Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]

But it would lack the same connotation. Murzyn would usually be black man in predominantly white society whereas bialas would be white man in predominantly white society...


I'd probably use their name

Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]

OK fair enough. How about 'ten biały' or something? That would be a statement of fact in this circumstance..

Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]


Oh I'm sorry - are you talking about me here?


Were you in the Labour party during that time? It would explain how you know so much about party policy, not to mention also why you now live in your mum's attic.


Indeed. If we assume that 'black person' is used to mark out people that are different, then 'white person' would be redundant. Why would you need to say 'look at that white slavic-looking Polish person over there' when you live in Poland?

Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]


You've hit the nail on the head here. Making some sort of equivalence between 'brit' and 'paki' is commonly used when defending racist statements and, from the point of view of language, they are both abbreviations. However, the usage is of course different - I don't remember seeing 'Brits out. or f**k off Brits' painted on my house or hearing it shouted when bricks came through my window, as has been the experience of many British Asians with Paki (which incidentally seems to be a bucket term for all people from South Asia)!

Language becomes offensive when it offends, and racist language is ugly because it is designed to offend and is perceived to be so.

The question is whether murzyn falls into this category. It certainly marks someone as different but does it do so in an offensive way?

Love / Why do Polish women prefer foreigners for boyfriends and husbands? [418]


Help me out here. How does being Jewish preclude you from being Polish anyway? Judaism is a religion is it not? Can you say 'more Polish than Catholic' or 'more Indian than Hindu'? Of course not.


I agree, hot cheeks. Now go get me a sandwich :)

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


True. I guess the degree functions as a gatekeeper though - keeping the 'undesirables' out of certain professions - more than actually training people to do jobs. It'll take a fundamental shift in public perception to acknowledge that many jobs that graduates now do could be done by a school leaver with some life experience and a bit of common sense.

Still, with the expansion of the private sector, who knows?

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


Interesting. Do you really think that the success of an education system is measured purely by its ability to 'teach numeracy and literacy'? There's nothing more? Well, not if all you want are graduates able to work machines in factories I suppose.

Anyway, the big problem with being a teacher in Poland is that the system is geared towards passing exams. When you teach a language, you are only training students to pass an exam and anyone with a coursebook and a working knowledge of the target language can do this. The profession has become so dumbed down that I'm not surprised that teachers have no respect from management, students or indeed, other teachers.

Walk into any state sector teachers' room and you will see it filled with people smoking ciggies and moaning about how unfair it is they earn so little and only get 4 months' holiday a year to spend in their second house in the country (paid for by hubby). They keep their jobs because the system makes it impossible for natives who invest in their own development (CELTA, DELTA etc) to compete with them on equal terms.

It would be interesting to see if this ties in with other people's experience of other sectors.

Love / What do Polish guys think of Irish girls? [187]


How can a half-caste be inbred, Cletis?

News / Polish President Lech Kaczynski and gov officials die in a plane crash in Russia [682]


Good point. How did the jews arrange that?

Study / Medical Study in Poland [22]


True. The teaching infratructure here is nowhere near as developed in the UK. I'd doubt the students in Poland get as much benefit from their time at uni.

Work / Polish qualifications, what are they worth ? [137]


Might be changing now thanks to the Bologna system...

Work / Do Polish employers regularly fire pregnant workers? [4]

Thanks but my wife has friends who were fired soon after taking maternity leave. She also used to work in an HR department where the management team would pressure her into doing the same.

It sounds like the usual thing - you shouldn't get fired but everyone ignores the regulations...

Work / Is it normal for companies/schools in Poland to be rude? [116]


As Pantsless says, not worth spending time on. I can inderstand what you've written here from the context and remember that many natives also say fink fought and free.

The big problem with schools in my opinion is the huge burdern they carry from the public sector - the chaos, the apathy and the lack of concrete results.


Spot on. This should be part of a CELTA course, but then again anyone not in denial learns it in their first year. Is this also typical of the rest of Poland?

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]


Thanks for taking the time to write, whatnext. Sorry to hear about your situation and I hope it improves soon - these things go in cycles after all and things can only get better as the song goes. Many folks in your position would be beating on the Poles by this stage (metaphorically) and it's good to see you have a view of the bigger picture.

The way I see it, it's an issue for the factory owners and other big fishes in the UK; They want migrant labour because it's cheap and disposable, two trends that have been running hot since herr (frau?) Thatcher's term back in the 80s. This screws the British worker, screws the Polish worker (working at minimum wage for 3 years in a factory in Walsall when you have a degree?) and ultimately screws the rest of the local community.


I totally agree. I would add legislation to force employers to offer the same conditions to Brits and foreign labour (if it could be done) but the government will never agree to this when there's so much cheap fresh foreign blood to be poured into the machine. The only way is to wait it out to when Poland's economy starts attracting the workers back, and it will soon - not everyone wants to work abroad.

Best of luck to you and your husband

Work / International House - Kracow school - any chances of being offered a job there [59]


It's a sad fact that the English teaching market in Poland is driven by price not quality. School owners want bright and bouncy 21 year olds straight off a degree, ideally with a CELTA, who are going to entertain the customers and not have an opinion on teaching. They'll complain that 'natives are unreliable' when these 21 year olds stay in the pub till 2 in the morning on a weekday but it's a fair trade at the end of the day because they won't start demanding better standards like a more experienced teacher would (eg Being paid. On time. As agreed)


Very tempting. Do that for two years and save up - you could move back to Poland and take the next 5 years off....


Who was teaching you? Magda and Basia?

Work / International House - Kracow school - any chances of being offered a job there [59]


It'll give you a lot of tricks to help you through your first few weeks in your first job but it won't really help you deal with the management or the biz in general. Remember that teachers are the ******* of education - everyone beats on them: management, students and even other teachers.

Still Krakow is a beautiful city and a perfect place to study for a month or so. Things might have changed over th last few years but the staff used to be some of the best I've met. Worth considering if you've set your heart on a CELTA.


You had a dishwasher? And a washing machine?

Work / I'm interested in teaching in Poland and I need some help. [33]


It sounds like PASE has changed a lot from when they did the inspection on my old school - it was joked that all that was required was to take the inspectors out for a meal and give them a nice hotel room. They missed the lack of work visas, the poorly coordinated programmes of study and the irregularities with teachers' contracts.


So true


Thanks! Help yourself to a coffee it's over there by the station

Study / Is Poland a good place to study for Black Africans? [90]


True, but to be fair Poles will stare at anyone they think is the slightest bit different to themselves - nationality, social class, other side of town, richer etc...

Work / I'm interested in teaching in Poland and I need some help. [33]


This is the kind of guy you're competing with to get a place in a language school. Don't worry you'll be ok.

There's a big list of contact details for private schools here: ang.pl/szkoly_jezykowe.php

Otherwise, sticking to the bigger chains will usually guarantee more professionalism. Bell and IH always pay on time and they at least make an attempt at teacher training and care.

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]


A - "Hej, Magda!"
B - "Marta!"
A - "Jeden pies..."


Sounds about right...

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

What does 'jeden pies' mean?

History / Why will Poland always be the puppet of America? [159]


I find that hard to believe, as anyone who can appreciate a gang of clowns throwing pies at each other can appreciate Polish politics

Food / What's your favorite Polish beer? [870]


Maybe so - a lot of the Polish breweries have been taken over by the big multinationals and they look to cut costs. It might even be that their own beers are just pumped out in Poland but under a Polish brand - Zywiec is basically Heineken these days...

Study / American Muslim girl thinking to go to Medical school in Poland... [87]


Congratulations! Keep in touch - it's good to know a doctor or two.

Study / American Muslim girl thinking to go to Medical school in Poland... [87]


Be prepared for a lot of staring and giggling from people in the street. They do it to everyone though because most of them have lived a very limited life. Violent / aggressive incidents are very rare or unheard of but you might well get unfriendly behaviour in offices from time to time. Then again, that's the same for everyone...

History / Poles in the Napoleonic era [224]


What was bad about Napoleon anyway? If he had unified Europe, there wouldn't have been any world wars

Study / American Muslim girl thinking to go to Medical school in Poland... [87]


Not really. A number of Americans study at Lodz medical school. I guess it's cheaper than the states.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]


Mongolia - Mongoloid
Lesbos - Lesbian
Crete - Cretin ?

Study / American Muslim girl thinking to go to Medical school in Poland... [87]


Shame. The problem is these little idiots always do this kind of thing when they know they can get away with it. A female colleague got her crotch grabbed by some Polish while she was walking past the school we were working. Of course the pervert ran off as soon as he could.

.. and you can whistle if you think you'll get any help from passers by...