Real Estate / Carpetying style? - question to Brits living in Poland [26]


The probem is not buying it but fitting it. It needs to be done by a professional carpet fitter and you're not likely to find many of those in Poland for small domestic jobs. There must be some who do hotels etc but it's not like the UK where you can get a thousand square foot house fitted from top to bottom in a day! They can even do it with the furniture in the room, I've seen them in action.

Carpet on a stairs can actually be quite dangerous especially if it's too thick and smooth in texture. You need a nice hard wearing corded Berber or similar that's not to thick and gives a bit of grip underfoot.


It used to be very common, you hardly see it at all nowadays. It was popular in the USA too, especially in the 1970s, considered a sign of luxury.

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]


Exactly. Broadly speaking (excuse the pun!) I would say that standard neutral speech in any English speaking country is very similar to each other but when it comes to regional accents and dialects it's a different matter. It seems that when the OP refers to Anglophones he means those in Canada and the US, including fairly extreme accents. I mean that 'Deputy Dawg' style of vowel :) so it's rather difficult to come up with foreign names that have spellings which work for Polish pronunication. I'm no linguist so it's just an opinion.

Work / Moving to Poland from Ireland - starting a professional life [32]

Irish, if you wouldn't want to run your own business in Ireland, then I wouldn't suggest doing it in Poland. Running your own business is a lifestyle and career choice that's not for everybody and it's much, much more difficult in Poland than in Ireland. Same goes for teaching really. You could possibly do it for a while, even without any background in it, but it's not everybody's cup of tea. It's best suited to people who, surprise, surprise, actually want to be teachers :)

As CMS says, you're better off looking for some kind of job based on whatever skills and experience you already have and where you don't need Polish. There are a few websites with jobs for English speakers in Poland. Just google it and have a look.

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]



As an English native speaker, I wouldn't agree with that. The long 'o' doesn't sound in the least like a Polish 'o' which is basically the same sound as the middle sound in English words such as log, fog etc. The 'o' in Wonder Woman is a lot closer to Polish 'o' than the 'o' in roll to my English speaking ears :)

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]


Gosh that's weird! It's the normal 'd' sound in Ireland. But it's not a popular name there at all.

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]


So do the Welsh, Irish and some dialects of English, though they certainly don't roll them in the same way as Poles, but they definitely sound them. Anyway, the 'r' in Sandra is actually sounded by all English speakers, regardless of their accent.


Some of the names you listed don't follow that rule. I suspect you haven't heard them pronounced by English speakers.

Angus - this is a Scottish/Gaelic name. Angus is pronounced with an 'ang' sounded as you would sound the word hang or sang. The 'gus' part sounded with a short u not a long one, so it would sound more like a Polish 'o' to Polish ears. Angus is pronounced more like Ang-gs and the 'u' is not really sounded at all.

Fiona, also Scottish - the 'o' in Fiona is pronounced like the exclamation 'oh!' There is no direct equivalent sound in Polish.

Douglas, Scottish again! - the 'oug' is pronounced 'ug' so again not identical in Polish. The nearest you could get in Polish is 'og' and the 'a' in 'las' is not really sounded.

Genealogy / British name Russell in Poland [26]


Why does anybody.......it's not just Poles.

Law / Alimony and child support - Polish wife seeking divorce [15]

If the judge rules that the marriage broke up due to the fault of the husband, then yes, he is liable to pay support to the wife for herself as well as support to the child. In theory, the spousal support can continue for the rest of her life unless she remarries, in which case the support stops. Sorry for the gloomy news but that's the situation.


It is actually possible to divorce on the basis of it not being anybody's fault but obviously in this case the wife is not willing to go down that route. However, if she doesn't present a convincing case, then the judge can decide that there is no fault on either side and that the marriage has simply come to a natural end. Also, as bad as the courts are, and they're not great by any means, as another poster said, it's not that easy to have parental rights removed. Remember that judges are well accustomed to seeing angry, vindictive ex-wives so they're pretty experienced at determining whether the woman is just being spiteful or whether she has any real grounds for her demands.

Also if it's any comfort to you, where children are concerned, the line taken is that 'young' children need to live with their mother but as they grow older, boys need contact with their father.


The problem is that it's entirely at the discretion of the judge. There are no guidelines set by the court and they do not take into account the father's actual income and outgoings as they would in the UK for example. The judge sets a figure based on the father's earning potential. Also, if your cousin remarries, his wife's income/earning potential is up for grabs too!

Basically, you need a good solicitor. Sorry I can't recommend one :(

Sorry I should have said that the judge can decide that the fault is mutual rather than it being nobody's fault, but it's the same difference really. Basically you can divorce on the basis that neither one of you is the main person to blame.

Study / New idea for foreign students - help with getting familiar with Poland [4]


Do you mean a website? You could give it a try. There are lots of sites that give information on life in Poland for people who are considering studying there, but some personal support would be a new angle. I presume your services would be free so you'd need your site to generate some revenue from advertisers or whatever, otherwise I don't think it's realistic as, if the website becomes popular, you could spend a huge amount of time sorting out things for people and you couldn't afford to do that for free.

Life / Health Care Quality in Poland - NFZ vs Private [4]

Have you looked into the EU health care directive? It might be a solution for you.

//europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/health/planned-healthcare/expenses-reimbursements/index_en.htm

News / Polexit? Almost half of the Poles believe that Poland would be better off outside of the EU [548]


The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Off-Topic / An average brain weight by ethnicity/nation [36]


That has as much to do with the place they live and work in, as it does with ethnicity, when it comes to the sciences anyway. You need to have the conditions in which you can do the work, the funding etc. That's one of the reasons why America, the UK, France, Germany etc come out tops in Nobel Prizes.

So anyway, what exactly is the point of this thread then? Why would anybody be interested in weight of somebody's brain?

Off-Topic / An average brain weight by ethnicity/nation [36]


And a Russian one does?? Da komrad.


And your point is?? Let's hope it's not some nonsense about intelligence because the Japs have higher IQs and outperform Europeans in standard testing as indeed do most people from that region of the world.

Anyway, it's all a load of old cobblers. As a teacher myself, I can tell yout that IQ tests and standardized testing don't necessarily reflect peoples' abilities.

Genealogy / Seeking Czarniecki family members and ancestors from Lublin, also Margiewicz, Danilowicz and Andrulewicz [77]


Ah for God's sake woman, would you ever cop on to yourself and stop being so silly.


Isn't that rather discriminatory towards those who've converted to Judaism? A bit like saying, if you're a convert, you're not a 'real' Jew. Anyway, you're mistaken. You'll find that most rabbis agree that Jewishness cannot be defined in such simplistic terms.

Genealogy / Seeking Czarniecki family members and ancestors from Lublin, also Margiewicz, Danilowicz and Andrulewicz [77]

@ Nickidewbear,Kaprys gave you good advice from a genealogical point of view, in line with the correct kind of approach when doing family history. Just because she cautions you about being careful about drawing inferences and advises going with verifiable facts, doesn't make her antisemitic.

Genealogy / Im proud to be a nordic guy, who with me here in Poland ? [7]

I always wonder about posts like that. Is he

a) Drunk
b) Taking the p*ss
c) A genuine eejit

Life / The best online shopping portal in Poland? [41]

It varies, depends on the individual seller. You can send the seller a message and ask if they will send orders to the UK but you need to write it in Polish as most of them are not fluent in English. Just put your message in Google Translate and copy and paste it, it won't be perfect Polish but they will understand it.

Genealogy / How to find a burial site / records in Poland... [80]



Her 'name day' is 1 November and is usually the more important celebration in Poland. Probably because her birthday and name day fell so close together, she celebrated her birthday on the same date and on the day that would have been more culturally significant for her as a Polish person.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


You're right, they won't manage that but what they have managed to pull off is a fair amount of damage to the country in various ways, which they will continue to work on over the next four years.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


It is a serious safety risk Dirk, really. If for example, somebody set off the fire alarm as a joke, all it takes is one person to panic and serious injury or death could follow, especially when people are on a stairs. In fact all it takes is for somebody to faint or stumble. On St Patrick's Day in the north of Ireland, three teenagers died just standing in a dense queue outside a disco. Somebody fell and then according to witnesses, the whole queue collapsed and three kids were crushed to death - and that was outdoors with plenty of space around them.

Also crowds like that changing classrooms all at once suggests that the school is over-stretched in other very important ways that will have a definite impact on the students' education.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


The pics you posted are really shocking. That's a major health and safety breach. God forbid if there was ever a fire.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]

Looks like thin tomato soup or the liquid from a dish like gołąbki.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]

They look a bit like pyzy which are tasty though a bit heavy. They're probably quite nice served with fried onion and a couple of fried eggs and maybe a bit of fried boczek but one would probably be enough!

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

Or could it be a bit like 'to dip a toe in the water'?? To wet your snout, give something a tentative try?


That sounds right, We'll see :)

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

That sounds right to me, a bit like the phrase in English 'to wet the baby's head' meaning to have a celebratory drink when a baby is born.

Australia / Anybody send parcel with POCZTA-POLSKA to Australia? [16]

If you have the tracking number, once it leaves Poland the item will be trackable again once it reaches Australia and enters their postal system. Just go to track and trace on the Australian post office website, enter the tracking number and if it's been scanned somewhere in Australia it will appear. So don't give up hope :)

Australia / Anybody send parcel with POCZTA-POLSKA to Australia? [16]

A member of the counter staff in Poczta Polska told me once that it can take up to three months within the EU for an economy parcel to arrive, so for Australia, God only knows! I would say five weeks is not that unusual but if it doesn't have a tracking number, it might easily not show up at all :( The golden rule when using Poczta Polska is always send via their registered 'polecone' service.

Travel / Which places in Praga, Warsaw are MOST DANGEROUS at night? [15]


That's Praga Północ.


That's Praga Południe.

The Praga district comprises Praga Pólnoc and Praga Połundie. Praga Pólnoc used to be really rough years ago but I lived there for six months and never came to any harm. There were one or two streets where you wouldn't venture at night but there was nothing in those streets to attract a casual visitor or tourist anyway. Both it and Praga Południe have been thoroughly gentrified in the last ten years and are nice places to spend time. There's great shopping and loads of places to eat, beautiful parks etc.

Saska Kępa is returning to its pre-war vibe of being an artsy, bohemian type of neighbourhood, though self consciously so nowadays whereas before the war it was an affordable outlying district for artists to live. There were a number of very innovative modernist buildings constructed there at the time which have survived. It was supposed to be levelled by the Commies to create an industrial area but escaped that fate, thankfully. It would set you back quite a few million to buy one of those villas now. Park Skaryszewski is the local park and it's really beautiful. There are also działki full of flowers and veggies, very pretty.

The two parts of Praga comprise numerous different districts each with slightly different vibe, but they're all ordinary, middle of the road places, nothing especially seedy about them and if you take a look at property prices, you'll see that you can pay as much for an apartment in Praga as you would in any of the neighbourhoods on the other side of the river.


There are actually quite a few tower blocks as well but they're nicely landscaped and some of them have a lovely view of the water.

News / How could PiS better spend billions instead of 500+ ? [280]


It's a false sense of independence. You're financially independent when you can provide for yourself.

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


I'd be more worried about the effects of Brexit than the effects of lesbians.