Love / How are lesbians seen in Poland (more info inside)? [30]

In Warsaw you'll have no problems; it isn't an issue and there's a large and long-standing lgbt community. Kraków is more provincial but worth mentioning that it's a large university city and not unsophisticated. The difference between the capital and the countryside is larger in PL than you are probably used to, however a lesbian couple are so far outside most people's experience there that it's something they've just never thought of.

Poland has recently elected an openly gay city president (who is incredibly popular), there's a member of parliament who's a transwoman and the womens' movement is long established.

My partner and I have had very few problems over the years and none of them serious. You shouldn't worry.

Po polsku / Krótkie tłumaczenia z polskiego na angielski i z angielskiego na polski [32]

Raczej: A man may be right or wrong...but a woman is always right albo:A woman is always right, even when she's wrong.

Po polsku / Krótkie tłumaczenia z polskiego na angielski i z angielskiego na polski [32]

Baba pierdzi a nie babcia :-)

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]


Among anyone who can see what an embarrassment certain of the PiSuarzy, such as they are, are making of themselves over this whole issue.


Normal at a crash site - it's considered poor taste to allow cameramen and paparazzi to peer their lenses at body parts.


qz.com/378233/leaked-recordings-reveal-chaos-in-the-cockpit-of-the-polish-presidential-plane-that-crashed-in-2010/

A few weeks old but worth reading. It demolishes all the conspiracy theories - the truth is often so much more banal than the hysteria.

Life / Best place to buy cigarettes in Warsaw? [23]

Some of the kiosks under the central station (the old-fashioned looking ones, NOT the shiny new places) especially in the North East corridors are used to requests like that. You'll need to ask for the number of packets rather than the number of cigarettes.

Study / SGH Warsaw School of Economics vs Kozminski University vs Warsaw University [18]

The OP as a prospective student probably is not yet thinking about a change in citizenship and in any case would probably not have to renounce his Ukrainian citizenship (it depends on the basis upon which you become Polish) however he is at least 10 years away from that so not an issue yet..

SGH is generally considered far better than Kozminski in every way. Private universities in Poland are not well regarded whereas SGH is prestigious and well-known.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]


Absolutely. The problem is that some extremely limited individuals will always look for conspiracies where there are none and only consider something true if they agree with it. Generally the conspiracy theories around the Smolensk accident are part of a package of fringe beliefs - the Smolenskists tend to hold the whole package.

The conspiracy thing's become something of a national joke - and a rather tasteless one considering the number of casualties.

Life / Armenian Community in Poland? [10]

There is a small Armenian population in Poland (30-40,000 of which around a quarter have lived here for generations and are assimilated) several parishes and other Armenian language religious groups and some famous Poles (Penderecki, Slowacki etc) had Armenian roots.

A correction to the post above (too late to edit). The last census included 3,623 people who declared themselves as Armenian however online I've just noticed an estimate of 40-80,000. An accurate figure is doubtless somwhere between. BTW, Zbigniew Herbert apparently had Armenian roots, something I hadn't heard.

Work / Language Teachers - do you feel respected in Poland? [86]

The better teacher would be the one who teaches better. Simples.

I doubt there are many factory floor sweepers teaching languages here in Poland however the learners even in private language schools can generally tell the difference between a bad and a good teacher and vote with their feet.

One thing I have sadly noticed, not just in Poland, is the phenomenon of people teaching English who have a little social cachet, some decent qualifications but are unfortunately no good at getting people to learn - they are however good at bluffing on the basis of their social skills.

Work / Language Teachers - do you feel respected in Poland? [86]

To a point. I've come across teachers who are highly qualified but who aren't actually that good as well as teachers who lack paper qualifications but are very good at teaching. One of the best (maybe the best of them all) that I used to employ had very little on paper but was a highly effective teacher.

Instead of asking to see credentials, it's often a better idea to ask for references from people they've taught. Word of mouth is usually the best way to find someone. That and availability - the very best teachers are usually either very busy or simply not chasing lessons.

Classifieds / Where to buy Polish Beer wholesale in UK? [153]

Any local off-licence or mini-market should have enough for you to get as drunk as you like.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]

Exactly, however the Smolenskist tendency among the PiSuarzy (and conspiracy theorists in general) like all that sort of stuff, however illogical.

It does however get JK and his crowd of loons on the TV news and distracts from their lack of coherent political policies, from their lack of appeal to voters and from all the other potential embarrassments within their party.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]


In the absence of 'hard evidence' the investigators have to use the data that actually exists. This all points to an accident, not an attempted coup d'état as publicly alleged by cranks like Macierewicz, broadly dismissed within Poland and perpetuated by some in this thread.


Just how are the issues concerning report on the Smolensk accident 'off-topic' in a thread about the report on the Smolensk accident.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]

Really? No ranting, just an accurate description of Poland's worst ever politician and his creepily obsessed political heirs.

You, however, seem to think someone was "exterminated" and just like some of the nuttier of the PiSuarzy expect "evidence" for some crime which just didn't occur.

By the way, although Poland had everything to gain from the removal of LK, the Polish government didn't. The voters were about to consign him to the dustbin if history as they did his twin. Now the problem is that he died before he could disgrace himself further and is remembered by some in a better light than he deserved.

Plus the loss of some of the countries most able individuals of different political persuasions, most of them not supporters of PiS or similar tendencies.

The government and most of the intelligentsia are perfectly happy to accept the report, so why are the PiSuarzy and the sinister 'defenders of the cross' still hell bent on making even bigger fools of themselves by harping on about evidence for something that never happened?

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]

Yes exactly Lyzko. And the key thing is that in real life in PL you just don't hear people going on about the accident.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]

One issue here is that in PL, it tends to be fringe media like Fronda and Gazeta Polska rather than more respectable publications, perpetuating conspiracy theories and giving space to the lunatic ravings of Macierewicz and the Smolenskists.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]

Hard to know what the Guido Knopp connection is here. He's just a journalist and a heavily criticised one at that. No connection to the accident at Smolensk at all.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]


'Vox', who was "exterminated" here? Precisely no one.

It was an accident and any ranting or conspiracy theorising otherwise by the lunatic fringe of Polish politics and similar intellectually needy characters cannot and will not change that.

Do read posts more carefully and try to understand the language in which they are written before commenting. Your question above makes no sense.

News / Polish final report on Smoleńsk aircrash [870]


Crowie, you've forgotten that Tusk was already the leader. Kaczinski's brother had already been dumped from his role as premier.

Some of the posts on the previous page are from Americans who are trying to compare Poland's system of government with their own. Poland does not have an executive President. The leader of Poland is the Premier. And no need to assassinate a PiSuar Premier because they'd lost the election with little or no possibility of ever regaining power.

LK was a lame duck (no pun intended) president, nearing the end of his term of office who was famous only for making a hash of the job. A politician who will go down in history as Poland's worst with only two famous quotes "Teraz K*rwa My" "Now it's our f*cking turn" (at corruption) and "Spieprzaj Dziadu" F*uck off you old tramp. That and making a fool of himself by turning up at a foreign meeting to which he wasn't invited and had no vote or right to speak. His so-called fourth republic project was already dead and he was no more than an embarrassment and a political joke.

All the harping on about conspiracies by the politically toxic JK and the clown Macierewicz has one positive aspect though - it will keep them forever away from the corridors of power.

Language / What are the hard aspects of Polish according to its learners? - home essay [21]

Yes. I'm B2/C1ish according to the last test and it's the declensions that are the challenge, that and differences in morphology. Some of the discourse markers (im, ów etc used as discrete words) took a bit of doing.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

How would you know Calmit? In any case, if they suffered "no more or less" than any other group, you seem to be condoning suffering wherever it is.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]

Without 'a' and it's perfect :-)

Work / Proofreading - What is the going rate in Warsaw? [40]


Which is why technical editors on oilfields get 6 figures and translators less than a third of that. I turn down proofreading as a matter of course too, unless it's a special favour.


A special skill too - the EU/UN ones work half an hour at a time then have a 2 hour break - so intense and demanding.

Work / Proofreading - What is the going rate in Warsaw? [40]


Same here, and yes it is hard to sustain. If however you're translating a long and specialised technical document it can be lucrative - especially if you invoice a client directly rather than deal with an agency.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Aw you saying that Jewish people as a group never suffered oppression in Poland and that pogroms, restrictive legislation and institutional racism were all a dream?

Work / Proofreading - What is the going rate in Warsaw? [40]

It's usually charged by length, either per 1500 or 1800 characters with spaces. Some translation companies charge the client with spaces and pay the translator without.I used to translate technical documents (though mostly financial reports) and occasionally proofread things other translators had done. Often that meant retranslating so not always so quick.

Worth mentioning that the market is being squeezed due to too many people chasing translation work, very few of them with native English.

Work / I'm retired teacher, age 69 - I want to teach English in Poland voluntarily, in return for Polish language [22]


!00%


I know a few (and even older) in Warsaw, but all ex-diplomatic service, ex-WSI or retired English teachers.


That's really important - it can be quite competitive in the nicer locations. You'll also probably get a lot of requests (perhaps more than you'd want) for private lessons (experience and ability are highly respected in PL) so really you need only do a couple of lessons at a language school - most of them now don't recruit for full time posts anyway. You'll find IELTS rather rare here (just not marketed as much as, say, Asia) but plenty of FCE preparation.

It might be worth just turning up here first and seeing if the rest falls into place. If it doesn't, it's not too far to go back, if it does, all the better...

Just an idea for the short term, why not try this: angloville.com.

A friend who's a semi-retired language teacher does this. Most of the participants are apparently slightly older than the ones in the picture by the way - a lot of company people. I've heard it's good to do, all 1-1 teaching and you could make some very useful contacts in PL which could lead to something excellent. They don't pay but do put you up in a nice hotel (a great business model for them and one reason I haven't done it myself).

I've sent you a PM

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]


That's actually a very good point. There are other groups, fewer in number, who are much the same and the Scots too (some would say the Poles and the English as well) have punched above their numerical weight. Do you think it's a reaction to adversity?

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

That's very articulate of you Goof, but we're still waiting to hear about these 'crimes' you alleged the Jews were committing in pre-War Poland and how exzctly you think the Jews (all of them??) "should be punished"..

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]


Do 'godd' Catholics often advocate 'race laws' I wonder what JP2 would have thought. :-(


You actually posted a link to a government department's own internal diversity monitoring programme - nothing about the pre-War Polish state where you think that "these people should be prosecuted" and should have been forced by law to employ non-Jews...