Genealogy / Advice to translate pages from a Polish book into English? (Genealogy) [16]


Bear in mind, Machine Translation was the whole purpose of inventing computers in the first place, 70 years ago. Computational Linguistics has grown into an enormous field since then, but as Google's efforts show, even the enormous power of the Cloud can't make sense of human-to-human language translation. So you'll have to keep your fingers crossed that an enormous leap in translation occurs sometime in the next decade.

My translators and I are more than happy to tackle a project like these books for a very reasonable price, in case you change your mind.

Life / Ephiphany - Święto Trzech Króli [12]

I don't know about "thousands" or "past few years", but the usual Nowy Swiat rabble were out in Warsaw on Friday for the public show, while holding the sign of their new religion; H&M shopping bags.

It was only remade as a public holiday last year, and most Poles treat it as an excuse for a long weekend at home; it's hardly a pious and noble religious event for most people here.

History / Did Polish farmer Krzysztof Azninski chop his own head off? [36]

This is the story of Krzysztof Azninski:

darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1996-07.html

Genealogy / Advice to translate pages from a Polish book into English? (Genealogy) [16]

If such a piece of software did exist, it would be wonderful. Unfortunately, machine translation is still many years away from being able to provide that service.

If you need a translation, and can scan a page of one of your books, I can offer a sample translation with a quote for further translations, if you need it.

Law / Public holidays: Good Friday / January 2 / Sundays - do companies work in Poland? [9]

Yes, Monday is a normal business day.

In 2011 a certain element of society wanted the 6th of January returned as a national holiday; another religious festival in the already bloated calender, making 11 public holidays in all.

As a compromise, the "day in lieu" system was cancelled, meaning a holiday is not carried over to the next working day if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday. In effect, this means we'll only have 9 holidays in 2012 instead of the 10 we had in 2010.

UK, Ireland / Polish Doctor in UK discriminiated and bullied against gets millions. [28]


This is the only element that makes it a news story in my opinon. The fact that she's a woman, or Polish, or a doctor, has no bearing as far as I'm concerned. She was hounded out of her position by jealous or petty management for whatever reasons they had, which were wrong, and that's that. I'd hope a single white male would get the same compensation if he was bullied out of his truck driving job, but we all know that won't happen.

But to compensate someone to that amount; more than they would earn in their professional lifetime (and that's 45 years of 100,000 pounds per annum) is utterly ridiculous, and I hope that gets adjusted by the appeals court at some time in the future.

Love / Want to ask a Polish girl out? [27]

Christ, just say "are you free this weekend for a coffee" and see what she says. If she says she's busy all weekend and doesn't follow it with "but I am free on...", it means she's not interested.

You don't have to get her father's permission to buy her a latte.

UK, Ireland / Polish car Insurance for UK [8]

In all likelihood, the previous owner has de-registered his ownership of the car. Without a PESEL or Meldunek in Poland, the car is now not officially registered to anyone in PL, and for every day that you have not paid the tax on the transaction, you are receiving a daily fine from the Polish tax office.

With that in mind, any attempt to bring the car back to Poland to get it registered will become a massive headache for you, since you will need a Meldunek and PESEL to get it registered, and it needs to be registered to be insured.

Next time, do your homework, and good luck next time the police stop you.

Love / Do polish men like career women? [60]

Making this about gender is a little silly. I'm fairly sure everyone would love to come home to a cooked meal and the laundry done, no matter what gender they are. More important would be how angry the man or woman got if some things weren't done.

I remember newly-married guys in the UK telling their young wives "no woman of mine is going to work, I'm the earner in this household", and I'm sure some women loved that idea and some hated it. The same thing happens in Poland too, where it's male pride that insists the woman doesn't work, rather than chauvinism insisting she stays in the kitchen.

There are many more housewives in Poland than further west, but I'm sure this is more about wage disparity than any social demand that "women don't work." But I also know a few families where the wife is the main earner, and there's no problem in those families.

If it's about taste though, it comes down to the options. Women are beautiful, intelligent and sane. In Poland, you can choose two of these options.

News / Greed rules the world; Czempinski (Poland's former Intelligence chief) arrested [21]

They're certainly not better off now their pensions have been reduced, and I'm sure a lot of them will be more willing to accept bribes now that their comfortable retirement plans have been smashed.

But I'm talking about 2006, when PiS were in power. Before then corruption of all kinds (in politics, in education, in business) was a police matter. Creating the CAB put a politician in charge of that, so the police had to drop cases involving fake university diplomas, false marriages and illegal land sales, so that they could listen to PO's phones instead, looking for evidence of political corruption. That doesn't help Poland at all.

News / Greed rules the world; Czempinski (Poland's former Intelligence chief) arrested [21]


Although the CAB (anti-corruption bureau) was a good idea in theory, its powers already existed; I was working closely with the police department at the time, and creating the CAB simply meant removing those policemen from the force and putting them into a political department with a politician at the top. That meant that instead of investigating the crimes the police thought were important, they had to investigate the people the Kaczynscy felt were criminals instead.

That, together with the stories about IPN (national archive) and that "Walesa was a collaborator" is why people didn't like the Kaczynskis; they told people they wanted to end corruption, and then used their powers to chase personal vendettas from 20 years ago.

Travel / Vancouver to Warsaw - you'll NEVER guess what I found in Warsaw - my words => WTF [10]


And purple shoes at that.

I admire the OP's enthusiasm, but as the owner of a pair of testicles, I really don't understand this thread at all.

Law / Registration procedure of a new vehicle in Poland - I have 1 year flat contract and meldunek, is it enough? [7]

Motha, if you have a meldunek, the umowa, some ID (even just a passport) and the registration document of the car, then you need to go to the Urzad on pl. Starynkiewicza (corner with Jerozolimski). Ground floor, room 10 or 11 I think. In there, they will check your documents and either register it, or tell you what you need.

They won't speak English, so take a Polish-speaking friend if you have one. They may ask you to pay something, which can be done by walking up the road to Millenium Tower where there is a bank, a cash machine and a post office. I expect you will have to pay for the plates, the window sticker, the dowod and the karta pojazdu.

If you only have a temporary meldunek, they will ask you to come back every year to re-register the car, which just means showing the dowod for the car, and your new meldunek, so that they can update their systems.

Life / Polish dubbing in movies; why is it so that on polish television all the films are dubbed? [135]


Of course he's a left speaker, he's a throwback to Communism

Life / Polish dubbing in movies; why is it so that on polish television all the films are dubbed? [135]

"hey-honey-I'm-home" droned the husband, closing the front door.

"hello-sweetie-how-was-work" droned the wife in the exact same tired voice.

"daddy-look-at-the-picture-I-drew-of-us" droned the five-year-old daughter, eerily imitating the voice of a bored 45-year-old accountant.

"SNOORRRRRE" droned the audience, falling asleep.

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]


That's not quite what I meant; I'm comparing the situation to having yourself established as a business (self-employed) and finding your own clients, not stealing them.

I wouldn't consider this "helping the competition"; it's business, and you get paid. Having said that, you're in a strong position to negotiate a higher wage, especially if, as you say, you're the only NS in town.

If no-one else wants that time, then it's only worth whatever you can get for it. But if it means getting up at 6am, then being free at 8:30 and having nothing to do until 3pm, I wouldn't waste my time with it, regardless of price.

Work / So I received an offer from a Poland language school - what's your take on this? [59]

The general rule for teaching is, don't tie yourself to one school, because they will have no qualms about cutting your hours to zero if they need to.

In any situation, if the school is charging 90 you won't get better than 65 gross; if you want more, cut out the school and get the client directly.

But for this situation, we'd need more details. At what time of day is the class? How far are you travelling? Group or 1-to-1? These factors affect the decision as much as raw price.

Language / A typical quality of book translation from English to Polish? [28]

I read the three Breslau books, and I know what you mean. There's things in there that you don't notice at first, but if you read them without your living-in-Poland glasses on, you see the language is a little weird in places.

But which of those books has that many mistakes?

Language / A typical quality of book translation from English to Polish? [28]

Susan Sontag translated Ferdydurke, and she explains her reasons for not translating "pupa" in the foreword of her book. I'm not sure I agree with it though.

As for the HP stuff; the books were translated so quickly that I can't believe one person did it all. Even combining machine translation with proofreading would have been a massive task, so I'm sure other people were drafted, under the supervision of (for want of a better phrase) a Master Translator. If one person did it all, they have my infinite respect simply for reading all those books twice. I barely managed to get through the first one.

Language / A typical quality of book translation from English to Polish? [28]


I'd certainly be interested in that, even taking part in it. Considering the number of excellent writers Poland produced, the availability of translations is pathetic. I can't even get my hands on the works of Lem in English.

Language / A typical quality of book translation from English to Polish? [28]

It depends what sort of book. If it's a classic piece of fiction, such as Ferdydurke (from Polish to English) then one translator will do the whole job, and you will see little slip-ups were some things were translated literally. Specifically for that book, the translator refuses to translate the Polish word "pupa", for reasons most Polish high school students will sympathise with.

If it's a mass market book like the appalling Harry Potter farce, then a team of translators will do chunks at a time, while some controlling editor will compile (or oversee) a glossary of terms, to make sure the translation is consistent. Once done, the whole work will be proof-read for errors, but even then mistakes happen.

I can't comment too much on English to Polish translations; my other half does that side of things, but certainly idioms will be translated as long as they make sense to the content; there are some books where the idiom forms a joke, and then some "creative translation" has to take place...

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

That pretty much sums it up :D

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

It depends on the factors. Where are you in Poland, are you working legally, and do you know what you're doing?

If you're still scuffing around the city in a pair of Converse with three days' stubble growth thinking Business gigs will pay, then sorry. But if you can put on an ironed shirt and are prepared to read the Economist to know what's going on in the world, then you can get three-figure hourly rates.

Business classes demand a certain level of teaching and language skill, so although they might pay more they'll make you work for it. Compare that to mummy's darling who doesn't care what you do in the classroom as long as her little brat gets a Native Speaker, and you'll learn for yourself whether the 100PLN you'll get for going to an office at 7am is really worth it.

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

Yeah, that is a lot. Sounds like you've contacted a proper accounting firm where the directer has a BMW X5 and employs a team of young women for 1500 a month to do all the calculations.

Find yourself a small 1- or 2-person accounting practice, and they'll charge you half that much.

Life / Am I crazy wanting to buy an FSO Warszawa (in Warsaw) Garbus! [11]

Comparing a VW with an FSO is a fool's choice and no mistake. As much as I hate VWs (and I do, with a passion), they're infinitely more reliable than the FSO.

Buying old is one thing, but I had a Syrena once. In 700km it lost the speedo, the exhaust and one brake cylinder, before chewing up the gear selector forks just by engaging reverse in a car park. And it had an absolute top speed of 70km/h. Do not underestimate just how awfully put together these cars are, even if the mechanical parts are brand new.

Plus, if you're towing a car of the magnitude of a Warszawa, you need a trailer with brakes and a vehicle rated to carry 1400kg; your VW Camper will NOT be suitable.

I'm open to adventure, but flying over here, buying a Warszawa blindly and then trying to drive it home will not end well.

Considering the number of companies going from Poland to France to bring back used cars, it might be a good idea to look for holowanie/import companies on allegro, and see if they can trailer your car to Calais for you. Then you can just hop over on a ferry and bring it into the UK under its own steam, and take it from there.

Life / Am I crazy wanting to buy an FSO Warszawa (in Warsaw) Garbus! [11]

I occasionally contribute to one of the classic car magazines over here, so I'm more than happy to help you out, and I can certainly understand your sentimental attachment to the car. Just bear in mind that anything you buy will cost you more money than you expect.

However, if this is your pride and joy, I really wouldn't plan on doing 1500km in one of these cars, especially not over two days. Any example you get will be at least 50 years old, and I would never trust any car that old to do that distance if I hadn't gone over it thoroughly beforehand, and without a boot full of spare parts.

At 55mph max, you simply won't be allowed to use the German autobahn system; the first police car you encounter will pull you off as an obstruction. And the Polish roads will simply wreak havoc with the vehicle. You're far better swallowing the expense and using a trailer to bring the car home, otherwise you'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere, in a country where you don't speak the language, with a repairman who has no idea how to rebuild a carburettor on a pushrod sidevalve engine. Not worth the risk, IMHO. Especially considering the brake cylinders barely last 1000km on these old things...

As far as red tape goes; as long as the car has all the right paperwork to get it on the road in Poland, then it should be OK to bring it to the UK, but it will be subject to type approval. You'll have to contact the DVLA directly, or ask the classics guys on the Pistonheads forum for more info on that sort of thing.

Life / Am I crazy wanting to buy an FSO Warszawa (in Warsaw) Garbus! [11]

You won't find much help with these cars outside Poland. The FSO Club in the UK concentrates more on the Polski Fiat products rather than the M20 Warszawa.

The Garbus style that you are looking for is for the much older Warszawa, built between 1951 and 1963. These cars are normally known as M20 Warszawas (and were sold as such from '51 to '56) because they were powered by the M20 engine, a 2.1 litre four cylinder engine that puts out 50KM and uses 14l/100km. This engine was replaced by the slightly better S-21 engine in 1964, when the car was renamed the Warszawa 203.

Prices start at 15000 zl for a driveable example of an M20, although you can get the "normal" Warszawa (203 or 223) for half that price. Any car you get will need work, and getting spare parts of the old M20 engines is not easy, while the S21 engine was in every Warszawa, Zuk and Nysa until 1990, and forms the basis of the LDV engines today.

There's no specific Warzawa clubs, but the following Polish FSO clubs might help:

fsoautoklub.pl
fsomoto.xip.pl
fpm.up.pl
syrena.eu

If I can help out in any other way, just let me know. My finder's fees are very reasonable ;)

Language / Intensive English Language Courses in Poland? [44]


Fuzzy, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If I can't put a package together then I'll respectfully admit that, but the only test is if the client actually makes a call, gives me some concrete information and agrees a price that makes it worthwhile organising it for myself or the teacher(s).

I'm not here to have arguments; I'm here to help people with their English.

Language / Intensive English Language Courses in Poland? [44]

Gazzaroon, don't take this personally, but the reason Berlitz is getting attacked is because its methodology is proven not to be an efficient mode of language acquisition. Being based around its own tests, all it proves is that students can be taught to pass Berlitz exams, in much the same way the British Council teach students to pass the Cambridge exams (whether or not anyone in the business world uses Yours Faithfully any more).

The Berlitz method is an unchanging dogmatic attempt to force language down someone's throat. Some students pick up some useful stuff, I won't deny, but research repeatedly shows that those students would pick up exactly the same amount of English from just watching films, or having a conversation with a native, with or without Berlitz's wholly unfounded "method."

The Communicative method, which IH teaches in its CELTA courses, is a system of tools which regularly changes over time to adapt to the latest studies in Language Acquisition. It's not a kogo-czego-we-do-this method, like all Polish Language schools use; it's just a way for the teacher to get through to his* student, whether he uses flash cards, audio recordings or targeted questions. The Berlitz method doesn't use any of that; it just uses slick phrases, well-drawn photocopiable sheets for every single student and extremely high prices to convince the client he's getting a quality service.

You can say "the Berlitz method works for some", but sit a Berlitz student and a "regular" student in front of a qualified native speaker for five minutes, and he'll tell you which one was Berlitz-trained.

* or her, of course.

Law / How to register a new business in Poland [129]

There are some departments that are still woefully ignorant of the changing times. Upon presentation of my British passport at the Immigration Office last year, I was asked where my visa stamp was...