News / New uniforms for Polish Army [30]

Won't it be confusing,? MultiCam has been adopted by the British Army and now the Australian, and I think American Special forces use it as well?

Language / How do You Pronounce, "Polaczkow"? [10]


Yes.

I got the feeling it a put-down word, I thought, for rough, poor, uneducated Poles, maybe something like "Hill Billy" in America, is this right ? or is it more like a "Little Polanda" put down, or the Swedish, "Swen Swendson", "typical Swede" put down?

Language / How do You Pronounce, "Polaczkow"? [10]

It is a Polish word I keep coming across, used by Poles, no-one in any other knows the word let alone uses it.
What does it mean exactly?
is it Something the American expression "White Trash", or that new word the English hav come up with, "Chav"?

Language / How do You Pronounce, "Polaczkow"? [10]

Pol-lat-schkuw?

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

How much damage do people of eastern Europe feel those 45 years of Communism did to their countries/Eastern Europe? Where do you feel your countries would be if, by some miracle, Stalin hadn't stitched you up, and imposed his Imperial Russian rule and communism on you?

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

I remember we used to feel sorry for the people in Eastern Europe, feel deeply worried about them and their suffering under their stupid moronic oppressiv Governments, we used to feel a bond with them, a sympathy, a feeling I think has completely disappeared now and been replace by, at least, disappointment.


of which all of these wer achieved under Communism and Socialism!

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

"Capitalism" is an economic system.
"Democracy" is how we choose our leaders.

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

? and who's, "They"?

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

Another experience i remember on the same trip as it goes. When we got to Germany, we stayed with a friend of my friend's, whilst there we watched some Television, and one of the Channels was, it turned out, the official TV channel of East Germany and they had an English language lesson on, it was hilarious.

First of all it was in Black & White, next the girl dressed like something out of an English children's book, and then we introduced to the English family they wer staying with, cue, Black & White mug shot of a Woman with a miserable face with her mouth down turned, the husband the same, we were rolling around the floor by now.

Next, the East German girl and Boy learnt some important English words in every day use, like "Proletariat", and "Working-class", and then they wer off for an adventurous and interesting day in London: they went to visit the Grave of Karl Marx. Wow. They laid some flowers at his grave and that was all we watched, it might hav finished there, I don't remember.


and of course "progressive" was code for Socialism. Yes?

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]

Not Poland, but Yugoslavia 1983.

I was 19 had been living on a kibbutz in Israel, and was traveling with my Swedish friend to Sweden, we wer hitch-hiking our way there. We got to Greece, managed to struggle up to the Yugoslavic Border, and we was told not to try to hitch-hike in Yugoslavia it was hopeless, but try and get a lift right the way through to Austria/Germany. We managed to do that.

The first thing we saw when the light came up was Peasant women working in a muddy hilly field next to the "Motor-way" we wer amazed, we wer shocked I thought Peasants was something of the Past, it was something that had died out in Britain hundreds of years ago. We saw these elderly women in their head scarves working by hand on this muddy hill. We saw men walking their bulls by the side of the "Motor-way" they wer feeding their cows on the roadside weeds, the motor-way, which seemed to be made of concrete, had only two lanes.

We had the Police stopping us every few miles, the Police looked like they wer like something out of "Chips", shiny boots, sunglasses, flash motor bikes, the lot! they would radio ahead to tell the next cop, we wer coming, and each time a bribe was handed over to the cop in the Germans driver's passport. The cops looked like they wer out of "Chips", complete replica, but the roads looked like they wer made out of concrete! ?:o.

We needed to get some petrol, we looked for petrol stations, we found some, the petrol stations wer covered in beautiful flags, a beautiful display of flags outside each petrol station, I think it was May Day or something, yet each Petrol-Station had no petrol in it, beautiful flags, but no petrol! they didn't hav staff manning them half the time, which we found out when looking a toilet.

we saw soldiers trying to hitch-hike, they looked they wer from the Second World War, I had never seen that before, not even my Grand Dad looked like that.

We finally arrived in Belgrade, the first thing we saw was a a sloping concrete wall covered in a Propaganda Muriel depicting heroic workers or something, it was just like I imagined the Soviet Union was like, but in miniature. we got something to eat, lined up in some canteen, it was bleak wet, raining, every body was shuffle-ling around, it was just how Communist countries wer depicted in Western films. Every where we went we saw unfinished buildings, homes, we wer told if the buildings wer unfinished that the owners didn't hav to pay Tax on them, so they didn't finish the top floor.

Well, finally we got to the Austrian border, the alphabet had changed when they stamped our Passports, and we wer back in the ...? eh,?Our World, /,the modern World, anyway it was familiar.

I imagin that has all changed now, things hav improved vastly now that Communism is Dead, that was 45-72 Years wasted!. It was one of the happiest days in my life when the Berlin Wall fell.

History / "Westerner's" most ridiculous beliefs about the time of communism in Poland [73]


Were they dubbed into English or sub-titled? Were negative references to the Soviet Union and communism allowed through or wer they changed, dubbed out?

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

if you hav a plural of "You", you must hav a plural of the possessive case of "You", as in English, "Yours". do you?

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

More background info for me:

Are you* Polish people glad you* hav a plural of "You"?

Does it make life easier?

(*straight away it shows the need for a plural of "You", i think)

Ziemowit, you are right they are archaic words, not quite slang more a vernacular of a particular area

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

Which is which, Jon? Which is the plural and which is the singular? "Thee", "Thou".

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

Are you English, Lyzko? you seem hav an incredibly intimate knowledge of English to know stuff like that? Yes, you are right there is still the archaic, "Ye", which I hav heard mostly from Irish people, maybe we English should bring it back.

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

In English speaking countries you will notice there is a grasping towards having a plural of "You", usually not accepted as acceptable English, in Ireland you got, following grammatical logic, "Yous" , in the Southern States of American, they hav "Y'all", in cockney London they hav "You Lot". Was you surprised by the lack of a plural in English when you first came across it, people?

Language / Does Polish have a plural of "You"? [51]

and what's the singular?

is this a formal/informal distinction as in French and some other languages?

Would you like /find it easier if English had a plural of "You"?

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


did you hav Black children in your school? your first class? I hav a photo of me in a pram with some Black girls looking at me, 1964. I had foreign neighbours until i was 14, i had everything, Indain then African, then Italian, Indian/finnish and finally Chinese.

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


,,and before that was? hence the plus sign, you was ruled by Russia (via a puppet government) from 1945-1990, you had only just got out of it.

What assumptions did i make about Poland?

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

Rysavy, you are a fraud your English is worse than mine and certainly not American.

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


Before the recent influx, I had met ONE Polish guy in my whole life, again on a kibbutz in Israel by now in my twenties, he told us what he had to do inorder to "escape",(pretend he was going to Yugoslavia) - you didn't travel, certainly not like we in Western Europe did at the same time and certainly not as much as you do now, that's not your fault, that's Stalin's fault! (not Churchill's incidently) and it was incidently, on that same trip that i met my first Russian, we treated him like some rare exotic specimen, we wer fascinated by this guy from "Russia", saying inane things like , "hello" to him. Unlike you Poland, we wer very familiar with People from other countries, my Best Friend came from Guinea, another best friend parents came from Guyana, we had West Indians, Indians, Pakistanis, 1 Chinese, Italians, Greek, a Turk or 2, an African, (we didn't hav many in those halcyon days), and even some boys from Chile and of course all the sons and daughter's of Irish immigrants including boy George's Brother, Gerald at my schools, I don't think you had that in your school. I lived in London nearly all my life and we hardly ever met people from behind the Iron Curtain, almost absolutely never! i suspect the few that did get to Britain wer the sons and daughters of the privilege Ruling Communist Party Elite, the spoilt Brats of the Communist Aristocracy. We used to feel sorry for you, and worry about you, and prayed one day you would be free! We wer over-joyed with the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

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


Lyzko, I don't think you get the point I am getting at. Even since I was 18 and first went aboard, to a Kibbutz in Israel 31 years ago, I come across this constant sneering about British (and other English speakers British, Irish, American, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, Jamaican, West Indian, Guyanese, South Africans, so on and so forth) not speaking other languages, the implication is we are not intelligent, but I ask you (again) what language do you want us to learn?

If there was Two World Lingu Francas we would learn the other one.

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

*Why would Polish people learn French 20 years + ago? You wer under an oppressiv Government that would not allow you out of the country and certainly not to travel to France, a Western country.

Are you saying Polish children are cleverer than British children because they can speak English? That seems to be what you are saying.

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

What you "stop-start" learning English?

You all learn English.

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


What is this meant to say exactly?

>All those kids learn those languages? and learn them with ease?

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

Severely dyslexic.

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


It is NOT a case of just not bothering, it is; WHICH ONE?

You Poles say you hav 7 neighbours, for us it is like having to learn the language of every single one of them, I doubt very much you Poles speak even one of your neighbour's languages, but if you learn English you can speak to EVERYONE single one of your neighbours, there is a big insentiv to learning English, it is worth the effort.

How much of an asset learning English is and how wide spread it has become, I will giv you an example; today I was in an Chinese restaurant, when I group of Oriental people came in, I assumed that they wer Chinese, but when the waitress took their orders, she had to speak to them and they to her in English, I found out later they wer Vietnamese people not Chinese. So you hav two countries on the other side of the World, right next to each other, and they hav to communicate to each other in English!!!! I think it shows how International English has become the World's lingu franca.

Also it is easier for you to learn English than for us to learn another language.

1. You are all taught English at school, in England we do learn foreign languages, but one school will teach French, another school will teach German, that school teaches Spanish, and another school, trying to be all trendy and right-on, will teach Mandarin or some other language, like my niece's school, and since she has changed schools, she's stop learning Mandarin, and is now learning another language. You don't hav that "stop-start" non sense we hav, you can always add what English you learn to the English you hav already learned.

2. It is worth making the effort as we hav discussed before, no matter how much it is ******* you off it is still worth persevering learning English for all the rewards you are going to get., no English speaker has that incentiv.

3. You watch England language programs and films all the time, pick up a bit of English all the time - I think i hav watch two Polish language (with sub-titles) films in my life.

4. Even today, decades after it started, Pop Music, Rock Music what ever you want to call it, is still over-overwhelmingly in English. I don't think we hav ever had a Polish language Pop song in our charts, I can only think of about 4 foreign language songs that hav got into our Pop charts in the last 50 years, one of them being Gangnam Style which is in the charts at the moment, the others a Hebrew song in the 70's, a Spanish holidaySong in the 70's, una polona Blanca or something like that, there are probably others, but your charts are full of English language songs, and we all know how teenagers love Pop Music and culture, that is another source and insentiv to learn English, which they are already learning at school and watching on Telly at the same time.

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


really? it is funny how people percieve langauages. The worst sounding language I've come across was Hebrew when I lived on a Kibbutz, it sounded like they were clearing their throats all the time.


I hav no idea what this is meant to be saying? is it humour or something? it is difficult to tell.