Work / What's the average salary of a construction worker in Poland? [16]

if you are skilled (like a plumber) you can earn decent money (for Polish standards) - it's those who are less skilled (or who don't have enough equipmentor courage) who work for other people as hand who earn peanuts

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]

Harry

well the wikipedia entry on Herschel Grynszpan states that Nazis planned some actions against Jews before the assassination and used it as a convenient pretext but well who knows - Hitler was a mad guy after all

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


ok, maybe you are right, I never heard of it before

History / Why are Jews pestering Poland for "proper" WW2 monetary restitution/reparations? [750]


oh my Harry, where did you get that from - the part that it led to Kristalnacht?

News / Will the new National Stadium in Warsaw help build Poland's picture in the world? [13]


hehe

I wonder what will the Germans say when they will be made to drive through dust swept freshly tarmacked £ódź-Warszawa motorway - I guess youtube will be full of their videos :P - another Polnische Wirtschaft impulse

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


I must say they used to push kids quite a bit in Anglophone world - I am not sure I have heard the word limit before the age of 15


I must say they used to push kids quite a bit in Anglophone world - I am not sure I have heard the word limit before the age of 15


so that's how it works? - no intelectual input on the side of the helpdesk operator? - just reading through some yes/no scripted diagram? :P

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


oh, my - don't envy you - cleaners and painters don't speak much English - not enough to be able to provide instructions and advice to customers in computer field

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


actually I think todays' children have a lot trouble with simply focusing on abstarct things

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


I think that because of internet and TV children have a lot more trouble with working with abstract ideas - I am not up-to-date with current day teaching programmes but I hardly believe that basic geometry is not taught in grades 4 through 7 - now the quality of present day teaching (on average) may be a factor too - the discipline issues may affect the quality of teaching (it's all interconected it looks) (there were mostly no discipline issues back then when I was in elementary school)

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

Sidliste - I seriously doubt what you reminescence about is true - to be able to know what integrals are you first need to know what differentials are - and to be able to understand differentials you need to know what limit (limes) is - I doubt they teach (or taught) 12 year olds about limits in Britain (it takes time to master limits then differentials before you get to integrals) - oh and you need to actually know what mathematical function is - I think my first serious encounter with functions was in my 6th grade which is normally for 13 year olds in Poland

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

well, Lyzko, maybe he simply is a Swedish person - there is a strong Swedish minority in western Finland but I guess you are aware of it - I believe most of these people are bilingual (Swedish and Finnish)

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


you just happen to know the older generation Lyzko

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


heheh :) not really - just not all English titles get translated - American Pie, Terminator and many many others (the Polish meaning of 'terminator' word is completely different from the English meaning) - btw don't expect a Polish lektor to say 'The killing' in beautiful English (it would even sound unnatural for Polish audiences I can tell you)*-

*(Polish people are unaccustomed to situations where some letters are not pronounced - from my personal experience: I don't feel comfortable with pronouncing English words in the British non-rhotic accent when trying to explain things (including pronounciations) for Polish learners of English - that's why I pronounce them rhotic (more or less Irish-style 'cause I am not comfortable with teaching them American pronounciations - a bit of personal schizophrenia ;) )

it is a good point that you made that 'Zbrodnia' could have been already taken by some other title before ('Zbrodnia' is a good sounding title and it can also be the most accurate one)

Language / Community interpreting/public service interpreting in Poland [13]


you don't need ubiquitous community interpreters for such people - just occasional hiring of a necessary interpreter is needed (and I guess this is often the case that a Polish oficial body hires such a person) - btw those people are rarely English so ubiquitous English community interpreters would be of no help

News / Boom for food exports from Poland [17]

some culling of bisons is necessary - and there are individuals chosen for this - why not earn a couple of bucks by letting foreigners do what is necessary anyway


have seen one (siementaler cattle) near Krosno (SE Poland)

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


the thing is 'zabijanie' is not the same as killing in English - killing can have a couple of different translations - I would guess in this case 'zabójstwo' is the best one (but I don't know enough Danish to be sure about it) - there is also 'zabicie' - if you don't know what aspect (or meaning) of 'The killing' is meant in an English title you seek to go around it - and the result you have seen is an example of going around a difficult (non-ambiguous) translation by not translating the title ;) - (it might be that the translator actually translated from English and not Danish and was not aware of the Danish meaning of the title (I already stated that neither do I))

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

when we talk about schooling standards one also has to take into consideration that there is negative selection for the teaching positions - it's because teaching pays you so little in Poland (don't really know about the situation in England) (I mean many people who have the ability still won't follow teacher's profession because they cannot really provide for families working as a teacher)

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


no it's not

it has a very narrow semantic field connected with art activities in the streets, also political performances (a political rally is not 'happening' in Polish)

btw happening has been discussed here before (if you care to dig through the thread)


I can tell you that in the late 80's and early 90's 'fck you' was very en vogue among the youth and so was the accompaning gesture - it is no longer the case since at least 10 years - simply your average teenager never talks like that anymore

there was time the word 'cool' was the word of choice for many young people - I don't think 'cool' is cool anymore here

but those words that don't have Polish counterparts stay

I would say that a lot of English words now used in diverse fields will fall from use if there are good Polish counterparts - but some will stay (there is no good Polish counterpart of 'catering' for example)

I can give you one example of an English word adopted and the reasons - 'jumper' (as a removable connector between to metal pegs in electronics (like computers)) - one can argue that Polish 'złączka' will be perfectly fine - the thing is złączka can have a very broad meaning - a lot of different things can be called złączka even in the field electricity/electronics - and 'jumper' is used in very specific meaning of this typical connector/jumper you find in computers


Polish authorities once coined a beautiful term 'zwis męski' for 'krawat' (' a tie') - I wouldn't rely on authorities ;)

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


integrals where taught in classes with mathematical profile when I was in liceum but as far as I know they never were part of matura because differently profiled classes had no integrals - I think the levels of education have dropped since I was going to schools (less demanding porgrammes) - ah we also learned the basics of complex numbers in liceum

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


ha, no surprise - i was in Italy back in 1998 - in a small place (like 2000 people) - not a single person there could speak any communicative English - even the young library worker - he could speak French but not English - I would guess you would find a couple of older people who knew some German (former gastarbeiter) but sorry no English - even back then knowledge of English was much better in Poland (but perahps things have changed since in Italy)

btw I don't think Dutch language is the closest relative of English - grammar-wise Scanadinavian languages seem closer to English for me than the Dutch language (even Danish I 'jeg' sounds more English then Dutch 'ik') - if there is a language Dutch is closest it is German in my eyes (and ears) ( Gemeente Emden - Gemeinde Emden)

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


pal you conveniently omit the issue of how Danish (Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch) are similar to English - Danish grammar is I guess 70 per cent consistent with English grammar - then you get similarity of basic words (Vi er Vikinger - We are vikings) - now compare that with Polish which resembles the English language grammar wise in that that it has nouns, verbs, prepositions and tenses and that's mostly it

Genealogy / Franzcisic? Kunc. Zakopane? Born 1917? [5]


Franciszek


Kunc is a surname of German origin (Kunz) - it may have had polonized spelling (there were a couple of waves of German settlement in southern Poland in ages past and it resulted in many surnames of that kind) or it may have original German spelling

the best advice I can give you is to look for people who do such research professionally - they know which doors to knock at

also there must be Polish emigree authorities archives in the UK - contact the Polonia institutions

Travel / Predicting the Summer 2012 weather in Poland [6]


if you often visit long term animated forecast sites (for Europe - have no idea about other parts of the world) like this one:

wunderground.com/modelmaps/maps.asp?model=GFS&domain=EU

- you begin to understand that most of the time predtictions further than one week are not reliable - it happens sometimes (more often during summer) that even a two - three day forecasts can be wrong for a particular area - I have heard a good couple of long term forecasts proven completely false

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


much easier I would say - but I have met once a young Dutch person who had troubles understanding English (older Dutch people know much less English - I worked for a guy who knew German (just next to the German border) but he knew almost nil English) - if something can tell you how much easier is for the Dutch to learn German and English: I have been able to understand a lot of their conversations after reading a bit of a teach-yourself book and knowing English and German

btw there are a good couple German TV celebrities who are Dutch - they speak German with a slight Dutch accent

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


no Pam, it's not - I started learning English at the age of 13 and it was just private classes at first (English was not part of elementary school curriculum and elementary school was normally till you were 15)

maybe Stu is so apalled because he thinks gymnasium in Poland is the same as gymnasium in the Netherlands - you take the final exam in gymnasium when you're 16

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


yes - Latin and sometimes even Classic Greek (IIRC) are taught in high schools (gymnasiums) in the Netherlands - Latin is compulsory IIRC

Work / Working and living in ELBLAG as an expatriate [11]

it depends on rents very much - and I don't know the rent prices in Elbląg - 3000 PLN is enough for a single person I'd say but for a family with a nursery child hmm that really does not sound good

Law / Bank account in Poland which does not use SMS [13]


not all banks use that way - I have an inteligo.pl account (which is part of PKO BP) and I have got a plastic card with gum covered codes - there is some 40 codes on the card if you run out of the codes from your card before they send you a new card (I have received a new card after about 3 years but I still have spare codes on the old one) - the thing is you still need an adress in Poland (it can be your friends address though if you have friends you can trust)

but if you have such good friends in Poland you can actually still use the mBank acount - just leave (send) them your Polish simcard (and ask them to keep your phone number alive - it is not expensive)

Work / Working and living in ELBLAG as an expatriate [11]


very much doubt it - it's a small city

living in Gdańsk and working in Elbląg - it is possible from the commuting point of view but not very economical I'd say - not only will you be paying for gas (not much cheaper than in Belgium) but also rent in Gdańsk is more expensive - but it's true that your husband has greater chances of finding a job in Gdańsk - btw - if you really choose to live in Gdańsk you should definitely look for accomodation in the eastern part of the city (east of the Old Town) - traffic in Gdańsk itself can be really bad (you are not affected that much if you travel from eastern part of the city towards Elbląg)


about one hour (from the eastern part of Gdańsk) - count on 1 hour and a half in bad weather -

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


it sounds funny - mostly because fajtać in 'continental' Polish means something completely different