Feedback / Why PolishForums? Give us your stories! [60]

Boredom, and some of the posts are a good laugh. LOL *feels like 12*

Language / What I learned so far about the Polish language. [30]

I think that's totally awesome that you are learning Polski, Naomi!

And, I missed the bad comments, but props for standing to anyone who posed a bad comment.

News / 100% TRUE! RAT MEAT PREPARED IN 3 BIGGEST CHINESE RESTAURANTS IN KRAKOW CLOSED DOWN ! [96]


Well in that case you might enjoy this: earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/ratfordinner.html

Have a good one :-)

Language / Useful tips on learning Polish? [25]


I can't suggest any illegal ways of obtaining this but ...

I only had a chance to look through the lessons once while passing a Rosetta Stone stand at an airport and it seemed pretty fantastic.

rosettastone.com/learn-polish

Life / Polish patriotism, what does it mean to you? [46]


I'm not surprised. Other than certain groups of people no one likes that kind of attitude, especially if they're a pseudo-patriotic, in this case Polish, descendant.

Life / Polish patriotism, what does it mean to you? [46]


That's a valid point, and there's no way of disproving it.


I agree, seeing how certain individuals communicate their thoughts here, stronger responses from the Polish community are understandable.

Life / Polish patriotism, what does it mean to you? [46]


I'm sure that in some cases that may be true, but that wasn't the case here, and the reciprocation was rarely warm or friendly.

Life / Polish patriotism, what does it mean to you? [46]

If I were to judge from talking to people from Poland over the years, it's means not taking criticism of any type well.

Life / Is there something like a "Polish culture" or Polish national identity? [49]


Hey, no one said that this state of mind has to extend too far beyond it. :-P

News / Polish journalist charged with insulting Belarusian President [16]


Sorry, but I think you've taken this out of context, I was only replying to Convex's comment:

News / Polish journalist charged with insulting Belarusian President [16]


Seriously? Interesting, and E.U. allows this?

I guess, when you look at it, everything goes down to who has control over the media. In North America private companies own and control the media, and control what information is released to the public. No one has a lot of freedom anywhere (unless you're an extremely wealthy and powerful individual) . :-) As much as many ordinary people want to believe that we do, we really don't.

That's why we need sites like wikileaks or zerohedge - to make people aware of what's really going on. One has to look for that information, it doesn't come in your daily paper.

Life / Is there something like a "Polish culture" or Polish national identity? [49]


I totally agree.

Life / Is there something like a "Polish culture" or Polish national identity? [49]

You're welcome, good luck.

News / Poles -- Europe's very best? [21]

Exactly.

Life / Is there something like a "Polish culture" or Polish national identity? [49]

I was in PL a few years ago and it did seem like the church had a lot of influence on people, minus the crazy people you read about in the newspapers, it wasn't bad though. I don't think many people wanted to mix church and politics. That's area dependent of course.

I do admit, we have a mix of some really great and some really bad stuff in Poland. I can be very overwhelming.

When I wanted to get in touch with my Polish roots a while back I joined a Polish club and got to meet some Polish people my age. They're a great bunch and present very good "Polish" qualities that sometimes get lost between all the crazy stuff you hear about, like here on the forum.

If you do want to find some documents regarding laws in PL etc. I find that there are plenty written in English, and if not, Google does offer translation. If something really doesn't make sense, I'm sure some people here would help you decipher certain things too.

News / Poles -- Europe's very best? [21]

Whatever. Everyone's ugly, and if they're not ugly on the outside they're probably ugly on the inside. I don't think there's a reason to be proud of being a heavy drinker either.

News / Polish journalist charged with insulting Belarusian President [16]

That's ridiculous. Are there no freedom of speech laws in Belarus?

Sounds very 1984.

Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]

I just skimmed through this thread, sounds like a whole new chapter/adventure of your life just began. Good luck to you and your family. It's really wonderful that your wife can be there for her dad.

I visited Gdynia a few times, and I have to admit, if I were ever to move back to Poland I'd move there. :-)

There's always a culture shock, so just don't let it get to you.

UK, Ireland / A polite request for your help re: your personal experiences in the UK [8]


I think anyone's experiences widely depend on their own character and attitude towards other people, and where they travel to. I try to keep a friendly attitude with everyone, occasionally I'll speak my mind, but I try to do it in a peaceful manner that would allow me to communicate my thoughts in a way that doesn't intentionally aggravate others. I try to be respectful towards everyone, and hope for the same in return.

So here is my personal account of living in London.

I moved to London, just before the whole "Polish people boom" happened, for school and work. It way before any high-street shop owners thought of selling Eastern-Europeans products.

I lived in North London for a few years, and while I was very welcome in the area I lived in, I felt that the people who were genuinely nice and welcoming were not of English descent (from London). (Sorry)

I generally don't have a problem making friends, but it was very difficult to befriend a "true Londoner". I met many very nice people form other parts of England, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Scotland and Ireland. Maybe I was just unlucky.

One big minus for guys from London.

Many English guys were quite disrespectful towards me if/when they knew that I was Polish. It was an assumption, I guess, that if a girl was from an eastern country she would be super glad to talk to them. Most of the Polish girls I was friends with had the same experience. Whenever I indicated that I am not interested I'd be told off for being a "Yankee". Yay for going from one bias to another. As for my Polish friends, they'd be told something rude as well when they didn't show any intrest.

I often like to experiment in my social reactions when I notice a pattern in people's behaviour, so I used a few different ways of declining a drink or a chat with someone. It really didn't matter if I was super pleasant, polite, or unpleasant and direct. The general response was, "How dare you decline my offer, you should feel lucky that an English guy wants to talk to you!". *Again, I'm not saying that's how all the men in England are, but it was disappointing*

I kind of gave up on "Londoners" in that area of the city after this guy followed me and a friend of mine to a bus stop, and demanded we tell him where we live. He pretty much indicated that we are obligated to answer him because he was superior to us as an English person. No comments.

As for girls, well, it was tricky... few were super nice but most were not really up for making friends with a foreigner.

This does not apply to everyone of course, I met many nice people, girls and guys, from Manchester, Newcastle, and Cornwall so overall I had a good experience.

When I travelled around England I noticed that people from very small towns were a little more cautious when warming up to 'strangers' - but it wasn't difficult to turn them around with a few pleasant words and a smile.


- Sure, though I don't think I'd count on the attitude of certain groups to change.


- I left England before we fully went into recession in Europe and North America. Other than paying more for gas and groceries currently, no.

I never moved to England just to work and make money. Architecture and history were of much greater interest to me at the time. :-P


I hope this is of any use. It's also quite late here, so I hope whatever I wrote makes sense. *crosses fingers* I'll check tomorrow morning. :-P

Feedback / A Personal Request to all PF members [119]

I don't think you can stop biased people from being biased or make them considerate.

Good post though.

News / Anti semtism at Polish Congress [57]


Hey, I'd totally vote for H.P. for president. At least he does magic tricks! ;-)

Life / As a black gay man (US) visiting Warsaw this summer, will I get beat up for nothing? [65]

Cool, thanks. :-)

Life / As a black gay man (US) visiting Warsaw this summer, will I get beat up for nothing? [65]

I don't think you'd be attacked for being black or gay but don't flash expensive stuff since that might get you into a sticky situation. I had a Polish friend who was once attacked on the street, late at night, because he had a new phone... :-| a Motorola.

That happens everywhere though, I remember being told not to use my iPhone headphones when it first came out (as well as iPod headphones in the past) because many people were robbed in the US, UK, and Canada - at least those are the 3 countries I know it happened in.

I always wondered this, does Poland have any gay bars? :-P

News / Anti semtism at Polish Congress [57]

wiesenthal.com/atf/cf/%7B54d385e6-f1b9-4e9f-8e94-890c3e6dd277%7D/TTASS.PDF

Jan Kobylanski is as sane as all the people who listen to Radio Maryja (a radio station he sponsors) who want Jesus Christ for the king of Poland.

Life / Is there something like a "Polish culture" or Polish national identity? [49]

Before I begin, I would like to say that no matter how general or non-general anyone's answer is, it is going to be solely based on their own experiences, and where they are from.

As a Polish-Canadian from BC, I know that the way we perceive and do things here (in BC) are very different from say, Alberta or Saskatchewan. Same goes for people from Northern England vs. Southern England, or people from Washington vs. South Dakota for example.

Please defy your idea of culture, what is culture to you?

As for Polish values, I can only say this based where I grew up in Poland, I think that Polish people value family more than anything.

Education and family prosperity were of high importance as well - which should not be interpret as teaching anyone to be a leach, or a gold-digger. People like that were and still are looked down upon; same goes to anyone with poor education. It would be embarrassing to be associated with someone like that.

This may only be my opinion but, I think that's fairly normal for any large city with good secondary, and post secondary schools. *I guess this would also be dictated by the status of the neighborhood you are in, like anywhere else*

When I went to elementary school back in PL, lazy kids who didn't apply themselves in class were often ridiculed, but that doesn't mean that kids with learning disabilities like dyslexia had the same treatment; some of our top students in class were considered to be "gifted with a learning disability" and received proper support in school to counter that."


As a girl, growing up in Poland I never felt like I was treated in any way that indicated that women were not equals by any polish man, and that's true to this day. If anything there were some small biases against boys - mainly due to a weaker performance in school.

un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/wom1591.doc.htm

Same sex unions.
There are few countries in the world that allow same-sex marriages, as for Poland, it does recognize same-sex relationships as common law,
One should also understand that for any other type of marriage recognition this would be dictated by any official religion/church laws of that country since it would influence the opinion of general public.

This should answer it better: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Poland

Abortion.
While many of my friends from Poland would not chose to have an abortion they wish Poland allowed women to have the choice rather than not.


This would be heavily dictated by the overall prosperity of the area you were in, like in any country around the world. Poor area = poor education, less work, more biases/fears, etc. Rich area = higher education, better understanding and awareness of the world. You get the picture.


How are matters like this brought to public's attention in your country? I'm pretty sure it works the same way in most Western countries. We pick the political party that reflects our views. If there is an issue we want to raise we write to our politicians/governing bodies.


Have you tried looking it up online?


It depends which political party. I'm sure that it varies between conservative and liberal parties, as well as younger vs. older citizens. In general, younger people are more liberal than the senior citizens of Poland.

Not sure what country you want to compare this against.


I'd say most of our religious traditions are widely practiced everywhere in Poland, like Easter or Christmas.

Love / Are Polish men sexist? [53]

That's probably the most disturbing scene anyone could read about in the am, before they've had their coffee. Thanks for destroying my morning.

Love / Are Polish men sexist? [53]

Haha, I wouldn't go that far. :-P

Love / Are Polish men sexist? [53]

I think you read that wrong. The title says "sexist".

To OP,

There's not a single county in the world that doesn't have sexist men. Some countries seem to have more sexist people than others, but I don't think Poland has an unusually high number of sexist men compared to other countries. The only unfortunate thing here this is that people talk a lot more about bad experiences in life than good. Whoever told you that Polish men are sexist simply had a very bad experience.

Love / 6 months with my Polish girlfriend and I still don't understand her.. [208]

To OP,

I think that if you can't figure out the person you're with maybe they're not right for you...

Just sayin'