News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


So those who have the right to education in Lithuanian now have it?


None from Lithuania could be hired? why not?

When I was in Lithuania for a working meeting (just before Crimean annexation) one of the hosts said that pro-Polish feeling in the country was going through the roof because of their policy toward Russia and Ukraine.... this was in Kaunas (least Polish and/or Russian city in the country) so make of that what you will...

News / Polish Lithuanian Diplomatic War? At last. [534]


Are Lithuanians in Poland doing any better? Some years ago there was an article in wyborcza concerning complaints about education (local authorities were not keeping up their end of agreements for providing education in Lithuanian....)

It's a smaller group both in terms of percentages and absolute numbers but.... neither country was living up to their ends of agreements....

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]


everyone's got more money than your broke @ss....

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


In my experience, of all the europeans I've seen in Poland.... Brits have the hardest time adapting and accepting that there are different norms of behavior brought about by differing histories...

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]


they have more money than you... so... no problem!

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


I would think Poland would love to be in a position to help poorer countries.... it's only skinflint Brits that hate that idea....


That's a British talking point that only finds tractions among the fringe crazies in Poland.... Poland =/= UK, the two countries have completely different histories and relationships with the idea of 'Europe' stop trying to impose British ideas (which do make some sense for Britons) upon Poland...

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]


One word...... Depends!

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]


Just pay for your g9dammed bowel movements already! What an effin' cheapskate....

Language / About usage of the special Polish letters: ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ż ź [28]


The pairings are long and short vowels (like Hungarian or Finnish or even German though they're not generally as crucial for understanding as they are in Hungarian )

Open or closed vowels (like Italian or Portuguese or French, which mostly concerns e and o and maybe a)

Language / About usage of the special Polish letters: ą ć ę ł ń ó ś ż ź [28]


Technically they're diacritics (znaki diakrytyczne) but in everyday non-specialist usage in English 'accent' is also used.

I'm not sure if I've heard a technical term in Polish (I'm sure there is one I've just never really heard it). Quick googling shows 'polskie znaki' (signs) and I think I've heard them just called 'polskie litery' as well.

Life / Has feminism and lesbianism progressed in Poland? [645]


Can be, but I think the case that Paulina described is more typical.

Life / Has feminism and lesbianism progressed in Poland? [645]


I've always thought that one of the reason for the large lifespan gap between men and women in this part of the world is that an older woman is an asset to a household in a way that an older man.... isn't.

When people have/find no use in life... they die.

News / Morawiecki and Macierewicz and a very strange film.... [19]


And what about Smolensk Boy's own Russian.... connections.....? Wouldnt' that be the pot calling the kettle black?

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]


As a reference (to check different parts of the grammar at different times) Oscar Swan was most people's go to book:

amazon.com/Grammar-Contemporary-Polish-Oscar-Swan/dp/0893572969#customerReviews

I liked the approach to grammar in my link #3 (the original Teach yourself Polish by M. Corbridge-Patkaniowska and not the glorified phrase book put out later). but you need to work through the book (and some of the info is dated - transposition of endings is pretty rare in modern standard Polish and I'll never forgive it for making me think the word for pen is 'pióro' which by the time I got to Poland only could refer to a fountain pen, when what I wanted was długopis....)

Travel / Where do Polish people fly to for beach vacations in the winter? [34]


November through Easter are the best times to go to Malta... I've been there for Christmas twice, this last year av temp was around 15-16 and mostly sunny...

Where I am there are two flights a week on average so you can stay longer or shorter than the standard 7 days... 10 days is just about right for me...

It's not a beach vacation type of place though (mostly rocky coasts) I did see a few swimmers but not many...

Gozo is interesting too (not as crowded) though getting to the ferries is not so easy or quick if you're staying in Sliema...

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

This one is dated but I liked the description of grammar better than most other books...

amazon.com/Teach-yourself-Polish-teach-English/dp/B0007E1ATY

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


Syrians are far from the worst in terms of migration, traditionally among the more (secularly) educated in the Arab world and more used to being around other religions.

Had real checks been made to seaprate out the Syrians from the Iraqis (a step or two below Syrians), random Balkan dwellers, Pakistanis and (above all) Afghans and Somalis* then 2015 wouldn't have been such a clusterfvkc .....

But for every Syrian who was let in 4 or 5 others were and the results (despite all the 'we'll do better this time!' rhetoric) have been... what they've been...

*tied as the worst migrants in a recent official Dutch study

History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]


It was ethno-genocide not racial genocide...

Was Rwanda racial or ethnic genocide? What about the Armenians in Turkey?

the meaning of racist has been so degraded that it should be retired from use... 9/10 of the time now when someone accuses someone else of 'racism' it's just... nonsense.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


How so? The problems of Germany come from bad leadership (esp Merkel... in office at least six years too long) and her decision to make Germany utterly dependent upon Russian good will (shutting down atomic plants and pushing NS2) and poor demographics and awful migration policy (too many of those let in will never be able to participate in a modern industrialized society and neither will their children or childrens' childen - cascading generational failure).

And the descent into full blown neoliberal deconstruction of state mechanisms doesn't help...

The EU is problem #17 (at highest) on the list...

History / Why did Hitler call Poles Half Jews? [98]


So... you're saying they were right? I don't get it....

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

No... it'll take a few years....

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


Less and less so... bad leadership and terrible demographics are starting to take their toll....

Work / Developmental Therapy in Poland [19]


I don't think I was that bad!

Work / Developmental Therapy in Poland [19]


no Polish would deserve to suffer that much.... so you can rest easy....

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]


tots obs, it (doesn't deserve a 'he' or 'she' is a troll.... and not even an interesting one... why were so many people willing to engage so long?

Everyone, please stick to the topic of this thread, thank you

Work / Developmental Therapy in Poland [19]


Don't be surprised if emails remain unanswered. You might try some direct calls (and it might take a few attempts before they can rustle someone up who both speaks English well enough and can give you sensible answers).

I have a good friend working in an institution that (among other things) verifies credentials for the profession in question for Polish people abroad and/or evaluates credentials for foreigners wanting to work in Poland. Requests that come in other languages... are not necessarily quickly dealt with (unless the request comes in Polish from a prospective employer or the foreigners in question know Polish).

A few tries at phone calls would eventually reach my friend (with very good English and well-informed) but it's not guaranteed the first time (or three) around....


Very true and often true of men as well (Polish men often have... foppish leanings.....).

I remember when my workplace got a new instructor (had been at the larger institution for many years but new at this location). In the first week at least three people expressed to me what a good for the unit his presence was. None of these people had been in the classroom with him... they were just impressed that he always wore suits to work.... since I usually dressed like a person facing imminent homelessness at the time I couldn't help but take it a bit personally....

Life / Cult videos on Polish youtube [18]


It used to be awesome! I think it's glory days were the 1990s, rife with financial and other fraud and other scandals. It actually served a function then.

And Jaworowicz was a hoot, with ridiculous body language (draping herself across the chair as if it were a chaise longue and being filmed through a burlap sack to hide her wrinkles...

But after 2010 or so... as Poland became more prosperous, it seemed a lot less.... relevant and they had to dig harder for stories that were.... mostly pretty lame.

A few years ago they devoted a whole segment to two families feuding (over some trivial nonsense) in some village. Listening to a bunch of buraki squabbling over a fence or disappearing chickens was not as interesting as people losing their life savings when the head of the building company they were buying housing from disappeared in the middle of the night... and the builder's lawyers assuring that he had acted in accordance with regulations....

News / Future of Polish-Ukrainian relations [669]

He's a Russian ally and an avowed enemy of Poland (sided with Belarus against Poland during the migrant crisis).

He wants Poland in bondage to Russia because he thinks that will make his insignificant ****@nt little country important somehow....

Travel / Travel to Poland from the UK? (COVID time) [50]


Not tremendously... I'm in a pretty by-the-rules kind of town and mostly people ignore those without masks


No way to predict. Weather changes here often (and often dramatically). Just have to plan and hope for the best....