Law / How do I verify a Polish company's existence? [249]

This is a link to the database of all companies registered within Poland. You should exercise the usual caution though - just because someone's registered a business doesn't mean they are respectable or not.

krs-online.com.pl

You should also be aware that Polish companies are sometimes registered elsewhere, usually for tax/compliance reasons.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Same, same. Any diversity between physical features (and this includes skin tone) whether among people in Poland or the wider population are purely superficial and just infinitesimally small variations in DNA. No more significant than eye colour or shoe size.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]


Well, after all, in a manner of speaking, when all's said and done and at the end of the day, you did actually write, earlier today:

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

As I mentioned before, do you have any evidence that Polish people's IQ varies according to whether they are lighter or darker skinned?

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Worth repeating a thousand times. Skin tone has nothing to do with anything else except the amount of melatonin in skin, and the perceptions (plus their ramifications) by racists.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Well, the thread is about skin colour after all. And skin colour makes no difference to anything inside the person.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

There you go again, misunderstanding English. As i say, Poland's variations in skin tones are just a minor detail, as they are in general. The only difference is in the perception of those individuals who are so psychologically limited and feeble that they hold racist views.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Not a very articulate answer, and nothing that suggests the variety of skin tones within Poland (or our planet as a whole) has any relevance to anything in particular except the amount of sun cream you need and the way some very limited individuals regard you.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Thanks for the compliment, however sarcastic. As for 'evidence' that skin tone affects intelligence, perhaps you can look at the variation in melatonin levels within the ethnic Polish population (which is after all the topic of this thread) and produce some riveting 'evidence' that it reflects a variance in levels of intelligence and in character attributes.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

The amount of melatonin in one's skin has no bearing on the brain. We are all the same under the skin.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Yet there are other groups who tend to be at a higher socioeconomic level and others lower. Dark or light skin is an irrelevance though - it's other factors which determine intelligence, character, motivation and opportunities in life. Entirely societal.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]


What makes you think that's about the amount of melatonin in people's skin rather than the society that humanity has created?

Why are most Pol-Ams blue collar for that matter? Genetics or what happens afterwards?

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

Crowie, DNA and skin colour don't matter at all. No difference. They don't have any impact on the way people think or how they behave.

USA, Canada / 18 and moving back from USA to Poland?? [19]

Agreed. Life isn't always easy in PL and there are lots of people chasing the same work. It's also a country which has high educational levels (in terms of the diplomas anyway, even though many of them are Mickey Mouse ones, employers still expect some sort of Magister) and a demographic spike around your age group. There's a reason people emigrate so often.

You might find the culture there (and the way people use language nowadays) to be not at all what you expect.

Terri's advice is right - complete your education over there and then think about it.

History / The memory about the Invasion of Poland 1939 - today's events [26]

Merged: Invasion of Poland board game!



theguardian/technology/2015/apr/27/seven-days-of-westerplatte-board-game-poland-second-world-war

This actually looks quite good. I don't do board games but still interesting.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [305]


That's amazing really, five star service - the hotel by the Orthodox Cathedral is pretty friendly too.


More a coping strategy when you get it day in day out. If it makes the person reflect, all the better. I'd stress though that it's an issue - for newcomers and visitors bad service can seem really hostile.


Indeed, though the young aren't always much better - most waiters/waitresses in Warsaw are students rather than professionals and it does show. Last year I asked (a young waitress) if the chips are real or frozen only to be told that as far as she's concerned the whole point of chips is that they're frozen!

I agree though, service in shops is getting friendlier than it used to be and old ladies are the worst. I still very occasionally (much less often than a few years ago) leave stuff on the counter, walk out and go somewhere else if I'm not in a hurry and they start being rude. It isn't as if there's little no competition as in PRL days.

As for other unfriendliness, the only real problems I've had in two decades are drunks and (usually elderly) nutters. I long ago figured that the public transport thing isn't rudeness aimed at me because I look and sound different, it's just the way things are.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [305]


One reason that Poland can sometimes seem unfriendly to some newcomers or visitors is that this is the same in Poland, especially in the bigger cities and in the east. Warsaw very much so. It's perhaps less extreme than in Moscow, however in Poland the public/private dichotomy very much exists. Forget easy-going bonhomie in shops, restaurants etc. You even sometimes get waiters who answer back defensively to a customer, shop assistants who don't care if they make a sale or not and of course one can forget about them apologising if something is out of stock or for bad service.

All this can seem very unwelcoming to visitors from elsewhere. Best not to worry - they aren't being unwelcoming to you; they behave exactly the same way with other Poles.

You just have to deal with it as the Poles do - don't take bad service or rudeness in public too personally - just ignore public rudeness and make private friends.

In shops etc, starting off with a warm smile from yourself and laughing at them if they start to be rude makes things better.

Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [305]


That's quite a broad description of:


and


Most people are friendly, however of course there are awkward people in most parts of Eastern andCentral Europe. Other places too, however in PL there is very little stigma further down in society about being argumentative. The best thing to do is to remember you have a right to be there (as they do in the UK) andanything like the angry questions you got are a reflection on somebody else's bad manners rather than on you.

Po polsku / Polskie powiedzonka typu "Nie moja bajka"? [41]

Indeed, however the guy in question uses most of those phrases and others more or less interchangeably. Also Chuj mnie to obchodzi.

Po polsku / Polskie powiedzonka typu "Nie moja bajka"? [41]

A friend from a small place in Podlasie, very traditional and a way with words uses all of those. One of his favourites is Ni chuja.

Love / Are Polish men cold? What do they like? [33]


Believe it or don't, not one argument in 8 years. This happened quite naturally, since we'd both had life stories much stormier than that. One day, when you're a grown-up, you'll hopefully understand that domestic bliss is much easier to achieve than domestic strife when both parties understand its importance. Not everybody argues. Many of us have been in relationships at one time or another with poor communication as the OP is. They don't mend and all one can do is walk away.

The OP comes across as very genuine and I can relate to her situation having been somewhere similar. For five years and the first two were OK. It's easy to put up with an unsatisfactory status quo but you just get miserable in the end.


Strange inverted commas young man, however if you don't like someone asking questions in English about their partner from Poland, why troll an English language forum about Poland?


She evidently has, and has decided she is very unhappy with this guy as her partner whom you try to defend vigorously (and in an inappropriately aggressive and offensive way) despite never having met him.

Love / Are Polish men cold? What do they like? [33]

Well, young person, your post is amusing and certainly moderately imaginative however nobody here remotely fits any of those descriptions you try to use. It's worth mentioning that the OP has asked for genuine advice from someone who might appreciate and understand grown-up relationships. This is obviously an issue that is giving her plenty of pain.

The answer is this. That although there are national or regional patterns of behavior based on sociocultural norms, the issues she has with her unfulfilling partner are more likely to be something specific to him at least as much as the place he comes from. Perhaps he takes her for granted, perhaps he's too emotionally dense or immature to have a relationship of the intensity she seeks, perhaps the bedroom part is unfulfilling for her because he's just not very good at it, or has a low sex drive or perhaps her expectations of him are unreal maybe based on a better previous partner. Perhaps he's just some potato.

Whatever the case, it isn't going to suddenly improve - it never does and no matter how much she tries to work on it, the only work that can ever be a success is to adjust her expectations.

I'm lucky, having found my soulmate long ago. Never a cross word between us, ever and every day as good as the day we met. But both partners have to be mature and both have to be realistic about what they can achieve and how to achieve them. And there has to be absolute loyalty and unspoken understanding. The OP doesn't have that and if she's miserable enough to post about it on the internet, it's probably time to cut him loose, get over him and then find someone more suitable for her.

The main question she asks is whether Polish men are cold. Some are and some aren't, however many can be curiously unemotional, are tied to the apron strings, lose interest in relationships with others and have difficulties relating to others, especially women. Plus a habit of sulking sometimes and often problems expressing themselves. That's an extreme example and most are not. Some are even wonderful partners.

In her partner's case this may or may not be true however unless she herself has led a very sheltered life, she must have something to compare to. The ultimate test is whether he makes her happy and whether she really looks forward to being with him in the evening after work. If she dreads it, in ambivalent or worries about how he'll be towards her, then the relationship is dead.

Love / Are Polish men cold? What do they like? [33]


Agreed. The lady is obviously very unhappy. Hard to say if it's a specifically Poland issue - he might behave like that for a lot of reasons. I'd suggest from experience that if the problem seems insurmountable or keeps re-occurring all you can do is move on for your own sake. Imagine the situation a decade or so down the line...

The OP has various options. 'Changing him' is never going to be one of them.


That doesn't make any sense. Don't assume that everyone from Poland is like your second or third hand adolescent vision of them.


Bieganski, you're 15 years old. That piece of 'relationship advice' evidently reflects that.


How on earth would you know about such things, being under-age and never having been to Poland or having any direct connection to the way people think or behave there?

Please don't make personal comments (true or false) about other members in the public forum threads

History / Pictures of Polish Jews holding coins and lemons? [25]


I think so - a combination of the familiar and the exotic a bit like an older more rural version of a picture of a gypsy caravan or even a plastic donkey from Torremolinos in Britain. The religion thing was probably one tangible way that a non-Jew might define and perhaps objectify a Jew in rural Poland. Something that they knew about well because of the synaogue buildings and the food/Hasidic dress rules but different enough to be a way of defining and objectifying people.

The money thing was doubtless because although rural (and indeed urban) Jewish people could be very poor, given the lack of shared meals or shared religious observance a common way for an ordinary gentile Pole to encounter and engage with a Jew was through their work rather than purely socially.

As for Menorahs, they're both decorative and in the days before electricity very practical and of course also easily available in Poland due to the size of the pre-war Jewish community. I've seen lots there both new and old.

History / Pictures of Polish Jews holding coins and lemons? [25]

I've seen the pictures with the coins but can't say I've noticed lemons. They all seem to be very similar and I think they're considered kitsch nowadays . Perhaps the Jewish guy was seen as an exotic topic for artists years ago Either that or since most luxury products like art in small-town Poland many years ago was by Jewish people who presumably bought from artists who painted what they knew and saw and this started a tradition. There are also wooden carvings of Jewish men with long beards in south Poland.

A quick look on the internet says that the "Jew counting money" was traditionally thought to bring good luck and should hang in the hallway and the "Jew with lemons" one was meant to show a sufficiency of food and drink in the home. That or the lemons were just a splash of colour. It was hung upside down specifically at New Year and on Good Friday. The idea was that the money would symbolically fall out of his pocket and into the householder's.

tematnatopie.pl/zyd-liczacy-pieniadze

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  lemons.png
  

Work / What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland? [124]


Yes. ALWAYS!

And send again during the summer. They'll have your CV on their desk, will remember you when they get the next one at hiring time (and may have lost your old one. In Poland hiring time tends to be late summer.

Also check out Dave's and TEFL.com

Work / What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland? [124]


Yes,The normal one nowadays. But they might not actually mean that, because...


...usually it's a mix of methodologies, techniques and practices. It's sometimes called the eclectic method and sometimes called the British method. A native speaker wouldn't normally give it a name, though you do see non-natives refer to it as the communicative method. It's also sometimes called the communicative approach. It means that the sts speak as much as possible, that it isn't just copying down grammar tables and that (more often than not the trainer presents some language (often a grammar point in the context of a topic and words that are related to that topic),the sts do some guided practice (speaking or writing exercises or both) which the trainer corrects then (provided they've 'got it' they do some freer practice which the trainer corrects less tightly.

There are other things, skills work and listening/reading/text writing play their part and there are models of lesson other than those above (though that is the basis) and it's more or less what you'll find throughout ELT and also in ESP (financial, business, marketing, HR, aeronautical, technical, medical, maritime, military English). It also introduces language points in a specific order (though they do vary from course to course) and the methodology (it ISN'T a method although the roots are in something that was called the Communicative Method or Communicative Approach when new) is constantly developing with goodies like vocab clustering and Natural Order Hypothesis (don't worry yourself about that right now) playing their part.


Almost none of that. The major textbooks are all nowadays based on this approach so you'll find a lot of it is done for you and the entire internet is groaning under the weight of free resources for language trainers. Plus a lot of the textbooks now have teachers websites with downloadable supplementary exercises etc. Good trainers often personalize these and make their own (though pretty well all lesson materials are based on other people's materials, even the best selling textbook are effectively cannibalised

from previously written ones.

If you want to see some fairly 'pure' examples of the communicative approach, some of the teacher training videos from International House etc have made their way to the internet (youtube has plenty of videos of good lessons). There are many, however the International House videos are old-fashioned looking (and in my opinion heavy on Teacher Talking Time) but I can confirm that they're good examples of how it's done.


He/she is right.


Costs vary - check out prices. Often cheaper in Prague, Krakow etc. As for difficult - it isn't so difficult but it is certainly intense. A lot of info and a lot of work crammed into 4 weeks (forget a social life during your CELTA). Yes, it's rewarding.


A degree, a CELTA and a couple of years teaching for the entry-level jobs. Somewhere like KSU in Riyadh may settle for a year (or less at a pinch since they have something like 1000 Instructors, have a high turnover and find it hard to recruit that many in one go). You'll need probably to do a year somewhere like that to get the Middle East experience that better paying/terms & conditions places there (the next level up) require.

A tip. If you're interested in the Middle East, get proof (a reference letter with a rubber stamp/letterheaded paper) from every school that you plan to put on your CV. Other employers on your CV too. Only one at a time needs to go on the resume for jobs of this type. At the moment this official letter letter is mandatory for UAE (plenty of jobs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharja) and maybe Oman (I forget). Language schools are notorious for closing down and this one factor has caused hassle for many (including me).

Work / What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland? [124]

Are you eligible for citizenship in PL or elsewhere in the EU? That would make things easier - for example you could change jobs without having to return home...

Work / What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland? [124]


In that case you should go for it


Irrelevant to teaching English here (and best sometimes not to tell an employer at a language school that you speak it well). Useful for life though and if you're a citizen it will mean you don't need work permits etc.

Work / What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland? [124]


It's a question of whether you want to shape your career round your life or your life round your career. Personally I prefer to do the first although, yes, there has to be a bit of common sense and application if you have monetary goals that you want to achieve.

To stick more closely to the actual topic of the thread, are there any genuinely useful tips to offer cmc for the next year or two?