History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

Mirten,

Based upon my readings, I would say that Poles historically disliked neighboring Germany, yet feared Russia much more intensely! I base this on my research into the losses which Poland sustained at the hands of Stalin vs. Hitler. While Hitler did of course amply label Slavs (above all the Poles) as "subhuman" cf. Stauffenberg's long-repressed quote which finally surfaced several days ago in the Polish press that Poles are "shiftless low lives" (Gesindel) who must be regularly beaten" in order to remain obedient, one must make a distinction between the incalculable losses the Polish gentile majority suffered in contrast with that of Polish Jewry!

Polish Jews surely saw Germany as a far more fiendish enemy that Russia ever was.

News / Czechs most liked by Poles! [35]

This may be due to any number of false friends between the two languages which often lead to offensive misunderstandings, e.g. stały vs. staly, zapach vs. zapach, szukac vs. szukat etc....

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

As stated ad nauseum here on PF, when I close my eyes and envision a Polish male, he is generally broad-faced, oval-headed and quite fair, with a lantern jaw, sculptured facial structure, even features and a muscular build; and there you have him - Andrzej Duda!

LOL

Language / What are the hard aspects of Polish according to its learners? - home essay [21]

Have you also tried listening to news on the radio?

Language / What are the hard aspects of Polish according to its learners? - home essay [21]

It continues to be essential to learn all new vocabulary in context! This is of no end importance in training correct usage. In addition, learn the gender (and the plural forms!) for each new word acquired:-) That way, days, weeks, months into the future, you needn't nag yourself with the same irritating "!#%@! Is such-and-such masculine, feminine or neuter?? How d'you say the plural of...?" etc.

:-)

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [141]

A good point, jon. Yet it needn't be that way! On the one hand, I always accept correction of my Polish. On the other hand, I give as good as I get and am never shy about correcting the English of my respective tandem partner, regardless the language:-)

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

No offence taken:-)

Apropos "Whose Camp was it anyway?", clearly Germany bore the brunt of the atrocities. After all, to be historically accurate, Auschwitz was NOT in Poland, but rather in Nazi-occupied Poland, i.e. Nazi GERMANY!! The Poles. many at least, were simply willing accomplices to German-sanctioned and administrated mass murder!!

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

True enough, yet the very experience being commemorated is so ghastly as to seemingly preclude the random lifting of even the strayest of stray objects. A concentration camp site is exactly that, sacred ground, hallowed soil, preserved for one and one purpose only, NOT for one's own prurient purposes such as a photo op, an ice-cream "break" or (shudder) the discoteque idea once proposed by the Polish government in a misguided attempt to extract state revenue from Auschwitz aka 'Ośwęcim'.

Barbaric!

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

Jon,

When I visited the Dachau Memorial Site many years ago, the lax way in which the grounds were patroled was indeed curious. I could almost touch the barbed wire inside the gates and grab any one of the pebbles lying on the soil.

Makes one wonder as to the maintenance issues at such places:-)

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

At best, a sound and harsh reprimand would have been sufficient!

It is my opinion that the flagrantly thoughtless behavior of the boys perfectly reflects the often lackadaisical manner in which the Holocaust is presented in certain countries. Take Austria, even Russia, for example. Until the plug was finally pulled, the former allowed a company to issue a board game in which one team would be the prisoners, the opposing, the concentration camp guards etc... Perhaps this is the root of Holocaust denial as well as other acts of rampant anti-Semitism.

The above is only one man's point of view.

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [141]

My principle problem is the need for constant practice! I always communicate with Polish native speakers in Polish, as it's easier for both of us. I DO appreciate correction.

Glad to see the feeling is mutual:-)

Work / What are career opportunities for a foreigner in Poland? [16]

Translators too are in high demand and well paid too. Negotiate a price though. Typically, you'll be underbid; ALWAYS overbid and overcharge, just like any other professional!

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

:-) Thank you

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Polish isn't an "American language"... (unless you forgot the period after "hard", he-he!):-)
Do you mean perhaps, "American English has letters whose phonetic quality changes with use, where Polish pronunciation is more consistent.".??

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [141]

Hej!

Did you get my reply to your e-mail already? I sent it off less than twenty minutes ago.
Thanks:-) Not too many English errors on your end, by the way!

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

I agree. Way too many a Polish student become hopelessly mired in "Pan Tadeusz", Biblical quotations, not to even mention purely grammatical exercises, merely to discover eventually that they can't communicate in daily Polish with average, run-of-the-mill Poles!

In this poster's humble opinion, HEAD OUT OF THE FREAKIN' BOOK and start conversing with Poles (mistakes and all):-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Exactly, Ziemowit!

The text is indeed truncated, but the "Twemu" immediately came to mind as arch literary, i.e. biblical, diction:-)
Church services for example in almost any language will contain archaic usage, often neither known nor even recognized in everday language.

Back to counting, collective numeralia I continue to ponder over when writing.

The schwa sound also exists in Turkish and in Albanian, the latter having two dots over the "e" for certain words.

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Well, I just saw a sentence from a present-day Polish women's journal "...uroczystość TWEMU.....".
Obviously, purposely archaic diction:-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

But "DWAJ przyjaciele pozostali u nas w domu." = Two (male) friends were staying at our house.
"DWÓCH mężczyźn siedziało w kawiarnii." = Two men were sitting in the coffee shop.
"DWA koty, psy i hippopotamy leżało w ogrodzie." = Two cats, dogs and hippos were lying in the garden.
"Prosiłem kelnarkę o DWA rachunki." = I asked the waitress for two (separate) checks/bills.
etc....

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

NocyMrok,

"Pięciu panów dziś rano przyjechało do Nowego Jorku." = Five gentlemen arrived this morning in New York.
"Siedmiu śpiewaczów zaśpiewało koncert w Madrycie." = Seven (male) singers gave a concert in Madrid.
"Dwie Polki zginęły we wypadku samochodowym." = Two Polish women died in an automobile accident.
"Dwoje Polaków oraz troje dzieci zginęli w pożaru." = Two Poles (men!!) as well as three children died in the blaze."

...and, guys, even if not perfect, NO google translate, and NO EDIT either:-)
LOL

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Thanks, gumishu! Never would've guessed:-)

Numbers used to dog the pants off me! Now, I'm much more confident.

"Seven people were shot and killed." = Siedmioro osób zginęło po zastrzelaniu./Siedmioro osób było zastrzelone.
"I saw three Poles on the street the other day." = Widziałem wczoraj trzech Polaków na ulice.
"Two Poles were watching TV." = Dwoje Polaków oglądało telewizję.

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Polish is perhaps more phonologically complex than Croatian or Bulgarian, yet not as much as Czech or Russian. Polish "soft-stem" 'dź' and 'zń' nouns somehow trip more easily off my tongue than either Russian or Czech palatalized consonants, particularly the "rz" ('z' with an upside down hat) combinations of the latter, such as in "Brno", "Hrdlicka" etc...

I missposted before, folks! I meant certain feminine "dź"-nouns (odpowiedź) and "źn"-nouns (przyjaźn).

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

More to the point, is it perhaps, only perhaps, you're threatened by an "outsider"/foreigner who knows your native language even better than you know English, and simply can't accept it?:-)

I've encountered this time and time again (even where I teach German, though often from Americans, oddly)

Polish is more challenging than German, though for other reasons. Polish has a quirky counting system, along with a tricky consonant-heavy pronuncation, yet a more or less predictable word order.

German word order can be nearly dizzying for many foreigners, yet pronunciation is straightforward. The inflections however, can seem both repetitive and perplexing!

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

@kpc.

TheOther and I maintain correctly that "das" is right in this sentence. "Dass" with a double "s" means "that" as a (subordinating) conjunction, as in

"It is important THAT you do your work!" etc.

Life / Boże Ciało (Corpus Christi) - a beautiful celebration in Catholic Poland [22]

Germans call it the same thing, "Fronleichnam":-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Exactly, TheOther! I made the identical transference error from German into Polish!

"Powiem mamie!" = Ich sag's Mutti!
"Nie mów.." = Sag's ihr nicht! in the sense of "Das sollst du ihr nicht erzaehlen!" = You shouldn't/musn't/ought not to tell her

etc...

I tend to always think in German FIRST:-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

"Zaraz wracam!" = I'll be right back! (and correct) cf. English: "I am coming right back.", carrying the idea of a FUTURE action!

"Zaraz wrócę!" = I'll be right back! (and incorrect Polish) cf. (ungrammatical as well as illogial EnglishLOL) "I come right back.." [as I do every day].

As someone who realistically has little more than an advanced intermediate level of Polish, I still have to weigh my words before I translate Polish.

Speaking poses less of a challenge:-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

I translated "literally", apologies:-) I sometimes forget "mówić" is in Polish both "to speak" and " to say (to), "powiedzieć", "to tell" cf. Russian, "Mark said..." = Marc govoril vs. Marc zkazal etc...

See my problem?? Thinking German, writing Polish. Usually I have it under control, but my first-language instinct took over for a sec.
Sorry, once again. I endeavor to be much more careful, most of the time:-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Będę mamusiu powiedział.

Nie niej powiedź!

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

NocyMrok,

My native-born Polish teacher (from that-time Lwów) told me that if the letter following, say, a "v-" or "s"-sound, is nearly identical to the sound of the preceding letter, e.g. "wE Wrocławiu", "wE Warszawie", wE Forest Hills", "zE swoim" etc., an e-vowel is obligatory in order to elide the two words!

Or was she incorrect?

Back for a moment to "POmieszkam..". I remember now (but it slipped my mind yesterday when posting!) that I might also have written instead "Będę mieszkał na chwilę we Forest Hills." No?

@Polonius,

For that reason, Russians can mimic an American-style accent, compared with Poles, Spanish-speakers and Italians:-)