Work / How is the job opportunities in Poland for my competencies? I am delivering business coaching services. [9]

What would be the job opportunities for someone with your competencies in Iran if they don't speak any Persian?

Your opportunities in Poland will be similar...

Language / Declining a number. Polish declination grammar. [7]


You should probably contact the translator. I'm always glad when clients aske me about details I might have gotten wrong (it happens to all translators) and if the translator is a real professional they should be glad to help fix the problem.

Food / Powidła - Poland's versatile plum butter [19]

Actually powidła should do it, pronounced poh-VEE-dwah

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]


This is thin and unconvincing and an unsuccessful attempt to redirect the conversation. For shame!

That said, I seem to recall cases of "Eastern Europeans" overfishing at recreational locations (and or making and leaving large messes) and by "Eastern European" i mean Romany/Gyspsies. It seems that in the modern UK "Polish" is used as a cover term for anyone east of Germany and north of Greece.

I think the sign didn't come out of nowhere for no reason but it's terribly phrased.

Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]


Not my experience (I do remember once being corrected for saying tę książkę(!). What I've found more often is I'll discover some mistake that I've made for years (z przyjacielami) and ask people why they never corrected me and the answer is usually something like "well I understood.... and some Polish people say that sometimes"

Once someone said I come up with "strange constructions, understandable but strange"

Also IME people that refuse to speak Polish (even after you say that's your preference) are users just looking for free language class and I cut them out of my life and don't feel the lack...

Life / Pretending you don't speak Polish - Poles have a strong preference and love for English [18]


Warsaw (like any capital) is weird, try to move to another city. Where do you meet people, if you're hanging out with workish people and/or expats they just might expect English.

That said, I've almost never had that experience of people switching to English with me (unless we were introduced through an English speaker originally) and when it's happened I just stuck with Polish for a couple rounds and they give up. Some years ago I went to an office where I had been told that everybody was supposed to speak English all the time and found them speaking Polish (American boss was out) and did the same.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


I think it's a question of system of law, the constitution of a common law country will tend to be short (as in the US) but in a civil law country (Poland most of Europe) it has to be a lot longer and cover a lot of situations like are left out in common law as they're handled elsewhere. Also it has to be more.... changeable - and the longer and more involved the constitution (or basic law) and the easier it is to change the less relevance it has for citizens.

US citizens treat the constitution almost like a sacred text - hardly anyone in Poland cares about the Polish constitution at all....

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


the US constitution has similar provisions (though I wish the bill of rights were in the main body rather than ammendments). Interestingly the US constitution can only get bigger, once an ammendement is passed it's still part of the constitution even if it's revoked by a later part (so the 18th ammendment if still in the constituion even though it's repealed by the 21st)

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Rational democracy limits the will the majority from being implemented by balancing it with the rule of law (equal for everyone) and the idea of natural (god given if you prefer) rights.

If a majority voted to enslave a visible minority then rational democracy would set the vote aside as it violates the rights of the minority.

Language / "Co ty" - communication and expressions [26]


Here's the thing. It's often impossible to be polite in two cultures at the same time, because what's neutral or polite in one is rude in another.

I don't know much (almost nothing) about Swedish norms of politeness in language. But if the husband is in Sweden married to a Swedish woman then he needs to learn to be able to conform to Swedish standards (not necessarily all the time but he should be able to do so when needed). If the couple is in Poland then she needs to learn more about how Polish people interact.

If they're both somewhere else then they need to renegotiate how they communicate so that neither is feeling disrespected.

Language / "Co ty" - communication and expressions [26]


In Polish "pass the sugar" can actually sound more intimate than "can you pass me the sugar" which sounds as if you're speaking to a work acquaintance.

The Polish linguist Anna Wierzbicka wrote that plain imperatives are preferred and more polite in Polish than more elaborate expressions since the imperative "pass me the sugar" is a direct address and close recognition of the person you're talking to while "could you please pass the sugar" creates more distance.

What is rude in Polish is to use plain infinitives "cukier podać" is very condescending and rude.

Language / "Co ty" - communication and expressions [26]


Again, it's possible that Swedish ears would hear a neutral sentence as hostile (not saying that's the case, just that it's possible*). The best thing is to ask a native speaker or two of Polish who hear the husband in question as to whether he sounds hostile or dismissive.

Also it's very unlikely that this would be the only thing he does/says that indicates he thinks his wife is stupid. If he normally seems non-rude and this is the only thing then it just might be a verbal habit he has with no meaning. If it's part of an overall pattern then there's probably a problem that might need outside counselling to get at and solve.

*Germans often have problems in the US because their neutral intonation sounds rude to Americans...

Language / "Co ty" - communication and expressions [26]


For sure. It would be very weird if they were similar.

As a non-native speaker of Polish 'Co ty?' is one of those phrases where it's not the words, but the melody it's sung to that matter. It can be playful and affectionate or hostile and dismissive or just a kind of an empty answer when the person can't think of any other response.

I'd have to hear the 'co ty's in question to have any opinion on the intent of the speaker (and member the same intonation pattern can have different meanings in different languages)

When Polish people think you're wrong they let you know pretty directly but that doesn't mean they don't like you, friends can get in what look like pretty heated and hostile debates but it passes over pretty quickly and they don't hold grudges about it.

News / Beata Szydło - the best Polish politician, world's politicians could learn from her [80]

In the US Evangelical Christians (protestants) are the biggest Zionists overall more so than most Jews. Of course it's for different reasons since they're trying to actively fulfill biblical prophecy about Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


The worst of that is IINM they didn't even point out what was wrong (they didn't/couldn't point to specific things broadcast - they just didn't like the tone) Very dangerous precedent.

News / Beata Szydło - the best Polish politician, world's politicians could learn from her [80]

That's worrying because I really hate his self-righteous smugness and his daffy plan for a federalized United States of Europe (one seat at the UN? one olympiic team?)

I suspect that he would be a German JK an unreliable partner who's constantly trying to renegotiate more power for himself....

The only point of policy I agree with PiS about is the migrant refusal but I could also get behind a good dose of Schulzophobic hate....

News / Did George Soros want to destroy Poland with his economic shock therapy? [87]


Then why does he facilitate funneling those most likely to rebel and change things out of them?

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]

Technically the party leader, that's the PRL way.


Verdicts will be passed according to the correct political line of the party leader, comrade! A majority of Poles support the party leader's party line.

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


The theory is that Jewish comedians playing at tourist hotels in upstate New York state began them, transferring the old East European Jewish idea of Slavs as dumb horndogs with Poles standing in for any Slav.

Another is that these were old pan-ethnic jokes that had passed to different nationalities over the years and stuck with Poles after the 1920s immigration slowdown.

In communist times police jokes in Poland were very much like Polish jokes (some of them were identical) - IIRC in the USSR there were police and Armenian jokes but that might be mixed up with Radio Yerevan jokes.

News / Beata Szydło - the best Polish politician, world's politicians could learn from her [80]


Very astute. The thing that helps me understand modern politics more than anything else was my time years ago as a (moderate) fan of professional wrestling.

This is LK doing a face turn for the EU, he's hoping that Morawiecki can get himself over in Brussels and put him over too. He's assuming that the marks will go for it (PiS enthusiasts have lots of experience of sudden about faces). He's probably looking for a new main heel to take Tusk's place.

It's only confusing if you forget it's wrestling....

News / Beata Szydło - the best Polish politician, world's politicians could learn from her [80]


Both forms exist (I've actually heard włazidup more often) maybe it's you who don't know so much about Poland, ponimayesh?

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


I am glad to see we agree at least about that.

The support for PRL style government censorship by some here is very unsettling....

News / Beata Szydło - the best Polish politician, world's politicians could learn from her [80]


an 4ss licker, a kiss 4ss, an 4ss kisser would be the most common in the US. Slightly less crude would be 'brown noser" or "kiss up"

the best Polish expression is włazidup

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]

Poles don't want freedom of speech or freedom of the press! They're happy for the party leader to tell them what to think!

(for a supposed Polish patriot you make the country sound like a terrible, backwards place)

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Apparently announced today about last year. While PiS enthusiasts will probably cheer belligerently, apparently even some on the right wing are appalled at what is clearly media intimidation. If the media is completley polonized then it will be even easier to threaten....

newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/krrit-karze-tvn-najwieksza-kara-w-historii-iii-rp,artykuly,420324,1.html

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


It depends. One problem with Greece is that Greeks living outside the country cannot vote (despite the constitution saying they can - the parliament keeps preventing it). So elections are all about patronage and politicians don't have to take non-resident Greeks (who have wider experience) into account. that's at least one country where non-resident citizens could help things.

In Poland it's more a mixed bag as you get people with marginal knowledge of conditions on the ground doing dumb things like voting overwhelmingly for the neo-PRL party.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Yes they can, I don't know the specifics but they can and do vote in Polish national elections

polskatimes.pl/artykul/9040372,wybory-2015-miazdzace-zwyciestwo-pis-w-usa-i-kanadzie-jak-glosowala-polonia,id,t.html

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Did you live in the PRL? I know lots of people who did and who recognize the same old patterns coming back.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Okay, now you're coming across as being just as mentally disturbed as pedofile sex guy. You have an obsession that is unhealthy. Stop writing about migrants on this thread, it's unrelated to the return of PRL style rule of whoever's in office.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Did you read the link in #160 about Ziobro using his power as Minister of Justice to pursue a personal vendetta against someone who had already been found not guilty?

If not, read it and then comment about that rather than migrants (an important issue but really off topic in this thread).