UK, Ireland / Polish is an official language in the UK? [68]


I think it happens everywhere. People are leaving their home country looking for better life, living conditions etc. But it doesn't always work. If they loose everyething abroad then they become homless abroad because they do not have any funds to go back to their home country. It is hard for me to believe someone left Poland to become a beggar somewhere else in the world. It just happens.

Life / Moving to Poland - what is the most important thing I need to do, once I'm in Poland? [51]

Fully agree, but I was always in favor of Callan method. Of course, I realize it is not good enough on its own and students are required to do some self studying. At least this method let you talk and listen to the spoken language, and I think that in Polish schools oral English is very limited. If you go for Callan classes you still have to do your own grammar exercises using online courses or books.

Life / Where is better for a foreigner who doesn't speak good Polish? WARSAW or POZNAN [5]

Warsaw is the capital which means it is probably more expensive than Poznan.
Depends what you want to do…but I think you will find good opportunities for yourself in both cities.

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]

Well I believe it is not easy in Poland as well but at least they are in their home country, with families and they know the language, so there is no barrier to communicate.

Wszędzie dobrze, ale w domu najlepiej :)

Life / Moving to Poland - what is the most important thing I need to do, once I'm in Poland? [51]

Maybe this question is not very relevant to the whole topic, but I just noticed that many people are criticising Callan method? I am very interested, why?

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]

I agree with Pam. Many Poles are coming back home from Ireland and Great Britain because there is no jobs for them any longer. The truth is they were employed couple of years ago (even not knowing the language) because there was no one else to work. At the moment the employer can choose between those with good level of English or native speakers and people not able to communicate. There is no that many job around as it used to be.

Language / The most effective methods to learn the Polish language? [56]

parrish, I agree that this is a good method to learn. It is more or less like so called Callan Method where you learn by literally repeating sentences. I think it is very efficient, but of course not sufficient to learn language. It is always good to do some extra exercises, listen to native speakers etc.

Language / The most effective methods to learn the Polish language? [56]

The first encounters with language are the most difficult because native speakers speak quicker than we expect them and words sound different to.


And what about speaking? How can you learn pronunciation effectively? It is hard to learn it from books if you do not hear the actual language and not everyone has a 'luxury' to speak to the native speakers.

Language / The most effective methods to learn the Polish language? [56]

I agree that hard work and motivation is the most important. But what do you think, for example, of attending language classes? Or maybe some private lessons? Course books with CD? Or some online courses?

Do you find any of these useful in learning a language?

Language / Speaking with wrong Polish case endings? [94]


I agree that to orally communicate in Polish it is the best to listen to it as much as possible, especially because the sounds are so different to English ones. If it is hard to listen to native speakers you can always try online courses or some websites to listen to the Polish pronunciation. Memorizing a full sentences helps a lot as well. I think it is more or less like Callan method where you just answer questions by basically repeating the same words in a form of statement.

Language / Polish language immersion, time, fluency [14]

It is extremely hard to clearly say how many years the language immersion takes. It is different for every single person. Of course it is the best when you can use it on a daily basis, however at first it may come as a shock because native speakers will speak extremely quick and you might find it hard to understand. But the more you listen to the language, the more you will understand.

Study / Learning Polish in Warsaw - good school recommendation? [47]


Nothing's impossible :) If you have motivation and really want to learn, you will be successful :) If you have strong self-motivation and want to start learning a language from the beginners level you should maybe try look for some online courses. Polish might be hard to learn for some people and obviously, like learning any other language, it is really time-consuming. I can suggest that you’ll have a look on some online courses which are both time- and money- saving.

there is no need to spam the forum with your website.

Language / Polish language immersion, time, fluency [14]

I think you should be careful if you are looking on ‘overlapping’ words from Russian to Polish and the other way around; very often they sound the same but the meaning is completely different. In my opinion, when learning the language, vocabulary is the most important. Of course you must know the grammar as well, but good level of vocabulary allows to put your message through. Once you have a good collection of words in your vocabulary bank you can start working on grammar.

The level of fluency you will obtain depends on how you are going to learn the language for these two years. If you have a contact with language on daily basis and support that with e.g. online courses, you should not have too much trouble to read the newspaper or watch a movie.

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]


I think it was easier for Poles few years ago when so many of them were employed despite they did not know English. In GB and Ireland it's begun to change now. Good level of English language is necessary to get a proper job abroad, unless you want to work for less than a minimum wage. If non Poles are moving to Poland is hard for them because they do not know the language and in many places in Poland it is hard to communicate in any other language than Polish.

Language / Speaking with wrong Polish case endings? [94]

I suppose that Polish grammar might seem quite complicated comparing to English one and I think that many Polish people, with no interest in language issues, do not realize how difficult it is for foreigners to actually speak proper Polish. I think that we should respect anyone who puts effort to learn the language and support them rather than get annoyed. Fortunately, in our times there are so many different ways to practice foreign language (i.e. online courses, forums etc) that learning process has become more pleasurable.

Language / Word for 'deadline'? [14]

Yeah, I read on the internet that “It began as a real line, drawn in the dirt or marked by a fence or rail, restricting prisoners in Civil War camps. They were warned, "If you cross this line, you're dead." To make dead sure this important boundary was not overlooked, guards and prisoners soon were calling it by its own bluntly descriptive name, the dead line.”

Life / Sweets in Shoes - old Polish tradition on December 6 (Mikolaj)? [13]

Isn't it actually sweets in socks? :) I believe it is country wide as I know quite a few people from different parts of Poland and they are familiar with this tradition. But to be honest, I have never heard anyone from other country than Poland to follow this tradition. I think it is like a foretaste before Christmas and it makes you realize that it’s about time you should start preparing for a big day :)

News / Polands new class of immigrant. [60]

It seems like Polish people are on each continent all over the world. It must be Polish mentality just to go wherever we think a life might be slightly better for us. If we look on Ireland and Great Britain, the increase of Polish immigrants to these countries was in the period where the economy was on its highest level. As soon as the living conditions aggravated and financial crisis hit, Polish immigrants began to leave Ireland and GB and move to different countries. The same happens with immigrants coming to Poland. I believe that they are coming to Poland because there are looking for a better life and hope for the best.

Language / Need help with my Polish boyfriend (websites for learning the basic terms in Polish) [9]

If you want to do a little bit of self study, you should maybe look for an online language course. I know a great one where you have all pronunciation recordings and you can repeat them as many times as you need. For example you may try some lessons on polyglot.com just to see how it works. I believe that Polish pronunciation is extremely difficult to everyone but it is easier to learn where you can repeat after a native speaker.

Regarding Polish food, there is plenty of restaurants which offer traditional Polish food. I am sure you will find it in every Polish city. Besides, you should try it, it’s very tasteful :) As for the music, I think that most people listen to what’s on the top of music charts at the moment.