Language / The most important phrases when traveling to Poland [24]

Yet many of the above have been ever so quickly replaced by websites, chances are nowadays, to the question "Ile kosztuja dwa bilety do Warszawy?", the random railway official would snap, "Zobaczij Pan(i) on-line!!"

:-)

Language / What were the first Polish words and phrases you have learned? [63]

Especially these days: )

Language / Diminutive Words for Breads, Loaves, etc [20]

Lovin' it, jon!
Stuff like this is great, thanks:-)

Language / Diminutive Words for Breads, Loaves, etc [20]

I'm afraid I don't.
However, it almost looks like a Russian-Yiddish word "bubliczka" (my own faulty transcription, no doubtLOL) my maternal grandmother used about me.

No relation to bread, I'm sure:-)

Off-Topic / When do you teach a Polish \ English child a second language? [8]

I would say as early as is humanly possible.
Having grown up with two language, though perhaps not technically "bilingual", hearing the very first sounds of a second language can only facilitate learning that language formally later on.

Language / Diminutive Words for Breads, Loaves, etc [20]

Buleczki were what I had at that Polish backery, Moniuszko it was called, if I remember correctly!

Language / Diminutive Words for Breads, Loaves, etc [20]

Surname Chlebus, interesting.
Where is Surname's bakery located? Not familiar with that one.

Language / Diminutive Words for Breads, Loaves, etc [20]

I can remember seeing many of the above expressions in Brooklyn's Polish bakeries.

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

You most likely being in either Slovakia, Bulgaria or the Czech Republic, by process of elimination.

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

Pretty fair guess, I'd say.
'Scuse the typo:-)

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

Once more, when in Europe are you from, that is, where on the continent do you reside?
Curious only as to which country you are speaking about.

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

On the other hand, it someone's always smiling (often the habit in both the Midwest as well as the South), kinda hard to trust 'em.

Either a neutral or honestly angry demeanor when called for is much more believable.

Think somehow that the US has taken her cue a great deal from certain Asian societies, in which non-stop smiling even when bearing bad news is fairly commonplace, I'm told. My business dealings with Asians have also borne this out.

The Arabs, don't forget, are known to smile just before plunging the scimitar into the back of their enemy:-)

Language / Sentence usage/placements of unstressed vs stressed pronouns Się/Siebie, Mi/Mię, Cię/Ci, Go/Jego, Mu/Jemu, [19]

Yep, makes sense.

Language / Sentence usage/placements of unstressed vs stressed pronouns Się/Siebie, Mi/Mię, Cię/Ci, Go/Jego, Mu/Jemu, [19]

"Sie" is a pure reflexive pronoun in Polish. "Siebie" is at least for myself a little tougher to explain for elementary Polish learners first time out.

It corresponds roughly to "one another". Then again, a native speaker might well be able to elucidate better:-)

By the way, Polish often uses "sie", the reflexive, in ways quite different from English or other Germanic languages.
Examples: Jak sie masz? = How are you?, literally, "How have you yourself?", which makes no sense in translation,
or, "Jak sie mowi...." = How do you say [..such and such.... in.], word for word "How speaks oneself?", again, anathema
to either English or German speakers!

Language / Etymology of sztuka [5]

It obviously means "art" as in the above photo, perhaps derived from the German.

Language / Sentence usage/placements of unstressed vs stressed pronouns Się/Siebie, Mi/Mię, Cię/Ci, Go/Jego, Mu/Jemu, [19]

Word order in Polish can also stress which has priority in the sentence.

Language / Stenka and stęka - on alleged non-existence of nasal vowels in spoke Polish [17]

Exactly, Maf, but probably not with e "z kreska" in casual or everyday speech.

Language / Stenka and stęka - on alleged non-existence of nasal vowels in spoke Polish [17]

Nothing "alleged" about them!
However, certain final nasals in various words like 'prosze', 'kawE' etc.
in my experience are rarely if ever consciously nasalized by native speakers, outside of a classroom setting, especially for foreigners who need to hear the distinction, with or without.

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

Interesting, thanks Milo!
Was in Greenpoint a heck of a lot more recently than in either Acton or Ealing ('76).

Language / Sentence usage/placements of unstressed vs stressed pronouns Się/Siebie, Mi/Mię, Cię/Ci, Go/Jego, Mu/Jemu, [19]

That's right!
Be careful though: On jest dobryM nauczycielEM, but, To jest pieknY obraz. In the second sentence, because of the article "to", the Nominative would be used. Cf. "The Night Watch" Rembrandt'a jest pieknyM obrazEM.

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

Same in Greenpoint!
Was there nearly a year ago and apparently many if not most of those wonderful cafes and shops are now gone, little Polish left, except for Polonia Bookstore(:-

Language / Sentence usage/placements of unstressed vs stressed pronouns Się/Siebie, Mi/Mię, Cię/Ci, Go/Jego, Mu/Jemu, [19]

Very workable explanations.

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [283]

Absolutely right, jon.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]

Thanks, Ziemowit!

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [283]

The lure of cheap labor as I keep saying but to little avail. Sweden, Germany, and France
may well consider themselves proudly socialist, but they remain capitalist in terms of
keeping competitive with today's market!

This means allowing prices to stay low by having a less expensive work force:-)

Language / Sentence usage/placements of unstressed vs stressed pronouns Się/Siebie, Mi/Mię, Cię/Ci, Go/Jego, Mu/Jemu, [19]

"Kocham Cie" I've seen side-by-side with "Kocham Ciebie". Same with "go" and "niego". It depends then on the register, I suppose.

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

But conversely not much Polish except among the larger Polish-American communities
such as Chicago, Greenpoint, Bklyn. and others:-)

Life / Americanization of Poland - good or bad? [49]

Says you!
I know better in this case, based on what I hear from my students.
After all, they live there 24/7 and have no need to either impress of suck up to me. They're expressing their honest opinions, I presume.

Po polsku / Wielkimi krokami zbliża się... Dzień Przyjaźni Polsko-Węgierskiej [50]

magYarol
:-)

Language / Verbal nouns and past-tense adjectives from imperfective & perfective verbs..when to use which aspect? [48]

@Paw, ForumUser,

I understand both your examples, yet I'm not entirely convinced. However, "Maluje mieszkanie." = I'm painting my apartment" only reveals imprecision in that the lack of an article in the sentence is vague and might mean "my", "an" or "the" apartment in question here. To me as a native English speaker, there's no misunderstanding nor even the slightest hesitation translating the sentence!

On the other hand, a language like German definitely has both Polish and English beat, so to speak, in terms of its directional as well as resultative aka perfective specificity.

Maluje mieszkanie = Ich male meine Wohung vs. Maluje sciane = Ich male die Wand AN, whereby the latter specifies the painting of a surface, not
simply an apartment/house in general, thereby requiring the prefixed verb "anmalen".

Polish too of course has numerous verbal prefixes:-)