News / Polish-German Reconcilliation Seminar [491]

I think that raprochement is critical, no matter the costs! This ongoing hostility between the two countries has got to thaw out at some point, so why not let it be sooner rather than later?

Forgiveness needn't mean forgetfulness. If Israel is willing to let bygones be bygones in terms of loosening various restrictions against German products, not to mention German classical music (Wagner), what's Poland's excuse?

It's always tough to bury the hatchet.

Language / Inanimate vs animate nouns in Polish language [16]

Polish has something called "virile/masculine animate nouns", which are confined to male beings vs. "masculine inanimate nouns". confined to masculine-gender objects, as opposed to "masculine animate nouns", e.g. animals etc. which are not human, while still masculine, e.g. "pies" (dog) etc..

Quite involved at that:-)

Study / Good university to study at in Poland (non-EU citizen) [7]

Having had occasion while staying in various European countries to sit in on any number of courses for foreigners, taught typically in what passes these days for "international English", I'd have to side with DominicB on this one:-)

In my experience, even as late as the early part of the millenium, the scenario of a German, Pole, Spaniard, Italian etc. as non-native English speakers (no matter how competent in their field) instructing other non-native speakers of English in a language other than their own, is often rather farcical, whereby neither group completely understands the other either thoroughly or accurately, despite the best of intentions on either side!

Now, I won't say it's a rip off exactly, only, that it might not be the best use of one's money.

Language / Wiadomości vs Aktualności [4]

wiadomosci may also be translated as "messages, such as an e-mail communication the way it's used here on PF

Study / Looking for good bilingual (Polish/English) primary school in Warsaw [8]

Make sure, if you can, that the teachers who instruct in Polish and/or English are ideally native to the language in which they are teaching, particularly Polish:-)

An authentic bilingual "native speaker" would of course be optimal, but such beings are rare as jewels, trust me!

Language / When to use celownik (dative) in Polish language? [11]

@Undercover, you're correct about that! Most Americans especially wouldn't know how to define a tense to some clueless foreigner if their life depended on it!

Language / Melody of Polish and listening skills [8]

Ooohhh, but watch the false friends! Some might prove fatal, such as Polish "szukac" vs. the Czech sound-alike cognate (not a calque though by any meansLOL), Polish "staly" vs. Czech "staly" etc...

:-)

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

Kaprys is quite right. Most people, even in their native language, will typically skim a page of text, not read every single word. Furthermore, the meaning of a word in any language can sometimes be easily gleaned through context, that is, how the word is used in the sentence:-) Not always, of course. For instance, a description of a house reads "To piekny, ale ogromny budynek", you might well recognize "piekny" (beautiful), probably "budynek" as well, though "ogromny" could indeed throw one for a loop. Here of course, a solid dictionary should always be on hand. However, if for instance, you're reading a basic dialogue between two people and it's already clear from the context that they are very angry at one another, whereupon one calls the other "gowniarz", without translating or looking it up, it's doubtless crystal clear what the other chap said.

Language / When to use celownik (dative) in Polish language? [11]

Wow, sounds almost like German! The average moderately educated person doesn't usually know from cases or case names per se, but rather from numbers, first case, second case, sometimes also "Who"? vs. "Whom"? etc.

:-)

Didn't realize it was nearly the same for Polish. Thanks there, Maf.

Po polsku / Amerykańskie chamstwo? [133]

"Polska jest owiele wiecej tradycyjnym krajem, jak n.p. Ameryka i Niemcy."

?? Ale nie mozesz tych ludzi porowniac! Dzisiejsza Amerika jest bardzo tradycyjnym krajem a Niemcy sa jednej stroni takze konserwatywnym spolczenstwem, drugiej stroni walcza przeciw tradycyjnim wartosciom!!

Ameryka i Niemcy sa moim zdaniem calkowicie innymi krajami, dirk, nie zgadzam sie.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

Graded primers with exercises and even vocabulary (either translated or defined in the target language) following each chapter read are often a good source of learning, at least they were for me.

@DominicB, clearly the fault lies with the expectations of the teacher rather than the level of the student:-) To be sure, German Romanticism for instance, will be a tough sell for ghetto kids coming directly from the slums to the classroom, no argument there! On the other hand, as the trite saying goes, you've got to start somwhere or any subject, be it cost accounting, foreign languages or literature will NEVER be learned.

Language / Polish participles and gerund? [3]

Polish has chiefly only one extant "past tense" (czas przeszly), "byc" < "byl(a)", "bylismy", "miec" < "mial(em/am)" etc.., the past participle being formed by adding any one of a number of such endings.

What Polish though lacks in terms of tenses compared with English or French, she more than compensates for in a wealth of "verbal aspects", far too complex a subject to summarize right here and now.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

Granted, Dominic! However in your scenario, clearly it was the TEACHERS who anesthetized and robbed you of the love of learning, NOT the material itself.

You, the students, couldn't necessarily be to blame either, as it's the instructor after all who sets the tone of the class and engenders respect for the written word.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

Perhaps, DominicB.

I would like to add though, that your reaction is typical of the way in which anything classic aka pre-1960, has been demonized and made to seem uninteresting!

This is all liberal bilge and part of this persistent, if insidious, myth that anything which smacks of bourgeoise convention and standard, is somehow "over the hill", even worse (heaven forbid), "irrelevant" and ready for the junk pile!!

When I was attending an average US high school, we were all encouraged to develop a literate vocabulary, be it in English, French, German or Spanish.

Just because something's new, doesn't necessarily mean that it's good.

Thinking people learned to reject much of what was considered gospel of the Woodstock, "Folky" Generation:-)

Language / Melody of Polish and listening skills [8]

I think though, from my dalliances with Czech, that Polish may well be the language with MORE vowels! For a long time, I thought that no language could beat Polish for tongue twisters, that is, until I discovered Czech:-)

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

Many thanks, Jaskier! Apologize for the silly typo:-)

@Paulina, your being a native Polish speaker, I certainly wouldn't contradict your totally valid opinion regarding Orzeszkowa. However, often times in a given language, slightly older texts provide a richness of vocabulary usually not found, certainly in contemporary writing. The latter is a hasty generalization, I will admit, and yet, as with movies, the hyper-new stuff is so lacking in content compared with earlier work, that merely to learn contemporary language at the expense of developing a larger vocabulary, seems a waste of time. As long as this is not done at the exclusion of "classic" fiction, for instance, I certainly would have no problem reading both a modern author such as Roziewicz or Mrozek alongside a 19. century writer, such as Orzeszkowa or Sienkiewicz.

In English as well, I'm sure (having noticed your truly excellent written English!), that reading Mark Twain's novels in addition to his essays doubtless affords both the native English as well as Polish learner of English the opportunity of absorbing first-class literature. Hemingway, John O'Hara and similar short-story writers wrote great narratives, but for someone from Poland, say, learning English from present-day Harlequin romance fiction, and the like, reading these stories on generally such a low level, might as well not read anything.

Hate to come across as the perennial snob, but I think it's always better to shoot a bit higher than too low.

Language / Melody of Polish and listening skills [8]

Poles often sound almost as though they're chirping when the speak. Conversely, this monotonic "bam-bam-bam..." tends to spill over into their English, with almost zero exceptions in my experience.

As the accent is nearly always on the primary vs. the penultimate or even ultimate syllable (except where a noun is spoken in a declined form, e.g. "Ogrod" as opposed to "oGRODu"), it lends the language a kind of jerky or mechanical quality when spoken naturally by a native Polish speaker.

Personally, I find it all quite appealing, making the speaker sound as though they're considering what they're saying, rather than rapid-fire Spanish, for instance, which sounds to me like one long sentence that never stops.

Language / Easy texts to practice Polish sentences/reading/vocabulary? [33]

While it all depends entirely on your level, when I was still in the intermediate learning phase, my teacher assigned us several short stories by Elzbieta Orzeszkowa. Thoroughly enjoyable and with a wealth of literate vocabulary for someone already possessing a reading knowledge of Polish:-)

Language / The use of 'sobie' in Poland's language [16]

Thanks, Terri! Will have to simply continue my monastic immersion through native speaker examples in context until their usage becomes as clear to me as my mother tongue(s). Lord knows how long that'll take:-))

Language / Are Anglophones able to detect different Polish accents? [17]

Very likely, Wulkan. This was during the late '70's:-)

Language / The use of 'sobie' in Poland's language [16]

I too still often have doubts as to when I should use "sobie" vs. "sie" in a purely reflexive construction. After so many years, certain structure simply have begun to "sound right", such as "Ach, wyobrazisz SOBIE!" etc., yet I will frequently consult a grammar just to be certain:-)

Just ordered "Polnisch fuer Fortgeschrittene: Lehrbuch mit Uebungen" by Stanislaw Karolak and Danuta Wasilewska, so this ought to clear things up a little.
German, after all, like Polish, has rich use of the reflexive in daily conversation, whereas English doesn't to anywhere near the same degree.

Language / Are Anglophones able to detect different Polish accents? [17]

Years ago, my second Polish teacher from Krakow told me that nearly every Pole understands at least minimal Russian, while nobody dares to speak it:-)

News / Berlin terrorist attack -- Poland's ethnic homogeneity a true blessing [436]

DIrk diggler's opinion is, according to his post at least, that the Polish tech workforce has a high level of English. I was simply challenging that statement, based both on my long experience with Poles abroad (in Europe as well as in the States) as well as more conclusively the experience of colleagues who live in Poland and find the exact opposite to be true.

Language / Are Anglophones able to detect different Polish accents? [17]

@tlum,

Possible Russian influence there?

News / Berlin terrorist attack -- Poland's ethnic homogeneity a true blessing [436]

"..cheap high skill English-speaking labor..."

?? Are you sure, DIrk diggler? Most of those whom I know who visit Poland annually at least, would not share your opinion. Or did I misunderstand you? Did you mean the quality of the tradespeople's skill is high or their level of English?

Please explain for us slowpokes:-)

Language / Are Anglophones able to detect different Polish accents? [17]

Many thanks for your prompt replies, gang!

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

Glaswegians have an almost American-style "flat" 'a'-sound as in their pronunciation of "past", "half" etc., haven't they?

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

Northumbrian does, at least did, until recently (perhaps changed with the advent of social media) pronounce "there" as "thar" and evidenced numerous vestigial elements of much older English.

UK, Ireland / Are you able to hear the different English accents? [97]

Aha! There's the rub. You've tipped your hand this time, roz. Now we've come to the crux of the situation. It's an anti-establishment trend which resents anything that smacks of (G_d forbid) middle-class aka bourgeoise values or tradition.

:-)