History / Slavic vs Germanic thinking.... and the philosophical differences [251]

Both, in fact. A civilization simply means that its members live in cities (Latin "civis") vs. in huts or the like. A culture denotes a particular collective, shared experience of language, belief and/or ritual common to that people:-)

History / Slavic vs Germanic thinking.... and the philosophical differences [251]

Come on, people! Let's stop being obstuse; Slavic "civilization" clearly exists. Russians are Slavs, therefore their culture comprises the foundations of Slavic civilization, as do the Poles, Slovenes, Czechs or Croats:-)

History / Slavic vs Germanic thinking.... and the philosophical differences [251]

There most certainly is, slush! Whaddya call the Romanov Dynasty, Tsar Peter The Great, Lermentov, Pushkin or Tschaikowsky etc.., West African???

News / Emigration from Poland (2.1m Poles are living abroad, most within Europe) [37]

Well, Marek, none of us is perfectLOL

News / Emigration from Poland (2.1m Poles are living abroad, most within Europe) [37]

Don't let us forget about the earlier "brain drain" from Poland to the States during and beginning in the later 60's, notably at the height of the Gomułka Era.

Language / Learning Polish and Russian simultaneously, Is this a good idea? [10]

Of course, it's usually a question of the learner's age. I, for instance, was raised basically bilingual German/English, NOT Polish, which I didn't actually "study" until age 30!!! I suppose had I started off, say even in grade school, with Polish, then Russian, I could in fact have learned them both fluently. Starting one's first Slavic language as an adult, PLUS balancing the workaday demands of marriage, family, work etc... in addition to the burden of yet a SECOND Slavic language on top of the one I still didn't know one hundred percent, was just a little more than I could handle at the time:-)

Language / Learning Polish and Russian simultaneously, Is this a good idea? [10]

Sonorous, French and German are two SEPARATE languages from within the identical Indo-European family, whereas Polish and Russian are closely RELATED languages from within the SAME family. French is Romance, German (like English!!) Germanic, whereas both Polish and Russian are Slavic:-)

Having tried to learn both simultaneously, with disastrous consequences for my Russian, I'd strongly advise against it. This though is only my point view!

Language / How to learn the pronunciation of the Polish language? [16]

As I've often said before on this forum, for me at any rate, watching films with POLISH or target language rather than source language subtitles can really help reinforce both pronunciation as well as comprehension. Pronunciation, because you can see what the characters are saying instead of only hearing them, comprehension, because you need some sort of native-language reference in the very beginning.

Just make sure that Polish-language subtitles don't become a crutch for flagging attention and speaking practice, 'cuz that's what happened in my case:-)

I should add here that Polish is more phonetic than Dutch, because every letter (even consonant cluster) is ALWAYS pronounced the same. Dutch, like English for that matter, has many 'half-sounds' plus schwas and Polish has none; you don't swallow letters in Polish!!

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

I guess what I was trying to say was simply that America is an ethnic, heterogeneous melting pot, a sort of Mulligan's stew of all races, creeds and ethnicities. Poland, Denmark, Germany to a major extent have instead a HOMOgeneous population stemming from essentially a single racial stock within the same Indo-European family, same with Italy, Ireland, etc..

That's all I meant:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

The Other, Polish ethnicity is ethnically Slavic, therefore completely Caucasian (baring any Khazak-Asian intermingling over the centuries)-:))

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

As far as I know, the original inhabitants of Poland were "racially" Lecithic ethnic populations, later intermarrying with their Germanic neighbors while at the same time retaining their original homogeneously "Slavic" vs. "Germanic", "Baltic", "Uralic" or "Latin" ur-culture:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

A BORROWED culture, an APPRENDED history....from Europe, later from the Pacific Rim! Our aboriginal culture we hopelessly and ruthlessly eliminated!!

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Not only isn't it "safe" to say, it's downright false as well!! The single "ethnicity" throughout the Americas is the Asian-derived Siberian immigrants known formerly as "Indians"LOL

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

"American" is a nationality, not an ethnicity (except of you mean Native, not European, American):-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

One man's mix is another's pedigree:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

I'm frankly not all that familiar with Wendish names, either personal or place:-) "-ski" pretty much stock Polish, possibly Russian as well. I can recognize Wendish, having travelled throughout the Eastern part of Germany and passing various bilingual town names.

Other than that, I wouldn't want to mislead you!

Life / Health system in Poland one of the worst in Europe: report [78]

For routine stuff, getting blood pressure checked, obtaining information about run-of-the-mill ailments without imagining the doctor's going to trick you just to get more money out of the deal (worse yet, NOT tell you about something because he WON'T make a goldmine off of you!!!), any place has got to be better than the US. If women's services are bad right here in NYC, how lacking must they be throughout the rest of the country??

Admittedly though, for more complicated, delicate procedures, involved plastic surgery etc..., the US probably still leads the way. Hey, I'm the first to admit it when my country does something right:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Indeed, my goof! So sorry:-)
At least I didn't confuse you with being a Silesian or a CashubLOL

History / The Legacy of "Mietek" Moczar [3]

One Jewish man I met from Warsaw actually had the gall to say, "Ah, well his girlfriend was Jewish!" "So was Franco's!", I added, but what difference did that make? They were both pretty rotten!!!"

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

MANY Eastern Germans as well as Eastern German towns have distinctly Slavic-sounding names, though in all likelihood Wendish, not Polish (such as in Lusatia), e.g. Bad Doberan etc.. Many place names with "Dob-" are obviously of Slavic origin. Polish, being an East Slavic language like Czech, Lecithic, Sorbian and Wendish, but UNlike South Slavic Bulgarian or Croatian, will resemble these types of names:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Well, it's in the eastern part of Germany, probably populated at one time by Sorbs or Wendish-speaking people who coexisted for centuries with ethnic German populations. I've been throughout all of Germany, that is, following the collapse of the Wall. Neustrelitz is fairly homogeneous in the sense of lacking the diversity of larger German towns or cities, notably Berlin, Leipzig or Dresden.

Eastern German place names tend to end in "-witz", "-litz", e.g. Prittwitz, Goerlitz, Koestritz and the like. Older Prussian settlements attest to Baltic elements, predating even Germanic territories!

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Makes sense:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

I once knew a gentleman from Berlin whose family name was "Doebberthin". Presumably, just a typical Slavic-sounding German surname from around the border area:-)

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

Pani Sadowska's somewhere in between:-)

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

No, but being that the language in question is Polish, it darn well shouldLOL

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

The most in-depth contemporary "brick-and-mortar" Polish grammar I've ever seen in English remains "Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar" - 2012 by Iwona Sadowska, both in paper as well as hardback, published (naturally!) by Routledge Press, London:-) An older reference grammar by Brooks from the 70's put out by Mouton, The Hague, is long since out of print, only in a hardcover edition, I believe, but a wee bit academic, therefore, less practical.

This newer one has umpteen charts and declension tables, though slightly less info on verbal aspects than I would've liked.

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

It takes time! Polish grammar is hardly intuitive, its idiocyncrasies not always transparent to natives much less foreigners:-)
Don't throw in the towel though! Slog on and review, review, REVIEW......

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

Endo-san,

I'd imagine Japanese food must be hot as all hell in Poland! You'll probably do great over there:-)
We wish you luck!

Powodzenia,

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

Do you mean you think it would be better to learn some of the local language "on site"??? I couldn't understand what you meant exactly:-)

Many foreigners who have difficulty with English might do well to hire an interpreter in their country to help them with the language a little. Only a suggestion.

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

Polish language classes are a dime-a-dozen in Warsaw. Definitely take advantage of them:-)