Language / Help with homework (Polish language learning) (Hurra! Po Polsku - Level 1) [10]

Besides the usual resources on the 'net for looking up conjugations and declensions like pl.wiktionary.org or sjp.pwn.pl, I find the book "301 polish verbs" very helpful, esp. in explaining the use of aspect dokonany vs. niedokonany (in this case: when to use oglądać and when to use obejrzeć).

btw., there is also this "official" słownik: wsjp.pl/ and here I found something I could not decipher: what is the difference between oglądać and oglądnąć? or - unrelated: biegać vs. biegnąć? Those -nąć forms seem to be very rarely used (13.000 hits on oglądnę vs. 13 million for oglądam), but they are used. My friend and part time teacher, a polish native, has no idea. Any takers?

Travel / How available is internet/wifi in Poland? [24]

I have a SIM card from play.pl. It is 49zł per month (Internet na kartę == prepaid) for unlimited LTE and the speed is usually fast (Warsaw, Kraków). I use it on an Android smartphone and if occasionally I want other devices to connect, I open a hotspot on the phone, works as usual (I have never found that any provider would block tethering as that would be technically very difficult to implement, as long as one doesn't use anything from Apple).

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]


is this really the most important factor for voters in the Sejm elections? probably not, since all polls asking for that vote show PiS having a continuing commanding lead with a similar margin as in 2015: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Polish_parliamentary_election frankly, my answer to "kto lepiej reprezentacje Polskę w Europie?" would be "kogo to obchodzi?".

Projections for the 2019 elections today are not only to be taken with a grain, but with a boatload of salt, considering the huge fluctuations in pre-2015 polling. PO then lost the elections in the last couple of weeks(!): niepewnesondaze.blogspot.it/2015/10/w-tygodniu-przed-wyborami-4.html


that would be in line with general polling. 60% don't like her today, and ~62% did not vote for her in 2015.

If you have only 50% election participation, the key to winning the election is high turnout of our own base. It pays better off to energize your own base than to try to win voters from the other side. In this regard, voting against Tusk was a cheap move to keep their own base happy.

Life / Cost of living in Katowice, Poland [53]


saving more than $1000 per month after taxes and expenses is hard even in the west, considering that he has not only to house and feed himself but also his - most certainly - non working wife. It would be easier in an english speaking country where the wife would have a better chance of also finding work.

Work / I have to decide between two job offers, Berlin vs Wroclaw [44]

As Italian, you will be able to learn German much quicker than Polish and since mastering the local language is key to success, I would recommend Berlin. If you can make like 1500€ net, it would not be a terribly low wage either since the minimum wage in Germany is around 1300€ gross and a lot of Berliners are earning that.

News / Mysterious death of Magdalena Żuk on holiday in Egypt [144]


indeed, that is the law since 2002. They just have to bring a separate photo which the Egyptians will affix onto the visa, that in this case will be issued on the spot as a separate document at the point of entry. French, Belgian, Italian, and Portuguese citizen enjoy the same privileges. All others EU citizens can also obtain a visa at the point of entry (with the exception when coming from Israel), but they need a passport.

source: egyptian-embassy.de/konsulat

Life / Settle in Poland, which city is best? [30]


There is a special section for tax liabilites for "Pensions and similar payments or annuities received" and here, the tax is only paid in the country where you are residing.

finanse.mf.gov.pl/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=d0d095d7-3959-420c-bcc4-93173c754c93&groupId=766655

Language / Some German loan-words in Polish language [17]

there has been a whole book written about that subject but here is a first collection:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanizm

Work / SAP Consultant Salaries in Warsaw, Poland. [16]

there is a new version of that HAYS report out:
teraz-srodowisko.pl/media/pdf/aktualnosci/2982-hays.pdf

News / New European Council's report: "Poland oasis of racism, xenophobia and homophobia" ... [343]

m.fronda.pl/a/najpierw-zabita-wiewiorka-teraz-opluta-muzulmanka-kolejna-kompromitacja-gw,95295.html

Lublin police says that nothing happend. As if the police during a time when there are boatloads of soccer fans in town would have anything else to do than to follow up complaints about being treated not overly nice. They should save their outrage when they are getting raped - which will happen sooner or later as soon as they are back in Germany anyway.

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


Poland first ;) He just had a presser with Duda

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


do you have reliable numbers on that? Polish sources indicate that russian gas is more expensive that that from its competitors:


uk.reuters.com/article/poland-gas-idUKL5N1HE35H

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


according to cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/countries/PL , from the 2014-2020 ESI budget, €4,31/18,25zł bln have been spent so far. If he was talking about 20, he was actually generously rounding it up.

For sure, the bulk of the budget is still in planning stage but since money only flows for actual expenses, he is more than correct so far.

News / Officials in Poland are hailing an upcoming visit by Donald Trump [720]


not necessarily, considering how inefficient Germany spends money on its military. In 2011, Germany media reportet that "German soldiers mostly don't know how to use their weapons." ( thedailybeast.com/german-soldiers-in-afghanistan-cant-shoot). Since then, it's only gotten worse. The latest failure was with a new transport plane, a lot of money was spent on, but it is not working: dw.com/en/german-air-force-investigates-latest-airbus-a400m-glitch/a-37464284

Currently, there are only 7,000 (!) Soldiers ready to fight (at least they can try). For every actual soldier, 50 personnel is employed in the bureaucracy. Compare this to France: there the ratio is 1:10.

They might well invest a couple of billions more but might end up as helpless as they are now.

News / Poland has accepted over a million Ukrainian refugees. Why does the EU keep telling propaganda about Poland? [304]


I don't. Japan also had a vast colonial empireen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_colonial_empire where they ruled with an iron fist. They were humiliated to a greater extent than Germany in 1945 yet there is not a hint of any guilt in Japanese society. It is common understanding in Japan they their culture is unique and has to be preserved, they do let invader.. erm., asylum seekers only in minuscule amounts into the country (number of asylum grants in 2016: 28. no, that is not 28 thousand, that is twenty-eight: reuters.com/article/us-japan-asylum-idUSKBN15O0UV). The Japanese do something differently or are wired differently, I do not know.

On the other side, this autogenocidal cancer of opening all borders has even affected peoples who have already been victims of conquests themselves like the Poles or - most suprisingly for me - the Estonians, who themselves were driven close to extinction only one generation ago. Yet they also voted in the EU to receive muslim invad.., erm., "migrants". Just baffling.

News / Dodgy PRL-holdover judiciary finally reformed [420]

There is no thing as a totally independent judicial system because that would be undemocratic. In all western democracies, the members of the supreme courts are appointed by elected bodies. In the USA, this is the president in combination with the senate. In Germany, for the highest civil and criminal court, it is a commission composed of the 16 regional ministers of justice and 16 members of parliament and for the constitutional court, it is parliament itself who elects the judges. In the US, ever lower court judges are political appointees.

Of course what follows is that if one party dominates the legislative chambers over a long time, the judiciary will follow suit. It is up to the electorate to decide if another party should have the chance to reshape the judiciary.

USA, Canada / Sending a phone from USA to Poland [6]

Most care should be put on the LTE bands the phone supports. There is quite a distinction between the frequencies used stateside vs. Poland: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands

LTE bands 1, 3, 7, and 20 are not at all covered by some (most) phones sold stateside because providers there are using different frequencies.

Even with the same model, there can be significant differences. The Samsung Galaxy S8 SM-G950P will not work in Poland, the Galaxy S8 SM-G9500 will work fine. Check the model you want to ship here: frequencycheck.com

News / Bankruptcies in Poland up by 15% [4]

the comparable figures for Germany and Austria are 10,300 and 2,574
creditreform.de/nc/aktuelles/news-list/details/news-detail/insolvenzen-in-deutschland-1-halbjahr-2017.html
ksv.at/insolvenzstatistiken

for the UK, I have only 1Q2017: 3,967:
gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/611370/Q1_2017_statistics_release_-_commentary.pdf

418 in Poland for half a year? With 1/2 and 5 times the size of Germany and Austria, a number around 5,000ish would be plausible. 418 is not possible, there is something wrong with that number.

Could it be that they are not counting the rejected petitions for grounds that the debtor's assets were insufficient for the payment of the expenses of liquidation? These are usually the bulk of petitions but not counting them (although no formal declaration of insolvency is issued) makes the number useless because a rise in this number could actually indicate an improving situation.

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]

latest polls show PiS gaining ground in the last 3 months again:
oko.press/sondaz-oko-press-pis-najmocniejszy-wyborow-opozycja-najslabsza-sejm-prawicowo-narodowy
interestingly, the strongest party amongst the 18-24 old voters is K15. And: Wolność - Korwin-Mikke's party - polls at 14% amongst this young crowd.
For me it is an encouraging sign that both in the general electorate as well - and maybe even stronger - in the young generation, parties who work against mass immigration have a big majority.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


no. Judges on the German TK (BVerfG) are elected by parliament for a single 12-year term and they cannot be removed before their term ends. A judge only loses his job after a criminal conviction. In reality of course, the government chooses the judge and election by parliament is mostly a formality since the goverment's part(ies/y) has a majority.

This is the same process as in all other western countries. Appointment is by democratically elected officials, but removal is not possible.

That now in Poland it should be possible for the goverment to cancel the terms of already serving judges on the TK is an anomaly, but one could argue that it might be prudent to make a one-off restart in order to eliminate the remaining remnants of the PRL. A restart that should have been performed at least 25 years ago though.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


maybe in the coming years, but not so in 2016:


ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2017-european-semester-country-report-poland-en.pdf

but let's say that the full EUR 86.1 billion will be distributed throughout the 2014-2020 timeframe, we are talking about EUR 12,3 billions per year or EUR 320 per polish citizien per year or EUR 27 per citizen per month.

and we are talking gross inflows here. The goverment spends PLN 18 billions (EUR 4 billions) in EU contributions in 2017: mf.gov.pl/documents/764034/5945940/20170630_state_budget_expenditure_V_2017.pdf

so there is only a maximum inflow of EUR 8 billions net targeted to specific projects and we are down to EUR 210 per citizen per year to EUR 17,5 per citizen per month.

And this is the maximum, which is never reached. One year before the end of the 2007-2013 program, only 61% of these funds were actually distributed and in the end, more than 10% was never paid at all: insideurope.eu/node/487

To further compare the numbers, let's look at FDI: com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_Attractiveness_Survey_Poland_2017/$FILE/EY-Attractiveness-Survey-Poland-2017.pdf]
we had for every year since 2005 an annual investment from foreign entities of more than USD 1,000 billion in Poland and on average USD 830 billion in greenfield investments, meaning building facilities like offices and factories from scratch. Outflow of funds is on the other side comparatively low, some USD 50 billion.

Compared to FDI, EU funds are a drop in the ocean. And I have not even started to analyse how efficient that EU funds are put to work. Not everything is going into obviously useful projects like building roads, bridges, and railways, but there is plenty of stuff devised by EU bureaucrats that has at least questionable value.

Considering Brexit will diminish the source of funds together with lagging countries like Italy also not able or willing to pony up lots of money, starting from 2021, CEE countries will have to live with less EU funds anyway and I project that nobody will really notice.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


which version of Art. 7 TEU have you been reading? The current law of the land can be found here:
eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:12012M007 and Art. 7 sec. 2-3 are as follows:


While the proposal needs to be made only by 1/3 of the Member States or (in the case of Poland) by the Commission, there is a need for unanimity in the Council to "determine the existence of a serious and persistent breach". Only if this unanimity is reached, paragraph 3 again works with the Lisbon qualified majority rules. But without the preceding unanimous vote, §3 cannot be invoked.

Although I wonder if they even would get a qualified majority.

UK, Ireland / 31 year old Polish man causes accident under influence of alcohol and kills 8 [198]


dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4829456/Polish-born-drink-driver-31-court-M1-smash.html#ixzz4rLjwhADQ

Pictures from the crash site:
front: thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/nintchdbpict0003481307282.jpg?strip=all&w=960
above: worcesternews.co.uk/resources/images/6758773/?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen

So the polish driver actually was not "driving a truck that crashed into an innocent family" but parking his truck in lane 1 of the highway. It is still a criminal offence, esp. in combination with being drunk, but for me his personal guilt is much lower compared to would he actually been driving and hitting somebody. It seems that he realized that he was too drunk to drive and parked his truck in - if the pictures indicate his actual position - the most safest spot on that highway.

It is on the other side rather questionable why the van was there in the first place, since there is an exit ramp right before the place of impact. But even if he were to stand in the slow lane, every motorist shall only drive as fast as for him it is possible to stop when he recognizes an obstacle on the road, even at 3am. Other drivers were obviously able to avoid hitting his truck, considering that he was already standing there for some 12 minutes and the M1 is a busy motorway even at 3am.

Language / Instrumental case "To Jest " and "Jest" Need help with correcting my examples in Polish [17]


yet if być is preceded by a demonstrative pronoun (ten,to,ta,ci,te), the instrumental is not used, even when put together with an adjective:


wprost.pl/10038166
I still fail at this regularly. btw., why to and not ta?

about the negation requiring the genitive: this seems only to modify the accusative:
oglądam telewizię / nie oglądam telewizji
ma mleko / nie ma mleka
będzie czas / nie będzie czasu
znamy adres / nie znamy adresu

być requires either the nominative or the instrumental, for this reason a negated być is not modified with the genitive.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


are they talking about leśniczy (forester) or a robotnik leśny (forest worker)? foresters earn on average 6,600zł: wynagrodzenia.pl/moja-placa/ile-zarabia-lesniczy, but forest workers only 1,500zł:

moja-pensja.pl/zarobki/666,ile-zarabia-Robotnik-le%C5%9Bny

the forester should be the guy responsible for an area of forest, so for him to earn more is comprehensible. The average robotnik earning 6,6k or even 7,7k - very probably not. Others I found:


one article from this year claims the average Firefighter salary to be 4125 zł brutto:
superbiz.se.pl/wiadomosci-biz/zobacz-ile-zarabiaja-strazacy-infografika_949262.html


the officer on the street seems to take home only 2,500zł:
superbiz.se.pl/wiadomosci-biz/zarobki-policjantow-w-polsce-ile-dostaje-drogowka-i-komendant_939496.html


a bit lower: wynagrodzenia.pl/moja-placa/ile-zarabia-sanitariusz

with all the public sector wages, tiny base salaries can be deceiving though since usually a lot of dodatki - supplements - are added. But you will not - like anywhere else - get rich by working in a public sector job.

Language / Instrumental case "To Jest " and "Jest" Need help with correcting my examples in Polish [17]


thanks, it's really the same as in German


is there ever a correct way to say brakuję (mi)? I see that a lot - if you enter that phrase in Google, you will get >50.000 hits, but according to 301 Polish Words, this form does not even exist.

Work / Poland - Expat Careers [26]

I would try monsterpolska.pl/en?intcid=swoop_TopNav_English and linkedin.com/jobs

btw., also with my employer, we use "expat" for a specific purpose: employees from foreign subsidaries working here for up to 5 years. Expats continue to be paid by their home company + some extra allowance. All others are "local hires" - regardless of nationality.

Study / I'm thinking to study in the Wrocław University of Science and Technology [55]


by chance, hence the name "lottery". The minimum requirement is a high school education, that's all.


you also need living expenses covered


I get it, you don't like your government. I can relate to that, I don't like mine either. While mine isn't throwing people in jail by the thousands, I can still easily lose my job, get a fine, or even a short jail sentence for "speaking my mind". I also want to move away. But there is no rush. They will not come for me tomorrow if I shut up. So I will do that. I keep a low profile, continue to collect a good pay check and use the time wisely to acquire the skills necessary to move in a couple of years.

I would suggest to you to do the same. A B.Sc. in Computer Science is basically the same everywhere. I am very sure you will learn programming at e.g. Atatürk University similarly well as at any other uni. And even if it is not up to par, you can always put in extra work on your own. But you can get that diploma for almost free at home at a state run uni. So I would save my money, maybe earn some extra, and wait to move until I have the skills to start to work - anywhere in the world.


same as in some US schools. But the good thing about computer science is that they cannot meddle with the technology, because here, there is no wiggle room: either your code is doing what it's supposed to do - or not.

News / US Investor seeks 700 million dollars in damages from Poland [45]



wasn't PO in power back then?