Question about studing Polish history and culture

Dear all,
I'm a Chinese student and I just graduate from my university. My major is International relations and I used to be an exchange student in Warsaw university for four months. After that I was deeply attractived by the history and culture of Poland. So I'm planning to study humanities in a Polish university. I know that Warsaw university is the best in Poland but I prefer Jagiellonian university. Because it is one of the earlist universities in Europe and I like krakow. But the problem is I don't know which one of them has a better reputation in humanities and if I need to take Polish language class first. So if there any one who can answer my question? Thanks a lot

Well, Zihao Song, although one city I've never visited, Jagiellonian University in Cracow has Polish For Foreigners offered at any level and seems to have a modestly good reputation.

I only know this because the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York, at that time in conjunction with Hunter College, used to have exchange programs with the above school every summer and I heard only positive things. I almost went, but unfortunately I couldn't coordinate the trip with my concluding grad program at City University.

Best of luck to you! Powodzenia!

@Lyzko Thank you! I appreciate your reply.

My pleasure! Z przyjemnoscia!

@Lyzko
Firstly we do not start a sentence with a single letter word in Polish,
Secondly we use diacritics in Polish,
Thirdly not "z przyjemnością" but "(cała) przyjemność (jest) po mojej stronie".

Really?

lechpoznan.pl/aktualnosci,2,przepraszam-w-imieniu-zespolu,28212.html

Second paragraph contains an example of just that. First result I found on Google, but there are many more.

Polish allows you to start sentences with a single letter. Perhaps you are betraying having learnt Polish as a second language with such comments.

No, Delph, he's merely being his usual trolling, !@#$-hole little petty self, that's all! Ignore him:-) He knows full well that I above all know Polish diacritics, but just happen to be keyboard challenged ever since PF removed that option!

@delphiandomine
It's a mistake. Actually in Polish you should avoid starting the sentence with one sylable words all together and not just 1 letter ones.
Two foreign idiots that can't speak Polish try to teach me basics lololo


No Polish speaker would say "z przyjemnością" in your case, moron.

Only idiot is you, because there's no rule against it in Polish.

Foreign idiot that learnt Polish in Saturday School trying to tell us what is and what isn't Polish lolol

You need a lot of teaching. Not a single po polsku post from you in almost 16k posts u commited. You're hopeless. I bet even a chimp (or jon357) would pick up some Polish in that time lololo

Wherever did you get that idea? No Polish writers I have ever read seem to know about those rules, and writing according to those rules would result in some rather bizarre reading. Can you give an example of even a single writer who follows your so-called rule? Of course not.

@DominicB
Well. Thats what i've been taught in Polish school years ago. And it is EASY to avoid doing that. It just takes knowing the language. (you don't know it obviously)

Here. This is popular sports portal. Show me ONE thread starting with ONE sylable word (abbreviations like "MŚ" and "NBA" and own names like "Lech" excluded).

It's not a grammar rule but it is considered "neat".
WAITING.

You were the one that claimed that it was a mistake.


Now you're admitting that it's not a rule, but it's considered "neat".

I think your Saturday school teacher was making it up in her head.

I highly doubt you were, unless, perhaps, you had a teacher with some pretty bizarre ideas of their own. And no, it is neither "easy" or desirable, to follow those rules without sounding very odd indeed. Nor is their any possible motive to do so, in Polish or in any other language on this planet. There isn't anything "neat" about it. I can guarantee that will not find mention of your "rules" in any Polish style guide.

Exactly. Jak, to, czy, are three common words that start a lot of sentences.

ye there is a kind of unthinking person that just bleats out the 'rules' that some teacher has told them 20 years ago. A popular one here is 'never end a sentence with a preposition'.. really? who says? This is the kind of bullshit up with which I will not put.

@jon357

Just looked at my copy of Lalka, the paragon of good style in Polish, and the whole book starts with "W". As does the next sentence. There's not a single page in the whole book that does not have a sentence that starts with a single-syllable word.

Exactly. Believing that to impertinently split infinitives is wrong, was based on the old idea that Latin is somehow superior to Germanic languages and that English needs to unfortunately fit itself to the principles of Latin. Just because Latin didn't, to be 'pure', English shouldn't.

Much the same in Polish - some very archaic ideas still float around. The grammar of a language is a description of how it's used, not a set of set of rules that can never evolve or be challenged.


Yes, tons of such examples. Sometimes sentences start with Ów or Im too - uncomfortable for a learner, however perfectly possible (and in current use) in Polish.

Daddy brings a book upstairs for his child's bedtime story, but he brings the wrong one.
"Daddy, why did you bring that book I don't want to be read to out of up for?

Oops, should be "What did...

I think that it is time for Poles to remember the huge contribution that Polish Jews have made to Polish history and culture.
Stanislaw Lem was one of those many great talents.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem

A clip from Solaris;

youtube.com/watch?v=BxfMfQvUlfs