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

@Bobko,
I already know rudimentary Russian, problem is that were I to mail you privately (which I might well do), I'd only be able to type in phonetically aka Latin rather than in the original Cyrillic script, which for a native Russian speaker such as yourself is a royal pain the tooches LOL

Most Russians whom I've taught also struggle for years with the definite vs. indefinite article, not to mention with English "to be" vs. "to have", both essentially defective verbs in Russian, as they are sometimes known:-)

tarsape@gmail.com

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

That's becoming more true nowadays, jon. Yet Duda, for instance, admires the US and was painted by our press as fairly hotsy-totsy with Trump:-)

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

Exceptions abound, Bobkoshka.
As Russian has no "the" or "a" concept, of course it'll never become truly second nature, forget about learning correct American pronunciation!

All I meant was that the basic rules of standard English grammar are far more generally transparent for, say, Russian, German or certain other foreign native speakers than, for example Finnish, Hungarian or Italian would be for a monolingual Anglophone.On the other hand, we've been speaking exclusively about European native speakers up till now. The run-of-the-mill Chinaman, Korean or Japanese will find English next to impossible to master.

Exposure, dedication, and internal motivation are always sure fire elements in anybody's success in mastering a foreign language. The relation between any given language only tends to ease the process.

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

Was recently teaching an ESL class and heard something so hilarious (if unintentional, I'm almost certain),
I nearly lost over thirty years of schoolroom cool and had to chortle a belly laugh:

Yours truly: In my spare time, ahhemm, in my free time, I enjoy painting in my studio But I must buy a new smock! Do you know what a "smock" is?

Katarzyna: Yesss, ai know it. Ai gave bad man smock in face.....

Thought I was going to lose it big time, I swear!!!

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

It'll sure be interesting how abortion rights in Poland will play out if, heaven forbid, Roe v. Wade is somehow overturned. Poland, as with much of Europe, does tend to mimic the United States, if not in all respects such as privatized medicine or Social Security.

Feedback / Is it Polish forum or foreign forum? [159]

Ditto.

Feedback / Is it Polish forum or foreign forum? [159]

Above all, I'd say, we're hopefully an OPEN forum, open to all who are willing, and if so, welcome!

Classifieds / Looking for property to rent or accommodation in Gdansk [10]

@Atch, curious as to how accurate the behavior is of average countryside Poles as compared with the manner in which they are represented in the movie "Wesele" quite a few years back!

Just wondering whether that was a caricature or realistic.

Travel / Photos from Poland [258]

Stauffenberg, Hans & Sophie Scholl, Alfred Delp, Prof. Kurt Huber along with all those who gave their lives for truth and freedom were bona fide heroes whose memory deserves to be enshrined in all our hearts!

Many, if few in the total picture out of the entire German population, did resist Hitler and showed that there were good Germans who refused to merely troop along by following the party line.

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

I chalk it up to British vs. American, jon. In the States, no significant difference there.

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

Exactly, much as in English. Lexically, "Take care!" or "Take it easy!" are essentially interchangeable.

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

"Trzymac (sie)" means literally "to keep", as in the expression though not directly translated,"Trzymaj sie!" or "Take it easy!", word for word, "Hold/Keep yourself strong!".

@ForumUser, always remind yourself that it's not the case in every instance to say something differently in another language, but to say different things because we think different thoughts when communicating in any other than our mother tongue:-)

Language / Polish from Russian [14]

Right on, maf.

Language / Polish from Russian [14]

As someone who once attempted same, only in reverse namely Russian from Polish, learning one Slavic language from another, at least for me as a native bilingual German speaker, was tough owing to a preponderance of numerous "false friends"!

While Russian grammar is rather similar to Polish, they are NOT identical in any way, shape or form. This is only from the morphological end. Both the lexical and semic differences are legion.

What's more, Polish is a pronoun-drop language, Russian isn't.

Pronunciation issues are also significant, being that Polish is way easier to pronounce, in my opinion anyway! Russian palatalscan take a long time to get right, plus the "soft" vs. "hard" l-sound can seem impossible to recognize until ultra reinforced by a patient Russian native speaking teacher:-)

If you wish to exchange experiences in depth on this topic, contact me off line, if you wish, at tarsape@gmail.com My name is Mark.

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [275]

Again, Merkel's generation is conspicuously aware of their place in the world, rather than of their place in the sun. Merkel, Scholz et al. are ever so conscious of their uniquely painful history!

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [275]

Indeed, Merkel ought to have consulted the German people before acting precipitously! There might well be a proviso, either in the Basic Law or the post-War Constitution, prohibiting such a "special emergency referendum" (Sonder-/Notentscheid), except perhaps in wartime. Anyhow, the people might well have vetoed the referendum, but at least she would have tried-:) Tacitus will know, after all, history's his baillie wick.

History / What do Poles owe to Hungarians? [275]

The Hungarians had two key revolutions, one during the mid-19th century and led by among others the nationalist poet Petofi Sandor, the other, during the latter part of the 20th century, in 1956 under Kadar Janos and Nagy Imre, to be exact.

Poland achieved her independence during the early half of the 20th century, where a nationalist, this time a musician, Ignace Jan Paderewski, led the trumpet section and later became Prime Minister of a "free" Polish nation!

Undoubtedly, the Hungarians inspired the Poles.

UK, Ireland / Ireland and Poland - ways of struggling for independence [43]

At least here in the US, no Adlai Stevensons or Barry Goldwaters on the horizon either.

UK, Ireland / Ireland and Poland - ways of struggling for independence [43]

Both Poles and Irish had their share of zealous freedom fighters, didn't they.
The Poles had Kosciuszko and the Irish had Parnell!

Genealogy / What are common Polish character traits? [425]

True, johnny!
So different from the Irish the Poles.
The former were nearly decimated by lovely Oliver Cromwell and Dr. Johnson compared them in his first dictionary to not much above the pig...yet they are always the FIRST to laugh both at themselves as well their faith:-)

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [283]

What has the above to do with the topic, Archer?

Off-Topic / Happy Birthday, Rich! [71]

Hope springs eternal, jon.

Off-Topic / Happy Birthday, Rich! [71]

Rich must be a Lyndon Larouche libertine.. with a little Duck Robertson and "Connivin"' Cliven Bundy thrown in for good measure! Even Rand Paul's too mainstream.

Off-Topic / Happy Birthday, Rich! [71]


Gee, go figure! Dude sure talks a weird game. Must simply be an attention grabber, pure shock value extraordinaire, eh?

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [283]

But Rich, how in the long run do YOU benefit from the fruits of unadulterated, pre-New Deal capitalism, if that very thinking can replace you and others like you with un-at best low-skilled, third-world labor at a moment's notice in many cases, and do so with impunity? In the end, you future Trump/de Santis, Tucker Carlson or Scott Walker supporters are just voting against yourselves...as are those reactionary, wrong-headed followers of Trump-style insurrectionism in Europe!

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [283]

Capitalism has NOTHING to do with democracy and even less to do with "freedom", save for the intrinsic freedom of taking advantage of anyone deemed either rightly or wrongly (often the latter) to be less criminally clever than the other person! Those Chinese billionairs or Russian oligarchs are mega-capitalists, Czar Vladimir included, yet "democrats"??!! Don't make me laugh.

Language / Polish Accusative / Genitive case [20]

Tak, siódmy przypadek wolacz!

Language / Polish Accusative / Genitive case [20]

Ach, przepraszam! Dzieki, Lenku-:) Chyba to bylo blad typograficzny.

Life / Will Poland ever be multicultural like Sweden, Germany or France? [283]

Spot on, jon!!
Kinda like armchair communists or weekend warriors.
They both talk big until it comes time to do something:-)

Language / Polish Accusative / Genitive case [20]

This whole genitive/accusative thing is best learned in context, rather than as a series of isolated rules.

Suffice to reiterate some of jon's post that for every verb in the negative (except for "byc" or "bywac" = to be), the genitive case is automatically required, much as for every verb governed by the direct object in the affirmative, naturally the accusative case is normally required.

Of course, mattters do indeed get rather more complicated when the issue of "living vs. non-living virile or masculine" nouns and the accusative come into play:

Widze sklep okolo banku. = I see the (masc.non-living) SHOP next to the bank. (acc.)
vs.
Widze chlopcu na rogu. = I see the (virile LIVING) boy at the corner. (genitive)

The stuff is invariably learnable, so don't throw in the towel!

Whoops, typo! First sentence should read: Widze sklep obok banku.