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

This is an interesting opinion, though a rather general one, Magdalena. Since this thread is entitled as it is, and the Czech language is close to Polish, could you perhaps enlighten us on some finer aspects of Czech grammar or spelling as compared to Polish?

Life / Do Poles have a problem understanding American English? [76]


One is entitled to criticize one's approach and ability to speak English even if they don't know that one's native language properly.

Likewise, a viewer is entitled to criticize a film or a theatre performance even if he is not an actor, a film director or a playwright.

Life / Do Poles have a problem understanding American English? [76]



I second Wlodzimierz In this discourse. Indeed, many foreigners, Poles among them, are so convinced about their language skills that they don't even try to develop any critical approach. One example that has come to my mind right now is a certain Polish poster on the PF (who once boasted of his English skills and said he worked in an international environment where he used it on a daily basis) whom I politely reminded of the necessity to use definite and indefinite articles in this language, but he said he did not bother about them at all as he was perfectly understood in his office, and he continued not to use articles in English as he wrote on the forum.

I don't believe in acquiring language skills only through watching and listening to films (or listening to real people for that matter) only. Building up one's competences in the language is too much of an interactive process to rely on one or two "sources" as watching films or reading literature. A combination of these two, for example, will certainly elicit better results than doing only one of them, but it shall still leave someone's oral skills prone to many mistakes that the person concerned would have never thought of having been capable of making.

Life / Do Poles have a problem understanding American English? [76]

As a Pole in Poland, I find it pretty difficult to understand Americans speaking English. This is because I have been trained to use the "true" British English [chiefly according to the BBC "pronunciation pattern"] from the age of 13. Likewise, I quite often find it difficult to understand foreign, non-English speakers speaking English if they speak with their own, (too) national accent.

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]


Don't be so ugly, woman! He has been doing this mistake frequently, thus it is not a typo. I pointed his attention to that once, but he took no notice and keeps writing the funny "dźi" and such things...

Language / Extremely Hard - Polish the hardest language to learn [226]

Włodzimierzu, I know it is somewhat impolite to correct someone's mistakes here, but you do repeat the same mistake over and over again! Please remember that the letter "i" a-l-w-a-y-ssoftens the preceding consonant!!! If so, there is absolutely no need to put a diacritical mark over the letter "Z" which preceeds the letter "I'.

NEVER EVER DO IT AGAIN !!!
[The same applies to Ć+I, Ś+I and Ń+I; they nevergo side by side!]

On the other hand, the sound Ż is a hardconsonant, so you cannot write it as ZI because it will be read as -, that is as a softconsonant. You should have written "wyrażeń", and not "wyrazień".

I wish you all the best learning Polish!

Genealogy / German war memorial in the Upper Silesian village of Biestrzynnik (Biestrzinnik-Ringwalde) [18]


An interesting picture. I have taken the photo of a similar one in Nowogrodziec (have forgotten the former German name of the town, sorry) in Nieder Schlesien, but that one only commemorated the victims of the 1914-1918 war. What is particularly interesting about your memorial is the fact that it shows the names of German soldiers of the WW2, something which would not be allowed in communist Poland. Even the more incredible is putting on it the names of civilians of the village murdered by the Soviets after 1945. My guess then is that the memorial was kept and hidden in a private farm until 1989 or the names in question have been inscribed thereon after 1989?

History / Poland must get back Lwow, Wilno and Brest back [345]




New names were given to tens (if not hundreds) of small towns and villages of Schlesien in the 1930s just because their original names sounded much too slavic to the German ear represented at that time by the democratically-elected rulers of the Thousand-Year Reich. This happened in 1936 or 1937 and not in 1932, however. "Ringwalde" sounds quite nice, all the more nicer than "Biestrzinnik" for the officials in Berlin who were supposed to reign over Schlesien (and most of Europe) for the next thousand years or so, which name may have indeed seemed too difficult for them to pronounce. "Hitlersee" seems to be really a bit of an exaggeration, even though for people like Sobieski, Jon357 or Palivec (not even mentioning Harry here), such a name may sound slightly better than Sczedrzik.

Names of major Schlesien cities were spared the honour of having been changed into proudly-sounding Germanic ones even if the majoritiy of them were of Slavic origin (Schweidnitz, Lignitz, Glogau, Oppeln, Brieg, Ohlau, etc.) simply because it would have brought too much fuss on the administrative level.

For the idea expressed in the title of the thread, I am strongly against it! In this respect, I follow the principia of Polish eastern policy as laid down after the WW2 by Polish aristocrat Jerzy Gedroyc, an exile in Paris, he himself born in Minsk, today's capital city of Belorus.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

My comment wasn't addressed to you, Harry. I was explaining things to Sofijufka as she seems to be unaware of all the things "in the background". If Polonius agrees with you at least on this, you're a lucky man!

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

Sofijufka, you should forget about it. The word "Busia" was only used by Harry as a weapon for fighting the Polish-Americans in his ever-going war against tradition, heritage and those who are not "leftist" enough in his plastic world of appearances. You, on the other hand, seems to be too "traditional", which means that you live in an unbalanced, "plastic" world of the past that will never return.

Work / A young Dutch man moving to Krakow-tips for work, living etc..... [38]

The "English tourist crap" do no matter how hard your kind will try to keep them off.

Work / A young Dutch man moving to Krakow-tips for work, living etc..... [38]

In the same way "we" have enough of "English tourist crap" in Poland, they may have enough of "Polish workers crap" in their countries. Now bring up more of your superiority complex to your beloved "Dear Leader", will you?

Work / A young Dutch man moving to Krakow-tips for work, living etc..... [38]

I don't think you have anything interesting to say here, so take your frustration back with you to the threads on politics and history where you'll find interlocutors whose frustration matches yours. Thank you.

Work / A young Dutch man moving to Krakow-tips for work, living etc..... [38]


Possibly, but it may well take even more time. My Dutch friends who have been coming to Poland as tourists every 5 years or so, say that they still meet very few fellow tourists from Holland here. They observed, for example, that big commercial centres like "Blue City" in Warsaw are rare or do not exist in the Netherlands. The camp-site in Warsaw they stay in didn't change much - they said - but the capital did quite a lot over the last 5 years.



In view of my upcoming visit to the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Friesland), I ventured to learn some basic Dutch. My presumption was that it was a language between German and English, but now I think it is neither one nor the other. Sometimes German tends to interfere (for example, I couldn't remember the Dutch verb 'herhalen' since the German verb 'wiederholen' appeared in mind instead), at other times it is helpful, but only if you can aptly find some connection (for example, I couldn't remember the meaning of the verb 'wijzen' until I realized that its root appears in German words like "gluecklicheweise"). But the Dutch sentence "Prettig ik met u kennis te maken" sounds more like Hungarian than either German or English!!!

Genealogy / All Future Polish Genealogy Researchers: Please Read before you start a thread [45]


So you should have written (bearing your detailed accuracy in mind): the Polish territory was in the course of the time between 1772 and 1919 annexed by the four nations [these having been (1) Russia, (2) Prussia, (3) Austria and (4) the Duchy of Warsaw]. Am I right in my thinking?

Genealogy / All Future Polish Genealogy Researchers: Please Read before you start a thread [45]



How technically would you consider the genealogical sources of the period of Duchy of Warsaw that existed between 1709 and 1815? Would they be: Russian, Prussian or Austrian?



Territory and flag of the Duchy of Warsaw

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


You've invented one Nazi-Polish invasion, you may well invent more of them.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


For me it is not curious at all (btw, at least one of the "Czech apologists" here has been to Prague, but only for beer). Be sure that the question of "how the Polish joined the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia" will sooner or later jump up on the PF with some newcomer raising it up, but with the same people taking the discussion over again.


Western propaganda, it is one thing. But in more detail it's western propaganda taken to the very extremes by the general attitudes of the "Czech apologists" and the like here on PF. It's much easier to cope with one's faults and deficiencies when you can blame someone else, too. This is a well-known psychological mechanism and the attitude of the "little British gang of three", as Des calls them, here on the PF is just one of its clinical manifestations. Rasicm in Western Europe? Yes, but look at the Eastern Europeans: what ugly racism there!!! Antisemitism? Yes, we have it, but it is really nothing compared with Eastern Europe. Hitler wouldn't have done a mere tenth of his job if Eastern Europeans did not help him! Invading foreign countries? Of course, the British Empire was doing this, but we were bringing civilisation to the rest of the world, that's what we did it for, whereas the barbaric kind of invasions - look at Eastern Europe, stupid!

It has to be said, however, that some of the "Eastern European" side also display such an attitude and I could name several Polish posters who act in a similar way here as Harry does. That is why it is important to fight manipulation being imposed through the incessantly sung tunes of the "Nazi-Polish invasions" song which is clearly aimed at tiring up and thus silencing those who have the courage to put things into broader perspective.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]



In fact, all the facts should be put into perspective. Putting aside the question of Poland invading a part of Czechoslovakia, "the Nazis invading Czechoslovakia", as Harry puts it, is pure fantasy on the part of the latter. This action by the Nazis had nothing to do do with "invasion". It was a coordinated international action in which four parties: Britain, France, Italy and Germany agreed on what is so explicitly stated in the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938:

Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in principle for the cession to Germany of the Sudeten German territory, have agreed on the following terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon [...]

I repeat, the text says of the cession of the part the territory of Czekoslovakia called 'the Sudeten German territory' agreed by the four contries, Britain infamously included, to Germany. What the hell does "cession" have to do with "invasion"?

In addition to that, Article 2 of the famous Agreement says: The United Kingdom, France and Italy agree that the evacuation of the territory shall be completed by 10th October, without any existing installations having been destroyed and that the Czechoslovak Government will be held responsible for carrying out the evacuation without damage to the said installations.

I know that signing the above agreement by the British Prime Minister may be an eternal shame for all the Anglo-Saxon race now and in the forseeable future, but I can see no reason why Harry incessantly hides the facts, constantly trying to take the blame off Britiain (world superpower of the time) by lying about the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia instead. Having read the Munich Agreement, one is obliged to conclude that the theory of "the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis", one of the most pompuous lies ever made by Harry on the PF, is wrong and misleading to all good people putting faith in it and putting faith in PF!

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


Yes, you should. You should stay pretty safe where you are in Berlin since no British bombing of that town occurs in case Poland asks her British ally to bomb it in a retaliation move against Germany in consequence of a Polish-British treaty.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


You don't know Harry yet. While you already begin to display the first signs of fatigue, Harry is only getting ready to devour you and your views on Britain not helping Poland in September 1939.

History / How different would WW2 turned out if Poland accepted Hitler's offer [219]


While the first sentence of this quote is true, the other is utter rubbish. First, it is like saying that the US should take over Mexico since it is a country which is governed badly, at least far worse than Uncle Sam would do, so the US would do Mexico a favor by taking it over.

And second, it was not at all true for Poland in the second half of the 18th century! The country started its long-range reforms shortly after its first partition of 1772 with the educational reform at the very heart of it. Monsieur Du Pont of the not-yet-famous family was invited to set up the National Ministry of Education (KEN), but soon resigned from the post saying that the king's plans for KEN are so out-reaching that they stand no chance to get started since Russia would never allow the king to go ahead with them. Nevertheless, the work went on without Monsieur Du Pont, and in several years later Catherine II got furious to hear that the Polish Constitution od 1791 abolished the liberum veto and replaced the election of kings with hereditary monarchy, this making her losing the essential tools for controlling the political situation in Poland. The country, however, was too big to be swallowed in its totality only by Russia, which Catherine originally hoped for, so she had to share the prey with the two other predators. That is, in short, the history of "foreign powers doing Poland a favour by taking it over".

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


A carefully chosen method for learning a language, tailored to your preferences, may save you a lot of time and effort. It is then recommended to read a (some) book(s) on methods of acquiring the foreign language before you actually start to do it.

For example, I cannot start learning a new one without reading the formal description of its phonetics first, and then making some preliminary contrastive exercises. Another thing that may facilitate your way to the near-fluency level is a sort of contemplating foreign language patterns, and in particular there, where they differ "in philosphy" from the pattern of your own language.

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



It seems you are both right. The Cyrillic set of graphems is easy to learn and it is almost an exact phonetic representation of sounds spoken in Russian, yet it is a set of symbols which seems strange and difficult to anyone having been accustomed to the Latin alphabet all their life. I myself was taught Russian at school, so I find it same thing either to listen to Russian or to read it, but those who were not, as most of the younger generation in Poland now, find it indeed strange that they are able to understand quite a lot of stuff that people speak to them in Russia, but they are dumb blind to everything that is written in Russian in the streets..

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]


My examples, however, did not in the least refer to the behaviour of Dutch versus Polish people at the airports at all, but to the following statement of Fuzzie:


Indeed, I may have quoted the above sentence of his rather than the one I actually did quote. Fuzzy should have reproached his in-laws for their backwater behaviour rather than describe Polish 'to continue be an obscure language' for the mere fact that no signs in that language are displayed at international airports.

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]


Your answers in this thread are just lamentable. If a Dutchman flied to Australia and he layovered, say, Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw, he might have complained that nothing was in Dutch in those airports. If a Frenchman did it and he layovered Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague, he may have complained that nothing was in French in those airports. Anything on the planes? Nope. Signs in the airports? Nope. Does French continue to be obscure, albeit not only spoken by French, because of that? Of course not! Just start learning Navajo to broaden your backwater American mentality of which you are so proud of, man.

Language / POLISH 18 - 30 years old know MUCH BETTER ENGLISH language than their own native language! [102]


This must be a big surprise for many of the non-Polish members of the PF since you've found worthwhile to underline the fact they weren't Polish!

While the reduced desire for sex with members of other nations among the British is perhaps widely known in the world (as testified by the title of this West End play: "No sex, please! We are British"), the reluctance of other nations to practice English with them or other native speakers of that language seem to have jumped out as a relatively new phenomenon.

Could it be attributed to any specific social or cultural factors? Every one may have their own theory. I myself think that in the world where all sorts of information come in such abundance, it is no longer interesting for the younger generation to explore new and, in fact, casual contacts with people they meet unless they are particularly interested in it for one reason or another. "Language" contact is apparently not within the scope of their interest; the occasion for it is not as rare as it used to be, so they do not tend to "jump" at it immediately. Also, these days they have so many other possibilities, including the availability of international press on the internet and multi-channel TV in different languages at almost every home.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


You really don't have to, so no need to be sorry for that.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


No, I don't understand your idea of "reparation" since the shift in Poland's borders from east to west had nothing to do with reparations to Poland on the part of Germany whatsoever, so this idea of yours is simply false. It is only your personal judgment of the facts that happened to which judgment have the right as everyone has the right to be of opinion that Earth is flat. I have no intention to make you change it, I am simply showing to other people reading this thread that such an opinion is false, since it is not backed up by any facts to make it a credible one.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]


I very much doubt it. If so, Germany should make reparations to other countries, too, but it wasn't the case. True, Russia did get the Kaliningrad enclave, but the ultimate aim here was to erase any remnants of East Prussia from the map of Europe. The underlying cause could have been partially compensating Poland for the loss of her eastern territories to Russia and weakening Germany at the same time, but not reparations to Poland.