UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

Thanks for the replies so far - there's some really interesting feedback and I get the impression that the way that we're approaching things is fine and that I don't have too much to worry about - just let things happen naturally.

A few comments:

EdWilczynski - I'd love to hear your experiences when you get back.

Mafketis - I think you're right about not worrying - she is making progress and I get the feeling that right now she's starting to go through some kind of learning spurt - she's really progressing (almost by the day). I'm curious about what you said about preferring Polish once she hits the playground - I am really curious to see how that's going to pan out.

Phil_C - Thanks for your feedback. You wrote "allow the child to communicate freely in which ever language they wish" - I'm curious about that. My initial feeling is that children will naturally go with the easiest option for them, which on the one hand might be English (it's easier to say "car" than it is to say "samochod") but on the other hand, with 90% exposure to Polish and 10% English, eventually Polish will become the easier option purely through more exposure. On the premise that the children should be allowed to go with whichever language they wish English would soon become defunt wouldn't it? It's great to hear that your children have picked up both English and Chinese. That's encouraging

Bavarian - you asked where I found the information that said by 2 years old a child should know 200-300 words...I can't find the specific link, but I found a similar one here that quoted 150-200 words:

multilingualchildren.org/milestones/second_year.html

(It looks like a really interesting site by the way).

dhrynio - Of all the replies, your situation sounds closest to ours, so I'm really happy that your little ones are doing really well. It's really interesting that after their trip to the US they preferred to play mainly in English and now they're switching back to Polish since they're back - makes sense I suppose!

Thanks again for this great feedback!

Love / Need help and assistance to ask polish girl out [48]


If you say so chief, good luck to you then.

Love / Need help and assistance to ask polish girl out [48]

Clearly she's messing you around mate, I'd give up on that one if I were you.

Travel / Short break in Gdansk, need advice on the best area to stay [7]

Have a look at: https://polishforums.com/travel/visiting-sopot-week-late-may-start-june-42934/

for some info on Sopot.

If you're after cheap accommodation, why don't you stay in a hostel? I can recommend the Happy 7 hostel if you want to stay in Gdansk Old Town. It's 40zl per person per night (for a dorm room) and the location couldn't be better, it's smack bang in the centre of the old town - it's across the road from the Radisson so you can imagine the location is a good one! I can't tell you about hostels in Sopot but I'm sure you'll be able to find something nice.

There's no train station at the airport. If you can afford 50-60zl, take a taxi from Sopot to the airport. If you're flying out at 6am, you should aim to get to the airport for 5am which means you should leave Sopot at 4.30 (just to be on the safe side).

Enjoy your stay!

Life / Praktiker vs. Castorama [6]

Good to know, thanks gents!

Travel / Visiting Sopot for a week in late May/start of June looking for restaurants/pubs [17]

You'll have a great time when you come to visit I'm sure.

Anywhere along the Montecasino street down to the pier will give you a great chance to sit outside and take in Sopot (not sure about "traditional" music though - not even sure what you mean by tradtional.) Look up Montecasino, Sopot on Google Maps and you'll see exactly where I mean.

I can't really help you with cakes (not my thing).

Regarding ferries, I'd suggest you take a trip to Gdansk Old Town on one of your days and head down to the old town and make your way to the Rybackie Pobrzeże (again look it up on Google Maps). There are nice ferries to Hel from here and you get the added bonus of going through the old shipyard on your way out. It's a great day out.

While your in Gdansk, go to the nowy port lighthouse and westerplatte for a bit of WWII history and definitely spend some time in the old town making sure you take in the old crane and dlugy street.

As far as beaches go if the weather's nice when you're here expect all the beaches to be busy but you should be able to find enough room to sunbathe if you don't mind being elbow to elbow with the rest of the world. If you want quiet beaches (and you have a car) head over to the beaches at Sobieszewo heading east out of Gdansk.

If you want any more info just PM me.

Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

A snowdrop or a drop of snow? :-)

From what I've seen, the go-karting is done on Grunwaldzka Street in life sized go-karts.

Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

You're right. I was thinking that the other day - the last time it rained here was back in November I think. At least the hot orangey thing in the sky has come back.

No pub outings for me at the moment - I'm grounded.

Law / How will the Zloty be against the British Pound over the next 6-12 Months [45]

Yeah, I was about to send the same response as well and then I scrolled down and found all that I wanted.

Law / How will the Zloty be against the British Pound over the next 6-12 Months [45]

Thanks Convex. I should have found that one myself! Let's call it Friday fatigue.

Law / How will the Zloty be against the British Pound over the next 6-12 Months [45]

Jan 29, 10, 22:32 - Thread attached on merging:
Any meaningful insights in Euro/Zloty exchange rate for the next 6-12 months?

I have a feeling that there might not be any point in asking this question, but I'm feeling brave and lucky (and depending on the kinds of answers received, in need of entertainment). Does anyone have any thoughts and/or articles on what's likely to happen with the euro vs the zloty exchange rate in the next 6-12 months?

Work / Working in Poland in a Non-Polish Speaking Job? - How? What? (no teachers!) [16]

I'm really glad you got something sorted in the end. I saw some of your posts and I can relate to everything you wrote.

Work / Salary indication "Technical Support Analyst" / IT job in Poland [11]

From my experience I'd say the Hays guide is spot on.

Travel / Gdansk transport for 25 people from hotel to church and back to hotel-any ideas? [5]

Exactly! Thanks a million! :-)

Love / Getting married - registry office in Gdansk - any experiences? [6]

Thanks Al.

I read your other post on this subject and it gave me a glimmer of hope!

I'll let you know how I got on! :-)

Travel / Gdansk transport for 25 people from hotel to church and back to hotel-any ideas? [5]

Fantastic! Called and booked! :-)

Work / Will it be easy to find a job within 6-10 months of moving to Poland? [41]

Hi all,

Speaking from my very real experience (I can only speak for Gdansk where I've been living for the last 6 months) here's my take:

Finding work is difficult for non poles who don't speak Polish because:

1. You don't speak Polish - you may be learning (as I am), but that's not going to make any difference unless your level is advanced already.

2. We're in very tough economic times - companies are simply not hiring or are hiring much less. That's less jobs to go round

3. There's a huge resource pool of people who do speak Polish - so why would they hire me or you? (also see point 2).

4. The system seems to work differently here to what you may be used to - for example, the way you should contact companies, the language and cultural differences etc, etc.

There are two caveats here. Firstly, if you're seconded by a foreign company to Poland, or you have a very specialised skill that can't be sourced locally then the above doesn't apply because you've probably already got a very well paid job. In which case why would you be reading this post anyway?! Secondly, if you're prepared to do something that wasn't in your prior job remit, i.e. making use of your native language skills, then you may also be able to find some kind of work relatively easily (probably with far less pay than you're used to, but I'm going to assume that you you didn't come to Poland to get rich).

In my case, the net result of the above 4 points is that after 6 months of almost full time effort looking for work I've built up a network of contacts, I have some bits and pieces of contract work (somewhat related to my skills and also some English language stuff) that will keep the wolf from the door for a bit and I'm hopeful that with continued efforts I'll land the "big fish" job within the next 3 months BUT I still don't have a full time, stable, permanent job which is my goal.

I'm extremely talented (I've been told I'm overqualified for a few roles so you can't win!), but the bottom line is that points 1-4 above are the reasons why, despite my wealth of skills and experience, I am where I am. That, plus mistakes and distractions on my part - there are always better ways of doing things and I think I spent the first three months of my search doing things the wrong way (oh that and my daughter being born at the end of September was and continues to be a constant but beautiful distraction!). I'm constantly trying to improve the way I look for and do work.

Despite the difficulties I've experienced looking for work I've gained some very valuable things in the last 6 months and these shouldn't be discounted. I'm much more motivated, determined and driven now than I was before I came here and I've surprised myself at how resilient and resourceful I am. I also very much more aware now where my strengths and weaknesses lie - something which by the way, employers are very keen to hear - tests of character don't get much bigger than this! I also had it very easy before I came here and now it's not so easy, so I've been able to re-evaluate what's important to me and to appreciate what I have right now as well as what I had before I came here. I also appreciate much more now than I ever did before the value (or lack thereof) of money! :-)

So to reiterate what others have written, and from my experience, my advice would be:

* Knowing people definitely helps - build a network, preferably before you arrive, but keep the network focussed as well - don't just add everyone that you can think of because you'll be wasting valuable energy on low (career) value contacts.

* Be prepared for a lot of hard work, frustration, knock backs and at times feeling lost and hopeless.
* Before you commit yourself to moving here, ask yourself why you are coming here, do you really want to be here and can you handle (and afford) the distinct possibility of being out of work in 6 months time and if not are you prepared to do something else in the meantime (i.e. native speaking for example).

* Don't just send emails to companies when looking for work, the chances are that you won't get a response (especially if the email is written in English) - find out the names of the person who recruits for the work you want to do and call them up. Be brave. Sending emails will get you almost nowhere.

* Get online and get signed up to the various jobsites (I'm not going to list them here, see other posts for that).
* Consider going it alone - as one friend who started his own business here told me, "If you can't join 'em, beat 'em!".

* Find ways to keep your skills up to date while you're looking for work - it's no good if you do spend 6 months here looking for work only to get an interview and then realise you've forgotten everything you do or the only answer to the question "So what have you been doing for the last 6 months?" is "Looking for work." (even if it's true!)

Well I've gone on long enough I think, but I do have more ideas and advice, so feel free to message me for more info and or if you want to just connect with me for job leads, general chit chat or meeting up and the final piece of advice I'd give you is that if you find a job, put in a good word for me eh? ;-)

Good luck to all you job seekers and apologies for what turned out to be a long post.

Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

Scottie,

For the first time in my life I was so disappointed to wake up to glorious sunshine this morning!

Damn it! :-)

Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

Cjj I love those suggestions. I'm praying for rain tomorrow! :-)

Travel / What to do when it's raining in Gdansk [33]

Getting bladdered in the pub is weather independent really. :-)