It features a whole host of Hollywood A-listers and other celebs – from Natalie Portman to Russell Crowe, from Robert Redford and Tom Hanks to Daniel Radcliffe and Linda Evangelista – talking about one subject. Poland.

Whether it’s their families, their impressions of Poland, architecture, co-workers or the “crazy” things those Poles do (yes, Russell Crowe, I’m looking at you) – everyone has a Polish story to share in this promotional video the Ministry posted on YouTube.

A lot of that is archive material, but you’ll be surprised how many people have some sort of family or other connection with Poland. Unless you already knew that, in which case this will only reinforce your suspicions

Pretty impressive stuff in any case.

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Each city is obviously trying its best to impress the world and Wrocław doesn’t even need to try hard. After all, it’s a beautiful, vibrant city, full of history and fantastic architecture.

In its latest promotional video it’s trying to make it easier for foreigners to pronounce the name Wrocław by splitting it into two easy-to-remember (and pronounce) bits: Vrots and Love. (And presumably trying to imply that Wrocław is a city you can easily fall in love with; not sure what Vrots is meant to do though;) ) At the same time, the video shows everything the city is proud of – from its culture to its architecture and lovely people.

So here it is, does it work? I’ll let you be the judge:

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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…. Tweet

In a way, it’s a variant of Ponglish, where native Polish speakers living in an English-speaking country swap certain Polish words or phrases for English ones, or add Polish pre- and suffixes, decline or otherwise modify English words to fit in with the rest of the (Polish) sentence.

I’ve noticed a similar phenomenon on Polish TV last week, where, during a morning cooking show, the cook said an ingredient “zrobi tę sałatę sharp” ["will make the salad sharp"] to which the presenter replied: “Będzie z powerem” [literally: "It'll have some power"]. If you ask me, both are examples of linguistic laziness, where the speaker cannot be bothered to look for – or indeed, doesn’t know – the Polish equivalent. Presumably, both speakers also thought they sounded cool. We should probably ask their target audience – pensioners and housewives – whether they also thought so.

It’s slightly different when you use an English phrase in an informal setting. Many people use “sorry” in Polish when speaking with friends, often in a kind of tongue-in-cheek way. Last week I also noticed when two girls said good-bye to each other in the street, one of them said “I love you” in English, presumably meaning “You are very important to me and I care about you as you’re my friend.” The Polish equivalent “kocham cię” wouldn’t work in such a context as it’s too emotionally charged and there’s no in-between Polish equivalent.

And that’s the thing. In many instances people will use an English word either because it offers this in-between meaning which doesn’t have its Polish equivalent, or because it cannot be directly translated – or the translation simply doesn’t work. The best example of the latter is the word “interface”. I remember when people tried to localise it by providing a rather literal translation, “międzymordzie”. Well, that didn’t work. “Interface” has since become “interfejs” and many other English words have been adopted (and adapted) in the same way.

But this “Polglishisation” of Polish is just one thing. Another very noticeable trend is making your business or brand sound foreign. Many businesses seem to believe that English (or foreign, in general) words and phrases make them sound more appealing, exotic or sophisticated. Again, this is not a new trend, but a day at a shopping centre often leaves Poles with a choice between (among others) a trip to Cinema City, or a shopping spree at Your New Style, House, Pretty One or Top Secret And Friends (!!). Your mobile can come from Play and you can play at Fantasy Park (no, it’s not what you think it is).

So is it just me or is English becoming very dominant in every Pole’s life? I realise that this post only scratches the surface of the phenomenon (or problem, depending on your point of view), but I would love to hear what you think about it.

Whether you are Polish and living in Poland or whether you are an English speaker (and also living in Poland), leave a comment and let me know:

Is there more English in Polish?
If so, does it bother you?
Got any examples?

I’ll ask my Facebook and Twitter followers (“followersi” in Polish) to chip in too.Tweet

WARSAW. A city with a broken spine, destroyed tradition and ugly, impolite character, deserves respect. There are few authentic trails of the past left, so it’s worth it to look for them and to share with others even more.
This project is a tribute to all the Warsaw street musicians, pre-war composers, and song writers who gave the music spirit to this city…
Legendary street tunes and lyrics were the inspiration to create the tracks described by digital effects, samples, electronic beat and live instruments.
Special thanks and regards to the Chmielna Street Orchestra – the real source of the party-and-music raptures!

I’m fascinated by the cheeky, in-your-face lyrics (“Your wife won’t find out her hubby drank all night to ladies’ health”) accompanied by dark, at times experimental-sounding electronic music. Not sure this will be everyone’s cup of tea, but I guess neither were the original tracks, although they sat at the opposite end of the musical spectrum.

Nevertheless, Projekt Warszawiak seems to be taking Poland by storm. This video has been viewed on YouTube over a million times already and it’s only been up for a couple of weeks.

I’ve seen this clip posted on Facebook more often than any other Polish video over the past few years. And it’s brilliantly done. You can almost smell Warsaw. The real, everyday Warsaw – where the old world, however ugly or fascinating it might be, clashes with its ambitious, pretentiously modern and at times depressing equivalent.

Here is “Nie ma cwaniaka nad Warszawiaka” (which losely translates as “No one is as crafty as a Warszawiak”). Pure gold.

For more tracks, see their MySpace page and visit their site here.Tweet

Andrzejki, how the day is referred to (from Andrzej, which is the Polish equivalent of Andrew), is when everybody predicts their future by observing some fun customs like pouring hot wax on cold water or moving girls’ shoes from one end of the room to the door. Why wax and why the shoes, you ask? Let me explain.

Traditionally, single girls used the day to predict when they would get married or what they could expect in the coming months. With time, this tradition was adopted by men too and for decades now Andrzejki has simply been a good excuse for a party (even mid-week).

The most popular and the most traditional way of predicting the future on Andrzejki is by melting a lot of wax and then pouring it (ideally through an old-fashioned key) onto cold water. This needs to be done carefully so that the wax forms one solid ‘shape’. You then remove the ‘shape’ from the water (once the wax has solidified, that is) and – using a strong source of light – look at the shadow it throws on the wall.

And this is when you need to use your imagination. You need to ‘read’ the shadow. Is it a man? Is it a pig? Is it a baby? Is it a monster? Whatever it is, this is your future (apparently).

Another custom involves single girls only. They each need to take a shoe off and place it in a row, starting by the wall opposite the main door. Then the last shoe is brought to the front and then the next one and so on. The owner of the shoe which reaches the door first will definitely get married next year. Guaranteed. Or your money back.

Whatever the future holds, tonight is the night. Have a ball!

Image by bildungsr0man via Flickr, Creative Commons licenceTweet

Turns out, they were right.

A cafe owner in Katowice in the south of Poland bypassed the ban by turning his cafe into a club (I assume it must be some kind of members’ club, not just ANY club for this to be effective) and issuing special ‘passes’ to those who want to smoke. The mind boggles.

As a result, the place is full of smokers who see it as their safe haven. One of the customers, a non-smoker, told TVN24 that he enjoys the place and the smoke doesn’t bother him at all. Another one said she goes there because she likes the place and knows she can puff away on her cigarette.

The ownes himself claims the new law is aburd as it

“prohibits our customers from deciding about their own health”.

The cafe – sorry, club – might be full of customers, but it obviously creates controversy. Poland’s former health minister, Boleslaw Piecha told TVN24 that

“human stupidity knows no boundaries. If one of his staff gets sick, they might take them to court, as was the case with many tobacco companies. And the compensation is huge”.

I’ve read similar reports about people in Krakow blatantly ignoring the ban and I’m sure the same thing is happening all over Poland.

It’s obviously early days and it takes time to get used to any new law (and for lawmakers to become more rigorous in implementing their acts).

But on the other hand, there’s the famous Polish saying “Polak potrafi”. Usually used in a slightly ironic, sometimes critical, but often also proud way.

It means “a Pole is able [to do anything]“.  He is indeed…

Image by miss_blackbutterfly via Flickr, used under the Creative Commons licenceTweet

Poznan, one of the oldest Polish cities, for decades recognised as an important trade centre favoured by many Polish entrepreneurs, will be showing a series of ads across a number of TV channels in Britain and elsewhere.

Those behind the “Eastern energy, Western style” campaign want to make the city more recognisable abroad. But also, presumably, they want to present it as an important acedemic and cultural hub, on a par with Warsaw, Krakow or Gdansk.

And it is an important city, after all this is where Mieszko I, the first Polish ruler, was linked to Poznan and the first Polish cathedral was built here ten centuries ago. Poznan has always been seen as a dynamic, successful city and last year it launched a new logo and a new promotional slogan: “POZnan: the city of know-how”. (The capitalised POZ is how the city is recognised internationally in aviation).

The city’s mayor, Ryszard Grobelny, said the slogan reflected the character of the city’s inhabitants, their ability to do things skillfully and professionally.

The newest campaign is supported by a 3-minute long video shot by Xawery Zulawski, the son of Wojciech Zulawski, the famous Polish director, and his wife, Malgorzata Braunek, an actress.

You can watch the full version above, while shorter versions will be shown on Sky News, Sky Sports and CNBC in the UK, CNN internationally and on various channels in Germany, Spain and other countries.

Oh and if you ever wonder how to pronounce Poznan – or any other major Polish city – you know where to look for help Tweet

Don’t know why Poland wants to have the biggest this and the biggest that, but of all things they could have gone for, they’ve chosen… the biggest Jesus.

Poland is a Catholic country, religion still plays a huge role in most people’s lives and building gigantic religious edifices of questionable beauty (ever seen one of the largest churches in the world, the Basilica of Our Lady in Lichen?) seems to be our national sport.

But a gigantic statue of Jesus? In the middle of nowhere? *facepalm*

Unlike its Rio equivalent, this statue doesn’t overlook a picturesque beach, nor is it anywhere any major tourist attraction. Although it’s likely to become one itself, or at least that’s what the inhabitants of  the nearby town of Swiebodzin hope for.

It’s more of a folly which seems to have divided the nation – some thing it’s a fantastic symbol Poland has always deserved, many others call it a tacky eyesore. Or worse.

It’s quite telling that while those who erected the statue claim it’s the biggest in the world, it’s actually difficult to verify its height. I’ve seen at least three different heights in various sources.

One thing you probably should know about Poland is the famous saying (which I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, but I’ll mention it again): where there are two Poles, there are always three opinions.

Thoughts on the sculpture?

Image of nuns by .candy via Flickr, used under the Creative Commons licence

Patryk Kizny, a Polish photographer and video-maker, has just posted this stunning video, called The Chapel.

It’s a tribute to an abandoned, dilapidated 18th century protestant temple in the village of Zeliszow. The four-minute video uses a technique called HDR, which allows photographers to show a wide range of light levels. I’ve seen many HDR photographs, but this is probably the first HDR video I’ve watched.

Nice work, Patryk!

Go full screen and enjoy: