Food / Traditional Polish Foods [42]

Pizy can also be quite delicious, though not alone (in my humble opinion). I enjoy them as a side with a main dish of nice wędlina and kapusta!

After the meal digestive of choice?? Well, there's always a shot ot two of Żubrówka following dessert and some good strong coffee:-)

Gettin' myself famished here, he-he!!!!

Food / Traditional Polish Foods [42]

Bigos, or "hunter's stew" consists of pork sausage (kiełbasa) sliced, picked cabbage etc. and is perhaps the most iconically Polish dish with which your's truly's familiar:-)

I love the stuff, could eat heaping helpings of it (..washed down of course with a solid Polish beer such as Żywiec).

Study / Questions about studying at UAM In Poznan ( US citizen ) [14]

Yet SOMEBODY out there has to teach the Poles English! It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do itLOL

Life / Do Polish people have a problem saying "I don't know" or "no"? [13]

I've noticed though that the European regression is still going in a different direction as compared with that from which it originated. Europeans are frequently mired in their academic arrogance of thinking that they know better because they've LEARNED better. American ignorance is to believe that they too know better precisely because they HAVEN'T learned it, and therefore are mired in their lack of knowledge to begin with.

Neither option's that good,4eigner, I'm with you on that:-)

Life / Do Polish people have a problem saying "I don't know" or "no"? [13]

Indeed, Solaris:-)

Sadly, we here seem to bow down to ignorance.

Life / Do Polish people have a problem saying "I don't know" or "no"? [13]

Many Europeans don't wish to appear at a loss for correct information, imagining somehow that this makes them seem stupid or ignorant instead of merely human:-) Americans are on the whole, far less concerned with the opinion of their fellow citizens as regards intellect or cultural knowledge. Heck, we voted for W. twice, didn't we?LOL

News / Der Spiegel: "Poles are now the masters of Europe" [49]

I never suggested they were perfect, but cut 'em some slack for heaven's sake! Come to think of it, how's the air in Wrocław?

lol

News / Der Spiegel: "Poles are now the masters of Europe" [49]

To anybody who doubts the veracity of the SPIEGEL article (which I've yet to read, by the way), I suggest they check out the news clipping "Kraków: Cud nad Wisłą" from several years back and to which I've aluded on previous occasions right here on PF. It's also available in English (Cracow: Miracle on the Vistula) and shows the amazing resilience of this once proud capital city.

The Cracovians can really pat themselves on the back!

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

Aha, now I see the difference!
Many thanks once again:-)

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

Your explanation is most complete:-)
Much appreciated. Having learned "the basics", as you call them, long ago, I still need to refresh them from time to time. Same with your English, I'm sure. On the whole however, it's quite good.

Occasionally too, I'll confuse "Przemysł" (the town near present-day Ukraine) with "przemyśl" (industry) when I write, though oddly enough, not when I speak.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Wow! Many, many thanks for this great link, Magdalena! I must print it out as soon as I can:-)
Hardly to nitpick, but a contrastive analysis between Czech and POLISH would have been even more useful. Don't suppose there's any shortage of eitherLOL Would appreciate a heads up on that authored in either the Czech, Polish, English or German language ^^

Will at least slog my way through the first))

Read and re-read your link, Magda! Unless I'm missing something, I still don't see how Czech grammar is "more" difficult than Polish. They're both aspectually challenging, I'll say that for them:-) Haven't as yet discovered any particularly Czech wrinkles that distinguishes it substantially from Polish.

Perhaps I'm simply slow ^^

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Exactly what do you think constitutes the greater level of difficulty in Czech, I'm curious?

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

...however in stating the year, wouldn't one say "dwa tysiące czternastEGO rokU", or, meaning "In 2014.." W dwa tysiące czternastYM rokU...."??

Occasionally I also get confused on this point:-)

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

Agreed, lunacy! And for this explanation, I'm as always of course no end grateful:-)

I'd be pleased to correct any of your English texts (naturally off line)
marekzgerson@yahoo

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

As I said, I as a non-native Polish speaker will see the same idea in a completely different manner. It's rather like when Poles write in English. The words may be in the right place, yet the sentence has a noticable "foreign accent":-)

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

And yet the verb implies ability! It's all a matter of interpretation, really. You interpret the sentence correctly as a Polish native speaker and I interpret it differently as a non-native speaker:-)

Law / Starting a business in Poland ( English language services ) [11]

It's the same here in the States for English teachers from other non-English speaking countries who often speak English as poorly as, worse than or only slightly better than the students whom they are supposedly "teaching":-) It merely sullies the reputation of the entire ESL industry, making it a dumping ground for quacks and buffoons, almost as much as the medical fieldLOL

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

Thank you, lunacy! Of course it ought to have been "....POTRAFIĘ 'dojechać'/...", dokonany vs. niedokonany... Really sorry for the typo.
Thanks again. It was a typo, however, I knew the difference. Twenty-twenty hindsight, I supposeLOL

Language / What is the difference between BYĆ W STANIE, UMIEĆ, and MÓC? [18]

A further wrinkle in expressing ability in Polish is the difference between "umieć" vs. "potrafić", both of which can be translated as "to be able to".

Nie UMIEM po polsku. = I am not able (IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE) to speak Polish. vs. Nie POTRAFIĘ dzisiaj dojeżdzać pociągem na zajęcia. = I'm not (PHYSICALLY) able to take the train to class today.

In the former, you COULD speak Polish once you knew how being as you are presumable "able" or "capable" mentally, whereas in the latter, you may not be in the position for whatever reason to use public transportation in order to physcially get to school.

Does this make sense to you?

Law / Starting a business in Poland ( English language services ) [11]

Good luck, Abby! Sounds like a very useful service, desparately need in PL ^^

Learn a little Polish while you're at it though. Remember, the most important language worldwide isn't English, German, French, Mandarin or even in this case, Polish; it's the language your CUSTOMER/CLIENT speaks:-)

I had a freelance translation and interpreting service myself many years ago.
Again, hope you can make a go of it! If you'd like any tips etc.. marekzgerson@yahoo

History / Alexander the Great - Macedonski. Poland connection? [254]

Just curious there, Nick ol' bean! "Rubbishing" doesn't exist in English, that's all:-) Well guess what, I don't speak Greek, so you're one step at least ahead of meLOL

History / Alexander the Great - Macedonski. Poland connection? [254]

"Rubbishing"??? Do you mean perhaps "besmerching"?

History / Alexander the Great - Macedonski. Poland connection? [254]

The late Austrian-born conductor Herbert von Karajan always liked to claim that his paternal family name was 'Karajanis' and considered himself 'Macedonian', when in fact the Karajanis' were purely of Hellenic, i.e. Greek, originLOL

History / Alexander the Great - Macedonski. Poland connection? [254]

Sonnabend, 8. Februar 2014

Not entirely certain I see the point to this "lecture" (Vortrag) on Macedonian geopolitics, suffice to add that I for one have always been aware that the Macedonians are ethnic Slavs, Southern Slavs to be even more exact, despite their historical and cultural proximity with Greece.

Danke fuer die Erlaeuterungen:-)

USA, Canada / Bilateral Visa Waiver Agreement between USA and Poland [47]

Many American tourists of the Jewish faith have recently (re-)discovered the beauties and those remenants of Jewish lore in Zakopane:-)

Language / Polish or any Slavic language key to any other Slavic languages? [126]

...which can sometimes lead to mildly humorous situations, such as by mistake asking your Polish friend/colleague, "Ktory czas?" instead of "Która (jest) godzina?" owing to possible language interference from "Ktorij tjas?" etc..

Language / Polish or any Slavic language key to any other Slavic languages? [126]

Maybe he means "soft" in the sense of "palatalized", like certain Russian consonants for example. I'm only guessing here though, I can't get inside his head.

Personally, I find Russian at once coarser sounding, at the same time almost lazier than Polish because of it's extreme palatalization of "n", "d" and "t". When Poles chat, both men as well as women, they often sound to me as though they're chirping rather than talking:-)

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

I continue to make mistakes, Gooze, so I'm not even going to attempt an authoritative explanation which might well end up confusing instead of clarifying. That's the annoying thing about mistakes, isn't it; once you make them, like a pc virus, they're next to impossible to rid from one's system, often remaining forever even long after the correction's been made and digested:-)

Suffice to say this much re: number, gender and class: Dwie polki szły dzisiaj na spacer. = Two Polish women (females) went for a walk today.

Dwaj panowie szli dzisiaj na spacer. = Two gentlemen (virile "living" males!!) went for a walk today.
Dwoje dzieci szło dzisiaj na spacer. = Two children (neuter "non-virile", even if male!!!) went for a walk today.
FIne up through FIVE:
Pięć polEK szły......= Five Polish females.....
Pięćiu panÓW szło...... = Five gentlemen .....
Thus far I'm almost rock-solid certain and so I'll stop:-)

Lithuanian too appears to my eyes a pretty conservative language, although I've never made a formal study of it.

Language / Letter 'ą' and 'ę' pronounciation before 'z', 's', 'ś', 'ź', 'ż [21]

The links which lunacy posted I've found very useful. It freely admits (in the Polish version from Rada języka polskiego) that there is often zero way of knowing every single time which noun is which gender just based on the ending, e.g. "goŚĆ" (m.) BUT "koŚĆ" (f.), or "kreW" (f.), "breW" (f.) BUT "zleW" (m.) etc.....

Most noun gender as well as their class and or number must often simply be learned by heart!

Rock on, gang, keep 'em a-comin':-)

Language / Is there a traditional expression used as a welcome? [18]

I appreciate the correction, Paulina.

Here again, the pitfalls of "dictionary translation":-)