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

For whatever it's worth, the first time I heard (Brazilian) Portuguese spoken, it sounded superficially like Russian, better yet, Italian spoken with a Russian accent, because of those palatalized final dental "t's", the liquid "l's" and that sort of drawling quality of Russian.

European Portuguese may be a different story.

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

Polish language classes are a dime-a-dozen in Warsaw. Definitely take advantage of them:-)

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

Do you mean you think it would be better to learn some of the local language "on site"??? I couldn't understand what you meant exactly:-)

Many foreigners who have difficulty with English might do well to hire an interpreter in their country to help them with the language a little. Only a suggestion.

Life / I am moving to Warsaw. (Could anyone tell me about life there?) [49]

Endo-san,

I'd imagine Japanese food must be hot as all hell in Poland! You'll probably do great over there:-)
We wish you luck!

Powodzenia,

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

It takes time! Polish grammar is hardly intuitive, its idiocyncrasies not always transparent to natives much less foreigners:-)
Don't throw in the towel though! Slog on and review, review, REVIEW......

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

The most in-depth contemporary "brick-and-mortar" Polish grammar I've ever seen in English remains "Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar" - 2012 by Iwona Sadowska, both in paper as well as hardback, published (naturally!) by Routledge Press, London:-) An older reference grammar by Brooks from the 70's put out by Mouton, The Hague, is long since out of print, only in a hardcover edition, I believe, but a wee bit academic, therefore, less practical.

This newer one has umpteen charts and declension tables, though slightly less info on verbal aspects than I would've liked.

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

No, but being that the language in question is Polish, it darn well shouldLOL

Language / A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects. [64]

Pani Sadowska's somewhere in between:-)

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Sounds like a trolling post to me too.You could just as well substitute "..young German...", "English...", certainly, "Dutch..." people and probably come up with the same stereotype of generalized behaviors:-)

We Yanks ain't so hot abroad either, hence the expression "ugly American"!!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

You're NOT welcome (..both in response to your thanks as well as on this forumLOL)!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

It wasn't you, it was the insensitively provocative nature of your initial post which has prompted some tart responses!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Amen, dude!

If people think Polish folks can get sarky and you have little to any experience with Germans or particularly Russians, brother, you ain't seen NOTHIN' yet:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

I once knew a gentleman from Berlin whose family name was "Doebberthin". Presumably, just a typical Slavic-sounding German surname from around the border area:-)

Genealogy / Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?) [85]

The cross-pollination over the centuries between Polish and German, particularly as regards surnames, is insane! Half of German "-wicz" family names are of Polish proper or even of Polish-Jewish origins. Polish last names such as Sztarernberg or similar spellings are almost always German, sometimes also Jewish:-)

Genealogy / Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?) [85]

Quite so. What with borders changing hands (both during war as well as peace time!) every so often, the Slavo-Germanic mixture is scarcely surprising. This includes also Jewish populations who naturally adopted the place names of the villages/shtettls in which they were living:-)

The other half might well be Czech, even Rumanian, i.e. Banat-Schwaebisch:-)

Genealogy / Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?) [85]

At this point, I definitely wouldn't rule out the option.

Genealogy / Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?) [85]

Again, while it's most likely Polish, it could well have been morphed from some other related tongue! Names do get garbled, you know.

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Makes sense:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Well, it's in the eastern part of Germany, probably populated at one time by Sorbs or Wendish-speaking people who coexisted for centuries with ethnic German populations. I've been throughout all of Germany, that is, following the collapse of the Wall. Neustrelitz is fairly homogeneous in the sense of lacking the diversity of larger German towns or cities, notably Berlin, Leipzig or Dresden.

Eastern German place names tend to end in "-witz", "-litz", e.g. Prittwitz, Goerlitz, Koestritz and the like. Older Prussian settlements attest to Baltic elements, predating even Germanic territories!

Genealogy / Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?) [85]

As do many Scandinavians, even prior to the Vasa dynasty:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

MANY Eastern Germans as well as Eastern German towns have distinctly Slavic-sounding names, though in all likelihood Wendish, not Polish (such as in Lusatia), e.g. Bad Doberan etc.. Many place names with "Dob-" are obviously of Slavic origin. Polish, being an East Slavic language like Czech, Lecithic, Sorbian and Wendish, but UNlike South Slavic Bulgarian or Croatian, will resemble these types of names:-)

History / The Legacy of "Mietek" Moczar [3]

One Jewish man I met from Warsaw actually had the gall to say, "Ah, well his girlfriend was Jewish!" "So was Franco's!", I added, but what difference did that make? They were both pretty rotten!!!"

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Indeed, my goof! So sorry:-)
At least I didn't confuse you with being a Silesian or a CashubLOL

Life / Health system in Poland one of the worst in Europe: report [78]

For routine stuff, getting blood pressure checked, obtaining information about run-of-the-mill ailments without imagining the doctor's going to trick you just to get more money out of the deal (worse yet, NOT tell you about something because he WON'T make a goldmine off of you!!!), any place has got to be better than the US. If women's services are bad right here in NYC, how lacking must they be throughout the rest of the country??

Admittedly though, for more complicated, delicate procedures, involved plastic surgery etc..., the US probably still leads the way. Hey, I'm the first to admit it when my country does something right:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

I'm frankly not all that familiar with Wendish names, either personal or place:-) "-ski" pretty much stock Polish, possibly Russian as well. I can recognize Wendish, having travelled throughout the Eastern part of Germany and passing various bilingual town names.

Other than that, I wouldn't want to mislead you!

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

One man's mix is another's pedigree:-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

"American" is a nationality, not an ethnicity (except of you mean Native, not European, American):-)

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

Not only isn't it "safe" to say, it's downright false as well!! The single "ethnicity" throughout the Americas is the Asian-derived Siberian immigrants known formerly as "Indians"LOL

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

A BORROWED culture, an APPRENDED history....from Europe, later from the Pacific Rim! Our aboriginal culture we hopelessly and ruthlessly eliminated!!

Genealogy / Help needed about my Polish surname, Dobbert. [73]

As far as I know, the original inhabitants of Poland were "racially" Lecithic ethnic populations, later intermarrying with their Germanic neighbors while at the same time retaining their original homogeneously "Slavic" vs. "Germanic", "Baltic", "Uralic" or "Latin" ur-culture:-)