Classifieds / Teaching Arabic school in Warsaw? [22]

@convex, you are going to learn Arabic? why?
Well, try them...

e-korepetycje.net/dolnoslaskie/wroclaw/jezyk-arabski

favore.pl/7395_native-speaker-wroclaw-jezyk-arabski-dolnoslaskie.html

PS. It used to be a bunch of Palestinians studing on Technological University and living in Wittiga dormitories area. Maybe some of them are still there ;-)

Language / Do Poles prefer US American or UK English language? [147]

Well, for me it is not question what do I prefer... It is rather question how many movies I saw in US English vs UK English... Definitely I saw much more US English so it is a lot easier to me understand US English than UK English. So even if I like sound of UK English, US English beats it because of quantity.

In the end it is quantity not quality issue (even if most of my polish teachers were trained in UK English). Wasn't it Copernicus who discover the rule that bad money tend to displace good ones ;-)

USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]

Ok, now I feel personally offended ;-)
To end this off top (I think I've already crossed the line with mods...)...
The single most rudest and least accepting bunch in society I know would be the youth, everywhere ;-) It happens that this group in Poland knows English the best... Usually they are also the best trolls of all ;-)

USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]


It were already said in other threads that most of users of that forums are:
- non Poles interested in Poland
- non Poles not interested in Poland
- people with Polish roots living abroad

Natives are small minority here. If you take into account that some of regular users are really weird... Well, assuming anything from this forum about Poland is not very good idea. It not makes your general judgments wrong, it just make them lucky if they are right :-)

Frankly speaking most of threads in that forums are pure disgrace and moderation here is next to none. The thing is that they have good domain and many foreigners drop by here thinking that it is "Polish" forum when in fact it isn't...

USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]

So I must assume you are one of those not lucky ones... Because I don't believe you have any valid statistical data about that ;-)


With that I can agree :-)

USA, Canada / To move back to Poland from the USA or not to move back....that is the question [119]

1500 USD for you and your mother with cash from the house probably would be fine. But long term you will always risk currency floats. Now it is closer to 5000 zł but not so long ago it was closer to 3000 zł.

The biggest risk I see in your move is health care. I understand you want bring your mother with you. I don't know exactly but I suppose neither of you is entitled to free polish healthcare after retirement. I suppose you will have to pay for it from those 1500 USD. My advice to you is check exactly what will be the cost of that.

As for other, not money concerned things. Either you will get lucky and make friends or not. Country of your choice has nothing to do with that...

UK, Ireland / Moving from Ireland to Poland [39]


Well, as a Pole I will not start to judging you decision. It looks strange because you know in Polish eyes Ireland is still rich island :-) well what do I know? I've never been there...

So if you are clear about this, then just a thought, you've said that you are a Paramedic. It is not best payed job in Poland but, Poland is quite competetive in terms of private healthcare to western countries. As far as I know it is growing bussiness and many foreigners came here for some private procedures, some private hospitals are being build etc. So maybe just maybe you should try find something in that part of the market, because your language skill could be an advantage?

Good luck!

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]


Ok, moderator, you are right, I'm sorry. But what if I find a movie with babcia klozetowa with dubbing ? Anyway, to expiate my sin:

Where is my water pipe

And last but not least, quite old though:

Big Cyc - Wielka miłość do babci klozetowej (Great Love for Babcia Klozetowa)! ;-)
...

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]

I can understand that, but that dubbing is made for Poles. What I'm trying to explain is that it is not like some foreigners try to explain to themselfs that it is just dire communists legacy and Poles just don't know better. Well, they know, but better rarely is better :-)

You say it sounds ugly for you because you hear two different languages at the same time. Thing is, that to some extent if "lektor" is native for you, you actually don't hear him, you just understand him :-)

I suppose it would be a nightmare for me to watch ie french movie dubbed with one voice in english because I would have to engage most of my brains limited powers to first hear the guy then cut his message then attribute it to a proper actor and finally translate it, indeed it is a nightmare. In case when dubbing voice is in polish all this is automatic and I can focus just on emotions hidden in foreign language and of course on the pictures...

At least that is the way it works for me.

please keep to the original topic. thank you.

Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well? [35]

Babcia klozetowa is fine, and even in some ways she modernized. She has mobile phone now and in some places she can even give you a receipt :-)

As for dubbing guy he is still there, and I personally would fight for him to stay :-) I hate all those multivoiced dubbed movies except maybe Shrek and a few others... They are usually completely cleaned from emotions. With dubbed guy you can usually hear original voices in the background and somehow "feel the moment"... I suppose it is kind of ability that Poles where forced to gain to mix automatically this background with sober dubbing guy voice. You foreigners just don't get it ;-) It is kind of a movie with subtitles except subtitles are given by voice... The ultimate goal, as Yoda would put it is:

understand the dubbing guy you should, not hear ;-)

I suppose some of you are still in the moment when Luke Skywalker is trying to lift his spaceship from the swamp. I tell you, it can be done ;-)

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]

As Mao would put it: Poland lies on this small Asian peninsula called Europe :-)
From that perspective eastern or central is a smaller issue :-)

Travel / What to do in Wroclaw! [49]

Try to use this (unfortunately for you in Polish... events searcher tool)
mobiwroclaw.nazwa.pl/kultura/wyszukiwarka_wydarzen.html

maybe this would be more helpful for english speaker:
radiowroclove.com

anyway, May is Juwenalia month = student parties and festivals, I suppose as usual a lot of concerts is taking place right now (I'm off the town for some time so don't know what is on the posters...)

News / Nuclear Power in Poland? Yes, please! Absolutely nobody disagrees! [73]

I'm in favour of it... considering France example the risk seems to be not very high. Besides, everybody has to die sooner or later... Don't we use planes on massive scale? Some of them crashes... I suppose probability of major breakdown of modern nuclear plant is far less than explosion of asleep vulcano for thousand of years. Does milions of people don't live in such areas anyway? Does milions of people don't live in the city of Los Angeles which can be destroyed by earthquake in any minute? We risk our lives everyday just by going out, some even by staing in ;-)

Green energy looks fine in some papers, but there are other papers where after counting all of the energy cost of producing those pretty and modern windmills it looks like many of them don't give enough energy to cover even that... like this modern ecological cars which you need to change every two years, nobody is counting the ecological cost of building that stuff.

To sum things up, green energy is not enough to cover northern Poland needs, there is no coal there, nuclear plant seems to be the obvious choice...

News / THE ARMY OF POLAND - THE REALITY [493]


Olders: Janek, Szarik and Rudy 102 or maybe just Hans Closs
Medium: Kmicic and Pan Wołodyjowski
Youth: Geralt of Rivia

;-)

News / THE ARMY OF POLAND - THE REALITY [493]

Ad 1. you can start here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Armed_Forces

Ad 2. Professional army has pros and cons. In my opinion core professional army is better option than conscription. Quality of professional soldier is way better than conscripts.

But in the same time, I think it should be mixed with some kind of National Guard. Which is actually happening right now. This type of forces is currently being created, in the beginning only 10000, and only previous soldiers can sign up. Probably after assesment of usability and costs in next years size of this forces will grow.

To sum things up, Polish army can bite, but certainly in case of similar situation like WWII would be destroyed again. But there is no point to be neurotic, Polish geopolitical position is fantastic now if we compare it to previous few hundred years... We of course could have army like North Korea or Nuclear program like Iran, but both examples aren't attractive or needed.

Food / Polish v Western farm produce? [14]


Polonius3, check your data. AFAIK food, including processed food is one the few domains where Poland has positive trade balance. Maybe in some areas of this domain western products are more competitive, but in general it is rather the other way around.

As for veggies, it depends from the season. For example, in the spring there is a lot of costly spanish tomatoes on the market, but as soon as domestic products shows up, they displace imported once. It is not like polish food is so much better, I'm sure fresh spanish tomatoes are great, but to make them fresh entire year is different story.

Life / Womans day in Poland? [242]

Ladies, best wishes to you all :-)

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


Gregrog, shame on you!! Absolutely crucial word in Polish and you've made an error!
It should be "Ty ch*ju!" ;-)

Food / Do you call it kiszka or kaszanka? [55]

in central Poland definitely kaszanka, as for kiszka, wiki says that it is used mainly in Cracow region...

Travel / Looking for a good map of Poland on the Net [19]

mapy.zumi.pl

Life / Feeling ashamed of my Polish heritage. [237]

@Sebastian, I'm not sure that your DNA should be foundation of your mental integrity.
Anyway, first reaction to your post is: "oh, give us a break, be a perfect Canadian or citizen of whatever country you are living in, why should we care?". But second reaction is, that it is rather upon you as an individual to study culture and heritage of a nation you want/need to identify with. It is rather you who must be trustworthy of this heritage not the other way around. If the only thing you need from Polish culture is some meaningless leverage in some quarrels at school brakes then don't bother. If you need positive things look for it. You seem to be a schoolboy, so use your unfulfilled desire in positive way, and when you are doing some presentations for example in literature use polish poets, there is dozens world class of them, like Miłosz, Szymborska, etc. In math class, you can study for example Banach works. You will find plenty extraordinary Poles, if you only try.

As for economy, you are right Poland is poorer than western countries... but in the same time, your relatives seems to be a bunch of grumblers, sorry about that.

As for tourist attractions, well it seems that you don't know much about Poland...
To sum it up, it seems your problem is lack of knowledge. Surely you can find plenty of disadvantages in Polish heritage and in life in general, but if you will be looking only for that part then your life will be full of sadness...

Language / Gospodarzu, dostanę u was trochę jaj? [14]

Both not bad, but I warn you, don't ask like this: "Gospodarzu, macie jaja?" ;-)

Life / Doughnut [Pączki] Day... in Poland [70]

I'm sure there will be plenty of that stuff around. One of my personal favourites is small cake shop in Hala Targowa near Ostrow Tumski, first floor on the right side, close to the wall. They usually have some decent stuff, including "pączki". I recommend also cheese cakes and kind of small "ptysie" (little cakes with soft cream)

Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]


Actually they used to teach such things :-) Btw. I've check those practice requirements, and currently on many majors training period in some company is in obligatory program of studies.

Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]


It was the case in Polish high schools too. There was in Poland a type of highschool called "technikum", which was basically highschool designed to produce technicians and engeeners from some of them. After recent education reform they changed names but I think still do exists as a type of secondary education designed to give practise education.

As fas as university education is concerned I suppose you don't think that construction engineering student will work as a welder during practise? Maybe it wouldn't hurt, but as far as I know they have rather practices like two weeks geodesy measurement camp in vacation, things like material durability assesments in campus labs. They do see real building sites rather as an observers during organized university trips.

Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]


Well, I'm the lucky man ;-) But it is IT, different animal that most of other engineering. But I know quite a few engineers from different fields. I can tell you two things:

1. some of them had some practice during studies, some mandatory, some not
2. the most important thing you need to understand about Magister inż. or only inż. in Poland is, that in most of engieering fields (except IT and maybe some others) title is not enough to get good position. It is because number of reasons:

a) most of engineering is higly regulated
b) organized in profession corporations
c) higly formalized
which means, that for example if someone is Magister Inż. in construction, specializing in land buildings, then before he/she could even dream about making even a small design in their name, he/she has to gain few years of experience in real life usually as a helper of experienced engineer who has all entitlements and most importantly all stamps. Those experience should be also properly documented.

It usually takes additional several years for construction engineers, electricians and number of others to get from "naked" postgraduate to engineer with all stamps. And that is if they are lucky and stubborn enough.

To sum it up for you, yes "naked" postgraduate engineer in Poland is usually quite unexperienced, but before one is allowed to do anything on their own, they need several years of practice under experienced engineer supervision. Quite similary as physicians or lawyers (but in the same time different and regualted but different law).

Study / "MAGISTER" OR "MASTERS DEGREE" - ARE THEY THE SAME? [75]

Formally Magister Degree in Engineering in Poland equals to Masters of Science in UK. Practically, for example Polish IT faculties in Warsaw University are in the world top (at least judging by "Top coder" contests), but in the same time there are also colleges who gave the same formal title but quality of study is worse. So, as always it depends what schools, and even what faculties one choose in comparision.

As for MBA (Master of Business Administration), this is not equal to Magister Degree. MBA are postgraduate studies, which means one has to have Magister title in something to get MBA title.

PS. Magister title in recent years devalued in Poland because much more people get it than previously (due to huge number of private colleges, and because of huge unemployment rate in 90' and 2000'. Many young people didn't have a job, so they were studing. Many of them got additional postgraduate studies just to make a difference. In short, magister title doesn't mean as much as it were before without professional experience.)

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

For current polish salaries?

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


But language is also good shield against globalisation. There is no practical possibility to make call centers/help desks/supports for Polish customers abroad :-)

There is always the other side of the coin...

Life / Polish and Czechs [191]

It is hard to not to like Chechs after Arabella in the childhood and a few books by Kundera sometime later... As to 1939 and Cieszyn thing, then according to some Chechs journalist, Czechs don't care about history as much as Poles, and it is not an issue..

Languages are different, but it is worth to notice that modern literary Chechs was partially remade in XIX century with borrowings from other Slavic languages (in much part including Polish).

Last but not least, one should remember that Polish-Chechs history of neighbourhood restarted in full scale quite recently. Before 1918 there was almost no common border (at least since middle-ages) and between 45' and 90' communists regime didn't supported normal social interactions.