Language / I would like to make a collection of beautiful and/or funny polish quotes [30]

The term in (American) English might be : 'make babies'

I think modifying it sounds better in English though:

Don't tell (your) dad where babies come from.


I should hope no one teaches him that!

(in colloquial English to 'do someone' means 'have sex with someone' (especially, but not only oral sex).

Aren't you glad you know that now?

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]


Not especially true, once you know how to get things done.


Often, yes.


No. Contrary to common opinion the country's mentality hasn't changed much one way or the other during or after communism. It is what it is.


AFAICT Poles don't want western style smiley happy customer service. This hasn't bugged me in a loooonnnnggg time.


Polish raw ingredients are generally good quality, learn to cook what you want if you can't find it any other way.


It's not that hard at all if you actually speak and don't expect to understand everything at once. Comprehension is a gradual thing in any language.


Preach on brother!!!!!! The stupidest, vilest way of localizing films. The only way of translating movies that _always_ ruins the movie for native speakers of the original language (even when they know they know Polish too). If Poles want audio translations instead of subtitle they should learn to properly dub. I have nothing against dubbing (which would have made it much easier to learn Polish) but lektors are just ugly sounding.


Compared to what? Polish public transport might be grubby but it goes and works better than 99 % of public transport in the US (which mostly doesn't exist).


No real argument there.


Yes and no.


No need, we get the idea.

Food / Adwokat vodka with egg yolk [16]

I can't believe you're giving instructions for making heroin!!! Oh my god, this new format is already destroying the moral fiber of this place? Won't _anyone_ think of the children????

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]


kilkanaście?

zapytany (as a noun)?

There's a very big difference between 'having a translation' and having a translation that matches the original and isn't awkward or over wordy or have other baggage. My most frequent problem in translating (Polish to English) is English not having a word that will fit a particular context.

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]

Many countries have a 'favorite' expletive, usually with some kind of sexual meaning. It's what people say when they get upset and tends to be used often in ways where the literal meaning would make no sense.

For Americans, that word is 'fuck'. For Brits, I guess it's fuck too but I have the impression that it used to be 'bollocks' (a word most in the US are ignorant of).

In Spanish, it varies by country, chinga in Mexico (fuck), puta (whore) in Nicaragua and con~o (cunt) in Cuba and Spain are ones that I know about.

For Poland, that word is kurwa, which means 'whore' of course. But as the expletive of choice, it corresponds to American use of 'fuck' as a semantically empty way of cursing. It does not correspond to fuck in referring to sexual acts.

Shut the fuck up.
Zamknij się kurwa.

What the fuck are you doing?
Co ty kurwa robisz?

etc etc

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

The question of whether Polish is 'useful' or 'valuable' outside of Poland is irrelevant. If you're in Poland for an extended period of time and don't speak it, you're basically a loser and putting yourself at other people's mercy and willingness to communicate with you.

Personally, I found corporate expats (business people stationed in Poland by their companies) to be a dreary bunch when I rubbed elbows with them in the 90's. Their primary non-work activity in Poland is to create a separatist bubble and pretend they're not in Poland.

Other people, here on their own initiative and not supported by an inplace infrastructure and group of employees paid to make things easy for them, have to learn Polish well enough to function (just what level this is will differ on a case by case basis).

A slight exception is a certain kind of (usually, but not always, British) English teacher who regards Polish the way missionaries regard pagan idols and sacrificing virgins to volcanoe gods, as a backward practice that needs to be eliminated (to be fair, I've only met a few of these, but they absolutely do exist).

American monolingualism has a lot of causes and the idea that Americans don't have to learn foreign languages is probably a minor one. The two more important causes are the fact that as an immigrant culture without much shared history (relatively speaking) Americans aren't bound by the kinds of common experience that, for example, Italians are. A common language (American, not 'English') is one of the few cultural symbols that hold Americans together.

Secondly, the immigrant experience has caused that Americans often cannot distinguish between visitors and immigrants (or between non-Americans in their own countries and immigrants). Part of the immigrant experience is the idea of using any other language as little as possible and English as much as possible. Americans tend to unconsciously treat anyone they meet abroad as a newly arrived immigrant, still ignorant of our ways and in need of encouragement (or coercion) to speak English to better assimilate.

(Added: Another factor is that English speaking countries have _terrible_ English classes for their children. While English speakers have amazing dictionary making traditions, they have the worst grammar writing tradition of any European language. What was traditionally taught in schools as "English grammar" is nonsense. It's unworkable and unteachable and demonstrably false but if you try to update it, the traditionaists scream bloody murder. The result is an appalling ignorance of how _any_ human language works and university English majors who don't know the difference between an object phrase and an adverbial phrase (and the cycle continues).

Finally, some people find language learning to be a valuable intellectual exercise worth doing for its own sake quite apart from questions of later payoff or exploitation, and others don't. I belong to the former category and fuzzywickets probably belongs to the latter.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

FUZZYWICKETS, why so hostile sounding? Your tone seems very confrontational and dismissive, is that on purpose?

IME 'expats' (a group I never count myself among) don't learn Polish, they have their own little English speaking ghetto. On the other hand, foreigners who live in Poland have to learn Polish (though I've known of a couple of exceptions who have no end of problems and end up totally dependent on the kindness of friends and strangers). I've known lots of non-Poles from various countries who learn Polish well enough to deal with bureaucracy (in Polish) on their own, keep up with the news and maintain a social life. They generally have accents and make predictable mistakes, but so do most non-native speakers of English (or any language).

And Polish is the fifth largest language (in terms of native speakers) in the EU. Within the EU there are more Polish native speakers than Spanish native speakers. That's enough to say it's a major European language.

My story for the day: I have to see a doctor (sinus aggravation) but haven't signed up for a family doctor. A friend who knows more about healthcare than I do did some calling around and found a likely place. So I called up.

(conversation in Polish)

Clinic : Hello
Me : Hello, are you still accepting patients? I'd like to sign up there if possible.
Clinic : It depends, where do you live?
Me : (Street name)
Clinic : We're accepting patients from (neighborhood).
Me : That (street) is in (neighborhood).
Clinic : Okay, when did you want to come in.
Me : Either after 3 today or tomorrow morning.
Clinic : Okay, is 9.30 tomorrow morning okay?
Me : Fine.
Clinic : So be here at about 9 for the paperwork, now what's your name.
Me : (Obviously non-Polish last name).
Clinic : Oh ..... (confused) are you anglojęzyczny? (strange way to ask I thought)
Me : Why yes I am.
Clinic : (obviously concerned and a little confused) Well, if we accept you as a patient, you'd have to communicate in Polish here ....
Me : That's not a problem

What was weird was that the transaction was going perfectly normally until she heard my name at which point the sure Polish knowledge that anglophones don't speak Polish kicked in (even though there'd been no problem previously in the conversation). In retrospect I think maybe she got confused and thought I was calling to sign up someone else.

Language / When to use: Znać/Wiedzieć & lub/albo [23]

Looks like a frozen construction (maybe from a time before the current usage stabilized).

That doesn't change the basic distinction. Some quick googling seems to indicate that if you drop the 'ją tam' or 'go tam' the basic meaning is unchanged although the pragmatic meaning probably does.

Ale kto ją tam wie, co naprawdę chciała? vs Ale kto wie, co naprawdę chciała?

w tym rzecz że kto ją tam wie czy i ona na tym w jakiś sposób nie zarabia. vs

w tym rzecz że kto wie czy i ona na tym w jakiś sposób nie zarabia.

kto go tam wie o co mu chodzi vs kto wie o co mu chodzi

In other words, the 'ją tam', 'go tam' and 'ich tam' would seem to have some kind of discourse/pragmatic function rather than give any real clue on how 'wiedzieć' is used.

Real Estate / Renting in Krakow, Poland - the safest district? fairly close to the city centre... [25]

Ced, mostly post WWII Poland has a lot more economic integration than in some countries. The rich and poor live very close to each other (often in the same buildings). Overall the concept of safe and non-safe neighborhoods is mostly not really an issue.

The partial exceptions are the 60's-80's big housing estates on the outskirts of the city (though I lived in one and it was no problem whatsoever) and sometimes neighborhoods with a high percentage of older buildings in poor repair (that aren't in or close to the old town).

Street crime in Poland is much more a function of chance and bad luck (coming across the wrong person at the wrong time) than being in the wrong neighborhood at he wrong time.

Also, don't pay too much attention to what Polish people you may now tell you. Many Poles are convinced that crime is rampant and that big parts of most of the cities are dangerous at night. The statistics however are not on their side.

Language / When to use: Znać/Wiedzieć & lub/albo [23]


Yes, thanks for the correction. That was basically a typo, I fully intended 'znam odpowiedź' and am a little mortified that I didn't notice that sooner.

Love / Polish girlfriend going back to Poland if I dont buy engagment ring [85]

If this is a real comment (as opposed to a troll) I think the problem is that she's not seeing any signs that you're thinking of marriage.

Most Polish women want to know pretty early on (earlier than women in a lot of western countries) if the relationship is headed toward marriage. It doesn't have to be tomorrow or next week and something could happen to change everybody's plans, but they want to know if marriage is a realistic expectation.

There's no big tradition of engagement rings being especially important in Poland so my best guess is that she's looking for some concrete signs of eventual marriage from your side (beyond talking about it).

What to do: Depends on if you're really serious about marrying her or not (again, not necessarily tomorrow but in the not too distant future).

1. If you're not serious about the prospect of marriage then do nothing or tell her and she'll leave or recalculate your relationship and dump you (maybe quite suddenly after she's found a better prospect). If your position is that you're just f*ckbuddies then that's how she'll treat you.

2. If you are serious about the prospect of marriage, then get a ring or do something else that makes her believe that the relationship is on course for legalization. Just reassuring her might be enough or it might take more drastic measures. But nb, there's no idea in Poland that an engagement ring should cost 2 months salary or anything like that, between 100 and 200 pounds should be sufficient.

Work / Polish Residency Cards. Is there a Permanent ID card for Foreigners? [37]

You might have a look here:

udsc.gov.pl

there is an English option.

Note a quick look indicates that EU citizens are sometimes treated as 'foreigners' and at other times not.

Especially look here: udsc.gov.pl/FREQUENTLY,ASKED,QUESTIONS,809.html

question number 6 is the one you want.

Usual caveats apply:

1. Just because it's an official government website doesn't mean it's up to date.

2. Just becasue it's official government policy doesn't mean regional offices are up to date.

3. The English version of regulations has no legal force, only the Polish version is recognized when there are mistranslations or discrepancies between the Polish and English versions (and there often are).

etc etc etc

Work / Polish Residency Cards. Is there a Permanent ID card for Foreigners? [37]

The only answers to your questions that matter are those given by the particular office you'll be applying to (and also partly depend on info you haven't volunteered like your nationality). Plan to spend half a day (or more!) waiting in line as soon as possible at the office that will renew your card, bring a Polish friend if your Polish is not up to dealing with Polish legalese. Ask for info in writing.

Any info volunteered here (except for links to legal regulations in Polish) will be largely irrelevant and not necessarily those of the office you'll actually be dealing with.

There is a permanent residence card but it requires (I think) at least 5 years of residency (among other requirements). I got it about 5 years ago but regulations might have changed between then and now.

Polonia / What About The Poles In The Netherlands? [102]

Poles from the netherlands wouldn't be posting here since Polish is not allowed. Most Poles in the Netherlands might know some basic English (or they might not).

And it's not easy to learn Dutch in Poland so most won't write in Dutch either. The little I've seen of writings by Poles in the Netherlands indicates that it's difficult to find language classes even in the Netherlands. I seem to recall that that's always been a problem for immigrants, even ones that want to assimilate find it difficult to try.

A few seconds googling did find some forums, but they're all in Polish.

niedziela.nl/forum/

forum.gazeta.pl/forum/f,24271,Polacy_w_Holandii.html

witam.nl/forum/index.php

mojaholandia.fora.pl

Finally, I have the impression that most Poles in the Netherlands are working in all Polish environments and not in the kinds of positions where they come into contact with many Netherlanders.

Law / Bureaucracy in Poland [53]


The problem is most Polish people (despite what they might say) like and want centralized paper-heavy bureaucracies. They would feel adrift and rudderless without a lot of useless regulations to try to bypass.

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

Kumpel means 'friend' but is different from przyjaciel. It implies (as far as I can tell) long acquaintance and rapport, but not necessarily strong emotional attachment, or at least not as strong an attachment as 'przyjaciel'.

I think I've mainly heard it in the third person 'to mój kumpel' or maybe 'jesteśmy kumplami'. I don't think I've ever heard anyone use kumpel in the vocative (kumplu!). That just seems bizarre.

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

??? good question. not being a 20 something (but around them a lot) I'd have to say that I don't think there is a neutral word like that. You might use 'hej' (pronounced like 'hey') to get someone's attention.

There are words that friends use with each other, especially 'stary' (literally "old (guy)") which has been around forever but is still used.

Other than that words used that mean 'guy' like gość (literally: guest) or koleś (literally 'friend') or even ziomal (something like 'homeboy') would be kind of confrontational when used with someone you don't know.

With people you know, the most common are either diminutive names or nicknames (which seem more widely used in Poland than in the US)

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]


No I don't work there but I've always found the branch where I opened my account (kosciuszko street in poznan) to be very foreigner friendly. Maybe it's an exception? I don't know but I'm happy with them.

Law / Opening a Polish Bank Account by a foreigner in Poland. Recommendations. [299]


Total crap, I've helped foreigners open accounts at PKO BP within a week of arrival in Poland.

Tell the lady that she's wrong.

Polonia / POLES vs BULGARIANS [160]

First I've heard of Bulgarians not liking Poles.

I have heard that Polish tourists are not so popular with people that sell things at the Bulgarian tourist spots because they're considered cheap. On the other hand, I've heard hotel owners like them because they're generally cleaner and quieter than some other nationalities.

I've known some Bulgarians in Poland, most of whom like it fine here (late summer and longer cold season can get to them though).

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


To be honest, I don't think most Polish people think of Indian people as suitable teachers of English.

On the other hand, if you speak Hindi you might be able to find a job at a university (use google to get addresses and send out your cv to every university possible). There's been an increase in interest in Indian culture (esp thru bollywood movies).

At the very least, marketing yourself as able to teach two languages couldn't hurt and could give you an edge.

Language / Funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language [35]


Never heard it. I've only heard tusz in the meaning 'ink' (especially computer printers) and 'mascara'.

Language / Funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language [35]

(c)huj in Polish refers to a uniquely male part of the anatomy.

Language / Funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language [35]

I think it might be vowel harmony,

basically Polish doesn't have the sound in English 'man' and to Poles it sounds like either Polish a or e depending on the context and the choice of e or a in borrowings from English seems to depend on the previous vowel

barman
rockman (rocker)

dżentelmen (gentleman)
biznesmen
supermen

There might be some exceptions but I think that makes some sense.

Language / Funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language [35]


ekstrahuje sounds just like 'ekstra chuje' (where ekstra means something like 'great!' 'wonderful!')

and while the 'correct' spelling is chuj the tradition in grafitti has usually been to write it huj, so it even looks like ...

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]

No linguist takes the 'more words' argument seriously for lots of reasons. (for one there's no way to define 'word' that works well across a lot of languages).

Also, there's no research that shows that the active vocabularies of English speakers is larger to a statistically significant degree than speakers of any other European language.

English speakers do have the most highly developed lexicographic traditions in the world but that mostly means that dictionaries have a lot of rarely used words in them.

The use of english in many countries means that English speakers often come across unfamiliar words from other dialects but that doesn't mean they learn and then use them.

Life / Do expats living in Poland speak Polish? [233]


This isn't the majority view and it doesn't really go with my experience. In translating from Polish to English my biggest problems are 1) there's no good word in English for a particular Polish word 2) Polish collocations are more flexible across parts of speech than English ones are. I find Polish to be endlessly fascinating in how it lexicalizes reality differently than English does.

I can't imagine wanting to live in Poland without knowing Polish for one very big reason: Poland and Polish people are a lot more interesting in Polish than they are in English. Two (among more) reasons 1) there are very big differences between what Polish people say in English vs what they say in Polish 2) Polish speakers are more conformist and less original in English than in Polish, they're more likely to say what they think you want to hear in English while you'll get the real story in Polish.

One big hurdle for English speakers in Poland is that the first Polish people they come across will speak English and give them lots of positive reinforcement for not learning Polish.

Food / Chinese restaurant / takeaway / supermarket Poznan [7]

Takeaway/delivery isn't generally a big deal here.

About the best Asian food in Poznan is a small Viet-Chinese place on Szamarzewskiego street, not too far from Rynek Jeżycki.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]

What I did (when I still did private lessons):

First, I always framed the interaction so that I wasn't attempting to obtain their business, they were attempting to obtain, and keep, my services.

Second, I told them my cancelation policy. (This was before the days of cellphones): Let me know X number of hours ahead of time or you're liable the money and further lessons will depend on being paid for the cancelled lesson. There was no negotiation here, just me setting out the conditions which they were free to accept or reject.

Third, I was a little .... lax in enforcement, which is expected here culturally. If a good customer, and good student, uncharacteristically cancelled I didn't dun them for money and might even turn down offers to pay "this time". If a flake who wasn't a good learner cancelled at the last minute, then I just didn't contact them again, _they_ had to contact _me_ which put things on a whole different ground.

A couple of extras:

Being able to speak Polish helps in finding and keeping private students; no matter what they say Polish students are reassured by a teacher who speaks Polish and tend to trust them more (in my case - native English speaker with no Polish family - it also served as proof that I knew something about language learning).

Also switching from Polish to English was a clear signal that the lesson had begun and switching back to Polish was a clear signal that the lesson was over. I wasn't a clock watcher in private lessons and was generous with time when I was there but when I was done, I was done.

Not caring about whether you gain or lose any particular student helps maintain a professional attitude. Learners are not reassured by a teacher who seems desperate for their business.

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

chauduyphanvu,

maybe you'll be interested in this:

wietnam-polska.wikidot.com/