Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

Problem is though, the textbooks appear to be written almost exclusively in Polish! How then will the learners of English become immersed in the target language unless either a native English instructor, at the very least, a target language text, is used regularly?

For very young learners, I can understand, but as for more advanced high schoolers, I can't imagine how.
Guess it depends on the school system, funding, and so forth.

Life / Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles [187]

Dzien wagarowania, pawian? Somehow can't imagine a "National Hooky Day" here in the US!

Never knew that. Thanks:-)

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

Roughly, "Three cheers for....."

"Sto lat!" = Gesundheit! (After someone sneezes) or "For he's a jolly good fellow....!" when congratulating somebody upon their marriage, for example.

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

"Niech ZYJE Rzeczpospolita Ludowa Polska!"

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

Can't speak for Poland, although I'd imagine it does, but typically the US by sharp contrast, has always maintained a decidedly anti-intellectual, anti-academic, in the end, anti-education, streak, save perhaps for all but those most nuts-and-bolts trade schools which have usually been strictly "for profit" institutions, thus heavily susceptible to financial scams!

I ought to know, I worked for one:-)

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

Nonetheless, pawian, the image of the money-hungry Jew continued to haunt them, don't you understand? Who does "business" for free?
:-)

Life / Why does Poland need racial diversity? Opinions [67]

Diversity is seen as something imposed from outside, without plebiscite, and forced upon countries such as Poland etc. without the latter having
been consulted for discussion about the entire matter. Sorry if this sounds naïve.

Life / Why does Poland need racial diversity? Opinions [67]

While I can't blame them, we also have to analyze the misguided policies which has brought both Britain and much of the
continent to this point. The answers are clear, the solutions, less so:-)

Life / Why does Poland need racial diversity? Opinions [67]

A nice post, Ziemowit!

This should prove once and for all to the naysayers out there, here on PF and beyond, that the notion of the Jew as some sort of foreign, unassimilable body, is pure rubbish.

While we're on the subject, Jan Brzechwa, a half-Jew on his mother's side, penned the most famously difficult of all Polish tongue twisters, often featured here on this Forum:-)

Life / Why does Poland need racial diversity? Opinions [67]

@Dirk,

I'm simply saying the deck was once almost entirely stacked against dark-complected minorities, therefore ever since then, there are those who are attempting to set things right. Problem is, the latter's "equally" 'unfair', only in a different way! Now, rather than making room for BOTH, certain institutions etc. are excluding the white applicant, candidate, what have you, based on discrimination over past wrong, instead of solely on competence. Just so long as we're clear on that.

@Ironside The Wise Guy,
How could Jews incite anti-Semitism by virtue of being Jews. The issue is ideological, fomented in large part by the Church which deliberately excluded Jews

from full participation in society! Don't give me this, "Oh, Marek. The Jews wanted to remain separate!", If that were the case, there would have been no Enlightenment at all and Moses Mendelssohn would have been a mere footnote in history.

Are you honestly such a jerk or are you faking? How can anyone be that stupid, except maybe, and only maybe, they're actually an agent provocateur!

Life / Why does Poland need racial diversity? Opinions [67]

A Harvard study, Dirk ol' man, conducted, disseminated, and doubtless read, mostly by white people. So where's the validity of your argument?
Shot to hell!

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

How indicative of what nationalities think of or picture foreigners!
In German, there was an expression before the end of WWII, roughly translated as follows:

The teacher walks into a particularly noise classroom and roars, "HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS, A YESHIVA?" (Ruhe, hier ist keine
Judenschule!). The Polish idiom implies Jews are rootless without a homeland, the German expression implies that Jews are noisy.

Life / Why does Poland need racial diversity? Opinions [67]

I think the question ought to read "Of what value is racial diversity in Poland?"
Probably, reacting as an American, I would tend to think that everyone in a country ought to be
considered as a native of that country.

However, I realize that such is nearly impossible, particularly in a homogeneous and conservative society like Poland.

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

We also say here in the States "plain as day" (jasno = literally, "clear").
:-)

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

Furthermore, the "Enabling Act" of '33 which facilitated Hitler's entry to complete and absolute power in Germany was a direct result of DISabling an already shaky German Constitution:-) All done 'legally' though obviously not 'democratically'!

:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

If not, such a pity! I see I must know lots of retro Poles:-)

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

Oh, but I never once said "democratically", did I? Don't forget, the Nazi regime had her own spin on the whole idea of legality! Methinks you're splitting hairs once again.Someone can be legally appointed, even if not "democratically, as understood by us in the current US.

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

He was an instinctive orator, although technically, a louse elocutionist!

In a country weak, defeated, and morally sick, he pandered as none other to the primitive fears and yearnings of a "civilized", yet profoundly unenlightened, people.

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

The point is that Americans typically believe that Hitler merely walked in to the parliament and seized control of Germany, and the issue is that he was elected.

That's not difficult to understand:-)

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

@Weimarer,
Then I guess you would have been a Hitler supporter! G-d Bless the FuehereLOL
As a non-Christian, as someone who doesn't acknowledge the sanctity of spirituality, you never were taught
that humanity is ALWAYS a valid concept, rain or shine!!!

@TheOther,
As I said, Hitler was appointed LEGALLY, when President Hindenburg was deemed too mentally unfit to serve, not realizing the consequences of his decision. This is known as the "Staatsakt". The Nazi Seizure of Power was mandated, if you will, by a majority vote. Thereafter of course, the entire law was re-drafted to fit Nazi ideology, culminating in the Nuremberg Law.

Please don't debate me on the facts of history, 'cuz you'll lose hands down!

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

..because Germans weren't intellectually ready to accept the concept of democracy, delph!

That's been proven umpteen times, by German as well as Anglo-Saxon historians who point to the numerous flaws, among them, the "Sonderweg" of German history.

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

The Canadians then share something in common with the North Americans, even if they wouldn't necessarily care to admit it.

History / Cursed soldiers controvercy - not all Poles respect them [320]

Also, Hitler was LEGALLY elected Chancellor. The failures of democracy in that country, evidenced by the swift collapse of the Weimar Republic, provides ample evidence:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

I might ask you the same question, Ironside, but I'm sure I wouldn't get the same answer:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Always super tough to generalize without seeming embarrassingly ludicrous or insulting, but I have noticed that many Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians
tend not to smile as readily as Westerners (forget about the Americans or other non-European groups such as Asians), perhaps owing to their Communist past,

can therefore tend to look serious or reflective, perhaps giving the impression of being a stern, tough lot, particularly among the women:-)

Certainly hairstyle is part of outward appearance, and it is true, that a number of distinctive '60's-era styles, most notably the once popular "beehive" cut among

younger or teenage women, might tend to incriminate someone as being from Eastern Europe, especially Czech Republic, Poland, Uktaine or Russia!

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

Do I detect a jibe aimed at Hartz IV?
LOL

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

Of course, not all change is for the better. Accept change critically, not passively or blindly!

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

As the world changes, sadly we too must change with it, adamant in our own private feelings though as we doubtless are:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Yep, sounds about right. Just goes to show there is NO SUCH THING as a "pure" ethnicity, try as the racists to to prove otherwise:-)

Genealogy / The typical Polish look, or all Eastern Europeans [676]

Agreed, Atch!

Most Brits will also say, "I have been to the museum this afternoon", which is of course PERFECT 'English', however American English typically prefers
the simple past rather than the past participle in such a sentence:-) I did indeed speak too soon, as all European non-native English speakers on this forum will obviously have been taught British English (albeit sadly not "R.P."LOL)

@Dirk,

"I disagree. Men aren't embracing their manhood......" And if you were to have uttered such a lie in any court of law in the world, my friend, you'd have been guilty of perjury!!

Incorrect. Men who mostly use, that is prefer solely, their fists instead of their noggin are no longer embracing their humanness, but instead their animal origins, from which we allegedly developed. Some of us apparently haven't:-)

Used to be, and not all that long ago, that a dispute between two middle-class American men was almost settled with words, save of course if one of the gentlemen in question was foolish enough to lay a hand on the other. That's something else entirely.

Back on topic, I've found it hard to generalize any more between the appearance of Poles and Ukrainians, except that the latter tend to have wider faces and often less

chiseled features.