Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]

The perfective and imperfictive modes can be often interchangeable, and thus there are no strictly defined rules for applying these modes. Yesterday, I was writing a short report and on reviewing it I found that I wanted to change one into another several times in order to give a phrase a more precise sense.

News / Poland economy is a financially drained economy of suppliers? [33]


Such a loss is not that big for a nedium-size airline like Condor..

News / Poland economy is a financially drained economy of suppliers? [33]


How much have they paid for it?

Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]


Thit has happened to Belorussians, too, as almost the entire population uses Russian for communication these days. The same is true for the Ukrainians.Tthese days I quite often hear them in the street or on public transport in Poland and I have never come across any of them speaking in Ukrainian; all of them speak in Russian between themselves.


What about the Elbe Slavs who as a Lechitic nation turned en masse to German except for the Lusatians whose great part still spoke the two Sorbian languages in the 18th century and onward.

News / Polexit? Almost half of the Poles believe that Poland would be better off outside of the EU [548]


I cannot remember Foron in Poland. ORWO films for amateur cameras were of superb quality indeed.


Can you tell us the total amount of money that West Germany pumped into the ailing East German economy throughout the 1990s?

Did anyone see that German comedy film "Good Bye Lenin!" whose subject was the Eastern German political and economic transformation in the period shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall? By coincedence to this discussion, I watched it yesterday evening on TVP Kultura channel and I would say the film has impressed me a great deal. Just within half-a-year of the DDR's collapse, the main caracter of the film is unable to buy Spreewälder Gurken in the shops of Berlin and every East German person eating Gurken he encounters tells him theirs come from Holland.


What exactly does that mean?

Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]


That is, in a way, very exceptional. But I wouldn't be that much surprised if it was American English she was allergic to. This version of English is evidently less elegant when spoken and sounds more vulgar than British English.

Overall, the sexiest of all European languages is beyond any doubt French.

Language / What is your biggest problem with Polish language? [158]


This is crap as almost everything Rich writes here (or at least so it was until the time I put him on my ignore list :-). We had been through this before when Latin had been spilled over the civilized world of the time, that is over southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. And what happened next? Latin split into many different languages like Italian, French, Spanish or Romanian. On the other hand, Latin, the language of a relatively more powerful empire than the US (toutes proportions gardées) is today, did not succeed in forcing ancient Greek out of the lands where it was the dominant language before the Roman expansion.

The same story will apply to English. As for any other language on this earth, its life span - whatever long it may be - is limited as it is bound to give birth to other descendant languages and thus disappear from this earth completely one day.

News / Polexit? Almost half of the Poles believe that Poland would be better off outside of the EU [548]


Only in the sense that the government is 'technically' her Majesty's government. In reality and practice, though, it is the Queen who is "her government's queen" and not vice versa.

The reality of the constitutional monarchy in the UK is that it is Parliament which dictates state decisions to the country and the Queen only serves as a kind of a royal doll who signs them. This is her allegedly 'constitutional' right, but has nothing to do with real political power which is exercized elsewhere.

If the Queen were presented with a parliamentary bill stating that the monarch would be beheaded next Saturday, she would have no other choice than to sign it as everything else she has to sign in the name of parliament or government.

Off-Topic / Veda -> "Wiedza" (to know), Avesta, Sanskrit language, Hindu beliefs and Zoroastrian culture in Poland [3]


A proportion of educated Poles would generally be aware of the existence of the Rig Veda (known in Poland in the plural form: The Vedas) and a great deal more are aware of the existence of the ancient language of Sanskrit. Few people are aware of Avesta and I am no exception.

Thank you for the links.

Genealogy / Does "Ryszard" work as a surname in Poland? [37]


All three are acceptable. 'Rysiek' is technically a nominative, but it is often used in the role of a vocative. 'Ryśku' is the true vocative of 'Rysiek'', but indeed is rarely heard.

'Rysiu' is technically a vocative of 'Ryś'. It is used as the vocative of the name 'Rysiek' even though its proper vocative would be 'Ryśku'. On the other hand, 'Ryśku' is likely to be heard in conjunction with 'panie': 'panie Ryśku' rather than 'panie Rysiu'.

You may add 'Rychu' to the list which vocative is mostly used between male friends or colleauges among the working class.

@NieNazwany.
To me all your declensions look correct.

Language / Origin of / reason for spelling /tɕi/ as <ci> in the Polish language [11]


Not only. You may add the Hungarian Miklós to your list.

What's its version in Serbian or Croatian?


You should understand the concept of softness in Polish first. Soft consonants require an 'i' after them that would represent their softness, if the softness isn't represented on its own by the diacritical mark ' above such a vowel. Words like 'silos', for example, are exceptions that are specially marked in dictionaries.

DZ as a hard consonant will always take 'y' instead of 'i'.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]


It means nothing. The Neanderthals as a species originated in Europe. At a certain time of their history they started to migrate out of Europe and at roughly the same moment modern humans (Homo sapiens) started to migrate out of Africa (not sure which 'out-of-Africa' migration it was as there was more than one). The two species met in the Middle East and subsequently they interbred. And as both were not so genetically distant from one another at the time of that first encounter, the results of the interbreeding was rather efficient.

The interbreeding that took place much later on in Europe (in today's Roumania, for example) was still possible, but less fruitful in the long run as the two species diverged even more genetically down to that time. Thus, the location of the cave where the remains of the Neaderthal people were first discovered in 1856 does not matter that much to the fact that Europeans have less Neanderthal ancestry than people in the Middle East. Anyway, the percentages of Neanderthal ancestry vary across Europe as well.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]


The percentage of Neanderthal ancestry nowhere in the world exceeds 2%. The highest levels are found in the Middle East and not in Europe.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]


Surely there is, there is no doubt about it. A good friend of mine (Warsaw), for example, does have it, though he is Polish to the core and has no memory of non-Polish ancestors. Likewise, his sister and father do as well. Occasionally, but not very often, I see faces in Warsaw that have subtle, but clearly visible, Mongolian-type featues on them.

But these traits are certainly not a result of some Golden Horde admixture. The influence of an "Asian" factor is more recent than that. Notice that there still exists the Cremean Karaites' cemetery as well as the Tatars' cemeteriy in Warsaw.

Genealogy / Mongolian the Golden Horde - do Poles have Mongolian ancestry? [256]


He was simply the progenitor of the Rurik dynasty in Ruthenia. But the percentage of Swedish genes in today's Ukrainians would be extremely small or none because of this. Due to the genetic phenomenon called "crossing-over", "going back fifteen generations, the probability that any one ancestor contributed directly to your DNA becomes exceedingly small" (David Reich; Who We Are and How We Got Here).

There should be much more people than a 300-people strong squad of foreign descent in a given population to leave a significant or perhaps even detectable genetic trace in that population some 1000 years later. Likewise, "Queen Elisabeth II of England almost certainly inherited no DNA from William of Normandy, who conquered England in 1066 and who is believed to be her ancestor twenty-four generations back in time" (David Reich; Who We Are and How We Got Here). The same applies to the impact of the quickly passing warrior if the Golden Horde in Poland.

That's genetics, Watson. Check for the "crossing-over" phenomenon in the genes, please.

Genealogy / Eastern Germanic migration the Iron Age Goths - do modern Poles have Gothic ancestry? [8]


Thank you for that link and this new thread. I stopped reading the thread you're pointing out to after seeing some nonsensical posts on Mongolian Horde ancestry in Polish people. Archeo-genetics is not that easy to understand as it seems to be for some crazy and haunted people on this forum. An excellent introductory book to all this archeo-populations genetics is David Reich's "Who We Are and How We Got Here". He describes the succesive waves of migrations into Europe in a fascinating way, supporting this with the outline of genetics methodes like e.g. the Four Population Test which are crucial for establishing who is who and where they come from. Unfortunately though, he has drawn up his European story of ancient migrations to the Yamnaya culture plus the originating from it Corded Ware culture. But this is enough to know that most of modern Europeans' ancestry (excluding the modern-day Sardinans) originates from the Eurasian steppes (the Golden Horde is of course not included here, however, as it arrived much later to Europe and was there for a very short period). Thps book is currently available on Amazon at half price.

David W. Anthony's "The Horse, the Wheel and Language. How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasians Steppes Shaped the Modern World" (2014) is more specific to the story of the ancient Europe, but since it was published much earlier (2007), it cannot contain the detailed archeo-genetic data which has been available only since 2012. I haven't read the book yet, but I know it concetrates mostly on the Proto-Indo-Europeans (Yamnaya and Corded Ware) arriving and settling in Europe.

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]

Yes, this is so. Plus 'graham' is a type of bread.

News / Polexit? Almost half of the Poles believe that Poland would be better off outside of the EU [548]


... but a 70% would vote to remain in the EU
and these figures simply don't add up.


The first two are Americans and you can simply ignore them as they are paid Trump trolls. Then you can ignore Iron as he already lives in the EU and has no intention to move back to Poland if Poland does a Polexit. He in turn is a paid Putin troll. As far as Spike is concerned, he is the one likely to return to Poland, but he would still be among the tiny minority of people dreaming of the nationalists taking power in Poland, so he is not doing any major harm to Poland, tbh.

History / Recommended Poland's history books [257]

The book seems too thick for me. Of course, I may buy an e-book, so the book becomes much thinner.

On a more serious note, they say her prose is outstanding. I listened to her speech in Stockholm on receiving the Nobel prize award and I think the speech was good and intellectually rewarding. No, I haven't read any of her books yet.

A-t-on traduit ses livres en français?

Work / Self-employed American living in Poland? Is it possible? [54]


You mean the American dream is a thing of the past?

Off-Topic / An average brain weight by ethnicity/nation [36]


Do you know this figure for Lenin perhaps?

News / Polexit? Almost half of the Poles believe that Poland would be better off outside of the EU [548]


To be honest, there is no anti-EU sentiment in Poland at all. The overwhelming majority of Poles, Our Dear Leader Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński included, do not want Poland to leave the EU. The opinions of the Polish expats here who were the first to leave Poland for the EU and have no intention whatsoever to come back to Poland even after a possible Polexit do not reflect the mood of the real Poles who have decided not to leave their Fatherland and still live in Poland.

The results of the poll quoted by the OP is very strange indeed as it is so much contradictory to another result telling that 70% of Poles would vote against leaving the EU. One reason may lie in the choice of people responding in the poll (it would be interesting to see the methodology of it), another may be attributed to the influence of the Goebbels-style propaganda that is continously served these days in the public TV and in other state-owned media in Poland.

Law / Revocation of Polish citizenship/passport [6]

A very strange and harsh situation you are in right now.


I don't think so. It is always possible to revoke someone's citizenshp, but definitely not on the basis of such trivial grounds.

Maybe it is good to seek advice from a family counsellor and/or a lawyer. Advice from random people on the internet can hardly be helpful or accurate in your case.

Polonia / Polish Zloty Can't Exchange in France!.. [26]


The ruling elite is alienated everywhere and not only in France.

Po polsku / Krótkie tłumaczenia z polskiego na angielski i z angielskiego na polski [32]


To wyrażenie jest dziwne samo w sobie. Chociaż 'miłośnik' może oznaczać fana, to nie spotyka się często (o ile w ogóle) takiego określenia w takim kontekście. Mówi się, owszem, o miłośnikach, ale dodaje się zaraz czego są to miłośnicy, np. miłośnicy muzyki organowej lub miłośnicy opery. To jest jakiś bardzo specjalistyczny tekst pisany w specyficznym zawodowym żargonie, dlatego też sądzę, że określenie 'miłośnik' w ten sposób tutaj użyte, zostało najpierw zdefiniowane gdzieś na początku tego tekstu. Bardziej naturalnym wyborem w tym zdaniu byłoby słowo 'fan' zamiast 'miłośnik'.

Myślę, że chodzi w cytowanym zdaniu o pierwszy sens, jaki wymieniłeś.

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]


It looks like a Post Office in Sandomierz to me. If not in Sandomierz, then it must be in one of the towns of the historic area of Małopolska (Little Poland).

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

This is a good picture of the monument intended for a riddle. It doesn't show Adam, so it is not easy to guess what monument it is. Chapeaux bas to Joker!

Po polsku / "Impeachment" po polsku [15]

No przecież dokładnie to napisałem w moim poście.


Nie widziałem nigdy, aby Łyżek oskarżał i wyśmiewał błędy innych. Robi to tylko (i to dosyć oględnie) po tym, jak sam zostaje wyśmiany. Jeśli się nie przyznaje do swoich błędów, to jego sprawa.


Kto to jest pan Ryszek? W tym wątku chyba go nie ma ...

Po polsku / "Impeachment" po polsku [15]


No to też chyba nie jest za bardzo po polsku.


To prawda.


I bardzo dobrze. To, że robi błędy, to nic nadzwyczajnego. Każdy robi błędy, kto się uczy języka obcego.

Naganne jest wypominanie uczącemu się tych błędów. Poprawianie, jeśli ktoś o to nie prosi, też jest w pewien sposób niegrzeczne. Ale Snotty (NoToForegners) wcale się tym nie przejmuje - wali na odlew albo raczej wali pod siebie niczym świnia w chlewie. A język angielski Snotty'ego też przecież obarczony jest licznymi skazami.

Wstyd, Snotty, wstyd! Wstyd na całą Zieloną Górę (nie mówiąc już o reszcie świata ...).

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


In other words, the famous FiUT (Film i Uwantualnie Telewizja).