History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]

Interesting - they no doubt would have inflamed the local (majority Ukranian/Belarusian) population through such measures, though as is typical of the II RP, they made a total mess of it.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]


What's also interesting is how the Poles and Austrians collaborated to keep Ukrainians out of education prior to 1918.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]

Interesting question there - how would Polish, ex-military heroes treat Ukrainian peasants?

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]

Only speculating here, but it would seem possible that ex-soldiers could have been given land in these territories, especially in order to marginalise the Ukrainians living there.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

One thing that doesn't make sense here -

The word somehow entered Polish-American speech via the Kashubian language or a tiny local dialect - how? It's just not plausible -

Interesting that it's an acceptable word in Kashubian - boletus has excellently proven that the word is either not Polish, or it's "as spoken by children". The latter is actually plausible - the uneducated peasants that emigrated to America wouldn't have spoken the language of the educated classes - and thus might not have featured in Polish dictionaries - because - who the hell was going to go to Kresy to talk to some peasants?


No, not quite. The existence of babusia is undeniable (heard it here myself) - but "busia" certainly doesn't seem to exist. Is there actually one book in existence that uses the word in Poland?

Very interesting stuff though - it actually goes a long way to prove that the word cannot be educated Polish origin.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]


Funnily enough, those were the ones that were supposed to be autonomous (according to the agreement made with the League of Nations), but were then denied autonomy too.

Breaking promises seems to have been a speciality of the II RP.

Life / Price of cigarettes in Poland? [192]


It's not what we think, but what Irish customs think.

History / Mother tongue in Poland - acccording to 1931 census. [174]


Your chart actually proves that at least three voivodeships had a minority of Poles, with another one showing clear local allegiance over national allegiance.

Real Estate / Property taxation in Poland and inheritance (obligated by law to pay)? [32]


It depends on exactly where it is. Don't assume that the building will attract wealthy clientele - such people tend to steer clear of older flats in Poland, and they certainly won't be interested in a flat owned by an older person.

As for gentrification - unlikely in the short term. For instance, there are plenty of horrible Communist-era flats near Powstancow Slaskich with equally horrible inhabitants - and the older buildings are equally full of horrible people there. After all - much of central Wroclaw is still to be gentrified - this area is just too far out. Sky Tower won't change much - there are a lot of nice areas not far away from it (but not close), after all.


Not going to get 2500zl/month from a flat of that size near Sky Tower at the moment. 1500zl/month would be more realistic.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


It's almost certainly the same person - both Mark and Milky rant about Lublin, both Mark and Milky have posted the same thing on here and on other sites - I really can't comprehend why he keeps this up, but it seems to be the actions of a madman who is desperate for property prices to reduce.

The other telltale sign is that he seems to think that 50m2 apartments are "small", which is a dead giveaway that he's not a European. Someone from Ireland certainly wouldn't come out with this stuff - they were living for years in tiny houses.


We're definitely going to see it becoming tougher to get credit with the new rules demanding that all loans are calculated on the basis of 25 years. It's a very sensible rule, and will stop people lending up to their eyeballs.

My own feeling is that we might see prices actually increase in the small towns within 30-45 minutes train ride from the big cities. Property is still ridiculously cheap in those places, and young people especially will want to get a property somehow, even if it's not in such a desirable location.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


The thing to bear in mind is that while (in the city) - people will only be able to afford a 32m2 flat on low wages - the same low wages will buy you much more outside of the big cities. I've had a look just now, and if you go 30km outside Poznan, you can buy more or less double the size for half the price. And for low-level workers, the wages are pretty much the same.


Already bought by the Germans, Irish and Brits. Not much left here for the Chinese to buy.


Many of my peers own their own places in their 20's. It's certainly not out of their reach.

It's certainly out of reach of those on minimum wage, but since when has owning a house been a right?

Life / Fat People in Poland? [161]


Car culture for you.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


Final say - I'd say. They tend to be utterly obsessive about this, and I trust them.

However, they seem to be actually somewhat conservative - I drive between Poznan and Oborniki Wlkp. every day (I work there) - and the road is in excellent condition. If I drive at night, I can sit at a steady 100-110km/h.


You'd be surprised how much is decent really - even the bit of DK5 between Poznan and Wroclaw that's listed as "bad" isn't that bad at all - it's just a bit bumpy, but you can sit at a steady 90-100km/h there without fuss/danger of breaking your car.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


It would be interesting to compare the selling prices of 'new' properties vs older properties, actually.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

Best solution for now is to carry on with the existing approach - much of the pre-planning has been done, although I'd probably slap on tolls on the S5 Poznan-Wroclaw corridor in order to get it built earlier. Same could apply to the S8 from Warsaw-Krakow. The concession periods are for 30 years (I think) - at which point the roads return to the State. At that point, I'd bring in a vignette system - all the major roads will be built.

Could be one option to bring in yearly vignettes for GDDKiA-operated motorways while retaining tolls for casual users, though. I'd also look at bringing in transit-vignettes for the A4 between Zgorzelec and Krzyzowa - very little traffic is not heading across the border at that point.

There's also another issue with vignettes - it was mentioned to me by a senior engineer at Autostrada Wielkopolska that frequent toll booths (every 100km or so) are actually more desirable, as they prevent drivers from becoming mesmerised on long drives. That's perhaps one reason to retain the tolls and not switch to a vignette system.

Worth pointing out that the road surfaces on new roads tend to be fine.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


The problem is that much of the country is still nowhere near roads that would traditionally be included in a vignette - for instance, much of what I drive "normally" is on normal DK roads and not on S/A roads. It also only makes sense if the roads are all built by the state - but they aren't.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

Basically, to use expressways and motorways in many European countries (especially smaller ones) - you need to purchase a sticker that goes on the windscreen, known as a "vignette". Normally, they're sold for 7 days, a month and a year - though the duration does vary. The idea is that short term visitors are punished, while the cost is affordable for year-long versions.

Slovenia has a brutal one for instance - 15 euro for a week, 30 euro for a month or 95 euro for a year. You can see that the country is a major transit route - and so - they fund their entire road system through the summer transit traffic. Yet those living there aren't really suffering because of it. The yearly vignette is also valid for 14, not 12 months - so it's an even better deal for those living there. They - understandably - want to reduce traffic driving through Slovenia.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


That's a consequence of being a major transit route, both north-south and west-east.


Hard to say really - I think tolling does make sense in Poland, because it's concentrated on the major motorways. Vignettes only make sense if there's significant transit traffic on all routes - in Poland, cars only really transit along the A4/A2 which are tolled/will be tolled anyway - and trucks are obliged to use the ViaToll system which covers all motorways/main roads anyway.

I don't really see much wrong with the existing plans - except perhaps that Warsaw-Krakow should be covered by tolling (and made full motorway).

Vignettes are also a positive pain if you're not going far - for example, Brno-Bratislava requires a Slovak vignette for all of 50km or so, with no transit vignette available.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


Ah, knew someone actually living here would pop up with the facts soon ;)

Przemysl to Sanok is one hell of a fun road though - that bit when it climbs up with hairpins is "interesting".


I think you can quite clearly see political influence there - the powers that be have absolutely no interest in opening up that part of Poland.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


The original plan was that something will be open for Euro 2012, then close again to be finished. That's probably what will happen - the road will be "drivable", but unfinished.


Patience ;)

I think Poland will be unrecognisable by 2020 in terms of roads :)

Work / The level of English of Polish teachers of English. What do you think of it? [101]


They're well aware - I count three warnings to him in the last couple of days.

Still, we, as civilised individuals, do not get involved in this sort of nonsense.

Work / The level of English of Polish teachers of English. What do you think of it? [101]

Honestly, when you see this - Living and working in Poznan. Looking for more students to tutor.


You start to appreciate Polish teachers ;)

I showed that to several Polish teachers, and they were all utterly horrified.

Work / The level of English of Polish teachers of English. What do you think of it? [101]


To be fair, it sounds jarring when it's missed out. It's probably the hardest thing for Polish students to grasp, and yet one of the most important things to master.


You should have said "teachers" and not teachers!

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

A2 will be complete (properly) by the end of 2012 :)

There's a lot opening at the minute - a new section of A1 just opened, too. And countless small expressway bypasses are opening, too.

The latest map (but still not totally up-to-date - some more stuff has opened since) - ssc-mapa.googlecode.com/svn-history/r564/trunk/nowa-mapa.png

I sometimes suspect that people are basing their knowledge on outdated internet maps rather than the actual situation on the ground. A lot is opening very, very quickly - it's hard to keep track of what's actually opened.

That map is also a bit misleading - for instance, Lodz-Katowice is dual carriageway the whole way right now, but it's awaiting upgrade to full motorway.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


Please do :)

Actually - from what I can see in Poland, the issue is on roads that aren't maintained by the GDDKiA - especially in cities. Wroclaw for instance has absolutely horrible roads, and Poznan isn't much better.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


I'm wondering about these specific examples of poorly maintained national roads. I've given you one, and that's the only one I've encountered in the entire time driving here. The rest are fine by European standards.


Anyone with half a brain can see the nice new motorways and expressways popping up everywhere. Or was I dreaming when I drove on 2x2 minimum roads to Krakow recently?


So you don't actually have specific examples of poorly maintained roads. What a surprise.

Even DW roads tend to be well maintained in Poland, especially in tricky terrain.


I will, and I'll also enjoy the fact that there is much less traffic on them than in Germany, for instance.


Pretty much. That's the Polish mentality in play - if you think you can get away with something, you do. Even if you're caught, 10 points maximum (and often far less) isn't much of a deterrent.


Where? I'm really wondering where this dim lighting is, because I've driven all over the place and haven't seen anything like this.


Where are you people driving? I don't see anything like this here...

Work / The level of English of Polish teachers of English. What do you think of it? [101]


Oh yes, this is a big problem in Poland. While there are many lovely Polish teachers, there are plenty of them who "have papers" and simply do not take any criticism of their abilities. I knew one guy who made a horrible mistake (he marked a word wrong because it was spelt in the British, not American way - the students had no guidance as to what was expected) - and he wouldn't admit to it. The students went to the other teachers to ask, it was backed up by me and the dictionary - and he still wouldn't apologise. I actually had to apologise for his behaviour - which was ridiculous.

There's also a lot of them in management positions who think that their English is on a native level. Usually, they're to be avoided - I made it a point of not working for anyone who had studied English philology, as it was usually a guarantee that they had such self confidence.

And let's not forget about some clowns that write textbooks despite never having lived in an English speaking country - the Leader School chain uses such books.

(mind you, there are plenty of Polish teachers who **** all over "natives" when it comes to English)

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]

It is absolutely everything to do with enforcement and the penalty points system. All of those things can be mostly stamped out through a police presence that focuses on it - people would soon change their ways if they were getting hit with serious punishments. As it stands, idiotic, stupid driving can only be punished with a maximum of 10 points - and you get 24 points a year to play with. If it was 24 points in 3 years, things would change dramatically.

The testing system is rigid, monitored closely and is comparable to the UK system - actually, it's better than the UK system due to the video cameras/microphones in cars. The compulsory theory and driving practice also ensures a minimum ability before progressing to the test - my instructor had actually refused to sign off several people as having completed the course to a satisfactory standard.


Specific examples, please? Anecdotal evidence is just that, anecdotal. I've driven all over Poland, and the only shocking roads are unclassified roads. Even the mountain passes are in a decent state of repair - I drove Wroclaw-Harrachov not so long ago and it was fine.

As it stands, most major Polish cities are connected via expressway or motorway these days. Once the current building programme is complete, things will be fine.

About the only major issue right now is the lack of a good connection between Wroclaw-Prague.

(ah, there is one place where the road sucks - the A18.)

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


There's nothing wrong with Polish testing standards, in fact - the PCV/HGV regime is tougher than the UK version.

The roads are also fine in many cases - I can drive between here and Wroclaw on empty, well maintained roads with light traffic. Not much to complain about there.

If I fancy a weekend in Krakow, it's about a 6 hour drive along motorways/expressways. Again - nothing to complain about.


Why? Most people aren't driving from nowhereville to nowhereville.


Driving standards would improve overnight if enforcement was ramped up.

Roads are mostly fine. In fact, I don't recall the last time I drove on a DK road that wasn't well maintained. The worst I can think of is the DK5 just south of Leszno, but that's about to get fixed.

Life / Are Polish roads really this bad? [237]


And yet the driving exam is rigorous and contains a built-in check to remove drivers even getting on the road.

The driving standards are only poor because of the lack of enforcement, nothing more. Road conditions are also mostly fine.


Utter crap. It was true, but these days, it's simply not true anymore.


Utter crap, again. I'd love for someone to point out where there are "weak" streetlights in Wroclaw or Poznan.