Work / Average monthly salary in Poland is around 1000 PLN (few hundred bucks). [387]

they do tip in London discos - a friend of mine used to work a couple of days a week in one more or less Polish disco in London and most of his income was from the tips (it was back in 2001)

Real Estate / What area to live in Wroclaw? I prefer to spend about 1600-1900 per month on renting. [19]

the thing is two different level divisions of the city bear a name Krzyki - the smaller one is in the south it originally was a village which was incorporated into Wrocław - actually the name is extended now to neighboring areas like Borek

Krzyki is also a name of one of borroughs of Wrocław and Krzyki borrough encompases the whole southeasterly Wrocław - ona a Wrocław city plan both names should appear presented differently (the name of the borrough most probably in big bold letters more or less in the center of it)

I have no idea where they have taken the name from - before the end of the IIWW Wrocław was German and Krzyki was called Krietern - I don't know here whether this is any meaningful name in German or it is some old Slavic germanized name (Wrocław was called Breslau by Germans - the name was simply a germanization of the former Slavic (actually one can say Polish) name.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzyki

edit: I have found out that Krietern means quarellers in German - so Krzyki is a variation on the German name as well as attempt to create a phonetically similar name - now a place name Krietern / quarellers still sounds pretty odd and I still think the origins of the name may originally be Slavic

btw krzyki can also mean cries (so not always screams - a better equiwalent of screams in Polish are wrzaski)

Language / More than one type of love (linguistically speaking) [11]

no - it will be difficult for you to render a good couple of so called 'soft' consonants (they are called palatalized linguistically - podniebienne - precisely those ś's, ć's, ź's and dź's

- note: some of the sounds of Polish language are written using two letters these are - sz (English equivalent sh), cz (English and spanish equivalent - ch), dż - (English equivalent is j in 'journey'), rz (sounds the same as 'ż' in speech - it equals the sound for the second 'g' in English word 'garage', also equals French 'j' sound), and there is also that 'dź' thing which lacks equivalents in Western European languages, both 'h' and 'ch' are used to denote a sound that is near the spanish 'x' in 'Xavier' (historically 'h' and 'ch' were different sounds in Polish) - oh I've forgotten about 'dz' (it is a non-palatalized version of 'dź' and so lacks Western European equivalents)

anyway it is a good idea to start learning Polish from the alphabet and basic phonetics - there are some 'stickies' in the General Polish language which have links to Polish learning resources on the web General Language - you can also use ivona.com to hear how Polish words are pronounced (you enter a Polish word into a box and you can choose to hear it pronounced by one of a couple of available voices - this is a free speech synthesizing software)

Language / More than one type of love (linguistically speaking) [11]

the sound for the 'n' with an 'accent' is very similar to the Spanish n with the wave (as in Espana), other 'accented' consonants are a different story

well you need to have a special keyboard layout installed to be able to use those Polish special characters (you can take them from a windows install disk for example) - you can switch between a couple of keyboard layouts (so you can have a Spanish layout, an English one and Polish one and switch between them) - the most popular Polish keyboard layout is 'Polish programmer's keyboard' which uses alt+'key' (alt+n = accented n) to obtain those special Polish characters

Work / JOB in Wroclaw for a Business Student fluent in ENGLISH/FRENCH/RUSSIAN/ROMANIAN [56]


you have to try and visit various companies in person (always leaving a CV) - the best thing is to see people responsible for hiring staff - many people in office jobs are not imaginative enough to extrapolate your CV only into any meaningful role you could have in their company - help their imagination by being there in person

you can consider teaching French and Russian privately untill you get a job that really suits your professional education and skill

I think it is adviseable for you to contact companies that trade with Romania extensively - i have read somewhere that companies that grow ornamental plants for sale here in Poland trade with Romania - but I guess you would have to have some decent command of Polish to work for them - or maybe you could get free lance jobs from them

try software developing companies too - some of them need to localize their products for Romanian markets

I don't know if it is still the case but some time ago (not so long) IBM were looking for people to work for them in an international help desk situated in Wrocław - they haven't offered extraodinary pay but it would be perfect for a start - same case wiht HP (aka Hewlett Packard)

then you have the whole sector of firms that deal with the post-Soviet markets (there are many more such firms in Warsaw or Kraków than in Wrocław though)

EDITI have found this Elena - maybe this is something for you - HP job in Wrocław:

hp.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl

or this:

hp.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl

well the links I posted don't work the way I thought they would - just visit their job search there are at least two postions there you might be interested in - hp.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobsearch.ftl?lang=en - they are both in Wrocław (one for French speaker the other for Romanian speaker)

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


so it's already actually a bubble

Genealogy / How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish? [127]


Many Jewish people changed their names to Polish sounding ones during the interbellum - especially those who wanted to blend into the general Polish society - many educated Jews did assimilate into the general Polish society (think Jan Brzechwa, Janusz Korczak)

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

I have read that Polish developers are getting deeper and deeper in debt - I think the prices will plummet in some year and a half/ 2 years

Language / word usage, obstawać/odrzucać [9]


proper Polish is actually czego Pan/i sobie życzy'?


co/czego byś chiał - can well be translated as what would you like as you put it - but it is informal register in Polish as pawian said - a waiter in Polish restaurant would however use much more formal register (Pan/Pani obligatory) and in this case 'czego Pan/Pani sobie życzy' is the best choice


jeszcze as as standalone word is translated as yet/still - but in a phrase 'coś jeszcze' it is often the conunterpart of English 'anything else' (Czy chciałby pan dodać coś jeszcze? Would you like to add anything/something else'

Language / word usage, obstawać/odrzucać [9]


odrzucać can have a couple of meanings - the 'literal' one (or rather etymological/gramatical) is to throw aside or throw away - but there is a 'figurative' meaning (perhaps a couple actually) as I have put before odrzucać propozycję - to decline an offer/proposal

remember: there is no one-on-one translating functions - one word in Polish can have a couple of meanings or uses which are translated as a couple of different words in English / the same is true in the opposite direction

so odmówić can be translated as to decline but it can also be sometimes translated as to refuse (in the same meaning in Polish) and can also have a completely different meaning in Polish that has nothing to do with to decline/refuse (odmówić modlitwę - to say a prayer)

NB - don't treat my words as absolute truth though

obstawać: obstawać does not mean to have an opinion (to have an opinion can be often translated as 'mieć zdanie') - obstawać przy swoim (literally more or less 'to stand by one's (resolve/opinion) = not to allow oneself to be swayed in his resolve/opinion

hope it is clear

Language / word usage, obstawać/odrzucać [9]

obstawać przy swoim - is to hold to one's view/opinion/resolution not exactly to argue (not to allow oneself to be swayed over)

odrzucać can well mean do decline with certain words - odrzucać ofertę/propozycję/zaloty - decline an offer/courting

Life / Poland's population predictions [59]

well actually he wouldn't have become a Polish citizen automatically even if his parents were legal permanent residents but weren't holding Polish citizenship - but the child would be entitled to naturalization then (as well as his parents)

I've just read parts of the newest nationality/citizenship law of 2010 - from what I gather all children born in Poland since April 2010 receive Polish citizenship automatically

strange

there may be further strange things that the new law implies

Life / Poland's population predictions [59]


because the Polish citizenship law is not governed by the 'rule of the land' (ius soli/prawo ziemi) but by the 'rule of blood' (ius sanguini/prawo krwi) unlike nationality law in the UK or the US

a child born to foreigners in Poland does not automatically receive Polish citizenship - (I guess this even applies when they are residents)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


no it is not - if only you are a bit skilled you can follow the whole conversations - I just watched a movie ('Phone booth' or something, with Collin Farrell

) and when I listened to closely I could here the whole lines of the English text - it does not take much actually to do it - and if you want the learn English it is of great help - another question is dubbing completely ruins natural sounds of the film set - you can easily follow these with the lektor - and then again dubbing actors (voice actors) actually alter the flavour of the conversations completely - I could not get used to the artificialness of their play in many dubbed films on the Czech TV


first of the original lines are not barely audible - they are mostly readily audible - it just takes some effort to hear the whole lines ignoring the lektor (and lektor is not very invasive actually and can be actually ignored with a little effort - if something is spoiling fun of watching a film for me it is the unnaturlaness of the sounds of dubbing and the destructrion it makes on the natural sound of the film


what Polish audiences mostly do watching a film with a lektor does not bother me in the slightest - for me it is a chance to see andhear a film in its natural sound - and as I already stated you can hear the whole conversations with just a little effort (perhaps it takes some exercise I don't know I just am able to follow the whole conversations in original language of the film)

for you Czechs can be light years ahead - it don't give a damn - I like the Polish way muuuuuuuch better and so do the most of Polish TV audiences (according to studies made by Polish TVs)

and if you can follow the whole conversations in say original English (like I can) it means you also hear original male and female voices

well as for 'the quality' product - for me the Polish way is the quality product - not the dubb-all - after listening to real Arnold Schwarzenger you simply cringe when you hear some German or Czech idiot dub him

and well I don't think I am the only person to able to follow the whole original lines and sounds of a film voice-overed by a lektor - ask around here - maybe make a poll and you will find more people can do that - if this is not what you can, well?


yes - it is a valid point - some station overexploit some lektors to the point of absurdity but not TVP channels as far as I can tell - and there are better and worse lektors too, there are lektors with better voices and better skill in interpretation and there are worse in the former or the latter or both

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

while I valued the Czech dubbing for a change I still think the Polish way is the better thing - for a couple of reasons:

- you get to hear the real voices of actors - I doubt most Czechs know the voice of De Niro, Brad Pitt et al.
- you get to hear real English, real accents, real sounds of the whole film (you soon enough learn to not get distracted to much by the speaker's voice - it is always delayed a bit in reltation to the actors' lines which also helps to get hold of English conversations (or any other language)

- the speaker/voiceover is much better than the undertitles because: you can follow a film not looking at the screen all the time, reading undertitles distracts from actually watching the film (you are not always able to follow the conversation for various reasons - if you could you wouldn't need the undertitles after all)- (but I still like to watch a film with undertitles from time to time for a change - I used to watch such films programmes on the Czech TV)

- speaker is much cheaper than dubbing - what do you need hordes of dubbing actors for

btw if you care to know Poland has great talent in the field of making actual dubbing - have you watched Shrek in Polish for example - most of the cartoons are dubbed and many of these are simply brilliant dubbings - I think the limited pool of dubbing actors actually helps this not hinders - mostly really tallented and dedicated people do that (or reknown Polish film actors as in the case of major animated productions (like Shrek))

I also wonder where else in the world is the Polish method also favoured over wholesale dubbing

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice-over_translation#In_Poland

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

well we could receive the Czech TV as far back as early 80's (perhaps even before but I can't remember watching the Czech TV before) but then I was not able to understand most of it -

I only got any hold of Czech after we have travelled to Czechoslovakia as my father worked there for over a year - Czechoslovakia was so much more affluent than Poland (it was in 1986 when I was there first) - we brought quite a lot from the journey there (their sport shoes were great)

- my aunt also married a Czech guy from Ostrava and I visited them once in 1987 I guess (and they were visiting us before and after) (again some good shopping opportunities ;) and more grasp of the Czech language - but I only started to understand most of the spoken Czech in the 90's when i started to actually watch their TV (oh actually you could watch a lot of Czech films on Polish TV too back in the 80's (Nie ma nikogo w domu (Nikoho neni doma), Chalupari, Nemocnice na kraji mesta - so actually the Czech language grew on me for quite some time, Arabela)

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

yes - you are right about that - I learned the Czech language from their TV so actually mostly phonetically at first - (but then came their teletekst too)- it just takes a bit of figuring first (for a couple of months)

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


oh ok - I am not up to date with the changes - I haven't watched the Czech TV now for over a year as my aerial collapsed and we bought a Polsat satelite decoder - so I guess untill the Polish TV switches to digital too no Czech TV for me now (and until I fix my TV antennea and get the digital box for my TV set - btw are there any Czech satelite channels - I haven't encountered any so far on HotBird)

as for the Czech TV back in the 90's I remember watching the Champions League on the Czech TV in Wrocław's Psie Pole - I just couldn't stand the Polish commentators (anyone remember Janusz Szpakowski - Szpakowski was not the worst one actually) and Czech TV commentators made so much more sense to me - aslo paradoxically I had better TV reception from Czech transmitters where I lived (I studied in Wrocław) so watching the football on the Czech TV at home also made much more sense - then there were also Hockey World Championships - there was no coverage on Polish TV (Poles were never match for Czechs in hockey)

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


the text is pretty easy for me - but well I am more than familiar with the Czech language - there were times in the 90's when I preferred to watch the Czech TV over Polish TV (i lived and still live in an area with good Czech TV reception - you can receive the Czech TV as far as Wrocław and Brzeg in Poland - though the quality is not that brilliant so far north)

History / 15.08.1920 - without Hungarians there would be no miracle at the Vistula - Poles remember [15]

actually this piece of information the OP introduced here makes history of Poland and Hungary much more comprehensible now for me - I always wondered why Poland and Hungary were so friendly in the interbellum period and on (the partitions of Czechoslovakia - Poland supported the occupation of Carpathian Rus by Hungary in 1939 to have a common border with Hungary - then the Hungarians helped Polish servicemen to transfer to French held territories - there was some humanitarian aid from Poland to Hungary in the times of the Hungarian Uprising which is quite surprising from a Soviet puppet communist ruled country - I wonder how the POlish communist got away with this)

Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]

can he call you 'love' instead ;)?

History / 15.08.1920 - without Hungarians there would be no miracle at the Vistula - Poles remember [15]

I wonder how do you actually bear living in such a bloody anti-semitic country as Poland, or are you on some high priority mission to change it?

Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]


do you have something against gays, Avalon??? :);)

Life / The Blame Game (Have you ever noticed that a Polish person is never wrong!?) [205]


so actually the state is not very helpful even though they have hired some 100 000 new clerks during the times of PO-PSL coalition

News / Polish publicly-funded pre-schools have put up their prices [7]


it collapsed because there were very little incentives to work, be productive, develope, invent etc

Life / 'Turkish' Conmen on the A4/E40 Krakow-Wrocław stretch.... [25]


yes they do but definitely not on the scale of the British police and I am pretty sure black mercedeses on the shoulder of the motorway can pretty often escape their attention as they are after speed drivers (actually they are after cash - you must have heard of 'temporary financial difficulties' in the Polish police)

History / 15.08.1920 - without Hungarians there would be no miracle at the Vistula - Poles remember [15]

the discussion over this issue is pointless Harry, especially with you

Life / How can I make Poland a better country for all? [10]


no it won't, simply (it will take one generation at the very least - but my bet would be rather on two whole genrations)


we won't have 40 million in a decade I guess - population growth is quite miserable now in Poland and plenty of people emigrate for good - will there be a mass immigration to Poland - well maybe - it's our authorities to decide - but well definitely not if the economic growth stalls even more or we hit a serious crisis - the young people leaving schools have more and more trouble finding work already now (it has to do with the decline in the education quality especially the decline in serious vocational education)

History / 15.08.1920 - without Hungarians there would be no miracle at the Vistula - Poles remember [15]

the Czechs where Panslavist delusionaries back in the first decade of the 20th century and they believed that Russians or Soviets where their allies - they have been cured since then in 1948 and 1968

News / Why Is French On Poczta Parcel Waybills? [13]


true - the French signage was present (par avion, poste restante etc) on Polish mail items since I can remember