Life / Differences between Irish, British, Polish, American and other nations culture, tradition, music - loose talk [241]


By the descendants of African slaves, not by 'Americans' so don't be too cocky about it :)

Somebody mentioned Elvis and my God, yes, he is the BUSINESS!! Love him. But - it's Black music. Without dem black folks, it'd be wall to wall banjos in the USA and weird imitations of Irish and Scots folk music. Here's the King showing us how it's done, but the song was written by Jimmy Reed, and he was as black as your boot, God Bless him.

youtube.com/watch?v=fDjY2VcLq7o

Work / 15000 pln gross in Poland or 1.20 lac take home in India [24]


They said wrongly :) your spouse not working won't make that much difference to your tax. If your taxable income is over 85,528 zl per year, you pay 15,395,04 zl plus 32 percent on the excess over 85,528.00.

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

Actually his Irish isn't too bad, not Google Translate level but not colloquial. Sounds like rusty 'school' Irish with a few typical errors/confusion and a bit of dodgy spelling. Maybe his parents were from Tír Chonaill.


My sister says that talking to me is like listening to a senior barrister summing up the case for the prosecution :D She also says that when people come to my house for Christmas I should just hand them a script as they come in the door! This was on an occasion when I felt that people weren't being 'Christmassy' enough in their general demeanour. I'm kind of over that at this stage :)

The OP sounds very young and a bit scatter brained for a middle aged man with children in primary school. Hard to believe he's old enough to have been coming to Poland for twenty years. I've only been coming to Poland for 12 years and I can see how many superficial changes there have been for the better, even the customer service and bureaucracy nightmare are much improved but the underlying thinking hasn't changed much and I don't know what would posess a sensible Irish person to relocate here with a young family, at this time in Poland's political life when the country is slipping into a right wing, authoritarian, quasi-religous regime. Wow, that was a mouthful. I need my oxygen mask.

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

A true Gaeltacht man would say his family were from Tír Chonaill ;) I wouldn't say I was fluent but I'll tabhair cabhair duit if you have any more problems :D Your family is 'as' not 'ón'. We come 'out' of a place in Irish, not 'from'. If you haven't guessed by now, I'm a teacher :)


Forget the home schooling. It might be ok for a short time but it's not sustainable in the long run in a foreign country. It takes a lot of time and energy and research to do it properly and if you're not a trained teacher, you need some kind of support group or network of other home schoolers who are experienced. The few people who homeschool in Ireland generally don't do it in complete isolation.

It won't do the kids any harm to attend a Polish state school for a year or so but it's a bit late in the day to be thinking about whether you want to raise them in Poland. You'll have to accept that if you settle in provincial Poland there's a high possiblity that they will grow up more Polish than Irish in outlook in many ways. If you don't want that, then give them a year here for the experience but don't settle here permanently.

Btw I'm a Montessori teacher myself, but I trained to teach 3-12 year olds so after my training I pretty much always taught in mainstream Irish primary schools. Montessori, if it's done properly and authentically is second to none as a system of education but it's a relatively new thing in Poland and the standards are very variable. Also if your kids are attending Polish primary school, they are at least six years old and that complicates matters because the authentic Montessori curriculum for that age (if you can find a school that runs it and isn't just nursery level) works on the basis that your child has already completed the three year programme preceding it. So without the foundation at 3-6 years it can be difficult to adapt. Very often what you'll find in so-called Montessori primary schools is a half-baked mish-mash that's neither mainstream nor Montessori. Finally you need to consider your childrens' literacy in English. Will that be catered for in a Polish Montessori school to the level it needs to be for their age group considering English is their native language. So there's a lot for you to chew over.

I presume your wife is from the area of Poland where you've settled? Would you be willing to share what motivated you to bring your family here and how old are the children?

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]


What are your other options where you live?


To be honest Johnny I'm surprised that you're shocked, seeing as you've been coming to Poland for 20 years. There isn't much civic spirit in Poland for various reasons. Maybe a Tidy Towns competition with ten thousand euros cash prize would do the trick!


He could well be. His Irish is a bit peculiar for somebody whose family comes from the Gaeltacht :)

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]


I always knew it as 'fur coat and no knickers' but anyway.............

You will certainly see the flag in Irish schools on St Patrick's Day :) I think we don't think need the symbols of the flag and the anthem in quite the same way as Poland because we have a very strong cultural identity that permeates our society, with our sports, our music, etc. Also I think symbols of Catholicism were really the rallying point in Irish schools, the Sacred Bleeding Heart of Jesus pictures for example, the gi-normous statues of Our Lady, you must remember all that.......... and still the day starts with prayers and the Christian ethos is very much promoted. The school year in Ireland often kicks off with a mass for the teachers or a mass for the senior classes in the school. That you don't see in Polish schools despite it being it a Catholic country and more mainstream Catholic than Ireland. In Ireland, the promotion of the Irish language and the Catholic faith were the central core of Irish schools.

Oh and céad míle fáilte of course :))

News / Poland's Future in the EU under PIS [51]


And indeed Poland has been suspended. They've been stripped of their voting rights and barred from participating in any ENCJ business. According to the ENCJ:

"member states are free to organise their judicial systems in a way that they see fit, but there are some minimum standards that have to be complied with."

They said that the Polish KRS no longer fulfilled the requirement for judicial independence. They also said it was "a very sad day, as the KRS was one of the founding fathers of the network".

It's an example of how Poland is continuing to lose any real influence or power within the EU as they isolate themselves and diverge further and further from their co-members.

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]


Maybe you should try reading a book - now there's a radical idea.

News / German state declare diplomatic war on Poland. [56]


It's Britain who created the problem, they're the ones who want to leave the EU so they're the ones who are obliged to come up with a solution on the border. Do you really expect other EU nations to simply allow the UK to use the Irish border as an excuse to have their cake and eat it?

News / German state declare diplomatic war on Poland. [56]

It's confusing I know but 'the border' you're referring to in relation to Barnier is not a hard border on the island of Ireland.


We've had loads of disagreements with the EU over the years including the business of collecting that tax from Apple but we've managed to maintain good relations with them despite that so they will stand by us on certain matters. Poland is not good at dealing with people, so they'll never have that luxury. Look at how we've retained the Common Travel Area with the UK, despite Brexit, with no argument from the EU. That will place us in a very priviliged position in terms of our continued freedom of movement and rights in the UK compared to other EU citizens. As a nation, Ireland can usually generate a certain amount of goodwill towards us but Poland does the opposite. It always ends up putting people's backs up.

News / German state declare diplomatic war on Poland. [56]


Never stopped you before now.


And who might he be? Do you mean Michel Barnier. He never said such a thing, officially or otherwise. A hard border on the island of Ireland will not happen.

News / German state declare diplomatic war on Poland. [56]


Only a Pole would consider Orban a master of diplomacy. He's a slippery customer I'll give you that, but that's not quite the same thing as diplomacy.


What are you on about you? They never said such a thing. You do know what a hard border is don't you??

Why do you always feel it necessary to resort to name-calling? It's very silly and childish. I hope you're not really as incandescent with rage as you appear to be or you'll have a stroke one of these days. Do you have your blood pressure checked regularly? If you're over forty you should. But here's a little tip for you. Extract of olive, two 500mg tablets per day and it's clinically proven to reduce blood pressure by up to 11 points on the what's-it scale, the upper bit and around 5 points on the lower. I'd consider it if I were you. Or you can take a couple of tablespoonfuls of olive oil per day, that's not quite so dramatic but it does make a difference.

News / German state declare diplomatic war on Poland. [56]


Not so. It's because PIS are simply hopeless at diplomacy. They haven't a clue how to conduct themselves outside of their own home turf. How come Ireland has managed to get the support of virtually every EU member including Germany, on the Irish border issue for Brexit, every member except Poland of course. That's an example of EU solidarity with a small and relatively unimportant nation.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Elected by about 18% of the Polish electorate. I suppose people get the governments they deserve. If you can't be bothered to vote, which half of eligible Poles didn't, then it's possible for a party with far from overwhelming support to end up in power, which is what happened with PIS.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Yes, it would have to be. That's the only reason it has any value now. I suppose it depends on how much Poland continues to isolate itself and throw in its lot with other half-baked countries like Hungary. If you look at most of the accession countries though, they're not really that keen on the Poland/Hungary model and I'm sure the smaller ones would be very wary of getting involved in an official Union where they'd be bullied and co-erced by the two big guys.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

It's actually a hare - if you don't mind me splitting 'hairs' :D

The Polish zloty would de-value drastically if Poland left the EU, it would be virtually worthless, for a time at least.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

Aren't they beautiful:

oldcurrencyexchange.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/28setrx2.jpg

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Well the coins have country specific images on one side. We still have our postage stamps, our flags etc. Mind you I much prefer the old Irish coins which had lovely images like the deer and the salmon and the ancient Celtic designs, now it's just the harp.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Totally agree. Just look at the Eurovision Song Contest these days!! Seriously though, letting the former Communist countries have full membership of the EU was a massive mistake. I can't believe how naive they were letting fledgling democracies join in that manner. It should have been some form of associate membership to begin with and the possiblity of backsliding should have been considered and appropriate legislation introduced to deal with it swiftly. My main complaint about the EU at present is how ineffective and weak they have been in handling the problems that started with Hungary in the first place. When you have an unruly child who's pushing boundaries right, left and centre, you don't reason with them, you put them firmly back in their place, and you do it instantly and every time they step out of line,back they go again until they learn how to behave appropriately.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Now that's quite a sweeping statement. But even so, let's be sensible. Petty corruption, fiddling of expenses etc occurs in every individual member state of the EU at the domestic level, though it's far more prevalent in some than others. Therefore it stands to reason that it will occur in the European Parliament. I'm sure it happens in the USA as well.


One of the things that struck me about government when I was still a teenager is how ill-fitted for their positions many Ministers are. For example, the Minster for Foreign Affairs might be a former primary school teacher, the Minister for Health might be a former accountant. They basically rely on teams of civil servants to 'advise' them. That's how government works. We just have to get on with it.

You really do seem to have a B in your bonnet about the EU Maf. I'd still rather live in an EU member state, whatever its shortcomings, than in America. If Poland wasn't a member of the EU, just what do you think it would look like by now? Just ponder it for a minute. Really ponder it. Without the restrictions of EU membership reigning them in, and a few civilized norms being imposed on them by external forces, what kind of a dog's breakfast would the various political parties have made of the place by now?

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


I think there's a big difference between the European Parliament and the Polish Parliament and in particular the program followed by PIS since they were elected. The European Parliament follows a system whereby legislation comes into being. Matters are properly debated before a vote is taken. In general research is carried out on various proposals and is presented to members of the European parliament, concerns are aired and addressed, individual nations conduct their own research etc. There is a good deal of discussion and when the Parliament rejects something, it's back to the drawing board and the proposals have to be re-hashed. That's not the case in Poland. Legislation to which PIS anticipates objection, is pushed through as private members' bills as opposed to government proposals.

Also, if you look at the scale of changes in all keys areas including fixing things like the education system which clearly weren't broken, that PIS has wrought in a very short space of time - well any person of intelligence can see that there is really no comparison.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


Maf the European Parliament is elected by the people of Europe. They're ordinary MEPs, not technocrats. We, the people of Europe, elect them and in the same way that elected governments around the world have to be given a measure of trust by the electorate, so it works with the European Parliament.

As to these Articles, only time will tell the results. Anyway if legislation proves unworkable or unsuccessful it can always be amended or replaced.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

Really weird speech by Duda at an event in Lezajsk, describing the EU as "an imaginary community from which we don't gain much". I wonder if it's his way of trying to show that he's not JK's puppet seeing as His Nibs grudgingly acknowledged the other day that "membership of the EU is the shortest way to obtain equality in the level of life, wages, comfort of life."

Duda added "Of course we have the right to have expectations towards Europe - especially towards the Europe that left us to be the prey of the Russians in 1945". Will the martyrology never end?

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

Here is a link to the full text of Juncker's speech delivered to the European Parliament today:

ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/soteu2018-speech_en_0.pdf

Addressing some points relevant to Poland and to this thread Juncker stated (the bolding of the text is Juncker's own, not mine):

The European Commission, this Parliament and all other 26 Member States will always show loyalty and solidarity with Ireland when it comes to the Irish border.

The Commission will resist all attacks on the rule of law. We continue to be very concerned by the developments in some of our Member States. Article 7 must be applied whenever the rule of law is threatened.

We need to be very clear on one point: judgements from the Court of Justice must be respected and implemented. This is vital. The European Union is a community of law.Respecting the rule of law and abiding by Court decisions are not optional

Incidentally the European Parliament votes today on whether to trigger Article 7 against Hungary.

Love / Why do so many Polish girls dye their hair BLACK? [124]


And it's' very common in Poland ironically. Dying the hair jet black is very popular with young Polish women, sunbeds and fake tan are big business. There's a beauty salon in my neighbourhood and the girls who work there range from orange to teak in colour. I'm not joking, they are the colour of a leather bag! Polish people do tend to have sallow skin that tans naturally during summer but they very much like to be brown and make every effort to go as dark as possible.

Study / Tuition fees at American School of Wroclaw? [13]

Once upon a time when I was teaching the Senior Infants ie ages 5 to 6, there was a child in the class whose mother didn't like her to have too much sugar 'cos it makes her hyper, Miss'. Anyway we had some special day in school and there were sweets for the children to eat while they watched a film in the classroom. The sweets were put on the tables and it was a 'help yourself' scenario. Anyway I told the child she was allowed to have six sweeties and I put them on a little plate for her and off I went about my business. A while later one of the kids came up to me 'Oh teacher Dionne is stuffin' her face'. Over I went to the table to investigate 'Dionne, how many sweets did I say you could have?' 'Six, teacher' 'And how many DID you have?' 'Loads!'. :))

There was another mother who didn't want her child to eat anything orange!!

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]


I knew I'd make a mistake somewhere! Nigdy, nigdy will I ever understand Polish grammar but never mind. Thank you very much for your kind words and your help Ziem.


Well he said he wanted to get the Dad on his own so I don't think he was planning to.

I would agree that it's very old fashioned to ask the parents first. Some women would really be annoyed to think that you'd discussed a very personal thing like that with the family and as Ziem says what if she doesn't want to marry him. I think the normal way nowadays is for the couple to announce the good news together. However, for some reason men who are involved with a Polish woman, seem to come over all minor European Princeling, bowing and heel clicking and 'küss die hand bitte gnädiges Frau" vibe. But,if he wants to do it that way, let him.

News / Poland's Future in the EU under PIS [51]

The Protestant paras had a huge weapons stash accumulated over many decades from about 1914 onwards. Not as modern as the IRA of course but it did the trick :( Incidentally they also received a helping hand from the British government, shocking isn't it? Of course one can understand how the Provisional IRA were motivated to do what they did as abuses of Catholic human and civil rights had been going on since partition in the 1920s.


Yes, that's right. She needed the support of the Democratic (hilarious misnomer that) Unionist Party in order to form a government. They're actually not unlike PIS in that they're always as awkward as possible and put the blocks on anything remotely useful. They insist on Northern Ireland being treated exactly the same as the rest of the UK, despite it's separate physical location, so they won't allow any special arrangements for NI after Brexit (except the EU peace funding of course!). So on the one hand you have the Irish government who quite rightly insist on no hard border on our island and on the other you have the Unionists who insist on no 'border' between the North and the UK. Hard to see how it can ever be solved. They'll have to scrap Brexit I'm afraid :))

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]


To be honest the speech you've written is quite complicated for a novice speaker of Polish. You'd really need to write it down and read it which would be a bit much really especially as you'd be stumbling over the pronunciation. So I would suggest:

Wie Pan, kocham Kasią bardzo. Chciałbym prosić o rękę Pana/Państwa córki. Czy mogę?

That basically translates as "You know I love Kasia very much. I would like to ask for your daughter's hand. May I?" Pana if it's just him you're talking to, Państwa if it's the mother and father.

Then after the hugs and kisses etc and the tears of joy and the vodka, you can say "Jutro, zapytam ją" I will ask her tomorrow.

Now I'm not a native Polish speaker so there may be errors there or it may not be the 'correct' way but it'll do the job! Hope that helps. Good luck - let us know how it goes.

News / Poland's Future in the EU under PIS [51]


I refer to the American simpletons who funded the IRA in Northern Ireland. In fairness many of them were Irish-American simpletons.


"No - you are! That thing you said"........watch Saxondale. The squiggles indicate that I'm quoting btw. Quoting means that the lines come from some other source - in this case, a television series called Saxondale - but have been selected by the author as suitable for making a point within the present text. (We'll deal with capital letters and their uses, of which you display woeful ignorance, another time. Krok po kroku, prawda?).Now, did Diddums get the gist of all that? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, even for you :) Oh and while I'm at it, what would you like for your thirteenth birthday?