Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]


There's nothing contradictory in these two statements. The vast territories in the east had not been conquered, but came to be known as 'Poland' through a series of union acts with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the most latest of them, in Lublin in 1569, it was agreed [peacefully] that the lands of Ukraine and Podlachia would thereupon be attached to the Kingdom of Poland, so the Duchy shrinked to the territory of the present Lithuania and Belarus. It was stated that the Kingdom and the Duchy would continue as one commonwealth, each state within it having separate army, treasury, justice and administration, but with a common parliament, the Seym, and a common monarch, the king of Poland and the grand duke of Lithuania.

Po polsku / Charakterystyczne błedy popełnione przez obcokrajowców - razem, je wyeliminujemy! [30]


Wybrałbym wersję Wredotki: Szyfr byłby nie do złamania.
Ale szukając właściwego tutaj przymiotnika, który byłby najbliższy przymiotnikowi 'niezłomny', napisałbym: Szyfr pozostałby [byłby] niezłamany.

Po polsku / Charakterystyczne błedy popełnione przez obcokrajowców - razem, je wyeliminujemy! [30]

Inny charakterystyczny błąd popełniany przez obcokrajowców w piśmie: pisanie przymiotników oznaczających narodowości z dużej litery, tj. tak jak w języku angielskim. W polskim piszemy je z małej litery np. używać polskiej gramatyki. Czy czasownik 'używać' wymaga dopełniacza czy biernika? Tradycyjnie z pewnością wymaga dopełniacza [kogo? czego?], ale współcześnie spotyka się też użycie biernika [kogo? co?], taki przypadek z czasownikiem 'używać' stosuje Skysoulmate: używać polską gramatykę.

Pułapkę językową widać w zdaniu: Szyfr byłby niezłomny. Jak należałoby powiedzieć poprawnie?

Po polsku / Charakterystyczne błedy popełnione przez obcokrajowców - razem, je wyeliminujemy! [30]


Powyżej jest błąd bardzo finezyjny [poza literówką którą poprawiłem]. Mówi się "słyszałem od niej/niego, że ..." i to jest jak najbardziej poprawne. Tutaj natomiast należy użyć przyimka "u". Dlaczego? Po pierwsze, przyimek taki jak tutaj powinien się z reguły odnosić do ostatniego członu spośród wymienianych, a zatem do 'czytacie', a nie 'słyszycie'; mówi się zaś 'czytałem u kogoś'. Po drugie, nawet jeśli byłoby tylko 'które słyszycie' [bez dodawania 'i czytacie'], to i tak lepiej byłoby powiedzieć 'słyszycie u obcokrajowców', ponieważ jest to stwierdzenie dotyczące jakiegoś zjawiska, nie zaś przekazania konkretnej informacji. Jest to bardzo subtelna sprawa, gdyż np. zdanie 'słyszycie od obcokrajowców, że język polski jest skomplikowany" jest właściwe, zaś niewłaściwe byłoby użycie w nim przyimka "u". Ale stwierdzenie 'język polski jest skomplikowany' to konkretna informacja, natomiast stwierdzenie 'zwroty, które słyszycie u obcokrajowców' nie ma charakteru konkretnej informacji [no bo niby jakie zwroty?]; chodzi tutaj raczej o stwierdzenie typu "sposób w jaki mówią obcokrajowcy".

----------------
Torq


To był raczej błąd wynikły z tego, że przeformułowałem to zdanie, a nie poprawiłem odnoszącego się do zmienianego rzeczownika odpowiadającego mu zaimka względnego "które" [było przed poprawkami: "pułapki w które ..."]. Ale zgadzam się co do meritum: wpadamy w takie pułapki.

Po polsku / Charakterystyczne błedy popełnione przez obcokrajowców - razem, je wyeliminujemy! [30]

Na przykład słowo "języczne" zamiast "językowe" ujawnia obcokrajowca. Ponieważ jest to słowo stosunkowo często używane, nie jest możliwe, aby tak mógł się wyrazić rodowity Polak. Oczywiście, wiem skąd ten błąd wziął się u Ciebie; to słowo występuje jako człon w wyrazach złożonych, takich jak: obcojęzyczny, angielskojęzyczny. To błąd wynikający z tego, że sam język jest niekonsekwentny, zatem można powiedzieć, że język "przygotował" pułapkę w które wpadł uczący się go obcokrajowiec.

Innym charakterystycznym błędem jest "50 charakterów w tytule". Istnieje w polszczyźnie rzeczownik "charakter", ale nie ma on takiego znaczenia jak to, w którym go użyłeś zwiedziony podobieństwem angielskiego "character" do polskiego słowa "charakter". Tutaj należało powiedzieć: "50 znaków w tytule".

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]



As I said, I'm not an expert on the Bible, so you are probably right. But you cannot view the Bible only as a moral source or guidance for life. I think it depicts many types of human behaviour which should not be followed. Apart from being a guidance, it is also a historic document of its times.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


I'm not an expert on the Bible, but as far as I remember, the context for it was the need to keep the continuity of the human race. As for an extreme case when the very existence of mankind is ultimately threatened, this guidance should be viewed in a different light than in the usual circumstances for which the Bible has different prescriptions indeed. It may even be called a "guidance for life", as you call it, the human life, that is to say. For that matter, your "accusations" of the Bible are very unfair and show that you do not know what it really is about.

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


That's the essence of it: it is not an attack on the Polish church. It is rather an attack on the paganism within the Polish church, paganism so well established and cherished under the name of Jesus ...

News / A devestating verdict on the Polish church [279]


They have gone to pray in one of the churches supporting Father Director [what a silly title indeed: Father Director!], or thay are busy reading "Nasz Dziennik" right now.

Law / Zloty lifts Poland's Economy [58]


Even the UK is not big enough to play the game against individual investors, if you remember a certain George Soros ...


I don't think you know where to put an apostrophe and where to put a comma.

Law / Zloty lifts Poland's Economy [58]

Well said, Delphiandomine. When Hitman is barking, he should be choosing the direction in which he's barking more wisely. Instead he barks toujours vers PO.

Life / Welcome to winter in Poland! (-19C tomorrow) [64]

The forcasters exaggerate as usual. In England the bill punishing weather forcasters who are wrong with their forcasts [introduced by Henry VIII, I think] by stamping their bodies with hot iron is still in force. We, in Poland, are much more tolerant to those people.

Genealogy / Looking for old street name : Teuchertstrasse in Gliwice [24]

Seanus will know it, he's from Gliwice.

Love / WILDROVERS FIVE YEARS IN POLAND....come to an end...! [132]


The "official" side of life is very much different from the unofficial one ...

I'm quite amazed at the quality of "Russian analysis" of the Russian-Polish as well as the international relations and Russian internal situation occasionally given in interviews to the Polish press by Russian social scientists, journalists etc. I read them with pleasure as they show an interesting and quite thorough point of view which I often don't find in the Polish analyses of the subject.

Do you know Alexandra Marinina's criminal stories translated into English? I am presently reading one of them, Украденный сон (in Polish translation), which gets me nicely into the realities of Moscow in the times of transformation (1995). My two lady friends have just returned from an organized trip to Moscow (their main goal was to see Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in the Red Square before they decide one day to bury his body into the ground according to his own wish) and they have found the Russian capital - in contrast to Warsaw - an unexpectedly calm and very relaxed city.

I wish you all the best on your new path of life; if and when my turn comes to see Lenin in the Red Square, I will just think that Владимир Ильич rests in peace not that far from a place that Wildrover lives at present.

History / Polish history is 100% glorious [304]


A note to M-G: And despite it being so politically incorrect, this law is still in force ...

A question for M-G: Even if you count the British as well as the Dutch among the most mature nations on this planet, with their national identities so well and firmly established, why should this law restrict any prospective British Prime Ministers to be non-Catholic ones only? I can't help thinking, MareGaea, that if a law prevented a Polish p-r-o-t-e-s-t-a-n-t Prime Minister (actually, there was such one in Poland after 1989) from taking office, either you or Harry would constantly be putting forward such a case as one illustrating how backward and old-fashioned the Polish are in confrontation with the modern and progressive Western Europe? Don't you think that the British, politically speaking of course, anti-Catholic identity would not have been sufficiently established to say good-buy to this anachronic act of William King of England?

History / Polish history is 100% glorious [304]


I can't help thinking that if they were Polish soldiers rather than Dutch ones, you (and if not you, that would no doubt be Harry) would have put forward the case as an example of the military force being coward in face of the enemy.


It seems the one I have did present a sort of common view on the subject as it was a sort of a "semi-official" pamphlet on all the monarchs of Britain. Not to the point, I think, that it would bear a stamp of Her Majesty's Queen Elisabeth II official approval, however.

History / Polish history is 100% glorious [304]


The books I'm indicating are from the 1980s. By that time the British had their national identity very firmly established, I should think. I will present you with the excerpts and the exact sources as soon as I find the books. You will be able to judge for yourself.

History / Polish history is 100% glorious [304]


It is not that unusual as you might think. My home is presently in a mess due to redecorating work, but once it's done, I will give you excerpts from two British books describing the atrocities committed on Irish people by the invading English army supported by Dutch mercenaries or allies (this was in the times of Cromwell, I should think). The one entitled "Britain's Kings and Queens", one in the form of a brochure sold at the Tower of London and other tourist attractions, and thus supposed to hit a larger audience, gives an account of how cruel and totally merciless the Dutch soldiers were in fighting the Irish insurgents; no mention whatsoever of the English doing that. The other, a thicker one, "An Illustrated History of England", wrriten by an apparently left-wing British historian, has been giving a totaly different account of the events, unmercilessly blaming the English soldiers for commiting those attrocities.

Western Europe is not so "innocent" as you would like to convince us. True, it is undoubtedly much more politically correct. But the truth usually comes out in the hour of test as happened in the case of the armed Dutch soldiers who stood indifferently beside the Srebrenica killings in Bosna. Or in the case of a Dutch man who denounced Anne Frank hiding for more than two years in Amsterdam.

History / Polish history is 100% glorious [304]


You've unfortunately missed my balanced replies to his posts in Polish to which he eventually could not find proper answers, so he resorted to telling me that I had better shut up because he knows both English and Polish better than I do. Yes, Sokrates is quite a lamentable creature; he seems to be a teenager (at least mentally, if not for real) who has just discovered the joy of sex as well as the joy of publishing on the internet. But what is the logic behind the fact that you put him in front of you when someone reproaches you for having called an Ukrainian a "sub-human so jealous of the ubermenschen Poles". Is it the logic of a thief who says that stealing is acceptable only beacause his neighbour steals?

History / Polish history is 100% glorious [304]

MareGaea
I don't think you are right. While I am open to admit that Polish history has definetely not been 100% glorious (you know as well as me that saying this is absurd!), I think the topic opened by Harry has just been meant to provoke people like Sokrates or Ironside. Harry and Sokrates are two of a kind and each one needs the constant company of the other on this forum to indulge themselves in the game. There is more psychology in it than exchanging views and opinions. A newcomer who comes to the forum gets a very inacurate impresion of the Polish people by reading the texts Sokrates, just as he gets a very inacurate impression of the foreign people living in Poland by reading the texts of Harry.


That in fact is not true. There has been a lot of people in Poland including prominent members of the then Polish government in exile as well as outstanding Polish contemporary historians who challenged and have disputed the decision to fight the Germans by declaring the Warsaw Insurrection.

---------------------------


In my view, such a comment (calling someone the Hitler-style name of "sub-human" in the above context) should cause an ultimate ban of the author on every high-quality forum. You should have really pointed out to that first, MareGaea, before taking to this:


That is indeed much more nasty than not seeing sarcasm in Harry's posts ...

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


I don't quite get the sense of this phrase ("nie jestem defensywną osobą").

The saying "ćwiczenie czyni mistrza" has been known here in Poland in German as well: "Uebung macht den Meister". I believe it came into Polish from German.


Attention to the "śi" combination of letters. Such one is impossible, as the "i" itself does the job of softening the "s" before a vowel. "Seanuśku", on the other hand, would be perfect.

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

Lyzko

Actually, you were almost correct in your orignal version. The setence should be:
Język polski nie ma [takich/tego typu] rodzajników jak język angielski, to jest rodzajników "the", "a/an". You can't say "tyle" here as Polish has no articles at all.

rodzaj - gender
rodzajnik - article

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]

I'm not sure if I get you right. The link you've provided is the link to the text of the PIT bill (ustawa) of which bill I've extracted article 4a: "Przepisy art. 3 ust. 1, 1a, 2a i 2b stosuje się z uwzględnieniem umów w sprawie unikania podwójnego opodatkowania, których stroną jest Rzeczpospolita Polska."

The bill is clear on that; it sends you to conventions on the avoidance of the double taxation, clearly assuming that some foreign citizens permanently residing in Poland may be exempted (and most probably are, in my view, when they receive a pension from their country of origin) from paying income tax in Poland. Such a convention was signed betwen Poland and the US in 1976 and if it states that pensions which have been taxed in the country where they are awarded (US, in our case) are exempted from taxation in the present country of residence of the retiree (that is, Poland), the matter is simple. It is the text of the convention between the US and Poland which is decisive in the case discussed.

I don't quite get what you mean by "totalization agreement". Is it the text of articles 3: 1, 1a, 2a, 2b of the bill stating that everyone is liable to paying a personal income tax in Poland?

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]


Are you sure that the SS agreement from 2009 is the one which tackles the problem of "US benefits not being taxable in Poland"?

The Polish bill on personal income tax ("ustawa o podatku dochodowym od osób fizycznych") directs you to "Convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income" rather than to the agreement on social security that you indicate. Article 4a of the bill says that the rules for the taxation of income are applied accoording to the rules of the convention.

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]

Bizzare is speaking out an opinion conradictory to facts and then asking why the facts are bizzare.

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]

I strongly doubt if this is true. I read this "news" in that other thread as well. Notice that people were just mouthing off ("in Poland you pay taxes on everything") with the only aim of showing how intelligent and knowledgeable they are.

Real Estate / Poland: the building boom goes on [28]


Don't be so optipistic, David. Don't look at the present economic situation, but look ahead what may happen in about three years. Public finances of Poland are pretty much in the same state now as Spain's were three years ago. Of course, we don't have one million newly-build unsold homes, but our public deficit is quite high and growing. Even in the years of the greatest prosperity we run a budget deficit, while Spain had not. The cost of servicing the debt was and is much lower in the case of Spain as they enjoy lower interest rates of the eurozone, than it is in the case of Poland since we don't have the euro. A decent curb on public deficit looks pretty unlikely as a parliamentary election is due next year in Poland and politictians bid high in their promises.

Language / Polish people: did you struggle learning English - differences between both languages [76]


I fully agree with this type of analogy.

English speakers are probably unaware that using articles might be a problem to anyone. Likewise, Polish speakers are unaware that using the proper aspect of a verb might be in any way problematic (I myself only realised that after having read posts from learners of Polish on this forum).


Indeed, it is a striking example of a change in meaning. So striking that in Polish you would have to use two different nouns to translate both phrases: the former [in the office] should be rendered 'biuro', whereas the latter [in office] will require a noun like 'stanowisko'.

History / Lusatian-Sarmatic obsession of Poles [153]

Frankly, I don't understand your point. Who on earth are Lusatians? For me, they are '£użyczanie' or 'Serbołużyczanie', a Slavic folk living west of the river Oder in Germany. The overwhelming majority of Poles living in Poland do neither care about Lusatians in any historical sense nor about Sarmatians. The theory of Sarmatians is a mockery to modern Poles. As someone vividly interested in Polish history, I judge this theory a pure mockery, too. If you listen to Polish people who emmigrated abroad a long time ago, you should not take their views as the same as the views of 'home' Poles. Their views on Sarmatians or Lusatians as you report them remind me of an opinion of a certain Polish intellectual who once said that the Polish-Jewish conflict 'emigrated' to New York after 1939-1945 all along with the emmigration of a number of prominent Polish and Jewish 'pre-war' people to America. As a result, the Polish-Jewish problem had completely died out in Poland (except for a tiny minority of 'connaisseurs'), while it has been remaining alive in New York all these years.

Genealogy / Is your line of the Polish family noble? [74]


Princes and princesses, n'est-ce pas ? But what you've so shrewdly noticed is not true. Poland had very few princes and princeses until the end of the First Republic (or as others translate its name: Commonwealth) which ceased to exist in 1795. The reason for that was that Poland did not aknowledge any noble titles except the general status of a simple nobleman (szlachcic). You could then be either a nobleman or a non-nobleman (a peasant or a bourgeois). The only princes of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (these were about a handful of families) were the original princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who were granted the continuation of use of the title of prince in the Act of Union of Lublin in 1569. On top of that, the Sejm had awarded the title of prince to the Crown (not Lithuanian) Poniatowski family in the second half of the 18th century.

All other noble titles after 1795 were being given to the Polish nobility by the three powers which partitioned Poland. So if you think the titles were awarded in abundance, you should attribute such abundance to the actions of St. Petersburg, Berlin and Vienna. If you try to diffuse Soviet-style propaganda here by quoting the 19th century French sources, you should at least indicate these sources.