Work / South African wants to move to Poland, please provide some input? [59]

While the average South African can hold their own in English, much the same cannot be said across the board for the Poles:-) Although the Dutch are of course another matter entirely, Warsaw ain't Amsterdam (and believe me, they don't even try), therefore learning at least basic Polish would be more or less a must:-) That'll also help out lots with jobs, digs and stuff like this.

Powodzenia, mate!

Love / Just started dating Polish guy - what is typical of a man from Poland? Cultural differences. [78]

As already posted, Poles of either sex tend to be frank to a fault, blunt as a spoon, even for a first encounter, and usually make no bones about expressing themselves along with the necessary obscenities (particularly in EnglishLOL), LIKE IT OR NOT!!!

Older Poles, over fifty-sixty onward especially, will typically be far less "in your face", as the saying goes, albeit nearly as opinionated as regards politics and national culture:-)

I once dated briefly a Polish woman shortly after grad school, and was struck by how straightforward she was in comparison with American women especially.

There was no warming up in the bull pen, so to speak, and I noticed that even in Polish, she seemed to dispense with the small talk right from the start.

Unlike Swedes, Dutch, and Germans though, she was never hurtful, rude or errantly nasty, merely impatient like a child, almost demanding simple answers to complicated, above all, often highly personal questions.

Wish to emphasize here, I'm only speaking from my own limited experience first hand.

Food / What Polish foods do foreigners generally not take to? [139]

In general, Polish food I've had, both here and in Poland, is quite a salty affair:-) Northern Europeans do love their fat and lard to a far greater degree than the Italians, preferring (the healthier) olive oil.

Probably, most of the authentic Polish specialties would have to be "Americanized" to suit US health requirementsLOL

Food / What Polish foods do foreigners generally not take to? [139]

"Peoples" though IS only correct in the sense of "peoples of the earth", referring to "tribes" or "races" ("lud" or "plemie")!
:-)

Food / What Polish foods do foreigners generally not take to? [139]

Don't let's please not forget my personal favorites pyzy and bigos, while you're at it.....

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]

Oh, I see

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]

"Poles" is just fine, "polak", definitely not!

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

"Free" speech need not automatically mean hate or purposely offensive speech! What folks quickly forget is that people such as Ms.Coulter, the Bell curve author, Murray etc. is that the latter are merely freeing up the airwaves in order to polute OUR space with their pestilent garbage!!

Speech can be free, but only so long as THEY are calling the shots. I'm perfectly happy to listen calmly to their point of view and then proceed to tell them just as calmly where they're mixed up:-) What's wrong with that? Seems fair.

lol

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Thanks, Delph!

POLSAT'S good and on YouTube I will occasionally try to watch and listen to parliamentary debates. My enemy is simply time:-)

@NoToForeigners,

One of our greatest English authors, Joseph Conrad, became a master stylist in the English language, yet by all accounts spoke English with such a thick Polish accent, he sometimes dumbfounded listeners! Moral here is that whereas I make grammatical errors in my writing, you'll probably never know how good my speaking is!

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

It so happens that I understand as much in Polish news broadcasts as you do of CNN or BBC! I can't speak for Delph or others:-)

Perhaps not up to the quality of "Do Rzeczy" or "Rzeczpospolita", but I read the "Nowy Dziennik" on a weekly basis and have little difficulty grasping the main idea.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

You seem to have an opinion about everything else, why shouldn't Delph have a chance as well? He's usually interesting and literate, present company excludedLOL

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]

Exactly.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]

Does the 'n+ soft sign' belong in "Twoich urodzin.."?? I remember recently writing to a Polish acquaintance and she corrected it with a normal 'n':-)

Just curious. Guess every language has it's own hard and fast rules regarding spelling.

UK, Ireland / What can I say/do about my Polish neighbours in the UK? [65]

Xenophobic prattle harms all of us, Joker! Had you, say, moved to Turkey for instance, and continued practicing your "heathen" British ways, such as walking about in casual wear into a mosque, allowing your wife/girlfriend to walk onto a holy site uncovered, joking about the scowling omnipresent visage of Ataturk all of the place (which remains forbidden under penalty of fine or incarceration), don't you honestly think your overwhelmingly Turkish neighbors might strenuously object and be quite vocal about it??!

UK, Ireland / What can I say/do about my Polish neighbours in the UK? [65]

Once more, Joker, the Poles don't have a monopoly on playing loud music etc.
A tough call, but if ringing them doesn't work, knocking on the door of their flat doesn't either, then the note inside the lift idea might do the trick:-)

UK, Ireland / What can I say/do about my Polish neighbours in the UK? [65]

I do agree about the Italians especially, both in Italy and abroad:-) I was last in the UK during the '90s and perhaps only a coincidence, but during a guided tour of the BM (British Museum), a youngish, teenage Italian girl on the tour was asking questions to the docent and her voice projection was so almost piercingly loud (not to mention grating due no doubt to being a chain smoker) we scarcely could hear the docent when she was speaking!

Finally, the tour was over, but my ears were still ringing for a good half hour after.

I think that it's a question in this case of the enunciation in a particular language. Italian, more certainly than English, German, Spanish or Polish, is a carefully pronounced language in which it seems every individual letter counts (except perhaps for consonant clusters such as "gl" in "gli" etc.). Therefore, perhaps Italian speakers, both male and female, tend to sound "louder" in even normal speech than speakers from other language groups.

As far though as the main thread question is concerned, among the many factors to consider would be the issue of personal space, not merely voice volume, in other countries compared to the UK. As England especially is a much smaller surface area than Poland, Turkey, Germany, Russia and the US, English people are more conscious of that space and tend not to appreciate people standing to close to them, even if they're whispering:-)

Only my two pence worth.

UK, Ireland / What can I say/do about my Polish neighbours in the UK? [65]

"Greenhorns" nearly anywhere abroad, are bound to bring many of their foreign ways to bear on the host culture! Surely no culture has a monopoly either on dirtiness, cleanliness, loudness, quietness etc., therefore, the behaviors of non-native neighbors inside a majority society must be weighed within the scope of relative consideration.

Whereas in a number of the Scandinavian countries, it is felt to be uncouth as well as annoying, to have people congregating in the street, speaking at the top of their lungs in a foreign tongue, even in English, for that matter:-) On the other hand, in many Arab-speaking countries, this is a most normal, everyday occurrence, barely worthy of comment, certainly not complaint.

My advice to try tolerance in the case of noisy foreign neighbors, and if all else fails, possibly type an anonymous note stating the nature of the complaint, firmly yet friendly, and simply tape it in the lift for everyone to see.

The"offender" just may take notice and voila, problem solved:-)

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

??? And again, why would you think anything different?

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

My last post was sent in error!

Indeed, I do have a high regard for the Poles and their country.

Language / How well do Polish people understand Slovak? [88]

Completely correct, Maf, which is why these two words give Hungarians such reason to guffaw so when foreigners such as we attempt to utter their "intractable" tongueLOL

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

On the contrary, my opinion of Poles as well as Poland is overwhelmingly positive, however could you think otherwise?
:-)

Language / How well do Polish people understand Slovak? [88]

.....which is because the toast phrase is written "Egeszegere!":-)

Nothing makes Hungarians laugh more than this deadly false friend, similar to entertainment for the Danes is listening to unsuspecting foreign visitors asking about "Koege" on a map of Denmark, or ordering "Roedgroede med floede" in a restaurant. Cracks 'em up every time!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Yes, I agree to an extent. I think that Anglo-Saxon culture typically tries to shy away from confrontation.

On the other hand, there are plenty of belligerent Brits as there are taciturn, retiring Israelis (...although I've never met anyLOL)!
:-)

Poles often come across as opinionated, yet not doctrinaire, involved, while at the same time, self-assured.

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Polish people I've found on the whole to be forthright and often unusually candid with their emotions, as I've stated before. This is neither positive nor negative, merely an objective observation culled over many years:-)

Language / How well do Polish people understand Slovak? [88]

Tricky pronunciation for Hungarian speakers particularly, conversely for Poles, is the "SZ" vs. "S" issue. A Pole instinctively says "SHeged" rather than "Sseged" ("Szeged") and "Ssandor" (Sandor) instead of "SHandor" etc..

Czech and Slovak also have long or closed vowels, where modern Polish only has open or short ones.

Language / How well do Polish people understand Slovak? [88]

In Polish, the "g" appears in words like "głodny", "gołąb" etc.. which, for example in Czech might be written/spoken "holodny" and "holub".

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

.....stabbing and BACK stabbing culture as well:-)

Language / How well do Polish people understand Slovak? [88]

"Pan", "pani" is normal in Czech, as in Polish, (just different pronunciation) but NOT in Ukrainian:-)

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

My sense is that the English especially (compared maybe with the Welsh, Scots, and Irish) are only superficially polite, like the Americans, but the Poles really mean it when they are polite!

The Viennese for instance, still rattle off "Kiss the lady's hand!" as a kind of perfunctory greeting at fancy social events aka annual The New Year's Ball at the Wiener Oper. But they don't mean it.

When Poles say "Całuję Pani rączki!", they mean it. In short, the Poles are generally more sincere and honest than a majority of the English:-)

Language / How well do Polish people understand Slovak? [88]

A Ukrainian speaker once asked me how to say "govorit" in Polish, to which I replied "mówić". "Oh, but M - O - V - I - T in my language sounds like really old-fashioned book language!", she said smiling broadly. "We might understand, but nobody says it.", she added.