Genealogy / Can one become Polish? [21]



Of course you can! Take the example of this epitome of the Polish soul, Frederic Chopin; French name, born of a French father, lived most of his life in France, but more Polish than generations of Poles living in Poland will ever be...

Life / Drivers and Mobile Phones In Poland [14]

Utter nonsense.. Was the case 10 years ago, no longer true..

Travel / "Cool Katowice" - a viable alternative to Kraków? [18]


An oxymoron...

News / Poland - Third World Country?? [300]

And both are below Slovenia and.. Israel...

Love / Polish Catholic girl - do you have the same relationship problem as me? [28]


How can you? Not that I have anything against you heritage/religion, but in my book, one can only be proud of something in which one does/plays a role/feels responsible for. By definition, that is not the case of your heritage...

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]

Citizen67, you are not a native English speaker, are you?

News / Poland's supreme administrative court rules against RHD cars [57]


Although I personnally suffered from it when in Poland (couldn't PL register my UK bought Renault Espace), I think it would be an error to allow it. Considering the way Poles drive and overtake on ordinary 2 lane road, I cannot start imagine what would happen if they started to import en masse RHD cars. The casualty rate would climb to Egyptian levels!

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]


Sounds exactly like Schwytzerdütsch (swiss german)!!

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]


I find the sound of Russian quite appealing, at least much better than English spoken by our transatlantic cousins!

Language / Poles - don't fall into the French/Spanish trap re pronunciation/accent! [81]


Russian or Mandarin, just in case? As per the old joke: what will the price of a pint of milk be in London in 2020? Answer: 5 yuans...

Real Estate / Astounded by the poor value of residential property here in Wroclaw [92]


Exactly, and that is what is wrong in inWroclaw's comparison; he fails to take into account this habit (stemming from pre 1990), which means that the rental market is much narrower in Poland than in any country in Western Europe

News / THE PARTYS OVER... NO MORE EUROS FOR POLAND'S ROADS [71]


Quickly? You must be joking.. In 1990 (fall of communism), Poland had 381 km of motorways. 14 years later, they had added a grand total of...400 km (30 km/year!!), total length was 781 km. By 2010, there were still only 1560 km (just over 100 km/ year). It is only under the tremendous pressure generated by Euro 2012 that they speeded up in 2011 and 2012 with a new total of 2509 km end 2012. Compare this to the rate at which motorways were built in other countries , you will see that it is indeed very very slow!!

News / THE PARTYS OVER... NO MORE EUROS FOR POLAND'S ROADS [71]


The whole staff of GDDKIA should be sacked and a transparent re hiring process initiated. They are a bunch of incompetent people who have cosily coopted each other mostly pre 1990 through family/friends connections.

News / THE PARTYS OVER... NO MORE EUROS FOR POLAND'S ROADS [71]


Because these roads were built by the Germans before the war..

Real Estate / Astounded by the poor value of residential property here in Wroclaw [92]


Maybe , but the general build quality you get in the UK is very poor..

News / THE PARTYS OVER... NO MORE EUROS FOR POLAND'S ROADS [71]


Yes, for sure, for France!!

Real Estate / The current property boom in Poland is a bubble [342]

Ha, ha, good one Ziemowit!

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


In Lincolnshire???

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


The 2 are not necessarily linked. Switzerland is not in the EU but still EU nationals have the right to come and work in the country with minimal formalities (except Romanians and Bulgarians)

Real Estate / The current property boom in Poland is a bubble [342]


The definition quoted is worthless, because it is too imprecise. As explained by other posters, it's the rate of decrease that matters

fall by 50% over 1,2, 3 years: it's was a bubble
fall by 50% over 20 years: it isn't a bubble

News / Is it true that the Polish has signed to take on the Euro in 2015? [12]


Wrong, Poland refused to adopt it , for fear it would drag the country into recession. Very good decision at the time. It was helped of course by the fact that the 3 criteria were not met.


Indeed


Not doable, because Poland pledged to take the euro at some point in the future (with no firm date) when it joined the EU in 2004

History / Judge Tuleya mother was in SB [74]

Very good post, Ziemowit...

History / Why did Hitler want to sign the Non-agression agreement with Poland? [5]

Why don't you ask your professor ?

News / Only 1 in 3 firms in Poland pays income taxes [20]


Quite the opposite in fact. Ask any Pole who had the opportunity to work for a foreign owned firm in Poland and for a polish one, in 90% of cases he /she would prefer working for the former (better salaries and conditions)

News / Only 1 in 3 firms in Poland pays income taxes [20]

that's not purely polish, it happens with many multinationals in many countries (see Starbucks saga). I doubt however that this is the correct explanation for the title, most of those firms (not paying tax) would be SMEs and do not have the skills/logistics to set up such companies abroad..

News / Only 1 in 3 firms in Poland pays income taxes [20]


What has this got to do with the lack of taxation? Income tax relates to whether a company makes a profit or not, not where the profit is located...

Travel / Starbucks in Poland? [149]


Right, but there are far, far fewers tea houses in London that cafés in Paris, Rome or Vienna.. And let's face it, many tea houses are fairly functional places (plastic chairs..), you do not want to linger in them like you do in a café or in a pub..

USA, Canada / Differences in How Polish People Raise a Child and How Americans Raise a Child [149]


Maybe the French way is the best?
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577196931457473816.html


I don't think that's true.. Lying in a court of justice is till a cardinal sin in the US.. And as far as the Armstrong case goes, remember it is the US anti doping agency, and not the UCI, that uncovered what was going on..

Travel / Starbucks in Poland? [149]

yes, that's an interesting one. I was raised to drink tea with milk, but since discovering the polish way (ie with lemon and no milk), I only drink that way.

Travel / Starbucks in Poland? [149]

No, that's the truth..Café culture is slowly getting a hold in the UK, especially in London and bigger cities, but it never was part of the traditional "british" culture.. It's a continental thing..IN Britain, there were pubs instead..