Law / Advantages of getting Polish citizenship [24]

There are a few advantages that I can see, but nothing major especially if you already have EU citizenship. I got my Polish citizenship a few months after arriving here and it enabled me to register permanently, easily open a bank account and also travel around most of Europe using just my ID card (Nothing major as I already have an EU passport).

If I didn't get citizenship, then they still would of let me register for longer than 3 months and open a bank account, but I would imagine it would be a more involved process. To me there are three advantages:

1) As someone has already said, it's a good feeling when you finally get it.
2) You get treated less like a foreigner when you want to, e.g. Buy a car, land, open a bank account, get a mobile phone contract. All these are possible already if you have EU citizenship, but I'd imagine they are a little easier if you have Polish citizenship.

3) Who knows what will happen in the future, maybe having a Polish passport will let you travel into certain areas easier, e.g. Without visa restrictions.

Language / Do Poles prefer US American or UK English language? [147]

What is British English anyway? There are so many different English accents in such a small area that to me it doesn't really matter anymore. Is it the way the queen speaks? Because I don't know anyone (Personally), apart from the royal family and politicians who speak like that, and that accent is awful.

I'm guessing it wont be long before International English becomes LOLZspeak "I can has cheeze burger" :P. I frequently seen non-native English people write like this now. It won't be long before people actually speak like that too.

Language / Do Poles prefer US American or UK English language? [147]

I'm curious, when you teach English, do your students pick up your accent? (That is, assuming you have one ;-))

Life / Are Poles typically nasty people? [42]

I wouldn't say they were nasty, but some can come across like that to English/Americans who are used to over-the-top customer service, and political correctness.

I have found that Polish, and Germans/French for that matter.. are more to the point, and don't use long phrases such as "Sorry for bothering you, but would you mind doing this for me, as long as it's ok?"

And anyway, you can't judge an entire country based on what a few angry people post on an Internet forum.

Study / Want to do a PL course in Krakow this month. Where recommended? [5]

Have you tried just having private lessons, you can do this fairly cheaply if you look around. I did my lessons over Skype, and I would argue it beats the hell out of doing it in a class. The teacher will suit the lessons just for you, you aren't slowed down, and you always get the chance to speak and not wait for others to catch up. Plus being in a class with other English speakers beats the point unless you all force yourselves to speak Polish (Which is difficult).

That being said, the only thing missing is the social aspect of it.

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]

I was in the same boat. I phoned the DVLA, explained the situation to them, and they posted me out the D1 form to Poland, which I sent back with a photograph, a cheque. I used my dad's address on the license and was told this wouldn't be a problem. They posted the license back to Poland.

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]

Yes, I work for an British company and still pay tax and NI in the UK, but I don't have a home address, so I used my Dad's. I was honest, and they were fine with this. I told them I had no intention of swapping it for a Polish license.

However in your case, I can see it's much more complex because technically you live and work in Poland. I believe, they will send you a license out, but only if you have the intention of returning to the UK. It might be worth phoning them and saying that you will be returning to the UK within the next few months and you need to renew your license.

Good Luck :-)

Genealogy / Half-Polish. How to obtain a dual nationality quickly? [15]

I'd say there isn't much of a chance, it took me around 3 months before I got the confirmation of citizenship, and that was whilst I was in Poland ringing up and pestering them every week.

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]


But can you use an expired photocard license?

Law / UK driving license mess in Poland [72]

The photocard license clearly has an expiry date and one can easily see the license has expired. The paper part of the license has a different expiry date (Mine is when I reach 70). So technically the paper part of the license still proves the entitlement of a license in the UK.

The photocard license must be renewed once every 10 years, and it is illegal to drive without it.

Language / Problems remembering Polish vocabulary [20]

Not quite a frequency list, but this PDF has a list of the most common words: polish.slavic.pitt.edu/other/minimum.pdf

Language / So why did you give up learning Polish? [105]

Of course the language's usefulness is relative to the person learning it. To me, it's very useful because I live here, my girlfriend is Polish, and lots of people I know here only speak Polish. I also obtained Polish citizenship because my granddad was Polish.

What keeps pushing me to continue learning is the embarassing moments when somebody tries to talk to you and you can't answer like you want (English simply doesn't cut it either). The feeling of achievement and reward when you can make yourself understood and understand people is second to none. I've been learning passively for over 2 years, and although I can now understood most of the things people say and on TV, I still have a long way to go. I often think about quitting as it's really hard, but the simple need to communicate always brings me back. I started learning Polish before moving to Poland (and not knowing I would ever live in Poland), and I found that useful because there were lots of Polish people were I lived.

I have also started learning Spanish, and after learning Polish, Spanish seems like a walk in the park. I admit that if I had instead learnt Spanish, I'd probably be fluent by now, but Spanish simply isn't that useful for me, and I'm not looking for points on my CV.

The language might not be useful on my CV, but it's useful for communicating with people, who otherwise I wouldn't be able to talk to. It's a great stepping-stone for other slavic-languages, and even helpful for learning an easier language (Strange grammar will no longer shock you, :P)

Language / Super fast Polish language learning strategies from internet polyglots [29]

This discussion is making its way around all the forums I've been to today.

@slick578

I've followed along with these sites for a while now, and to be honest, I don't think it's possible to learn any language if you lack the motivation. No Internet guru is going to make you feel any different. Learning a language involves a lot of hard work, and discipline. People are always trying to look for simple and quick solutions and shortcuts. If you lack motivation, you need to find out why and resolve this issue first.


Irish Polyglot never claimed to have passed the C2 exam, if fact he openly admitted to failing it. It says so on his page. He also admits his Czech mission was a failure, and he didn't achieve fluency. People continually quote him out of context. I don't agree with the name of his site, but the advice he gives is generally good. What's important is the fact that he does speak several languages, and I'm pretty sure he can hold a decent conversation in German.


I think you underestimate how difficult Polish is for English speakers, it's going to take more than 3 months to become fluent. Maybe after 3 months of total immersion you could hold simple conversations. I'm happy to be proved wrong however. I salute anyone who has managed to achieve this.

However, I DO believe that an English speaker could get to a near fluent level in say Spanish within a 3 month total immersion (Studying 12 hours a day, etc.), but Polish, no way. I've been here nearly two years, and I'm only just starting to feel comfortable with the language, I have some way to go before I will consider myself as fluent

Language / Super fast Polish language learning strategies from internet polyglots [29]

An important point here is, could you actually talk about the stuff in your own language as well. I could talk about weather, movies, some subjects in science for example, but if someone starts talking to me about politics, mythology or biochemistry I'd be lost in my own language, never mind in Polish :D

Language / Super fast Polish language learning strategies from internet polyglots [29]


Off-topic, but funnily enough, science terms aren't that much of a problem, indeed many terms are easy to deduce because they look like the Latin/Greek equivalent, depending upon how advanced the dicussion goes. I often buy "Focus" and "21 Wiek" in Poland, and normally I can understand them. I can also, for example, talk about astronomy (I subject which I like), because constellations (If you use the Latin scientific names) and "most" stars have the same name.