UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

what I am taking away from his post is that he has adopted English because his children are not able to string a sentence together as compared to other children. It is no surprise that kids that learn one or more languages at the same time will fall behind- but when the ultimate goal is speaking more than one language than who cares. Seriously- who cares if the journey is longer as long as they get to the final destination?

It is the "now" mentality. In order for something to be perfected it needs to be worked on- there will be highs and lows along the way- such is life.

UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

so you are more concerned with how fast your children learn the language- for what? bragging rights? You sir have just done your children a huge disservice. However, it would appear as though you have adopted well to the American mentality.

My kids speak, read and write two languages completely. My youngest is taking longer but I don't really care when the end result is being completely bilingual- now we are actually working to include more French.

It is only important in America to speak English- all cultures are null and void anyway.

UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

ah gotcha! I can't really answer that one- that is a parenting issue between you and your wife. Too busy is not an excuse in my books. I hear this a lot in Poland, frankly, it is a load of b.s. However, perhaps you can initiate the process by reading or attempting to read to your kids in Polish or just even letter and sound recognition and then she may follow your lead.

UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

maybe your wife should start speaking Polish to them. It is cheap, doesn't take any time and the results are fantastic.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [380]

sorry- not clear. I didn't live in Toronto. There used to be a Polish driver from my city to the airport, for Poles living in my city to get to Toronto. It used to drop people off at the terminal and the counter was right next to the airport entrance- this was in the old Pearson airport before all the renovations took place. It is not the same anymore.

I don't fly Lot transcontinental anymore. I only fly Lot within Europe because there is not a lot of choice otherwise and it has never been as bad as flying transcontinental. I will fly Air Canada, British airways, Luftansa or KLM- I will never fly any American airlines- I never have.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [380]

I remember the first time I ever flew Lot. I was flying from Toronto to Warsaw- this was about 14 years ago. I am familiar with flying- I have flown all my life- my parents were int the air force, I consider myself very well travelled etc etc. Anyway, I was dropped off at the gate in Toronto and there was utter chaos. A Polish driver dropped me off and I asked him what was going on at the counter- he looked at me as if I was insane. "That is the line up to get to the counter"., sorry wtf??? I have never experienced anything like this in my life. So I made it through the counter and customs on the Toronto side only to land in Warsaw and face the same thing. Retards at the luggage pick up and customs. I finally made it out the gates to meet my boyfriend (now husband) and I asked him wtf just happened to me- welcome to Poland- he replied. What a clusterf*ck. I have never experienced anything so ridiculous in my life. And in 14 years it hasn't gotten any better. This is one of the reasons that I don't fly Lot on transcontinental flights.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [380]


That is pretty bang on. However, O'Hare is a clusterf*ck and all the people are rude, particularly those who work there. In Canada, since the RCMP killed Robert Dzienkanski- there are now Polish attendants on hand in Toronto when Lot lands to help those flying in. Same with the many Asian groups flying in to Vancouver- there is a translator waiting for them. At O'Hare it is a bunch of under educated rednecks working the airport with too much power that treat people like garbage.

Travel / Why does everyone seem to hate LOT Polish Airlines? [380]


seriously, yes.

History / Anyone know the name, if true... .... Polish Royal heir [40]


ok- so now there are those that just think they have royal blood based on how much money they make and how big there suv is.

There are records that go back a long time- but it is easier to start at the beginning and work your way back- try ancestry.com- they have loads of stuff.

Language / The shame! I can't pronounce my Polish wife's name (Ola) [69]

no it didn't. it answered the question

Language / The shame! I can't pronounce my Polish wife's name (Ola) [69]

don't be silly- obviously she is already married to him, as if she gives a rats. It is icing on the cake at this point.

Language / The shame! I can't pronounce my Polish wife's name (Ola) [69]

who cares if it is wrong. Most Poles are just happy that foreigners make an effort and don't mind the mistakes.

Language / The shame! I can't pronounce my Polish wife's name (Ola) [69]

don't sweat it. you will always pronounce things differently. maybe she just likes the way you say it. I live and work here- I speak Polish but everybody knows that I am a foreigner. People appreciate that I do speak it and that is all that I can hope for because this language is a bit of a nightmare.

Language / The shame! I can't pronounce my Polish wife's name (Ola) [69]

Oh la.
say it without the break
If you have a funky American accent it is going to sound funny no matter what you say. much like speaking Polish with a British accent.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]

sorry, you are right. but it is a typical american thing to say....

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]

ok- so if you survive a car crash- who pays the hospital bills? we the tax payers unless you have private health care. you sound like a stupid american.

Life / 200zl mandat and 3 points for not wearing seatbelts? [75]

how hard it is to put a seat belt on? on a scale of one to ten? my difficulty rating would have it at 1. you got busted for not wearing a seatbelt. in the grand scheme of things it really is a stupid fine. stupid for the cop and even more stupid for you for not putting on a belt even though you were only going a short distance. but the law is the law- the cop did his job and shouldn't be faulted for it.

and seriously, how much time is lost or saved when putting on a seat belt? 3 seconds?

Real Estate / Home builders in Poland? [16]

absolutely- no booze on site rule!! good point.

Real Estate / Home builders in Poland? [16]

A cheaper option is to buy the house plans (books available at empik) and hire a crew to build it. In Lublin the labour will be reasonably priced- cheaper than most other major Polish cities.

Real Estate / Home builders in Poland? [16]

where is the plot and how much do you want to spend- and do you or anyone in your family speak Polish?

Travel / What is the weather like in Poland where you are now? [202]

perhaps where I come from scraping off windows in the winter is the norm. same with warming up your car for 10 minutes while scraping windows. I also think that my standard Canadian winter weather of -35 will not change the amount of ice on a windshield no matter what you put on it.

I guess I don't mind scraping off the windows and then getting into a warm car. makes me Canadian, I suppose.

Travel / What is the weather like in Poland where you are now? [202]


why do people do this?? it does absolutely nothing but look completely ridiculous.

cold weather is not to be feared- it does a body good. Polish people seem to be scared of the cold and dress their children in 6 layers so they sweat and then get sick from being too hot and sitting in their own sweat.

Last week I changed planes in Calgary- it was -35. Now that is cold. -20 is not too bad if you dress for it.

News / Communist era 'newspeak' appeals the most to Poland PiS supporters (what a surprise) [89]

my husband is a PiS supporter. educated in Canada, lives in Poland and a staunch anti communist. I don't really follow politics but I don't understand why hunting down corruption is such a bad thing.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


and they are still selling.

Food / Bratwurst in Kraków? [15]

bratwurst is the equavalent of white sausage, no?

you can get them everywhere. look at your package ingredients and take not of the percentage of meat in the sausage. a good sausage should have 90% meat or more- they are more expensive but taste better.

Genealogy / Mothers maiden name - Gladys [17]

could this be a Jewish last name? A few years I was searching for a friend whose mother had a similar name. Waiting for the Polish name experts......

not that it matters but the reason I ask- have you checked jewishgen.org?

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


I would like to know, how much has the money supply increased by, in Poland since 2003 and are we in an illusionary period of wealth in Poland?

The above is the question everybody is waiting to hear about.

There is no way I would attempt to answer this with any certainty. However, for a while banks were lending with more freely (the whole swiss frank disaster) and many were allowed more credit than they should have. I would say that people are still spending like crazy but it is on credit - they haven't maxed out their credit as of yet. If things don't change I do believe that Poland will take a down turn but at the moment it is not there. There are still foreign investments and because the labour market is generally cheaper over here- the American style recession where so many businesses went bankrupt has yet to happen.

So in my opinion we are in a slight illusionary period of wealth but it is nothing like the U.S experienced.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]

how is it fact? because you say it is. just because you say it is doesn't make it true.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]

I am waiting too.

Study / Top Language Schools to Work for in Warsaw? [32]

I worked there for a year in 1997-98. If you want more info send me a message- mind you this was also 12 years ago. I can give you info about the owners and some of the other staff if they are still there.