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Posts by patrick  

Joined: 3 Aug 2011 / Male ♂
Last Post: 29 May 2012
Threads: 6
Posts: 113
From: Poznan
Speaks Polish?: Yes

Displayed posts: 119 / page 1 of 4
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patrick   
29 May 2012
News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]

Having lived in Poznan for eight years, I always felt like I could have been beat up in plain site on the street at any time, especially if people found out that I was a foreigner. However, in America in Seattle or Minneapolis where I lived for ten years, I always felt that I could have been shot.

The positives of being a foreigner definitely outweighed the negatives in Poland, but I certainly found myself in situations where the locals let me know that they didn't like me because I was foreigner.
patrick   
27 May 2012
News / Marion Barry insults Polish people calling them "Polacks" [33]

As you wish you dumb mutt yank, wonder why so many of you have a problem with that whenever I use it.

After living 13 years abroad, nobody has ever once said something like this to my face, although I know they think it. Trust me, we know a lot of you don't like us. The Internet gives people this fall sense of 'guts'. Maybe you're the one guy who would do this, but I have a feeling you're not.
patrick   
26 May 2012
Study / Polish Language Programs in Poland [3]

I've studied twice in this one during the summer. It was easy to go to class, but tough to do any work at home because my classmates and I hung out at the beautiful beaches in Sopot the rest of the day. I would recommend it, but be careful of the accommodation they put you in. I was lucky and stayed in a house with this very sweet older lady, but some people were in these awful concrete housing blocks. Try to swing a combination of a home that is in or close to Sopot. I stayed in Gdansk Oliwa, which was just two or three stops on the local commuter train.

Powodzenie

Oops I forgot to post the link.

ssp.edu.pl
patrick   
26 May 2012
News / Marion Barry insults Polish people calling them "Polacks" [33]

Ojejku somebody is offended by calling Poles "Polaks". Isn't this what they call each other anyway? By the way, I've met some people who are offended by being called "Jews". They prefer Jewish.
patrick   
26 May 2012
Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]

I find it the other way around-I like many Polish people, but the society does have some annoying aspects, but then again I feel the same about my own country when I am home so maybe I'm the one with the problem.
patrick   
10 May 2012
Language / Mam silnego kaca! Why is this genitive/dopełniacz? [34]

Hi Patrick, as a native speaker you know when to use Forda and not Ford because it just sounds right but a learner would need a rule or be told that there is no rule. Thanks anyway.

I'm not a native speaker, but my Polish Polish teacher in the States said that cars take genitive. If I were a native speaker, I wouldn't have mead the error that strzyga pointed out.

A Polish friend in Poland said that while ordering food genitive is also used, although I don't know if I believe that. She gave me, however, the example of "Zamow mi shake'a". Maybe it's just genitive for fast food restaurants. :)
patrick   
25 Mar 2012
Life / Izabela? - Advice with Polish name for a girl [36]

I still don't see why you can't just give the kid a name that works in both languages, there certainly are plenty. You can still have a name that's easy to pronounce and still have the exotic factor too.
patrick   
23 Mar 2012
Life / Izabela? - Advice with Polish name for a girl [36]

Thanks for understanding. We really want something that shows some heritage and could even be an interesting conversation starter one day.

Yes, but why can't you have an interesting name that at least has letters that can be relatively pronounced correctly in both languages? My wife is Ewa and she always has to correct people. Why can't you choose something like Kornelia or Helena, which can sidestep this issue?
patrick   
22 Mar 2012
Life / What is going on in Polish Music [128]

Merged: Greatest music hits from PRL

I found this radio station RMF PRL on iTunes, but you can also get it through the link below. I am not Polish, but my wife is and she loves hearing old songs from her 'youth'? Tune in and enjoy.

rmfon.pl/radia/rmf-prl.html
patrick   
21 Mar 2012
Life / Izabela? - Advice with Polish name for a girl [36]

Why would you give your child a name that you know she is going to have people asking her how to say it? I am American and my wife is Polish, and we named our kids Aleksander and Helena because they are work in both English and Polish.
patrick   
13 Mar 2012
Life / Television in Poland - embarrassingly bad? [44]

My favorite Polish program is "Usterka", which only seems to be on in the middle of the night. It's very original and I have never seen anything like it.
patrick   
26 Feb 2012
Study / Polish language classes in Poland, advice needed! [7]

I studied in the school in Sopot on two occasions and had a good experience both times. That was 15 years ago, so I don't know what I can really say about it now, but Sopot is lovely in the summer. Just watch out for the accommodation they may set you up with. I ended up staying with a widower and she was wonderful. She had a nice house in Gdansk-Oliwa, which is just a short commuter-train ride away from the school. Some of my classmates got put in awful housing blocks. Oh I am being melancholy now about my time there.
patrick   
26 Feb 2012
UK, Ireland / Raising Bilingual Children - How are you teaching your children? Your experiences? [74]

I am a native speaker of English and my wife is Polish. Our 7 and 4-year-old speak Polish and English beautifully. We are in a third country and the kids go to an English-speaking school. My question is not how to motivate my kids to learn Polish, but how to motivate my wife to work on it with them. I don't want them to go back to Poland and have to ask their cousins how to read a menu and write simple things. My wife is always just too 'busy'.
patrick   
23 Feb 2012
Language / Dwa vs. dwie in Polish [85]

Merged: The number 2

How many forms of the number two are there in Polish?

dwa, dwie, dwoch, dwoje, dwoma, dwiema, dwaj, dwojge,...? I know there are more.

I could be wrong on a couple of these. It's been 15 years since I've had a Polish grammar class.
patrick   
20 Feb 2012
Life / Living Costs and life in Poznan? [70]

Can't really help with food shopping as I don't have a clue if you can cook or what you eat! But I would say for two people absolute minimum would be 300zł per month.

10 zlotys a day for two people? What does 'absolute minimum' mean?
patrick   
31 Jan 2012
News / Icy blast cleans the streets of the homeless in Poland.. [63]

Why you being sarcastic, mate.

Yes I can be a bit sarcastic from time to time. Sorry about that.

I am moving back to my country after 13 years of living abroad and one thing I really miss is the sense of community service. I don't agree that it's always somebody else's or the government's responsibility to make things better. If you can do something for your community, you should.
patrick   
25 Jan 2012
Love / Any Polish Muslim girls living in Poland? [103]

I mean she doesn't need to put on a burka, just a loose hijab would show some respect?

Actually in Saudi Arabia the burqa is mandatory and the hijab not, oddly enough. It's just that men here have this twisted idea of what a woman is and it has nothing to do with being culturally sensitive.
patrick   
25 Jan 2012
Love / Any Polish Muslim girls living in Poland? [103]

Wear it when in Arab country. While in the West, dress modestly but refrain from wearing niqab. Otherwise you will attract attention.

There is really no need to wear the niqab in the West. Here is Saudi Arabia my Muslim friends at work don't make their wives wear it outside of Saudi Arabia, but they make them while they are in Saudi Arabia. Why? Because you have all these infantile men here. My wife doesn't cover her head and she constantly has these retards staring at her as if she were from the moon.
patrick   
14 Jan 2012
News / Poland being the powerhouse of Europe [40]

Does your average Pole genuinely struggle to make ends meet, or is he having trouble only because he has to have his iPod and other modern 'necessities'?

What does it mean to be a powerhouse? Being in Russia, which I guess is an up-and-coming powerhouse, a few years ago, I was struck by how freakin' poor the people were.
patrick   
14 Jan 2012
Life / Polish Folk Music [30]

My favorite "Gdybym mial gitare..."