post you'll find tens of thousands of people who speak better English than the best of those non-natives who are often teaching it.

What makes you think that either the Brummie speaker in your youtube clip of a dialect example or Zbigniew Brzezinski (a very odd and artificial comparison) are a) qualified or b) willing to teach?

And who'd be better teaching Polish, a gorale from the mountains with a thick accent and dialect transference or Norman Davies?
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

So we're closer to agreeing that, as much as some East Enders are capable of speaking proper English, so are some Poles.

Conrad no doubt spoke beautiful English. Iris Murdoch no doubt spoke better English. But she wouldn't be so arrogant as to allow an unedited book to be printed. I speak excellent Polish, but when I write something (sadly not in the league of Conrad or Murdoch) I make damn sure it's edited for both content and style.

Some would say that 'East End English' is"proper English".

Conrad's wife Jessie (an author herself - albeit a cookery book and memoirs) can be heard across his prose. Unless you're suggesting he helped with her books?

all of them are lying peacefully in my library...and many more

Have a look at a good feminist critique - Conradiana is increasingly focusing on this aspect.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

If you are trying to make a point I am afraid you have failed

Hardly.

Check (or "check out") Joseph Conrad - A Psychoanalytic Biography: By Bernard C. Meyer, Princeton University Press.

Try to edit, even heavily, some prose produced by East Enders and see what kind of impact on English literature they would have.

Dickens came from pretty near the East End.

I didn't realize she had the same experience as he did

Read the post beforecommenting. Churchill onece said that he'd one day like to meet a Pole who doesn't jump to conclusions. Jessie's prose style. Josef's themes and plots.

My post was clear enough. Perhaps you just had the wrong English teacher.

So now we know the English speak better Polish than Poles :)

A bizarre comment. Though doubtless some do.

a native Pole

We were talking, as I remember, about native speakers.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Life / Ripped Off in Poland? - Expose here: [185]

Maybe I should group all the user names from this household together, so members can tell that they are from one household?

It would sort out confusion.
jonni   
20 Feb 2010
Work / Why Poland employers are afraid of hiring any foreign nationals? [171]

Jozef Konrad Korzeniowski - one of the giants of the literature in the English language in which he wrote.

Conrad was very heavily edited, and many many passages in his works are suspiciously similar to his wife Jessie's prose style. The ideas, themes and plots were certainly his but behind most great men there is often a great (and uncredited) woman.

And one of the greatest regrets of his life was that his ability with the Polish language declined over the years.

PS Most foreign teachers in Poland are just drop outs who couldn't find work in there own country.

God alone knows what kind of native-speaker Teachers you've met. Most here are professional.

I laughed, it was also an arrogant statement to say a non native is better than a native...Only a Pole would make such a statement.

Some of them indeed do. Some Polish 'teachers' of English barely speak the language themselves and pass on the most appalling mistakes to their students who take it as gospel.

the marvelous literature in the English language authored by a Pole.

And his English wife.

Barely speaks Polish though.

Then he's a native speaker of English rather than Polish.
jonni   
16 Feb 2010
Life / Why do you choose to stay in Poland, why not other country? [152]

Largely because of my wife. If I wasn't with her, I'd likely be doing some other profitable work in Scotland.

I know what you mean, and a thinking about leaving PL at the moment. I thought I'd probably be here for life.

Ten years is either a long time or a short time to be somewhere, depending how you look at it. A few things work and business related have been going wrong, personally too and I'll have to make decisions sooner or later - and the grass is of course always greener. But there's something about Warsaw that keeps people here like a magnet.