Language / Speaking with wrong Polish case endings? [94]


i can't really say with confidence one way or the other because I'm not a native, therefore I don't speak like a native and natives simply speak completely different. BUT, as far as I can tell, American English does seem more idiomatic/slang based. Polish, in general, seems to be a more formal language. people speak more literally and properly whereas Americans try and use a slang term for every word they want to say, regardless of the age of the person they're speaking to. it's actually one of the things I've always appreciated about Polish, I like the formal aspects of it....maybe because it's quite different from my native language.

on paper, American English would seem to have the blueprints for a larger variety of slang and idioms. we have hundreds of years of immigration, each contributing their own flavors and brands of speaking languages, all lumped into one big country speaking one main language. Polish is simply far more isolated, with 99% of Poland being a native Polish speaker and very few "outsiders" adding spice to the pot.

Work / Is salary of 3000 Euros gross enough to live decently in Lodz, Poland? [53]

it's moot, but one must be careful calculating in such a way, especially because you're quoting salaries in a socialized country.

IF, and that's a big if, the national average was, for argument's sake, 3,834 gross, because of the social structure of the country, once you cut that number down with ZUS and other taxes, how much is left? 2500? idk to be honest, but it's probably not far from that. ZUS alone is around 900zl/month from what I remember.

so by trying to calculate "how many times" more or less, that number drastically changes when you take a small number (salary) and cut it down 35% due to deductions whereas the large number (salary) only gets cut down maybe 20%. what was once a calculation of 3,834 vs 18,000 is now a comparison of 2,500 vs. say 14,000......5.6 times more.

i don't know how the tax brackets currently are in Poland but you see my point.

Work / Is 6500 PLN salary gross enough to live on for a small family in Wroclaw? [20]

that's like.....6 times the national average. i'd say not bad.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2773]


In the case of the USA, that's not really accurate, because "control" is on a state by state basis. Take a look at Illinois. Chicago is rife with homicides by firearm. Illinois has some of the strictest gun laws and regs in the country but some of the worst gun violence in the country. If you're a criminal living in Chicago, the solution is simple: go to another state where you can easily obtain one. And then there are the gun shows. No federal regulation requiring them to run background checks. This means that a raging homicidal maniac can walk into a gun show, point to an AK-47 and walk out with it.....legally. If you want "control", the control needs to be nationwide, not just in the state you live in. The police can keep catching criminals and seizing their weapons but it's like a fish tank with a hole in the bottom, placed underneath a running faucet...as the water runs out the bottom, more water keeps on coming in from the top.

Take a look at this article:

mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=975E20E2-C29C-7CA2-FD7C85222E4A4A14

"According to the most recent available gun trace data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the percentage of out-of-state guns used in crimes in New York City has been increasing in recent years. In 2009, 85 percent of crime guns came from out-of-state. In 2010, that proportion was 86 percent, and in 2011, 90 percent of crime guns came from outside the State of New York."

New York has very strict gun regulations, on par with Illinois, yet, as the article states, 90 percent of crime guns in 2011 came from outside the state of new york.

Whether you're arguing that guns are good or bad or whatever, laws and regulations on guns must be universal in the USA before we can truly see if gun restrictions have any effect. Common sense might say that it most certainly would have an effect but as long as criminals have planes, trains, and automobiles and can cross state lines at will to obtain firearms, we really don't have any statistics yet to make such a claim.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


you want facts? here are your facts: city-data.com/city/Madison-New-Jersey.html

scroll down to "detached houses", which is the cost of a house. not a condo, not a townhouse, a HOUSE. $799,228.


doubt all you want.


people with $800,000 homes in towns with sky high property taxes, I assure you, are far from "average professional couples".

have a look at this: trulia.com/property/3133600296-115-Woodland-Rd-Madison-NJ-07940

That's a 63 year old house for sale in Madison, NJ, a little above the average house value. 1/2 acre of land. Taxes per year? $13,606. For those that struggle with math, that's over $1,000/month, just for your property taxes. Now try and pay the mortgage. Oh, and try and convince anyone that's for the "average couple".

One more thing.....anyone on here ever heard of The Mall at Short Hills? It's in a number of Hollywood movies and is well known throughout the USA for being one of the swankiest and nicest malls in the country.....which just so happens to be RIGHT down the road from the center of Madison, NJ.

Just for gits and shiggles, I Google Mapped it.....8 minutes. hop on Route 124 from Main St., 8 minutes and you're parked right outside Saks Fifth Avenue.

USA, Canada / Only one county in the USA has more Polish-Americans than any other group! [38]


Polish cannot be learned passively, hence why you have expats living in Poland for 10 years and can't speak a lick.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


another point worth making.

i'd venture to say that a lot of those that say "Polish isn't any harder than any other language" or "it's all relative" or whatever else, it's because they don't know how complex the language really is. if you knew polish, meaning all the in's and out's of the grammar and all its complexities, and spoke it without butchering it, you'd have a different perspective. most polish language learners go through a similar experience. in the beginning, they think it's like any other language just with really funny sounding words with lots of sh's and ch's, and then 4 weeks later when the teacher starts throwing kogo/czego and kim/czym into the lesson, they give up soon after.

just to list some examples:

you only use infinitive forms when making future tense, such as "bede isc", "bedziemy brac", etc.

your numerical conjugations are all wrong. for example: "dwa kobiety", "dwa mezczyzni", "nie mam jeden samochod", etc.

no concept of komu/czemu. for example, "powiedzialem moj przyjaciol".

if that's your Polish, you don't speak Polish and have no concept of the language and how difficult it really is.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


and here's the facts: if you had a French husband and lived in France, an Italian husband and lived in Italy, a Spanish husband and lived in Spain, Portuguese, German, on and on.....you'd be fluent. Poland? Yeah, 11 years and you're not even intermediate? Expected, because Polish is WAY harder. Period.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]

"Well, Mandarin Chinese is an 'easy' language to your standards then, given that its grammar is even simpler than in English. "

I knew an American that lived in China for about 7-8 months and thought Chinese was quite easy to learn to speak. He moved to Poland right after and completely gave up on Polish almost immediately. Sucked for him because his wife was Polish and he thought once they moved from China to Poland he'd pick it up just the same but like most people, it was an epic fail. He used to tell me all the time how much easier Chinese was and although i've never studied Chinese, i believe him.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


hey thanks :)


absolutely. i don't see how anyone could effectively argue that this is untrue. polish is a language that fights you the whole way, as if its main objective is to keep you saying things incorrectly, like a carnival game. english has no declinations, no gender, and regarding verbs, hell once you learn I, they, he/she/it, we, you're pretty much done. throw a new polish verb even at an intermediate polish learner and they literally have to "study" it in order to get comfortable using it in all its forms.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


as if i wasn't doing that simultaneously? i lived in Poland for 4 years and during that time, i had plenty of immersion. i watched polish movies, watched the news, spoke with polish friends, translated texts, read polish news websites....i did it all, man. i just chose to study grammar hard to make sure that as i learned more phrases and vocab, i didn't get caught butchering said phrases and vocab with sloppy, really "foreigner" sounding grammar. it's not how I roll :)

you always have a better, longer lasting home with a solid foundation underneath you. i look at language learning similarly.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


yes.

i've lost a little vocab since i moved back to the states but my wife is polish so i still have constant exposure. my grammar is my strongest suit. it's pretty much all i studied during my first 2 years in country because i quickly recognized how crucial it is to having meaningful conversation. my vocab is probably my weakest suit because like i said, i concentrated far more on grammar. i fish for words, not conjugations.

when i sit down with a 20 something and talk about my day, i can do it comfortably but i have limitations like any language learner. my polish will improve exponentially in the near future because my wife and I (she's Polish...and no, not PolAm, she's born and raised in Poland) will be raising our children with polish so i expect to learn most of what i lack through osmosis in the coming years. i really look forward to it because i've put SO much work into learning this language and it will be nice to finally have the finished product.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


in most cases, it is due to not knowing Polish cases. if the constant declinations and conversions and gender differences don't start to sound natural to you, you're always going to struggle with comprehension.

the single best way to learn Polish is to hammer.....and I mean hammer the grammar. don't start going through the dictionary learning random verbs you'll never use on the regular if you can't even use basic words and conjugate them accordingly so you can have a conversation with them. "knowing" a word in Polish takes on a different meaning than most languages. who cares if you know how to say "car" or "building" or "house" in Polish....do you know how to use them in all their forms, including being able to quantify 1, 2, and 5+ of them? that's the difference.

additionally, you will forever sound like an amateur in Polish if your grammar is not solid. accent is one thing but if every other word out of your mouth is spoken incorrectly, nobody wants to listen to you.

Polish is in a class of its own and if you want to really learn it, you're years away from being even decent at it.

Being able to turn on the TV in Poland and understand everything on a news station? A decade or more, in country + constant studying. this isn't to discourage, simply to tell it like it is. Polish is like one big monster that takes what will feel like forever to finally slay.

Language / Is Polish an easy language to learn and is there a way of learning it easily? [105]


interesting.....because i've yet to meet someone who wants to learn a language difficultly.

Work / Job at HP in Wroclaw, what salary should I expect and Is It negotiable? [29]


I taught English for years inside that corporate office as well as having them come to my schools for lessons. Every single one of those employees seemed unhappy with their salaries and general work assignments. Every one of them had a minimum of a Master's degree, spoke Polish + English + 1 additional language, and their take home pay was a pittance. The 3K gross per month you referenced to in your OP sounds about right because I don't think these people even cleared 2K.

We all hated teaching there because it was full of miserable workers.

Now....Google in Wroclaw, THAT was fun. What an amazing difference in corporate culture and employee moral. I'd shoot for Google instead.

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]

Which, if he was willing to respond to my question, would prove more of the same.

I'm prrrrretty sure "Madison Area" is Madison, NJ. I am born and raised in NJ, northern NJ to be exact, and know Madison quite well. Everyone in NJ knows that if you live in Madison, chances are you're a doctor, lawyer, banker, high level executive or some sort of entrepreneur that makes a substantial amount of cabbage. I had a Google at the average house price in Madison in 2011, it's around $800,000. An upper class town with upper class prices. It's absurd to post day care and private educational institution prices in Madison, NJ, when comparing "here" vs. "there".

They all drive $100,000 cars in Madison, too. Should we use those numbers to compare the prices of automobiles?

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


boy oh boy I'd like you to start doing just that.

you ignored my question about "Madison Area".

where, specifically, in the united states, is "the Madison area"?

USA, Canada / Would like to move back to Poland from New York after living in USA for 20 years. [155]


OK. yep, you win. go ahead with your $1,880/month and "the cheapest there is". you can have it. masz.

and I'll go ahead and pay $750/month for my child's day care and my sister, who lives in New Jersey, a state more expensive than most, will continue to pay $800/month.

yep.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]


indeed.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]


this is hopeless.

i'm done.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]

Holendrem wrote:


salary depends on RELEVANT work experience.

hence, when you work in an international company, the ability to speak some random language natively that nobody has a definitive use for shouldn't have any impact on your salary.

let me ask you this: if a Polish person went to Holland to take a job in an international company, should that person get paid more than other Dutch workers because he speaks native Polish?

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]


3 times you've avoided the question.

i wouldn't give you a raise, either.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]


is it?

So you march in and say, "I can speak native Dutch" which means I deserve to be paid 50% better than the rest of the poor shlubs you got workin' here?

if it was a Dutch company, operating in Poland, and Dutch speakers willing to live and work in Poland were scarce, now you've got something. but all he's said is, "an international company" and I fail to recognize why being able to speak native Dutch automatically grants you a huge increase in pay over your counterparts on the off chance that one day they'll need something Dutch translated or a Dutch native will call up, unable to converse in English to the rest of the customer service reps, when we all know Dutch people speak English better than most of Europe. after the first 6 months goes by and I still haven't found a use for your Dutch, I'm gonna start asking myself why I pay you so much.

if Dutch people speak English, and Polish or German or whatever person speaks English within that company, and the people calling speak English, why should I pay you double for your Dutch?

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]

you didn't answer the question.

again....why should the company pay you more for being a native dutch speaker?

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]

you keep mentioning "native speaker". is Dutch the official language of your company? trying to see how being a native Dutch speaker has anything to do with your salary.

Life / Homosexuality in Polish Culture [231]

what's this holy roller's name again.....oh.......so, Kondzior wrote:

"Liberals are so obsessed with their vision of individual "happiness" that i wouldn't be surprised if they attemped to normalize other forms of degeneracy, like zoophilia, or pedophilia."

homosexuality is legal, well, in most developed countries anyway. pedaphelia or "zoophilia" as you call it, is not. i'd say this makes all that pretty silly.

Travel / Poles the worst-dressed tourists in the world? [25]


haha, you gotta be making that up. really?

Travel / Poles the worst-dressed tourists in the world? [25]

i see Americans, especially black people and college kids, wearing socks with sandals all the time.

USA, Canada / Do Pol/Ams celebrate Black Friday and other American festivals? [18]

black friday is pure madness but there's a simple way to avoid it: don't go shopping. no worries, you still get the day off.

USA, Canada / Looking for Polish beer in the United States [39]

I've had some good Polish stuff but it's microbrew. the same story in the states. some of my favorite eers are American but they're microbrew, often times tough to find if you're on the east coast and it's brewed in the central/western states. most american mass produced beers are garbage but that's what people in other countries are exposed to.