h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... I'll be sure to print a copy of this article to take with me. Good stuff.

One omission; shouldn't 'Don't Panic!' be added added to the emergencies section?

Ernest

I'm from Poland and I think this article is very good.

tak dobra

I have visited Poland twice, and right off the bat, I must say that Poland retains a few of the wonderful traits that are lost forever in my country (USA)...

1. Most things are closed on the weekend. You can buy food and travel accommodations on the weekends, but the banks and currency exchange kiosks don't operate at all on Sundays and their hours on Saturday (if any) are REAL SHORT! In other words, if you need Zloty from your traveller's cheques for the weekend, make sure to get to the bank early on Friday (the lines are long and they move slow -- wear comfortable shoes). This may be a bit inconvenient, but it is also essential to maintaining the relaxed and friendly attitude that envelopes the entire country, as most folks over there get to enjoy the weekend, whereas those of us in English-speaking countries must work over the weekend, especially those of us in the service sector.

2. You can literally pay for your transportation for a song! Yeah, one time when I was riding the tram in Gdansk, this guy with an accordion got on and started playing beautiful music, and when he was done, he held out his hat and all of us in the car threw in coins and he paid his fare.

3. Poland is BURSTING WITH MUSIC!!! Yeah, nowadays, you go anywhere and there's music piped in over the PA. However in Poland, this practice has been raised to an art-form because (1) they have found even more places to pipe music into, and (2) the music is actually good!

4. These people are REALLY FRIENDLY to foreigners! Once they have gotten over the fact that you have chosen to visit THEIR COUNTRY rather than SOMEWHERE ELSE, they are all your friend.

5. For all of you Anglos used to the fast-food culture, here's some advice on ordering food from a kiosk. Go up to the kiosk, order the food and pay. When you're done doing that, by all means, DO NOT stand at the kiosk and wait for your food, as this is offensive. Instead, please sit down at the nearby table provided for your comfort. The staff will bring your food to you when it is ready.

6. Unlike most countries which have emerged from Soviet domination, Poland is mostly devoid of runaway pollution and dreary concrete-panel "architecture."

In other words, I arrived in Poland thinking, "This country is insane!" I left Poland thinking, "My country is insane!"

Cheers!

Thank you all for your comments. It's especially lovely for this entry to be praised by a Polish speaker, since my mother tongue isn't Polish.

Hope you all enjoyed the entry.

- Aïna (the researcher)

I live in Ireland, and there are around 150,000 Poles living here. That's around 4 or 5 % of the Irish population.

So if some foreigners says that they have good memories form Poland and even Poland is not "insane" the question is: Why do Polish people go abroad?

While the only reason was I think was the better jobs. This is same everywhere, I came from abroad to Uk for better life.

About Polish people and language, I found people really nice. Very nice. And I am trying to learn phrases too which is not easy but not difficult too. I like this language.

I got some friends who are Polish and I love to talk them in their own language.

I wish I can speak fluently this language and then I wanna visit Poland too.

One more thing where I can get more pronuncation of Polish Language. I tried to search on internet but couldn't find more then few ones. I dun wanna spend too much money too.

Very nice! Polish is not so difficult, but U have to take care about grammar (!)

U can find some Pronunciation on Wiki (U can try on Polish Wiki) I don't think there is any on-line free course.

If U have question write me.

polish is really hard to learn! but im enjoying learning it
though i dont know anyone polish to test out my speaking to..... only my maths teacher but her thinks im a freak already!

the phrases weere reallllllly useful though! thankyou :D

Has anyone tried BYKI dot com for free Flash cards with good pronunciation examples?