Language / A good place to start learning Polish? [29]


that's the correct version ;) only dont make the e long: it is "co-ham che"
co-ham shee is more like "i love myself" or "i'm making love" :D

Travel / Which city is better to visit: Warsaw or Krakow? [169]

That's an interesting remark ;) Never noticed :)

Travel / Which city is better to visit: Warsaw or Krakow? [169]

Kraków vs Warszawa? Both :D

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]

Thanks, glowa.

I find (very personal opinion) languages like English, French and German easier to learn (as I treated them all as a whole new territiory and thus learnt everything without any assumptions). With similar languages, you're tempted to draw conclusions that may be very often misleading. You base your learning on the false assumptions that something must work the same way, only if it is similar. Thus, learning Czech is for me just lots of dead ends and false assumptions ;)

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]

No no no :( It's not. Polish and Slovak are similar, Czech is similar on the grammatical level, tricky on the lexical (lotsa words which are written almost the same but mean a different thing, just to name jagoda = PL blueberry, jahoda = CZ strawberry), really challenging on the phonetical level. Pronunciation is a ***** (try this: Vlk škvrzl mrkl mrdl smrt frkl cvrkl krkl plkl prdl vrkl zblbl. Or this: Řežu a žeru, řežeš a žereš, žerou a řežou, žeru a řežu, žereš a řežeš, řežou a žerou. The "Ř" itself is often mispronounced even by the Czech themselves). If you still don't believe me, start learning - you'll be literally crying over an open textbook for the first 6 months :D

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]

michal, i envy you. you're apparently a genius ;)

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]

You know, you must do that on purpose, that "naive/I-know-everything" attitude. Then ha-ha-ha, very funny guy you are.
If not, I am really sorry, I cannot help you, if you cannot read with understanding more than just a sequence of letters, mate.

Life / Are you too selfish to leave Poland? [22]

Well, as I said: I don't think that pursuit of happiness is any excuse for lack of moral standards :) Very general, I know, what I just want to say is that happiness should not be achieved at all cost. So if one is not hurting anyone and does not lose the moral standpoint, I am very much in favour of selfishness ;)

... And I thought I was very much past the idalistic phase of my life ;)

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]


The other way round, rather :D

sklep - in PL shop
sklep - in CZ cellar

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]


you base your opinion on a visit to Radom on a Saturday? Well, I think then that the Brits are dying out, because in Chickerell, Dorset I could wander around for hours on a Sunday and not meet a soul! This is ridiculous, sorry.


Sorry, mate, but apparently you have not much idea about Czech language, or you fall under a widespread Polish impression that Czech is just "funny Polish". Well, it is not, and I find it actually a challenge to learn.

Life / Are you too selfish to leave Poland? [22]

Sparrow, right you are, of course. If we talk about people who leave seeking bettre job opportunities, personal development etc - that's okay. If the unemployed leave, because they need to support themselves financially - that's okay. I was basically - -probably should have said that in the start - talking about young people my age, who study on public universities for free and constantly say "As soon as I have my MA's, I'm getting the hell out of this piece of s*** country".

And yes - you're right that as long as you're happy, things are okay. I would just add one small amendment - if your happiness is not your only selfish goal in life ;)

Language / Is it too late for me to learn Polish..? [65]


Sorry, but are you out of your mind? There's 40 milion native speakers of Polish in Poland itself, plus many Poles abroad. The language is very, very far from dying out ;)

And Freedom - of course it is never too late - I've started Czech from scratch half a year ago and doing fine at the age of 26 :D Good luck!

Life / Are you too selfish to leave Poland? [22]

Sparrow, I have a specific job, for which I would get at least 4 times more money, if I went to Ireland or the US. Really, I've seen job ads. The thing is, I WAS living abroad and running away from there as quickly as possible - not because it was so bad, but because money is not all. What is the point of earning more if you see your family once a year? Maybe it is just me - really, not trying to impose my views on anyone - but I was always having hard times trying to fit in, because no materr how nice and polite and well-eductaed you are, you'll always be a foreigner abroad, always have to prove, that you are actually not that bad. I think it's the same with foreigners here, it's just in the human nature to be suspicious of "the others". And as for selfishness - I am sorry if I am too harsh - I cannot really stomach meeting Poles e.g. in London, where they cry how much they miss Poland, yearn for news, talk how bad it is to live and work in London - but still, they make totally no use of their education and work in the least-paid jobs. Because that's the reality - only a small fraction of them p3erform the job they've studied to perform, so financial factor seems a bit stretched anyways...

Ufff, sorry for this lenghty piece ;)

Life / Are you too selfish to leave Poland? [22]

Well, I actually think it may be very, very selfish to leave. Frankly, I know that there is high unemployment rate in Poland, but not as high and the whole situation is not as terrible as it is presented on TV or newspapers. I never had any problems with working here, nor my family or friends. There is a whole bunch of Poles, though, who say: "I am not going to work here at some company for 1500 PLN a month, I prefer to get the hell out of here" - and I think that is selfish, not thinking of the fact that if everyone leaves, it will never be better here. Young people is what the country needs most at the moment, and we need them here, not in the UK, where they don't give a damn about anything, just earn pounds. OF COURSE, I am not talking about all Poles abroad - only of a fraction of them.