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

Probably, learning Polish for an English speaker is tougher than German from the perspective of inflectional changes. But German is possibly more difficult in terms of word order and sentence length, in addition to those pesky separable vs. inseparable prefixes))

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

Castanea, is English your first language????! Yo, pal I was only goofin' witcha--:))))
Guess the shtick zoomed right past ya. My "material" needs a little work, I see. LOL

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

Castanea,

We really oughtn't judge other countries by their politics, after all we Americans are basically honest by nature:)))))) LOL

"They sell their own kids and traffic women....."

Well nobody's perfect! Never met a single youngster you'd wouldn't like to sell, huh???? Now, don't take me the wrong way. Just, let's not be hypocrites here, ok?

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

I guess I was only referring to the pronounciation, not to the grammar-:)))

Been looking into learning Albanian of late, as an abundance of our student body have been registering from Albania and many of our our present students hail from that country. Albanian seems even more morphologically complex than either Polish or Russian! Just for starters, it has no infinitives, multi word stems, irregular plural formations and a word stock taken largely from the ancient Illyrian family of long-extinct Balkan languages.

All this apropos of difficulties in order of language-:))))

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

What about the Hottentot languages of South Africa with their almost unmimicable "click sounds"??-:)) LOL

Cantonese though probably comes in a close second, at least for me and other Westerners, even those who already spoke some Mandarin!!!!

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

......and it is!!!!

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

Mafketis, perhaps that's why Navajo was chosen to be the code-talkers' language during WWII; almost noone outside the Navajo themselves knew or even recognized it, plus, it is, we both agree,ferociously difficult-)))

Polonia / Polish workers in Denmark [41]

Lucy,

Quite sure you understand what you've written??-:)

Language / Children's Songs in Polish [66]

-:)!

Tak jest. Bardzo dziękuję! Was recently at a gala event hosted by our local Fundacja Kośćiuskiej and they sang this lovely song. I looked for the words in the Polish-language program, but to no avail.

Pozdrawiam,

Language / Children's Songs in Polish [66]

Is 'Lato, lato...' specifically a children's song? I can't seem to find it.

Life / The Pole is happy when someone else cries... [75]

I agree with David and others. Envy is scarcely the monopoly of the Poles! The Germans say 'Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude.' = Gloating is the sweetest pleasure.

I seem to recall a similar thread on precisely this topic some time back. Or am I mistaken?

In terms of personal jealousies, the French, in my experience, top them all:) LOL

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Some might argue that if the US doesn't do the moralizing, then who will. See? It cuts both ways.....both ways it cuts.

Furthermore, it's awful tough being the world's policeman. I'd frankly like a rest, my dogs are tired.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Rootless?? My roots in the States go as deep as yours do!! -:) LOL

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

'What's it to you?"

Was mich das alles angeht? Is this your question? It's because I'm a world citizen as well as an American and what concerns my neighbors concerns me as well.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

McCoy,

bist du zufaellig Wiener?? Den Tuerken koennt ihr den Kaffegenuss verdanken.
You owe the Turks a lot, not merely the enjoyment of said beverage :)

Sorry, McCoy! Are you Polish or Austrian? I suppose my last message didn't really apply to you at all.
Apologies:) LOL

Life / Any good Polish films to watch? [110]

Along with 'Katyn', Wajda's 'Kanał' is particularly gripping. Scarecely a Hollywood-Happy Ending :)

Life / Any good Polish films to watch? [110]

'Kolejne' (?) = Generations
'Popiół i Diament' = Ashes and Diamonds

are among my favorite Polish films. Polański's 'Nóż we wodzie' unfortunately I've never seen in its entirety:)

The gritty realism of 'Ashes', for example, has stayed with me, the acting by Ewa Cybulska was stunning.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Maxx,
You're half correct in that regard. There's been considerable speculation regarding the Fenno/Finno-Hungarian connection for years. Guess all the 'trouble' started with Herr Max Budenz, the German linguist working in Hungary and writing in both languages way back in the 19th century. He postulated that all the today Nostratic languages (Merrit Ruhlen's term, not mine!), including Basque, by the way, had a common origin in the Ugritic family of languages.

Rather complicated to go into, but this is the "short" version :) LOL

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Yes, you are :) I'm American. Or as I responded recently when someone else here at PF asked me if in fact I'm American (as I had said that I'm not Polish by birth or extraction); "Guilty by association, don't shoot!" --:) LOL

I've been called far worse, believe me. Yet another wondered if I'm a Republican, to which I countered "While we're calling each other names, might you please tell me yours??" No response.

Am still waiting :)

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

For whatever it's worth, I'm always a little surprised when I encounter people who think that Turks and Arabs are the same:) The degree of ignorance in this country (USA) about Turkey is shocking.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

To prawda, Tomku :)

An agreement in fact was reached some years ago regarding the loan from Finland of much needed vowels by the Hungarians, who, lacking that particular type of letter, wanted to sue for historical theft of their vowels by the Finns way back when.

The story, while doubtless apocryphal, caused quite a stir within the the Fenno-Ugric community -:) -:) LOL

Czy mówisz po finsku, turetsku albo po węgiersku?

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

An unrelated thread, Maxx, but it has been asserted numerous times over the years by various linguists, that the Finnic or 'Fenno-Ugric' languages are in fact related to the Turkic :)

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

I repeat, were I a citizen of an EU-member state such as France or Germany, I too might have second, third, even fourth, thoughts about Turkey joining 'Club Europa'. However, being pragmatic, I may just have to accept the inevitable, bury the hatchet and retrench from there.

Those holding out until the very last stand, will only lose in the end if they maintain this 'do or die' strategy!

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Yarin tesekkurler!--::)

My vote is YES to allow Turkey to join, but solely for practical reasons of Turkey's larger and above all younger population, a needed workforce in a European population that is both rapidly decreasing as well as aging.

A perfect fit both culturally and spiritually? Hardly. A necessary one?? Absolutely.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Iyi gunler!!-:) Hos geldiniz PF-forum'da.

Nice to have members of the Turkish contingent here among us to offset the questionable remarks of our fellow posters.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Tack, detsamma till dig!-:)

Unfortunately, we must switch back to English now. I can see though that you and I appear to be on the same 'homepage' (hemsida, no not a literal translation)..

Look forward to continued pleasant chatting.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Osiol:) I'd be much more concerned with both Sweden's as well as little Finland's treatment of its Saami (commonly known as 'Lapp') minority to the North than about the Karelian population in Western Russia! The Finns too have a most problematic history of their own, quite apart from how they fared under Swedish domination for several centuries. Their position during WWII vis-a-vis Germany, despite the heroic stance of Mannerheim against the Soviet invasion, remains a serious issue in their past. Like Norway, Finland didn't exactly stand up politically against Hitler.

Maxx, I have many Finnish acquaintances and all of them speak excellent Swedish. My Finnish is rudimentary at best, but I have basic survival skills. English might be a poor choice, save perhaps at a class hotel in the center of Halsingfors, oops, Helsinki.-:) LOL

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Hyvaa paivaa, Max!

Rather like Sweden's Vasa Empire overtaking Finland during it's colonial days.-:)
That was more than 'expansionism', that was imperialism, for which reasons you all know Swedish better than English.

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Bratwurst Boy,

think you then that the Turkeys in Europe come, as member nation (Mitgliedsstaat), I am meaning? Is this right?

Sorry for my 'false' English. -:) Please correct me my mistakes. (he-he!)

History / What do Poles think about Turks? [761]

Merely curious again, Southern. Just what is your nationality?-:)