the POLSKI blog

Blacksmith Shop by Czeslaw Milosz - click to view large

Those of you who live in London are probably familiar with Poems on the Underground, a Transport for London initiative to display short poems in Tube carriages. From tomorrow, you will also be able to read Polish poetry on London Underground as TfL is celebrating centenary of Czeslaw Milosz – a well-known Polish poet, writer and Nobel Prize winner.

The latest Poems on the Underground collection features Blacksmith Shop by Czeslaw Milosz himself, but also Nothing Special by Zbigniew Herbert and Star by Adam Zagajewski.

Milosz, who emigrated from Poland and subsequently became an American citizen and a lecturer at University of California, Berkeley, translated Herbert’s and Zagajewski’s poems into English. Zagajewski, who also left Poland for Paris, is best known for his post-9/11 poem, Try to Praise the Mutilated World.

Star by Adam Zagajewski - click to view large

Zbigniew Herbert was also one of the most recognisable and most cherished Polish poets. During WWII he became a member of the Polish resistance and in the 1980s he was a poet of the Polish opposition.

Judith Chernaik, the founder of Poems on the Underground, said:

“We hope that Londoners and visitors alike will enjoy this latest collection of poems which celebrate one of the greatest Polish poets of our time.”

The Poems on the Underground programme has been so successful other big cities – including Warsaw – have launched similar initiatives on their respective underground/metro systems.

Nothing Special by Zbigniew Herbert - click to view large

But if you can’t spot any of the Polish poems on the Tube – or don’t travel on the Underground that often – you will be able to pick up a leaflet with the featured poems from five Tube stations: Embankment, Covent Garden, South Kensington, Russell Square and Moorgate. They will be available from June 10th.

UPDATE: Thanks to Transport for London I can now share with you the three Polish poems chosen to be displayed on the Tube. Click on the above images to read the poems. Those of you who want to learn more about the Tube can do so from the excellent Going Undergound’s blog by Annie Mole (who first let me know about TfL’s plans to display Polish poetry).

Today’s papers quote the Office for National Statistics which claims that

“Between the year ending December 2003 and the year ending September 2010 the Polish-born population of the UK increased from 75,000 to 521,000″

It also claims that in recent times immigration of Polish people has declined:

Immigration was highest in 2007 at 96,000 Polish citizens, but this declined to 39,000 in 2009. Emigration has also decreased from 54,000 to 29,000 over the same time period.

But what’s really interesting are the employment figures:

In the first quarter of 2011 an estimated 82.1 per cent of Poles aged 16 to 64 were in employment, compared with a rate of 70.7 per cent for the UK as a whole.

Which to me suggests most people still come to work, and not to claim benefits as some would make you believe. I won’t go into detail how various papers decided to interpret the data – those of you who live in the UK can probably guess. Some of them claim that many Poles decide to return to the UK after failing to find jobs back in Poland.

Have you noticed a new influx of Polish migrants? Are the above figures credible - and more importantly, do they bother you?

Image Copyright joellybaby via Flickr

Oh, I do like getting good news. Who doesn’t?

For the second year in a row, this blog has been nominated in the Language Lovers contest and I need your support! One of the reasons why this blog was set up was to teach people all over the world some useful Polish phrases and some basic vocabulary. My approach is always the same: I try to keep it simple and focus on useful or seasonal phrases. There is usually some context and not too much complicated grammar notes. Not everybody is – or wants to be – a linguist and I believe an audio file with a brief explanation can be much more useful than a long-winded explanation.

And while this blog focuses on modern Poland in general – from its cuisine to its culture – my mini language lessons (all grouped under the oh-so-clever “Polish your Polish” category) prove to some be the biggest traffic drivers for this blog. The most popular of all lessons I’ve published so far is definitely the one which explains how to say “happy birthday” in Polish.

The guys behind Language Lovers 2011 appreciated my efforts and my blog was nominated in the Language Professional Blog category, which is fantastic. If you have enjoyed my lessons – or if you think they might work for other people interested in Polish – please do me a favour and do the following:

1 – click on this link and on the Language Lovers 2011 page scroll down to find The Polski Blog – and vote for me;

2 – tell your friends about the blog and ask them to vote if they like;

3 – come back for more

As without you, this blog would not exist. Thank you!

Move over, spaghetti bolognese, pierogi is about to kick your ass. Well, maybe. Europe is falling more and more in love with Polish food, according to a quality Polish daily, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.

Last year Poland exported 13.3 bn euro worth of food. That’s a lot of kabanos. But Europe – and Germany in particular – wants more. In the first quarter of this year the number of food items with a “Made in Poland” sticker sold to other European countries rose by about 6.5% compared to the same period last year.

Polish food might be yummy, but it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted. Not sure what it says about the changing eating habits of our European neighbours

But Poland itself loves its meats too. Oh, very much so. Euromonitor International has just published a 900-page report called “Who Eats What”. Poles are in the top 20 most carnivorous nations in the world. An average of 74kg of meat is sold per head yearly in Poland, which makes Poland the 12th most meat-friendly (if that’s the right expression) country in the world.

Although we still have a long way to go before we catch up with Argentina, where, according to the same report, almost 116 kg of meat is sold per person every year. *burp*

And what’s your favourite Polish food?

Yes, that’s right. Daillly. It’s not a typo. And it’s not Groupon either. Although it feels a bit like Groupon. But this new Polish (but very international in its reach) site built and developed in Szczecin has taken the concept of social shopping to a new level.

To stand out from the crowd, our service delivers the most beautiful daily deals with custom, full-screen offers – each deal is different, giving our clients great and unique exposure for their fantastic content

says Luke Miler, founder of Daillly and CEO of Picco, the Szczecin-based creative studio behind the site.

So far, so good. And as you can see from the screengrab, the site does look fun and fresh and changes daily (or should I say daillly?). But what does Daillly actually do? Here’s Luke again:

Daillly takes social buying business model that we love and use it to feature discounts on cream of virtual and online goods from the best games, apps and services online. We are also building gamification platform that will be a big part of the service, making daily deals more fun and social, where you can earn points, achievements and rewards with your friends. Our clients line-up includes companies from USA, Finland, Germany, Spain, South Korea as well as Poland.

If you’re based in the UK, the site – at this stage at least – doesn’t have any UK-specific offers, but the Daillly guys tell me it’s just a matter of time.

It’s good to see a Polish online service which goes international from day one, combines social shopping with great design and seems very ambitious. Hope it works for you guys!

But you’re probably asking – what’s the deal with those three letters ‘l’ in the name. As I was told by Marcin, one of the Daillly guys, Daily and Dailly were already taken….

I noticed something different about today’s Guardian. The front page felt very Polish. It was white and red, like the Polish flag. And had I had my morning coffee, I would have realised instantly that it wasn’t a coincidence. But instead, I needed a few more minutes to notice a very obvious Polish theme running through the paper and its website today.

Poland has become the focal point of this week’s edition of The Guardian’s New Europe mini-series, which over the past three weeks has focused on Germany, France and Spain. This obviously makes me happy. This means that Poland is no longer just a supplier of sexy baristas and enthusiastic plumbers. It’s a country people want to explore and get to know better.

So has Poland succeeded in its attempt to readjust to the new reality, to being part of the European Union? How are the Polish enjoying the New Europe? What should the British know about and maybe even learn from the Poles? This, I hope, The Guardian will show us on its pages over the next few days.

Timothy Garton Ash, who knows Poland inside-out, and who has seen it many times before when it was still a Communist country, writes that Poland is getting to grips with being normal and gives countries like Egypt hope. (Coincidentally, he also mentions the widely-used English words I wrote about in February). You can see modern-day Poland through the eyes of a typical young family from Krakow, read about what life is like for young people in Poland and how the country prepares for Euro 2012.

There’s a great gallery of images from Warsaw by David Levene, there is some Polish business, lots about the Polish culture and Polish food. There is also an article on Polish stereotypes. Are Poles really homophobic?

This week The Guardian will also publish podcasts focusing on Poland and football, and Polish literature; there will be a look at how emigration has changed the face of Poland and how new waves of emigration could continue to do so. Also, something close to my heart, a look at the Free Silesia movement (many Silesian people will declare “Silesian” as their nationality in this year’s census – something I should perhaps write about more soon).

The Guardian did a great job. They are even sending someone to Krakow and they will explore the city solely based on tips received via Twitter. (You can tweet your tips to @BenjiLanyado)

A few years ago I set out to write this blog and tell the world more about Poland than a few old stereotypes. I’m glad that in 2011 a major British newspaper does the same.

Spread the word…

Feeling adventurous? Fancy a bit of whitewater rafting minus the whitewater? Want some stunning views and possibly some equally amazing stories thrown in? Well, hop on a plane to the south of Poland, where you can go rafting and explore the fantastic Dunajec River Gorge.

1. What is it

The Dunajec river runs through a very picturesque gorge (Przełom Dunajca), whose peaks rise over hundreds of metres above the water. The rafting is organised by local flisaks (“flisak” is an old Polish word used to refer to those who transport people or goods on rivers). They have special boats, or canoes, which take up to 20 people and travel almost 20 kilometers downstream to the town of Szczawnica. On the way you pass through the Pieniny National Park with its mind-blowing views and lush nature.

2. Where is it?

The gorge runs through the Pieniny Mountains which are in the south of Poland, near the Slovak border. In fact, part the river itself forms the border between the two countries.

3. Why bother?

It’s stunningly beautiful and unique. The flisaks have been doing it for well over a hundred years and they have plenty of stories to tell and, if you’re lucky, songs to sing. The views of the gorge are breath-taking and it’s definitely at its best in the summer or in early autumn, when the colours of the trees begin to change.

4. And you don’t want to miss…

The most famous peak, Trzy Korony (The Three Crowns), a distinctive mountain rising over 900 metres above the river.

5. Want to know more?

The season usually starts in April and ends in October. You can find out more from the official Pieniny website.

Image of The Gorge © Leszek Kozlowski, Flickr, used under the Creative Commons licence
Image of the river © Thomas Ritz, Flickr, used under the Creative Commons licence

Polityka, one of the oldest and best Polish weekly magazines, has launched its Kindle version. I’m not sure whether it’s available for other ereaders too, but the Kindle version is surprisingly good.

Polityka – despite its title – doesn’t just focus on politics, but is a high-quality liberal weekly whose topics span a wide range: from politics to science, from history to culture.

The publishers admit that the reason why they launched the magazine on Kindle – which has just a handful of users in Poland itself – is to reach Poles living abroad. You can buy just one issue for £2.99 or pay £5.99 for a monthly subscription, which actually doesn’t sound bad. However, when you compare to prices paid in US dollars – $1.99 and $3.99 – the Sterling prices sound like a rip-off. But that’s beside the point.

My suggestion is that – if you’re a fairly advanced Polish learner and own a Kindle – you should give it a go. There’s nothing better than learning a language from relatively well-written, real-language sources like newspapers, magazines, or blogs.

The experience is surprisingly good and user-friendly. There are no ads, almost all articles come with images (yes, there are black and white, but still clear enough) and the whole issue is divided into easily-navigable sections and articles. And the good thing about Kindle is the fact it works on any platform – so even if you don’t have the reader itself you can still use the Kindle app on your PC, iPhone, Mac or Android device.

And if you already own a Kindle, you know that most magazines come with a 14-day free trial, which you can cancel at any time.

It would be brilliant if more Polish publishers followed suit, although if you’re interested in Polish ebooks for Kindle and other readers, there’s already plenty of choice and many of titles are available for free.

A good place to start is ebook.pl (in Polish), where you can download samples and/or whole books (including free ones – click on the “darmowe’ tab). There are also some magazines and audiobooks there too.

The biggest Polish bookstore, Empik, has also launched an online ebook shop.

Password Incorrect is a great Polish blog – partly written in English too – with great resources and links for all ebook fans.

Miłego czytania!

P.S. I guess I should get myself an iPad now and see what’s available in Polish there…