Language / Having a really hard time with Polish cases [59]

Probably a decent source, RobertP12.
Not to knock the other fellow's merchandise, there are so many sources both online as well as in paper form from which to choose, surely there can be no definitive site!

But again, wrapping oneself up in case endings right at the start without learning to simply communicate in the basic spoken language, is a mistake in my opinion.

I've taught German for nearly thirty-odd years and I try to spare my beginners the pain of too much immersion in the grammar right at the outset.

Learning in context is to my mind the ideal way of learning any language after the age of childhood.

Powodzenia,

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [141]

If you are looking for a tandem partner, I'd be happy to volunteer my services.
I have an intermediate to advanced intermediate working knowledge of Polish while English is my "first" language although technically German is my mother tongue:-)

Looking forward to hearing back from you under tarsape@gmail.com or here in PF, whichever you'd prefer.

Czy pan szuka tandem partnera, ciesze sie bardzo na wspolprace.
Mam znajomosci polskiego na dobrym poziomie, choc angielski jest moim "pierwszym" jezykiem a niemiecki jest moim jezykiem ojczystym:-)

Moja e-mail: tarsape@gmail.com. Ale czy pan chcialby skontaktowac do mnie w PF, pan ma optcje.

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [437]

If that's the case, the Poles surely don't own a monopoly on dissing the English language!
:-)

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

Apropos switching loyalties, there's a saying as old as the hills, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"
True then, equally true now. Bear in mind, folks, human nature in essence never changes!

Polonia / Tak Tak - Polish Deli (in Berlin) [34]

In all likelihood.
However the chlodnik as well as the placki ziemniaczne tasted pretty authentic to me.
Then again, I wasn't raised in a Polish household:-)

Polonia / Tak Tak - Polish Deli (in Berlin) [34]

There's a restaurant here in Manhattan, "Little Poland" and it's rather like a Greenpoint greasy spoon with lots of crowded tables next to one another, orders called called out in both Polish and English, fast service and overworked Polish waitresses, somewhat rough around the edges, dishing out generous dollops of pure Polish comfort food cooked to perfection!

Anyone ever eaten there?

Work / Work as English proofreader in Poland [19]

Oddly enough, those two terms "scallywag" and "termagant" remind me of the Captain Haddock character in the Methuen Ltd. edition of Herge's Adventures of Tintin, whereby often the good captain would give some bloke a piece of his mind, using similarly antiquated, comical English words nearly no one's ever heard of, perhaps even of his own invention ("gibbering rigipod" etc.).

If truth be told, yes, I once translated a page-length handwritten letter from English into Swedish as a personal favor for an office mate. Luckily, the office manager of the translation bureau where I was working was herself a Swedish native speaker and so feverishly went over my translation with the finest of fine toothed combs:-) She admittedly found little to edit, if I do say so myself, yet to be frank, enough to discredit it as a professional translation sans a once over from an educated native speaker!

Actually got full pay for it too.

Work / Work as English proofreader in Poland [19]

Jon, as usual, you took the words (right) out of my mouth, 'scuse the hackneyed expression:-)

Although I too know a number of languages with relative fluency, I'd NEVER dare to translate a text, even a relatively "simple" text, from English into Polish for pay. Into English from Polish etc. is of course another story entirely.

The only languages which are native to me are German and English and can translate handily into both.

Work / Work as English proofreader in Poland [19]

In my experience as well the latter is certainly better paying on the whole.

Classifieds / I am single and I hope to find true love and honesty. [18]

And you aren't? There's no "last word" on logic:-)

Classifieds / I am single and I hope to find true love and honesty. [18]

Not everyone follows the same "logic", Rich!

Classifieds / I am single and I hope to find true love and honesty. [18]

How do you know?

Classifieds / I am single and I hope to find true love and honesty. [18]

No, it's anything but "spot on", Rich! It's way off.
There actually are women out there who are still looking for true love, not based either solely on the size of his shlong or his wallet.

Po polsku / Podwyżka czynszu [3]

Muszisz byc tylko ostrozne!

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

MY weird ideas???
Are you a nutter? You even wondered at "those" people who thought such things!

Hungarians are a Uralic or Ugritic people.

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

Many Westerners persist in the belief that Hungarians are Slavs!
It was once thought that the former in fact were related to the Turks, but this too turned out to be incorrect:-)

Classifieds / I am single and I hope to find true love and honesty. [18]

Desmone,
Are you by any chance looking necessarily for a Polish man?

Work / Work as English proofreader in Poland [19]

The symbols or icons might well have changed depending on certain formats.

Work / Work as English proofreader in Poland [19]

In addition, you must know the international proofreader symbols as listed in the Chicago Manual of Style.

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

Typo.
I meant to say, "With ONLY English, I'd have been lost in Hungary without German."
Sorry!

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

Not true!
When I was last in Hungary some years ago, Hungarian had already become a very hot language, not to the extent of German, Polish or obviously Russian, but nonetheless practical.

My attempts were not only appreciated, but in fact many in Budapest spoke little to no English. Our tour guide made numerous mistakes and often was incomprehensible.

Without English, I'd have been lost in Hungary without German:-)

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

Undoubtedly. Odd that Poland's suicide rate wasn't nearly as high, as long as we're speaking here of estrangement or isolation.

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [233]

Significant perhaps that even more than Poland, present-day Hungary under Orban and FIDESZ remains perhaps the most xenophobic country in Europe, as much if not more so than either Sweden or Italy!

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

Or even "Das kann ich auch linkshaendig machen" = I'm also a lefty. (Even I'm a lefty).

USA, Canada / The history of Polish mafia in Chicago, Illinois [51]

There's an old movie "Calling Northside 777" (1947) starring Jimmy Stewart, Lee J. Cobb, and Richard Conte which I believe touches on the reality of a Polish crime syndicate in Chicago. Haven't see it for some time and so am a little sketchy on the details.

"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair is a novel written over a century ago and deals with crime in Chicago's Meat Packing District!

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [940]

More to the point, AntV, our forum colleague referred to my commentary the other day as "cheap preaching", I can assure you one and all, that my commentary is neither cheap nor preaching, as I charge a pretty penny for my opinions:-)

English is your first language, I assume. Therefore, kindly re-read #531, repeat process and then get back to me!

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [940]

Preaching is but a rich man's teaching.
The two though are often mutually exclusive, aren't they.

Polonia / Darker side of Scandinavia - Poles treated as being worse [31]

Max von Sydow was the most masculine of men, was however the first, perhaps the only, international cinema star to believably show tears, while remaining completely and realistically virile. Ck, out "Through a Glass Darkly" (Saasom i en spegel) and tell me I'm wrong.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [940]

Far easier said than done!
Look at another formerly Communist state, former East Germany.
NO East German textbooks touched the Jewish component to the Holocaust with a ten foot pole.