Q&A: Living in Poland, Missing the U.S., and what am I even doing here?

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POLISH UPDATE COMING SOON! IT WILL NOT BE GOOD!
Find me on Instagram: emma.witter
Business: emmawitterchanel @ gmail.com
I am NOT currently available for English lessons
MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO
Track: Suspense Piano
Music composed and recorded by Oak Studios
Creative Commons - Attribution ND 4.0
• [No Copyright Music] S...

[@filipambro495]

Emma, you're right. We watched this film ,,Fine, I'll learn Polish" and we're really proud of you. We're waiting for an update of your learning Polish :)

[@michaelg.7520]

Why she has to learn more polish if she didn't want to live in Poland anymore? Honestly, why do you care?

[@iceboundraiders]

@@michaelg.7520 She doesn't have to, but we're just happy that someone who isn't from Poland tries to learn even some of the language. Besides, learning a new language is always a good idea, even if you are not going to use it a lot/at all. It enables you to look at some things from another point of view and that can be useful, it expands your horizons and if for some reason it also happens to be useful then good for the person who is learning a language.

[@iceboundraiders]

@@michaelg.7520 And why would someone care? The answer is simple, it is just entertaining and people like to watch others try something new and challenging at the same time, even more when they feel a connection to it.

[@adamkozakiewicz6766]

@@iceboundraiders And learning languages is a skill. Learning the first one is the hardest. She's doing herself a favor if she'll ever move somewhere else and need a different one.

[@booboss]

Learning Polish should be like the "final challange". If you learn Polish you automatically unlock knowing every other language... (maybe at least every European language).

[@caregivergirlk]

Great work! I married a Pole. We met in Toronto. His closest family lived in Warsaw. At age 70 (less than a year ago) I have moved to Warsaw, with him, after visiting here many, many, many times! It is JUST THIS MONTH (slow learner) that I am finally getting the hang of the language, and am really falling in LOVE with Warsaw and Poland. I agree with you…longer time here would be better. But you are young, you may return if the desire overcomes you! I found, and still find, the Polish men in my social groups very interesting and engaging! But YOU will do well, no matter where you go! Such fun listening to your podcast. You must make your family incredibly happy and impressed! Thanks for sharing!

[@Anna_Fortunka]

I have so much respect and admiration for people who are brave to make such leaps in life! So glad you're enjoying yourself here in Poland. Best of luck to you and yours!

[@robertslomka6658]

Wow wow wow! What a lovely story of your own. Best wishes for you !

[@amjan]

Polish words are 3-dimensional (3D), as opposed to English words which are totally flat (2D). And as 3D objects rotate in space they seem to change shape, because you see them from different sides. For this reason Emma/Emmą/Emmo/Emmę/Emmie/Emmy is the same word, just seen from a different angle in the 3D grammatical space ;) This is so much more efficient, organic and beautiful! In English you actually have a bit of that with pronouns, which have an accusative case, so you don't say: "I like he" or "I see they", but "I like HIM" and "I see THEM" instead. 'Him' and 'them' are different (accusative case) forms of those pronouns. You also have the possessive case where e.g. you change "Emma" into "Emma's" to describe a thing that belongs to Emma ("It's Emma's car.") instead of saying sth cumbersome like "It's a car of Emma".

[@Nivailo]

Such a great allegory with this three dimensional space. Take your upvote.

[@miker4284]

That's a very good explanation.

[@michaserafin5776]

Polish language is on a whole new dimension :v

[@andr27]

Tx God these shit is not 4 dimensinal

[@szapio8480]

​@@andr27 Your mom will if she eats more junk food

[@towelie1313]

Oh dear god, the "how are you" question still haunts me. I was once online friends with a few Americans and they once staged a full blown intervention for me because I always answered truthully to "how are you"s, without understanding it's basically a stock phrase. No one ever explained that to me at any point of my English education. The Americans said I have bad vibes because (like most Polish people) I always complain 😂

[@peterholy953]

Don't feel bad. Their "How are you?" phrase is beyond stupid and hypocritical. Yes, Poles have tendency to complain but it is better than this American insufferable fake enthusiasm and compulsory obligation to pretend that they feel fabulous. They take way too much Prozac.

[@aleksandrawitkowska299]

It's fascinating. I once asked my British friend if he actually expects an answer when he says "hi, how are you?" whenever we see each other, and he actually doesn't even expect me to respond with anything else but "hi, how are you?" or just "hi".

[@caregivergirlk]

@@peterholy953 I was brought up in Kansas. I lived most of my life in Toronto. And now live in Warsaw, Poland. I would love to chat about the differences in the social skills of greetings and their interpretations. Anytime.

[@MarekzAnglii]

@@aleksandrawitkowska299 Urodziłem i wychowałem się w Anglii... i dokładnie tak jest.

[@mpingo91]

This difference is beautifully described in the novel by one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Józef Mackiewicz, "Nie trzeba głośno mówić". _"When a Pole says to an Englishman:" how do you do? " It's like saying "how are you?", I want to know how are you. When an Englishman says to a Pole: "how are you?" it's like saying, "I don't care at all, and I do not want to know how you are."_

[@patryksakowicz5285]

This part about Poles hating each other is pretty spot on but need some explanation 😉. We don’t necessarily hate each other just because, we rather hate opinions of others. We are pretty pretty stubborn people and we do not like when others tell us what to do in terms of how we should percept surrounding world, we get piiissed 😂. And these are usually fights like Democrats vs Republicans in the States. Two very opposite sides of the axis, Religious vs non-believers, right-winged vs left-winged, old vs young etc and we basically hate the fight itself and that we can’t change the opinion of others because we are sooooo stubborn 😔

[@Wilcza_]

Right

[@kape2469]

Hahaha....so true! 😄 While the germans have started in the recent years to avoid to talk to each other when they have different opinions. They are practicing cancel culture. I know the polish way, and I prefer it. It's more honest, even though not all opinions are correct, sometimes they are too emotional. They may be stubborn, but they don't exclude and ignore each other totally.

[@aak8297]

Every Pole has a right to hate another Pole, but not a single person from outside should do it, that's when we unite!

[@Robert-ht5kd]

Warsaw is the meanest city in Poland go to Gdynia and you will see less mean people.

[@tymoteuszgoscinski]

@@Robert-ht5kd or Cracow

[@caciliawhy5195]

I've had Polish people apologize to me for their English and I'm like no, I need to apologize to you for my Polish. I'm in your country, I should speak better. And if English and Polish fail, I speak advanced German and then there's Mr. Google. It always works out.

[@3kcozadurnylol]

Why we "conjugate" nouns? To be able to move them around sentence as much as we like! :D The word order in Polish is way more free than in English. It has many advantages by the way ;)

[@mateuszkuczkowski7518]

Exactly :P

[@99nerka]

I thnk this "poles are cold" comes from the fact we do not do "fake smiling" and pretending "everything is ok" that is kinda prevelent in USA.

[@mike-ivy]

Co racja to racja ! fałszem jest szczerzenie się jak piła tarczowa gdy dusza nam płacze ... Jest to gwałt na samym sobie ...

[@filipstanczak9884]

If somebody has the RBF, it's the person's business, not somebody's else. Those Poles who do not like the Polish society because of the "cold faces and not smiling to each other on the street" are ridiculous. Let others live their lives 😀 (what these hypocritical haters are often saying when it comes to other matters)

[@caciliawhy5195]

Wah, wah, wah. You move to a strange country and try having nobody talk to you and nobody say hey let's just go get lunch or let's just go get a coffee because they're closed off I tell you what I will take a friendship in an English speaking country any day in the beginning and it might not be a real friendship but hey at least you're not in a country for a year and a half and have no f****** friends. Sometimes all you need is someone to do something with once in a while.

[@filipstanczak9884]

@@caciliawhy5195 C'mon I'm not saying that we're killing strangers here for saying anything to us 😀 I just wanted to point out the strange phenomenon among some Poles who want others to look as if they were happy, even when they have no reason for it or just have serious facial expression, because of anatomy, personality etc. If somebody wants to find a friend here, the friend will be found, don't worry 😀 I think Emma found them🙂

[@lesiakadam1977]

Adorable, as usual :D Here are some tips (16 years living in Ireland and explaining stuff to my Irish friends. Applies to Yanks ;) as well): 1. In my opinion the main difference between Polish people and Irish/Americans/English is that we have rough, grumpy surface but once you get to know us (or we get to know you) we will be much more friendly, honest, kind and willing to help you. In general. 2. Polish guys, we are more hmmm.... proud? More serious? Not in bad way, just sometimes it might seem like we have no chill, but we can be cool. It's hard to explain... It's just a cultural difference, that's hard to overcome for foreign people. I don't know how to deal with that, but I thought it might help you understand us a bit better. 3. Learning few Polish words goes a long way! We have suffered a lot in the 19th century to keep the language alive (google: Germanisation of Poles during the Partitions), we know it a difficult language to learn and we really appreciate your effort :) 4. Żubrówka. Originally there was only one type of Zubrowka, kinda herb-like with a grass straw in the bottle. It's very well known type Polish vodka worldwide. Put it in the FREEZER for couple of days and mix it with chilled apple juice (you're welcome! tastes like shite on its own or warm). Eventually the company decided to start making pure vodka under Zubrowka brand. The picture you pasted is WHITE Zubrowka. Yikes! Not gud!. BUT: Black Zubrowka (which is twice more expensive) is absolutely amazing, especially chilled. Very pure and no hangover the next day (that's how you judge the vodka purity :p ). Probably the best Polish vodka is Belvedere Vodka, which is 3x the price of Black Zubrowka. 5. Soplica Pigwowa (fruity vodka) - have it on ice and just sip it slowly. You're welcome! :) 6. We hate each other? Well we like to argue a lot when we have strong opinions about something. There might be another cultural difference there too: as you have noticed we don't do well with this bullshit small talk. We just go straight to the point, most of the time in a polite way. And people in Poland appreciate that, it's nothing wrong. Here in Ireland I was a bit shocked to learn, that without this customary small talk I am being perceived as rude or something... Oh yes, and we like to complain a lot too. That's what we have in common with Irish people actually :D 7. It breaks my heart you gonna miss a summer in Poland... It's really nice over there. I die a little inside, every time my Irish colleagues say they didn't like Poland all that much. "Maybe because you went there in November to visit Auschwitz, you prick?" Do yourself a favor and spend some time travelling in Poland in late May and June. Go to Gdansk, go to Krakow when the weather is nice. You will like it more :) 8. Please don't judge the whole country through Warsaw... As you noticed, it has tragic and sad history. And also most of the people there - it's like different state of mind. It's like they think that the whole feckin galaxy revolves around Warsaw :D I hope it helps and you will enjoy your stay in Poland :) p.s. Your sister(?) looks a bit like Iga Świątek (the tennis player).

[@veru6907]

She said 5 months so she's not leaving until June and I'd say May/June is the best weather you can get here. July/August are just too hot to feel comfortable.

[@marcinj2971]

To już 16 lat....

[@Tea_princess]

The funny thing: 1. People from outside the Warsaw think that we are egocentric or percieve ourselves as better than others (I don't know anyone who is like that through my 20 years living here, but ok...) 2. People from Warsaw hate on people who move in here bc they suddenly feel like there are the kings of the world and they deserve everything because now they live in the capital :))))) So who is right? Personally I think that judging such a huge group of people as 2 million is a stupid generalization and just can't be accurate... Also, I don't want to be mean, BUT xD what do you know about us if you live abroad for so long? Even if you come here few times a year your view of Poland is quite incomplete and selective by default.

[@veru6907]

@@Tea_princess I saw a post on a Facebook group where someone needed help with some tram or sth like that and gave the name of the stop without saying it's in Warsaw as if it was obvious. Stops with the same name were in a few other cities in Poland so there was literally no way of knowing he means Warsaw. There was a lot of people in the comments defending him, saying it's obvious (all from Warsaw), and he himself was pretty pissed at other for not knowing he meant Warsaw. I guess you must be very lucky avoiding people like him, but they do exist and it's not just one exception

[@maciejszulc7798]

Try Soplica Pigwowa with Sprite, it’s great

[@PainstakingPole]

This "conjugation" of nouns and adjectives is called declension. And you'll be surprised to hear that most indoeuropean languages do it to some extent. It's English, that's the odd man out. As to the purpose of declension - it allows for the structure of the sentence to be more fluid, because the purpose of the word in the sentence depends not on its position, but its form. To give you an example, the sentence "Ala ma kota" (Alice has a cat) can be also said or written as "Kota ma Ala", "Ma kota Ala", "Ma Ala kota", "Ala kota ma". In English such shenanigans would transform the sentence into a question or make the cat its subject. In Polish the meaning of the sentence is intact, Alice is still the subject, but moving words around adds a layer of nuance, that cannot be expressed in English. Also - it makes poets and rapers life easier. Whenever they can't find a rhyme, they just move words around ;)

[@georgegordonbrown9522]

Od kiedy to odmiana rzeczowników, przymitnikow to konjugacja?

[@PainstakingPole]

@@georgegordonbrown9522 To nie koniugacja, tylko deklinacja. Ale autorka filmiku tego nie wie. I dokładnie to tłumaczę w pierwszym zdaniu. Więc w czym problem?

[@pawelski99]

I'm pretty sure it doesn't make rapers' life easier. At least I hope so

[@odszczepciesie5128]

@@pawelski99 You made my day

[@frankgradus9474]

Trev in Poland speaks great Polish. With his enthusiasm and determination, he’s an example to the language learning-resistant/persistent Americans. Emmo, don't close the book on Polish (pun intended).

[@isa_2724]

Ok girl, you saying "Lusterko" and "Lustereczko" was just the most adorable thing I've heard this month 🥺🥰

[@dzejrid]

Make it this year.

[@robertslomka6658]

Totally agree!! That was soooo cute!! And the accent was perfect!

[@vlkplz]

Lustereńko, etc. :) In Polish, we can express all the emotions in one word. Lusteruchno :)

[@JesusMagicPanties]

"Rose" and "Rosebud"...

[@raffninja97]

Where we have 2 polish people there are 3 opinions its been always like this.

[@adamkozakiewicz6766]

Not three but four and I'm ready to argue with you about it. ;-)

[@kazikkozakiewicz9983]

@@adamkozakiewicz6766 moja racja jest najmojsza

[@KoRbA2310]

Five! Make it five and leave the room now!

[@KS-tf6nw]

Yeah, winter in Poland is dark and gloomy, but that makes spring so much more enjoyable. Come June, and you will see days that never end (almost). Best experienced in country side without light pollution.

[@Martinus777]

By "spring" I understand you mean the two weeks in May when the weather is neither gloomy and cold nor insanely hot?

[@elciab9499]

"Dowidzenia" sounded very nice, almost like a polish original. Especially 'dz' zadźwięczało properly. Keep going Emma, you doing well.

[@BartoszSewerynWilk]

Now time for you to learn how to spell it

[@polishnorwegianandspanish9145]

It’s so sweet of you to talk about Poland in a nice but realistic way. I love the interior design in your room

[@leopas88]

I lived in Wroclaw for nearly 2 years before Covid hit whilst in Vietnam and since i didnt have the proper visa to get back into Poland, I had to go back to the US....BUT, I do love Poland, even the weatherr, and that's from somone who was born and raised in Hawaii =P. But, since i have received my residency...for SPAIN...close enough...Have fun in Poland =)

[@joannakowal4061]

I'm polish and I love watching your videos, not only to watch you struggle with polish but also just to see your journey and to have some fresh perspective on our country. I don't necessarily think we are mean to each other, but we definitely don't have the habit of faking anything or being nice to the people we don't like or don't care about. I'm not sure it's entirely a good thing, but that's just how we are. And also I just finished 'All the light we cannot see' like a month ago and I loved it, totally agree with you there!

[@PR_nick]

If Poles ask you "How are you" they truly care. I Hope you visit Polish Mountains. Have a nice life .

[@alka_3.4]

''have a nice life'' this sounds like a threat XD

[@Swiatlocien]

@@alka_3.4 For me quite the contrary. It sounds very poetic in its totality. In times when words carried a lot more weight, being basically magic spells, greetings were supposed to bring good luck to your family, friends and allies and what would be the better "blessing" than casting a defensive spell not only over your day but the entire existence? This requires trust that the person will not become your enemy! Sorry, didn't sleep much xD

[@MarekzAnglii]

@@alka_3.4 Young "woke" people who feel the need to highlight their pronouns, consider everything a threat!

[@wotan1028]

ok

[@martynaklimek9979]

Hi Emma, there is something about you that makes me want to listen to you. I think it's your energy, sense of humor and the general presence. You definitely have a natural talent so I hope you use it in your future career. You can probably make videos about anything and people will want to watch you 😃 Looking forward to another video!

[@TheJade72]

yay my question made it into the video! Thanks for answering, take care Emma!

[@pondziodzioborein]

Żubrówka is not the cheapest vodka. It is actually considered a great one. Works especially great in the combination with apple juice. It’s called Szarlotka (apple pie).

[@krzysztofd3428]

Omg. I don't know if you are aware of that Emma, but if someone would hear the part, when you're saying about the mirror, it would be indistinguishable from native speaker version (all three polish words were just unbelievably perfect pronounced!)

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

*Polish, do qrfy nędzy! Ogarniasz?

[@JacksooN2000]

Loved the transition u did there, it kinda gave me the Casey vibes. Keep up the flow Emma!

[@Moto200Alt]

As many others pointed out - the flip side of having different noun endings is the ability to arrange words in any order and preserve the meaning. Why would you want to use a different order? Lots of subtle ways: "mówię o Emmie" = I'm talking about Emma (neutral) "o Emmie mówię" = I'm talking about Emma (sassy, when you're correcting someone)

[@mateuszhatys1310]

Great sense of humour. It's really cool to watch your stories :) keep stay'n positive!

[@wojtekkowalski7403]

That part with quick US travel for just crusin around in your car was basically the cutest cutscene I've seen in youtube vlogs! PS: The weather here in Warsaw is horrible now but it makes spring worth the wait ;)

[@rzepek2pl]

Great job learning Polish, Emma. Powodzenia w pracy i spełnienia planów! 🤍❤

[@Ignite-vz5pm]

Once i heard that "Poland benefits from low expectations". Couldnt agree more

[@KM769]

Conjugations of verbs and nouns existed in Old English (or Anglo-saxon) in early medieval period. English language lost it in medieval period (Middle English XI-XV century), when England was ruled by French speaking people. English derives from West-germanic language (roman period), it derives from proto-germanic and it from proto-indo-european (3500-2500 BC), Polish language also derives from proto-indo-european. Look for Simon Roper channel and Leornende Eald Englisc channel on YT.

[@accidental-traveller]

Another video that cheers me up! Thank you!

[@aleksandrawitkowska299]

I really appreciate you sharing your experiences and observations with us, thank you! Some of my favourite books are "Man's Search for Meaning" by V. Frankl, "A Little Life" by H. Yanagihara, "A Brain that Changes Itself" by N. Doidge, and lately I have been reading "Ucieczka od bezradności" by T. Stawiszyński (touching on the idea that life is brief, often leaving us helpless and miserable, and we should stop deluding ourselves that it isn't) and "The Happiness Hypothesis" by J. Haidt.

[@askfox79]

OMG you're pronunciation is freakily on point! Sounds like you got it, just need more time with it :) Thank you for being your authentic self - Hi from Chicago!

[@filoreykjavik]

"Hating each other" probably is a post-communist legacy as 50 years of PRL pathologised the sense of community as well as common good. I guess we need another generation or two to overcome it. I am not sure, but I suppose this might be even worse problem in the East, I mean in the post-USSR countries. You can learn more about this type of mentality from Wikipedia article "Homo Sovieticus". However, maybe the reasons are different, so take it with grain of salt, I'm not an expert.

[@stvoreku]

Nah its much earlier. People were terrible to each other in 1918-1939 Poland. It’s most likely from the period when Poland was split between Austria, Russia and Germany. The cultures of the three were very different, and Poles were forced to fight on different sides in First World War. You can still see partitions of Poland on almost any map.

[@mat_j]

It's right-wing legacy.Poland is dominated by right-wing demagogues with hateful rhetoric trying to divide people for their own political gains.

[@stvoreku]

@@mat_j Partially yes, bet even among liberal fractions there is some hatred between west and east, Krakow and Warsaw, and it usually runs along an old frontline between russia and prussia, or austria and russia.

[@marcinde1757]

Communis to po łacinie społeczny, commune po francusku wspólny.

[@peterholy953]

Yes, typical Polish excuse - Communism. I have heard it all the time how great Poles would be if not of that bad Communism that they cannot shake off.

[@bleyd__]

Love ur vids, keep going Emma 🔥🔥🔥

[@igordelrey_]

I get so excited when you upload ☺️ love youu xx

[@mewosh_]

I'm actually VERY impressed by the quality of your videos 😳 they're sooo good!

[@Siguardo1]

Try traditional polish alkohol - mead/miód pitny! Sadly it's not that common anymore but you can still find it in bigger supermarkets or liquor stores

[@Hevdan1]

It's not our traditional alcohol in fact. ;D Mead was not common even earlier, because most of Poles didn't drink it casually. Most of the mead products were exported abroad. The traditional and iconic polish alcohol is beer. Or should I wrote THE beer. It was common and beloved by Poles since the beginnings of our nation, from common people to the wealth and even monarchs. Poland was famous by brewing one of the best wheat beer in Europe since medieval ages. Kraków had breweries almost on every alley. There are even famous polish styles of beer like Grodziskie (known as Gratzer) or Baltic Porter (which is not 100% polish copyrighted but it was probably invented on our land, Latvia or Estonia). Beer is also the most consumed type of alcohol by Poles today (nearly 100 litres per capita every year) and that's the 4th or 5th place on the entire Earth! That's mainly due to the growth of beer market and craft breweries. Beer is something that we can be proud of as Poles, really.

[@hadrianuscaesare4918]

@@Hevdan1 mead is traditional polish alcohol but It's not popular since Medieval times

[@petersky1989PL]

"Plain" Żubrówka is not that great, but be sure to try bison grass version - it has a greenish tint and an actual blade of grass inside. It has a unique taste to it. Also, I recommend trying it in a cocktail popular in Poland before WW2 - szarlotka ("apple pie"). Pour the bison grass Żubrówka over some ice, top it off with apple juice (juice, not drink!) and a sprinkle of cinammon. Delicious!

[@probono2876]

Your polish is perfect. Wishing you a wonderful life and a great teaching career in Poland. Cheers.

[@user-xg3er7dw8y]

I had similar problems when I was learning polish, and listening audiobooks helps me. Pick on some book (not easy level - my first book was Bogusław Wołoszański - Twierdza szyfrów) and sentens by sentens (on repeat) listen it trying to cath every single word. This exercise will train your brain for understanding polish. Afrer you ubderstand the sentens you can try to repeat it in loud - it'l help you to start speking. Spend 1 - 2 h dayli by doing that, and in 2 months you will be able to speak in polish.

[@kiracooper5962]

I’m Polish-Irish, and if you’re learning Polish I strongly recommend watching the series “Ranczo” . Let’s just say… ask any Polish person about it and they’ll know

[@morskooka]

heeey I like you sooo much, you have such a cool personality and sense of humor :D I' m waiting for US vlogs :))

[@AnonymousC]

It was a great chapter for you to experience Poland, I lived there for years and now in California. totally different

[@szekspir82]

Hi Emma, thanks for Your upload. About older people English skills, they didn't learn in as we get English lessons is our schools as a second language in around 30-35 years ago, our orders did have Rusian language as a second.

[@Julia-mc2jk]

Polski jest piękny i dźwięczny!

[@I_DAMIANO_I]

Szukałem komentarzy po polsku. To był pierwszy który znalazłem... Nie wiem po co ludzie tu się produkują po angielsku skoro wszystkie komentarze od polaczków powinny być po polsku... Wtedy by sobie koleżanka przetłumaczyła. Coś zapamiętała nauczyła się czegoś. Ale nie... jeden gamoń z drugim się produkują na siłę...

[@Tharq95]

"I miss my car" part... i love it! :D

[@Anna_Fortunka]

You remind me a lot of my best friend. Too bad you're not staying with us! We need people with such vibrant beautiful energy in this country. Best of luck to you!

[@justynawalenia5674]

emma is being very direct yes we love and hate each other but when all going dawn we help each other

[@Sh4dowDan]

3:27 it is not embarrassing, you are cute. You are a very nice person with a good heart, you are sweet, original and very interesting. I'm waiting for more videos with you. You will know when one word stops and when next starts when you learn these words.

[@podrozowanieprzezp]

Nice video editing, good luck to you :)

[@laurarodak8188]

Ohhh i was so excited to see the notification you posted!!! Clicked right away :D

[@tadeuszc3552]

Thank you so much for the wonderful time!

[@_jkb]

times flies with you Emmo! :)

[@danielrichards9783]

Love that you're actually a spy. My experience since arriving in the fall is that the Polish people are incredibly kind. My maternal grandparents are Polish, which is why I decided to check Poland out for a while. I agree that winters here seem more harsh than the midwest, although Chicago winters are plenty harsh for my liking. I agree that just visiting Poland is enough to satisfy my curiosity. Living here would be overkill. Enjoy the coming months as the days get longer and the temps warm up. By June you may want to stay longer. You've made it this far. It will get easier from here.

[@TaLila360]

About changing forms of nouns: If a sentence is short and simple the feature seems unnecessary. However, when it gets long and complicated it's easier to see which words the nouns are connected to thanks to their form harmonised with adjectives and verbs :)

[@WedrownyGrajek]

Such a breath of fresh air in KZbin sphere. Love it. 😊

[@krzysztofnawrot7801]

Well, it's nice to watch a vlog once from someone who tries to be honest and who is glad not to be destroyed by criticism (although in Poland we like to criticize). I'm glad that you value the Polish approach to the deep relations. If you take care of your polish friends, you have surely made friends for life I don't usually write comments on yt. It's probably one of the five xD maybe three? I'll be a bit monothematic Take a look at all these essay-commentaries from strangers (like me now). They don't know you and they write an essay devoting (idk if this English word is what I mean) their time, believing that your personality and enthusiasm are worth it. I/We can see that you are an empathetic girl, but it also worries me a bit. I hope that excess of received attention doesn't destroy you and that you have good support in the real world since you've decided to continue your vlog. I wonder if you are doing it because of curiosity or determination or willingness to develop and improve yourself by leaving the psychological comfort zone (I appreciate it). Or for some other reasons However, one conversation in a cafe with someone you like is much more valuable than the 537 comments under the vlog, and it's better to spend your time on it than on our comments. It's good that your vlogs are rare (once every few weeks) and that you live your life. Hold on to that and don't get caught up in a spiral of self-love (caused by popularity). If you want, you can be a great vlogger when you come back to the US if you find interesting topics. However, if the interest in your person decreases on yt after returning, there is no point in missing the attention of people from the Internet. It shouldn't be a cause of sadness (in fact, you will have a mental rest in US; heart is where home is. And the car, of course). A deep relationship with one person you actually have contact with is worth ummm ... 538 semi-anonymous comments ... no, it's worth more than all the vlogging this video was quite charming despite your impatience with repeated comments. Which is understandable. I would like to see from the side the process of making this video (no, don't make a video like that xD). To see all the (not only good but still valuable) emotions and pauses to think about how to answer a question to make a good vlog Ah, a beautiful essay. I'll make a screen as a souvenir of the english-writing training xD Cheers

[@ShiningBulbasaur]

Emma I like your channel alot! :) I think our (Polish) language is overcomplicated (conjugate nouns) and I truly wish it was easier haha.

[@goodsir7298]

Hey, I found this video and love how people in central European countries tell me how their day is going. I took this back with me to North America, and I find people usually really like it.

[@paulbilski6737]

UWIELBIAM your videos! You're fun, talented, and also honest and fair with your observations. Great sense of humor too!

[@bmayaa]

Emma, watch "Dzień świra" for better understanding Poles

[@Inflator82]

10:20 Polish shop clerks are notorious for having issue with giving back the change if you give them too big of a note.

[@amjan]

It's not the fault of shop employees. They are simply not given enough change to work with! What the fuck would you do if you needed to give your customer change that you simply don't have? Use magic? Tell them to leave the products and go away?

[@Inflator82]

@@amjan And here we have a shop clerk himself. I've been to many countries including some 3rd world ones and "the change problem" could only be experienced in Poland. In some countries they even give you back more money than it's needed just to keep the customer happy. Here's the tip for you, shop clerk: If you don't have enough change, get some from the bank!

[@amjan]

@@Inflator82 Przecież to kurde nie biedna kobita na kasie może drobne zdobyć, tylko musi być to kierownik lub szef, który kasą dysponuje. Pomyśl. Gdzieś coś nie działa w naszym systemie, a biedni kasjerzy a następnie klienci to tylko ostatnie gałęzie tego problemu, które już na nic wpływu nie mają. A może to Polacy zbyt często lubią walić grube banknoty zamiast płacić monetami tak jak ludzie w innych krajach, żeby potem komuś z banknotem było jak widać? Nie wiadomo.

[@Inflator82]

@@amjan jak mi bankomat wypluwa 100 zł i 200 zł, to skąd mam wziąć drobne? Po co debile sklepowe codziennie oddają wszystkie drobne konwojentom?

[@adamffajnie]

So far my favorite book that I've read recently was "Paper towns" from John Green

[@staceyscornerr]

could you please make a video about your teaching certificate and how got your job in Poland? thank you!

[@namelastname8D]

I have heard an opinion on the issue of Poles being hostile towards each other. Person, who formed it said that the root of the issue lays in the partition of the first Republic. This crisis divided the nation for "us" from part occupied by one empire and "them" from part occupied by another (different laws, different language and different culture was forced on different parts of the nation). Then was the WW I. And something that we are not talking about on the history lessons - Poles were fighting against each other. Some were in Russian imperial army, some were in Austro-Hungarian or Prusian. There is a Polish film critic - Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska, who said recently that the whole nation needs to go for therapy to recover from the both wold wars and the 123 years of the partition. I think she's right.

[@hasppl9005]

Excellent comment and so true.

[@bolcomalkwitz]

Mam inną opinię. Podział wynika z korzeni kulturowych. Część ma kulturalnych i edukowanych przodków a część dopiero się uczy i dojrzewa.

[@margaretg4170]

Hello, I will be moving to Poland in a couple months, what companie did you use to transport your furniture overseas? Thank you.

[@syrku3842]

12:37 like my friend exactly the same he went to Sweden and came back to polska just to drive his Volvo

[@buka4495]

Great video

[@fildemen6626]

On top of conjugation nouns, adjectives are also inflected depending on the number, case and gender. E.g: Car which is masculine in polish (Ten samochód) . Jeden szybki samochód (1 fast car) Dwa szybkie samochody (2 fast cars) Jadę szybkim samochodem (I am driving a fast car) Boat which is feminine in Polish. (Ta łódź or łódka) Jedna szybka łódka (1 fast boat) Dwie szybkie łódki (2 fast boats) Podróżuje szybką łódką (I travel by a fast boat) And finally another word for car (to auto) which is neuter. Jedno szybkie auto (1 fast car) Dwa szybkie auta (2 fast cars) Jadę szybkim autem (I am driving a fast car) So yeah, I'd imagine this is probably extremely difficult to wrap your head around if you aren't raised with this and taught proper grammar in school but regardless, however far you'll get will be impressive considering your current progress, so good luck!

[@tedzawistowski4731]

Well done!! Love your approach.

[@annadrozdowska7055]

Thank you for teaching poles English.

[@slixeee]

Miło jest widzieć, że inne części świata interesują się naszym krajem :D

[@Wilcza_]

Prawda ♥️

[@egoistaX]

raczej kontrakt tylko....nawet mówi ze nie chce tutaj zostać i co się dziwić? zobaczyła ten pierdolnik i chce spierdalac po miesiącu....tylko dobry bolec może ją zatrzymać ale bądzmy szczerzy polski bolec to dla niej mezalians

[@Wilcza_]

@@egoistaX bardzo mi przykro że tak się wypowiadasz o naszym kraju.. Co prawda nie jesteśmy idealnym krajem ale należy patrzeć na te dobre strony i nie przejmować się tym co złe

[@egoistaX]

@@Wilcza_ jestem realistą...ona ejst z uSa a to kraj dużo bardziej uporzadkowany wbrew temu co jest w mediach

[@ccenty]

Np.: Rosjanie chcą nas odwiedzić , ze swoją armią. Bardzo miłe to będzie.

[@mikoajkotusiewicz2528]

Lol the part with the car was amazing XD Also the influence of communist times could be the reason why Poles are so mean to each other. Back then you didn’t know if your neighbour/aunt/brother was reporting to police about your actions to benefit themselves, that made us assume that you can’t really trust even your nearest family. Maybe that’s why we aren’t as open as Americans

[@kerajit]

I call BS on this statement, read literature about pre WWII Poland and there are hundreds of examples of that. I doubt if it even could be the fault of partitions. I think that it may rather be a product of straightforwardness of people (people often like to "share" their opinion whether you want it or not), mixture of eastern corruption (which improved greatly but probably in last 20 years or so) with some other factors (like relative poverty or disasters like war, famine..) But definitely it shouldn't be blamed on communist era, don't get me wrong, it added a lot of fuel to that (corrupt government, poverty, BS in media) but definitely is older that that. And with that "mistrust" of your family, that isn't true really, there may have been some cases like that but not really a norm.

[@mikoajkotusiewicz2528]

@@kerajit ye definetely it is deeper than what I said, I just gave an example why it could be like that but i didn’t negate other factors

[@mat_j]

influence of communism? WTF are you talking about? It's the exactly the opposite. Maybe the fact that that Poland is dominated by right-wing demagogues with hateful rhetoric trying to divide people for their own political gains.

[@-gohu-]

@@mat_j dude, we get it, you hate right-wingers. you don't need to post the same reply under multiple comments. also, you're completely wrong.

[@mat_j]

@@-gohu- no, you don't "get it". You don't need to respond to my comment if you don't have anything of substance to say. I understand my comment triggered you

[@ptok7550]

What do you think about ogórkowa( pickle soup) or schabowy. For me the best polish meal is pierogi with mashed meat ( I dunno what u call it) with some onion, black pepper, salt and an egg. Then do some boiling in hot water with stock cube (beef and chicken one) (kostka rosołowa wołowa i z kurczaka) for arround 10 minutes. IT'S SO DAMN GOOD

[@emmawitter8148]

i tried ogórkowa and didn't have a problem with it, but i'd never make it for myself lol. i'll give your recipe a try :)

[@magdalenagolemba3290]

I`m Polish and I`m proud of you. Our language is difficult but you cope with it very well. I didn`t speak English since 2013 but when I hearing you I understand it much better than I tought I could. Hope that I written it correct.

[@toja995]

Have a good day Emma :)

[@ellios4667]

MANDARYNKI IN THE BACKGROUND.

[@przemszot]

"Yes, I do", I love it

[@jarekp129]

Emma, you have such adorable personality :-) Good job with all your movies! I am sure that Warsaw will be able to present you A much better face with spring nad early summer weather, when the river will attract everyone to chillout. Good luck!

[@losien1]

Don’t leave- you are SO freakin adorable ! Also although you’re saying that your Polish learning is not going too well i can see a lot of potential in you. The way you pronounce polish words like pierogi, zabka, lustereczko any many more is honestly just perfect - myself I wouldn’t have done it better! Greetings from a native speaker :) PS. Where did u get that sierściuch from? Is it yours?

[@MateuszPolkowski]

Hi Emma! I once had a conversation with a friend about the differences between Americans and Poles and we came to an interesting conclusion. A lot of the time Americans think of Poles as cold while Poles think of Americans as very extraverted, offering too much information, while being „fake” at the same time. Both are misconceptions that are made due to the type and amount of information it is culturally acceptable to communicate. In Poland we tend to offer very little information about ourselves in general, both private (family, relationship, sexual, medical etc) and social/status (name, job title, earnings, hobbies). Lets say out of all information (100%) we could ever offer we tend to offer 5% to a new person and then there is a wall before we get to know a person well and build a bond. After that we tend to offer a lot of both private and social/status information. In the U.S., Americans tend to offer a lot more information upfront to a new person they met. I would say 30% of all the things you can tell anyone about yourself ever before you hit the wall. However most of that information is of the social/status type. After you get to know the person you offer more of both types of information. So Americans think Poles are cold, because we don't offer any information (even of the social/status type) making them seem grumpy or hard to talk to, while Poles think Americans are too open too soon, but fake, because they do offer a lot more information at the beginning, but the information is neutral in nature and lacks substance - we learn what you do way before who you are. I don't know what created this cultural difference, but my guess is the impact of the Eastern Bloc on Poland and how neighbors were informing on each other to the government. You didn't know who you could trust so, you offered as little information about yourself as possible, while at the same time the U.S. had a love and piece hippy movement going on. ;) The takeaway is that despite our cultural differences people are awesome in general. I was happy to see you enjoyed Polish Christmas and it reminded me when I was invited to a Thanksgiving while I was living in the U.S..

[@Huragan361]

Ciekawa jest kompletnie odmienna obserwacja jak oglada sie filmiki migrantow z Ukrainy czy Bialorusi,ktorzy zyja w Polsce i sa zaskoczeni uprzejmoscia i otwartoscia Polakow,bo u nich n.p. witanie sie na klatce czy w windzie przez sasiadow prostym "Dzien Dobry" jest niespotykane i taka osobe uznano by tam delikatnie mowiac za dziwna.

[@MateuszPolkowski]

@@Huragan361 to w sumie jest nawet spójne z moją hipotezą dlaczego tak jest. Ciekawe czy są jakieś badania socjologiczne na ten temat.

[@CatWithAHat2HD]

It's a social trust thing to a large degree. In low trust societies people keep their cards close to their chests for safety reasons and it's perfectly rational. Poland used to be a low trust society (for political reasons) for almost 150 years. Since the Spring of Nations until 1989 (with a short intermission during the interbellum years) the country was constantly under some form or another of more or less explicit/brutal martial law. And the 90s were chaotic too, so really, it's only been a stable, well functioning society for one generation. Evn putting cultural legacy aside, norms that develop to let ppl cope with a crisis every day reality are still very much around and kicking for simple, demographic reasons: grandma's not dead yet. . On the other hand American society is (to some degree) founded on the (kinda false, but it's a different conversation) idea that it is a classless society, as opposed to the old world ones where a peasant could never possibly converse with a nobleman. And by "old world" what is really meant is "British" - a society that, be European standards, is remarkably class-conscious (in the traditional, not left wing sense) to this day.

[@lefranklin7092]

fabulous video, such a vibe man, keep up with this stuff

[@leszekleszek773]

On Polish "mean": we have a sort of "presumption of guiltiness" hear which is unless someone does not know you, they may be suspicious about you. But when they notice you are ok they will like you immediately!

[@tomaszmankowski9103]

Pretty cool video! Regarding the weather. It is a mixture with added climate change unpredictability. I think you didn't experience proper spring and summer - hopefully you will enjoy it. Re- Poles being mean to each other. Unfortunately a side effect of politics, internet exaggeration of... everything with a 'nice' taste of stuff such as inequality, a sort of class struggle and a way people vent frustration using people they'd never meet as a punch cushion. I loved the little part from US edited in an answer. That was actually pretty funny. Obviously looking forward to the videos of you suffering while trying to say words. ;) There is this pretty funny fact about it - Slavs called themselves this way because of ancient Slavic 'slovo' i.e. language. Basically they called themselves 'speakers' and ancient Germans got this unfortunate honour to be called 'Niemcy' (in one form or another by pretty much all their Slavic neighbours) i.e. 'not-speakers' or 'mumblers'. Which is all certainly not arrogant in any way. Not at all. Take care!

[@nowymail]

Many years ago, Latin was the formal language in Poland. And we picked a lot of ideas from the language, but mainly all kinds of conjugations.

[@krakendragonslayer1909]

[BS ALERT!] Polish and Latin (and all Balto-Slavic and Latino-Celthic languages) have common ancestor 4200 years ago, and untill 3200 years ago they were being developed in close proximity. It has NOTHING to do with renaissance usage of Latin in Poland.

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

@@krakendragonslayer1909 Oczywiście, nowymail fabrykuje BREDNIE.

[@SLAWXP1]

I like the values you brought with you from the USA

[@4valongaming388]

I honestly don't expect anything of your videos I just love your attitude to it and vibe with it.

[@peterj5083]

To the Polish posters on this message board please be aware that in English the word "Polish" is written with the upper-case letter "P" And not with lower-case "p". The word "polish" refers to either shoe polish or furniture polish. Pass this on to your compatriots so that they don't make the same mistake.

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

Fuc...ing TRUE! Thank you, Mr. We have "polski","angielski"/"Polish","English"| as an adjective written with the lower-case and this is the source of this kind of "analfabetism".

[@rafmak7656]

You are so pretty 😉

[@isabellefischer427]

You are doing exactly what I want to do after graduation!! Just wondering if your accommodation is through your school/ how you found it. Wishing you well!!

[@undefinednull5749]

To answer your questions, no, verb conjugation is not enough 😉. By having both verb and noun conjugation, you have better communication, they correspond to each other, so you can have less ambiguous complex sentences

[@pawog]

I really enjoy your sense of humour. I hope you will get to see Poland during the summer. Winters and autumns are shit in PL

[@tbd5820]

Even a girl from abroad realized, We polish are mean for others Polish. Thats' realy sad. It's really hard to explain why its is like that. I think our polish mentality has changed after IIWW, and long soviet ingerencion. Polish society were devided not just for two. I'm hope that gonna change one day. Stay healthy Emma.

[@menace7147]

-why its is like that? -Politics (in my opinion) And now the question is why politics? Maybe it is because we take politics way too serious. Also I think that many of our political views are based on our religion (or it's lack) - like view on homosexuality and abortion. It sadly causes huge political disagreements between people. It falls us out so much because compared to other European countries, Poland is very religious. *So perhaps because of a big importance of religion, there is a big political dispute.* PS. I have nothing against religion.

[@swetoniuszkorda5737]

Always *Polish, analfabeto;)

[@jerzy7118]

Once you learn the varieties, they simplify many things and become more understandable, precise and unambiguous in defining a given state without any misunderstandings or guesswork.

[@Wilcza_]

I'm glad if you like our country ♥️

[@ukasz8930]

The thing with the hate is deeply entrenched in our society from generations, even nowdays it's still used by politics on both sides to gain personal benefits even if the result is harmful to Poland as a country. For example there was a cases when our own deputies in European Union make a complaint on our goverment which results in Poland loosing money, gets financial penalties etc. just to make the other side of political scene look bad so they can used against them. That doesn't happen in other countries, at least on that scale. 'Divide and rule' is very often in our society which is very polarized about religion, politics etc. Most of us are not learned to respect the opinion of others when it is completely different from ours and discussions often end in calling each other out. We can't leave our opinions even when the current topic of conversation is not related with them. Even the question about what you think of our goverment can be a good example of that - i'm 100% sure it was asked by someone who don't like our current ruling party and already knew what will you say but still wanted to see your criticism. We just love it. To be honest I won't be suprised if some kind of argument will start in the comments to this movie :D PS. I still don't know if you're a St.Louis Blues fan.

[@Robert-ht5kd]

Emma, Warsaw is the meanest city in Poland, go to other city like Gdynia, and you will don't see so many mean people.

[@danieljurkiewicz1695]

I live in Gdynia and I am mean.

[@Robert-ht5kd]

@@danieljurkiewicz1695 I didn't write that there are no mean people in Gdynia, but there are much less than in Warsaw.

[@danieljurkiewicz1695]

@@Robert-ht5kd I know I know :) ;)

[@twitte0king]

Conjugating nouns were around for Greek and Latin

[@oskarkawulicz3956]

Nice classic room. Poland have 6 seasons. But few years later somethings happen to whether and you.cannot expect true BEAUTIFUL winter except Bieszczady, Beskidy,Tatry, Sudety etc. area Thank got that we still have autumn colorful and MUSHROOM PICKING. According to history Poland unfortunately was split by 3...and ypu can see some little differences because of that besides regional diversity.

[@Hajsster]

To my mind, the real issue with the mean attitude of Polish people towards one another is surprisingly their closeness. The people here are homogeneous as far as their ethnicity and cultural background-to some extend-is considered. We speak Polish, eat Polish food, have solely Polish friends and similar problems so on and so forth, and there's the rub. Everyone around comes across as family members, in broad strokes of course and unconsciously, and for that reason we feel the stronger pressure to change the minds of others when it comes to differences because we don't know where they stem from or even worse, we know where they come from and our engagement sometimes rises. The more alike we are, the more noticeable the differences appear. The acuter they seem to be, the more we are closed to our pattern of thinking. In consequence, the society is divided. Does it make sense to you?