Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


probably "pierdol się, szmato"
"fuck you, slut/bitch"

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

For pronunciation problems use this: ivosoftware.com (try both male and female voice)

Life / Polish movies with English subtitles [87]


I've always considered Polański a Polish director, but the original poster asked about "Polish movies"
it's the producers who aren't Polish (plus the language) that makes it a "foreign" movie for me :)

as much as Jerzy Skolimowski's "30 Door Key" (based on Gombrowicz's book Ferdydurke), but made in English (using the English translation of the book)

Life / Polish movies with English subtitles [87]

ranjit, I really don't know your taste, so I just tell you what you can/could buy in Poland (I'm guessing you're living here like your profile says).

From my collection, films that have Eng subs listed on their cover (I haven't checked each of them, but let's hope the are no mistakes):

- Sami Swoi, S.Chęciński, 1967 / (my vote 9.5 out of 10)/ hilarious comedy, set in the post war Poland, portraying conflicts of the "old" (peasant traditions) with the "new" (communist state), great performances by leading actors, a cult movie in Poland (also PL subtitles).

- Wszystko co najważniejsze, R. Gliński, 1992 / 7 out of 10 / drama, based on a biographical book, Polish family (husband communist, - mother of Jewish origin + son), separated and deported by Russians (WWII) to Kazachstan (mother and son), their struggles with everyday life, humiliations by both Russians guards and Polish co-prisoners (because they're atheist/communist, and also Jewish).

- Dekalog, K. Kieślowski, indeed 100 bucks (also here), but it's 10 episodes (each one is ~55 minutes and it's not a TV series, though made for TV) it's basically 10 (maybe 8, depending on taste) good or very good movies for the price of 10 bucks each. (the series is rather famous, so I won't go into details, the Polish release DVD cover mentions also PL and French subtitles).

- Pornografia, J.J. Kolski, 2003, based on a book by famous (yet not much translated into English) Polish writer, Witold Gombrowicz, can't say if it's good or not, because I don't fancy Kolski so I just bought the DVD a while ago (because of Gombrowicz), but haven't seen the movie yet :(

- Pół serio, 2000, Ciało, 2003, both by T. Konecki (the second one co-directed by his scriptwriter A. Saramonowicz), Pół serio gets 6 out of 10 from me, Ciało 6.5. Pół serio is para-biographical - about a 2 young film makers that want to make their first movie, so they show their script to a producer who, depending on his mood, is forcing them to re-write the script to make it a bloody action movie, or a Star Wars wannabe, or Bergmanesque, or modern Romeo and Juliett (with product placement going way overboard), it's actually a series of loose episodes (because all those attempts at different cinematographic styles are shown in a form of 5-10 minutes pieces), not very coherent, on purpose. Ciało is close to absurd, misadventures of a dead body transported by nuns from abroad, for the funeral in Poland, the deceased was their fellow nun who died in Hungary or Czech Rep., but because of robbery the body ends up in a wrong place and subsequently changes hands several times, because there's another body in a movie etc.

- Pręgi, M. Piekorz, 2004, my vote 8 or 6 (depending on the mood) out of 10. A drama, divided into 2 parts, first the main character is a child (I like this part of the movie more), in the second part he's a 25 y.o. or so man. It's about a difficult (and phisically painful) relations with his father and later him not being able to liberate himself from the childhood trauma, but also from the father's shadow (going into his footsteps too much).

- Nóż w wodzie, R. Polański, 1962, my vote 10/10. Polański's only movie made in Poland (except of course his shorts), a psychodrama for 3 (a married couple and a stranger) on a boat. The tensions between the the older, rich husband, his younger wife and the young hitchhiker. The problem is that the Polish release (by TVP / Best Film) has a VHS tape quality of the picture, so maybe check if there hasn't been a new release with restored picture. Criterion release probably lacks some crucial dialogues in the subtitles, if I'm not mistaken.

Wojna światów - następne stulecie, 1981
O-bi, O-ba - Koniec cywilizacji, 1984
Ga, Ga - Chwała bohaterom, 1985
all by P. Szulkin, a sci-fi trilogy, of course very low budget (it was made right before/after the martial law in Poland), not great, but not bad either, has its fans even abroad, the main focus is not on the technique but rather on philosophical, psychical and social aspects of an alien invasion or post nuclear life in a closed, decimated society.

- Edi P. Trzaskalski, 2002, drama, can't really say I liked it, but it's not bad for a modern Polish cinema (which suffered a huge collapse in the 90's),

- A. Wajda was already mentioned, so I just write what foreign subtitles are available on the Polish releases of his movies I got on DVD:

- Kanał, 1957 - eng / fra / ger / rus
- Popiół i diament, 1958 - eng / fra / ger / rus
- Wesele, 1972 - eng / fra / ger / rus / pol
- Ziemia obiecana, 1975 - eng / fra / ger / rus / spa / ita
- Panny z Wilka, 1979 - eng / fra / ger / rus / spa / ita

- Iluminacja, 1972 and Barwy ochronne, 1976, both by K. Zanussi, a specific director, his films are mostly all talk, but he lacks the wit of Woody Allen for example, and the dynamics of the character relations isn't satisfaying for me, still he covers some important topics (the choices we make in our lives), in the 70's he was one of the most prominent figures in the Polish "moral dilemmas cinema" (with K.Kieślowski, A.Wajda, A.Holland).

Iluminacja has the following subs - eng / esp / fra / ger / pol
Barwy ochronne - eng / esp / fra / ger

Just remember that the mentioned films are the ones I own so it doesn't exclude English subtitles in other movies, but here's a list of my DVDs without subtitles, to save you some time searching (I'm referring to recent years releases of course, mostly 2003-2007, currently you can buy Dvix movies on merlin.pl or other online shops, cheap, 10 bucks for a DVD with usually 3-4 films, it's said the quality is good, because it's some improved dvix format, but I don't have any of them, so I don't know if it's is really DVD quality and if they have subtitles):

Rozmowy kontrolowane
Miś (Polish cult classic, comedy)
(both by S. Bareja)
Przesłuchanie, R. Bugajski (great drama, 10/10 from me)
Nie ma mocnych, S.Chęciński (his sequel to Sami swoi, not so succesful, but not bad, the third part, Kochaj albo rzuć sucked)

Wodzirej, F. Falk
Pociąg
Matka Joanna od Aniołów
Faraon
Austeria
(all 4 by J. Kawalerowicz)
Życie wewnętrzne, M. Koterski
Dzień świra, M. Koterski
Dług, K. Krauze (I only have the VCD, so not sure about the DVD)
Mój Nikifor, K. Krauze
Pułkownik Kwiatkowski, K. Kutz
Kiler edit: I forgot I only have a cheap 4 złoty version, sold witha newspaper, so maybe the regular release does have subtitles
Seksmisja (another Polish cult classic, comedy, as good as Sami swoi or Miś)
(both, Kiler and Seksmisja, by J. Machulski)
Eroica. Symfonia bohaterska w dwóch częściach
Zeoowate szczęście
(both by A. Munk)
Rejs, M. Piwoski, also a cult comedy, but rather hermetic, too difficult for a foreigner, unless he knows something about Polish reality (in the seventies), but I would recommend S. Bareja's comedies first (those form the 70's and also TV series Alternatywy 4, as a kind of introduction to the absurds of the everyday life in the communist times. Unfortunatelly, I'm not sure if any Bareja's movies have subtitles.

Tato, M. Ślesicki
Matka Królów, J. Zaorski

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]


oh, I should've have said that too, sorry for being rude, mypips33 :)

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]


that's the official one you find in a dictionary,

babunia, babusia are diminutives, while busia is a shorter form of babusia (and I don't hear it in Poland, but I read on these forums that "busia" is common among American Poles or Polish Americans, if you prefer)

and when kids start talking they rather use "baba", as they can't pronounce more difficult words for some time :)

for pronounciation, copy and paste the words into:
ivosoftware.com/
(try both female and male voice)

Love / What are the best love poems in Polish to receive? [77]

why? should he pretend he wrote them? without knowing Polish at all?

Life / The Polish Wedding - What is it Like in Poland? [338]

google fro "Góralu, czy ci nie żal" (I'm assmuing that's the song you mean, I'm not going to read aPole's whole post now)

Law / HELP: ALLEGRO... Do most Polish buyers at allegro.pl use PayPal? [33]

confirming: bank transfers, the reason PayPal is not popular in Poland: they waited too long, they started their services here only about 3 years ago (and it was only one-way traffic first - you could pay someone, but you weren't allowed to receive cash). I think they missed the opportunity and won't conquer Polish market too soon.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [869]

Polish hatred to Germans:
some basic info:
killed millions of Poles (mostly civilians), destroyed and stole as much of the country as they were able to. I guess everyone knows that and it's an old story, I can hear the replies: "get over it", these were fathers/grandfathers of the current Germans, so they can't be responsable" etc.

I agree, but I can't overlook the imminent consequences of that 1939 assault:
It CHANGED our 20th century history, indirectly throwing us in the arms of the post-war Soviet Union, thus indirectly deprived us of 50 years of free market economy (not to mention citizen rights, like freedom of speech etc. or other non measurable consequences).

So the EU gave us millions or billions of Euro, to build a highway or two, and you think it's ok?
Without that war, with normal economic growth (no communism), Poland would have those highways built by now with its own money, like all western European countries did.

So yeah, I don't blame today's Germans for the war, I don't hate Germany or its people, and I'm, to a certain degree, thankful for the "alms" we receive, but asking me to love the country that had caused my country to be in a beggar's shoes is a little overboard.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [869]


trolling again or being serious?

I sincerely hope you're trolling around, because if you think you can buy someone so easily, you really need a reality check.


we don't eat poison, thank you.

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]

No need to be sorry, I never even considered going to US because of this bureaucracy, but I heard/read lots of complaints from normal people who wanted to go (in Polish we say they "had to prove that they are not camels"). And I think the problem had existed long before 9/11.

But it's quite offtopic, so I stop here, because I have no helpful information to offer :(

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]


that's the price for keeping the nasty visa system for Poles in the USA (many rejections, 100$ fee not refundable even if your application gets rejected by th US embassy, many other annoying things during the processing of your application).

Genealogy / Polish surname Gil. My ancestors were from the town of Widelka. [74]

I can't help with genealogy, but here are the Polish versions of the names you mentioned (just in case you need them when searching Polish archives records):

Peter - Piotr
Mary Ann - Marianna (but 100 years ago different spellings were possible, I guess, like Maryjanna, or she simply had two given names Maria Anna)
Agate - Agata
Rose - Róża
Lukas - £ukasz
Sophia - Zofia

the surname Gil exists in Poland not only in Widełka


it's Kolbuszowa

Travel / Fishing in Poland - where to go, what to catch? [79]

as a vegetarian I shouldn't be posting any advice for you ugly hunters/fishermen, but I don't want you to go in jail or risk a fine, so make sure you're allowed to be fishing in Poland, because (in theory) you'd need to buy a licence for that, if I'm not mistaken

Life / Polish Nursery Rhymes [253]

well, I don't know this text, but with the help of your translation, I'd say it's (properly spelled in Polish):
Gdzie jedziesz?
Do Warszawy.
Po co?
Po buty.
yez un ye shiz te (no idea what it is)
Patrz do góry (Look up - i.e. in the direction upwards)

History / 1612 new russian epic movie. Polish troops in Moscow. [25]

Like Kain and Abel, I guess?

Life / Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Day) // Dzien Zaduszny (All Souls day) [93]


things like that don't fall over easily:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Znicz
images.google.com/images?client=opera&rls=en&q=znicz&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

unfortunatelly, the older types (thick glass or ceramic, open at the top) are replaced with modern ones (thin glass or even plastic all over, instead of glass and metal),

I really loved the old type, when I was a kid - we were all putting our fingers in it, so the stearin was sticking to the fingers and when it cooled down we had colourful artificial "fingernails")

Life / Polish films... where to find them? [51]


I guess you mean her daughter, not son.
That's Three Colours: Blue (osioł meant Three Colours: White, which is actually, in parts, a comedy, unlike Blue and Red)

Law / How do I verify a Polish company's existence? [240]

S.A. (Spółka Akcyjna), s.j. (spółka jawna), sp. z o.o. (Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością):
- rejestr przedsiębiorców Krajowego Rejestru Sądowego (entrepreneurs registry of the National Court Register) or court registers (economic divisions) in the town where they have their head office.

s.c. (spółka cywilna):
- ewidencja działalności gospodarczej Urzędu Miasta - Town Hall's economic activity division

Every company has a REGON number given by GUS (Główny Urząd Statystyczny - Main Statistical Office) and NIP given by US (Urząd Skarbowy - Tax Office), maybe it's the way you can verify their existance, contacting the Urząd Statystyczny for Województwo £ódzkie, I'm not sure if this information is free of charge though :(

Love / Looking for a Polish love song [78]


from your description it looks like Supermenka [=Superwoman] by Kayah

Gdybym mogła być mężczyzną jeden dzień,
pewnie byłabym
supermenem, tyle o kobietach wiem
jestem jedną z nich

[Boguś Li = Bogusław Linda, a Polish actor]

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

maybe rather as*h*le?

Classifieds / Asian community in Poland [113]

there's a quite big Vietnamese community in Warsaw, probably also Chinese, but I'm not sure.

Genealogy / Popular Polish First Names? [152]


it's a big mistake, I tell you.
this site displays Polish words correctly (even in Interner Explorer 6.0),
the problem you are talking about is rather connected to poor HTML-coding, this site seem to support the fonts well, it's like with Chinese - on some sites all you can see is a "bunch of question marks", but on other you can actually see the text correctly

Genealogy / Popular Polish First Names? [152]

btw, Bartek in Polish can mean Bartłomiej, indeed, but it's also used for Bartosz, I'm not sure which name is more popular (Bartłomiej or Bartosz).

Food / Where to buy napisco Oreo Biscuits in Warsaw [15]

otherwise try some Polish "markizy" (those Oreo biscuits look totally like "markizy" on the picture) from a good manufacturer (I'm not sure who makes good ones, but a higher price might be a small indicator sometimes, just don't buy those really cheap ones)

Food / What exactly is Polish Bread? [90]

First of all Polish bread isn't any specific kind of bread, it rather refers to the quality, taste and methods of bread making in Poland (more traditional, of course, the bakeries they have been using machines for a long time, but it's all those chemical raising agents that make "western bread" so bad, it only looks nice)

And the most selled today is probably the standard white bread (wheat flour) on yeast, but if it's made in a natural way, it still tastes a lot better than wheat bread abroad. Other types are wheat-rye, pure rye isn't very popular.

But it's the best IMHO, integral rye bread without chemical additives, it's heavy and it has a little acid taste, indeed, because that's how you make it, you don't use yeast or anything similar, but "zakwas (zaczyn) chlebowy"

here's a Polish wiki site (very short) for zakwas:


pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakwas_chlebowy

and the English one, which mentions yeast, so it's not exactly how it's supposed to be, but I don't bake at home, I'm lucky to have a few good bakeries in my city

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough

most online recipes are with yeast, but I found some that may be OK:
kuchnia.bytow.pl/index.php?menu=czytaj&nr=7034

serwisy.gazeta.pl/tokfm/1,58941,3157626.html

and if you want some more traditional recipes, here's one:

lewandowka.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemi d=30

(it's from 1889 vademecum "Perfect housewife")

Genealogy / Popular Polish First Names? [152]

I don't think so, but there was a Polish actress with that name, so it wouldn't shock anybody
I heard it a few times (one Daria was my teacher at university and another is my relative's naighbour little daughter), so it happens.

Life / Polish Nursery Rhymes [253]


that's not quite right, it's a diminuitive of "nieborak"

from PWN lexicon:
nieborak «ze współczuciem o człowieku lub zwierzęciu»
so it's someone/something poor, unhappy, unlcky
poor soul/thing

Life / Famous Polish people (that we have actually heard of) [231]

Yeah, I didn't like my post, but I can't edit it now, I realized after a while I had posted something not quite relevant to the discussion. Sorry for that.

Anyway, I wasn't referring only to the real soldiers, as "unknown soldier" I meant anyone who had some great achievements that created the necessary basis for the future but remained close to anonymous, because someone else had the "finishing touch" (for example like those Enigma crackers, whose work was overtaken by the British when the war in Poland was inevitable).