The co Fusion with the floors came just from the language difference. We are using the Word floor as a space under your feet. So it will sound fooly in our understood of that. Our language created a special Word for that situation: Piętro. This Word means always a room or space in the building above the ground Level. And the ground Level calls Parter. So you Start from Parter(ground Level) and you go to 1,2,3... Piętro(space above the ground Level)
I'm Pole and I always had problem with our way of counting floors. I prefer the American way, but I have to admit, all other polish units and measure systems are superior for me :D
@@eolmint I believe it's because american houses often are built on an elevation, over the ground level. Therefore ground zero is the earth itself - not being mentioned a part of the building. In Europe this kind of building doesn't exist that often. But still, im living in Poland most of my life and i was confused by this when i was younger, intuitively i thought what most americans would think that ground zero is the first floor. So yeah, it is confusing.
Okay, rules about shaking hands: 1. When shaking hands, host or person of higher social status initiate shaking. If said person will not initiate, you skip shaking hands 2. When shaking hands it is absolutely required to do it with strength. Do not crush someones hand, but do not give them "fish" (weak, jeally, slippery hand). When you shake hand do it like a man. 2b. Only exception of rule no. 2 is with kids and womans. You dont want to hurt them. Be gentle. Still no-go for "fish". 3. When handshaking woman, you wait until she initiate it, as gesture of respect. Only exception to that is when you are clearly of higher status (you are boss and she came to job interview) or you are a host (she is a guest at your house and you greet her), then you should initiate shaking. Generally rule no. 1 still applies. 3c. Woman can initiate shaking be giving you her hand palm down, and back-of-her-hand towards you. It generally means you SHOULD kiss her hand. Its not obligatory and you can instead shake her hand instead, but not both. Either kissing or shaking hand, not both. 4. When shaking hands, you should look other person in the eyes for as long as shaking is in progress. 5. Good hand-shake should last about 1-2 seconds or 2-3 shakes. 6. Hand shake can transform into hug. Its a common thing for close friends and/or family. 7. During special occasions, hand shake can be accompanied by cheek kiss, especially when visiting family you haven't seen for quite a while.
@@LoveMyPoland yes it does, and I consider myself lucky I was raised with this rules "embedded" into me, so I dont have to figure it out myself. Much respect to you,for taking this extra step and at least trying to understand our culture :)
+Love My Poland! SO I'm guessing that the American🌍 method of greeting each other with an " exploding fist👊 bump " AND a "Wazzup, Bro?!" probably wouldn't fly in Poland?! "😀 I feel like the character ,Stuart, (a Brit in LA) in "Hello, Ladies," who's always saying, " WHAT are the rules,man?? I JUST DON'T know the rules?! "😀 As always, an informative and entertaining video that educated this Polish-American!!👍
Exactly. So if u compare it to american way it would be like: (pierwszy poziom, drugi poziom). I'd say that for most of my countryman it would just sound bad in polish :P Considering fact that we have "parter" and like bro above just said "piętro" is built on it :) that's why it's first :D of course its simple to me but i suspect it's awkward for you :D
I think the best translation for "piętro" is "story", but remember how you count the stories because in Poland a building called "dwupiętrowy" in America would be called a three-story building, not 'two story'.
No.5 its because "pietro" doesnt mean floor which is "podloga" in literal translation. "pietro" implies something upper and it wouldnt make sense to call ground floor something above.
mmm interesting. However, consider that the "Polish-style" counting system is used the whole world over, independently of what they call a floor. In fact the in the UK the street-level floor is the ground floor, so I don't think the problem is in the word 'floor' itself. BTW I prefer the US-style way of counting floors (or Russia-style, as it is also used there), I think it makes more sense: if a building has 10 floors, and I want to get to the top floor, it makes more sense to me to press the button '10' in the lift rather than 9 'because the ground floor doesn't count' :)
Easy way to remember European style of counting floors is "how many levels up i need to go". If you are on groun level it's 0. 1 level up is first etc.
Hi, most of your complaints can be generalized for Europe as a whole. For example, kissing on the cheek is also popular in France, and is even more "elaborate". The same goes with floor numbering, etc.
staywithme ... if public healthcare in Poland is hell, you are welcome to check American healthcare. Good luck ha ha ha! That would teach you what hell really is... Lines to a doctor is a very small price to pay to have it free and quite good (contrary to what ever complaining Poles think). I pay health insurance over $1000 a month for a very basic insurance. And still have to pay full price for doctors visits, lab tests etc until I spend $5000 each year for the insurance to kick in with about 70% cover and 30% from my pocket. My wife also has to spend $5000 first from her pocket before insurance starts covering 70% of the cost. And if you are seriously ill you’d better have a nice, expensive house so you can sell to pay off those monumental hospital bills. Even this may not be enough... Do I need to mention that health insurance DOES NOT cover an optometrist or a dentist? For those you need a separate insurance. So... lines to a doctor is a VERY small price to pay to have it FEE. Same goes for free education...
yeah, you think polish health care is bad, have you been in the UK? It's a nightmare, I've need few times and every time the doctor gave me paracetamol! Joke, it's total joke in the UK, I'd be a doctor and just give paracetamol to everyone lol And I know what I'm talking about, I'm polish living in the UK
in USA you are just one hospital visit away from being in gigantic debt. No money? you are shit out of luck. NFZ ssie ale nie zdechniesz bo nie masz kasy.
@@WolfKenneth yeah, that's right. in Poland you just have to spend a lot of time and energy to finally see the doctor. and in the USA it's really unprofitable to be ill
Ssavoir vivre says it is up to woman how she wants to be greeted. She might shake your hand, kiss your cheek, just nod a head or do nothing. She might also want you to kiss her hand. You should observe her and react properly.
It's often more than 10 degrees. And I think there isn't raining that much tho. For me that's a nice not too cold not too warm weather perfect for a walk. And there's so many beautiful flowers!
I have no problem with 10°C and soft rain, people are pussies and think they will die outside or what, I don't understand that. As Mahikun is saying, such weather is good for walking. And it's perferct for sit somewhere with hot coffee or tea or whatever, you don't have to stay at hotel or home.
What exactly does that mean? Cause google translate wasn't a big help. Google translation: When the elders are or baby, don't pull out the first fireplace! :D
@@vaiduliuke "graby" is genitive case of "graba", which is a strongly colloquial (and a bit old-fashioned) term for "hand" (also a feminine term in Polish). So "nie wyciągaj" (= do not extend/reach out) "pierwszy" (= as first) "graby" (= your hand) (i.e. when greeting a woman or an older person) would be an approximate translation. There is no connection whatsoever with "fireplace" here (sorry Google), probably it's a misnomer from "rake" for Polish "grabie" - a totally different word and nor really associated with fireplaces but rather hay collection :-). HTH.
The construction thing: In English we talk floors, so it only makes sense that the ground floor is floor one. In Polish the word is “piętro” and it doesn’t translate to the word “floor.” Piętro translates into the noun climb (spelled same as the verb) so obviously the ground floor could not be called the first climb. The floor above (the second floor) is the first climb - pierwsze piętro. Cheers!
Great video! I think it's important to note that in Poland you don't just kiss strangers on the cheek like in the Borat video. You only do it with relatives like friends and family. For anyone else, it's just a handshake or a hello. So, dear foreigners, please don't kiss every person that greets you. It's weird :D.
That is very good to know. I know an American who has recently moved to France and is having to cope with la bise which means you have to let males kiss you on the cheek every time you meet, even colleagues or you are considered rude. It sounds like hell. She dreads meetings now. I could never tolerate that.
Polish word "parter" is a Polonised version of French "par terre/parterre" which means on the ground. Some people have difficulty adjusting to a different floor numbering system. I did not, perhaps because I learned about that at foreign language lessons when I was a child.
Hand shake - - When you meet a friend. - When you meet a couple of friends. - But when you meet a bunch of friends you can shake hand with the closest to you, and just wave to the others to say 'hi'. - We do not shake a hand with girls, but we do not ignore them either. Sometimes we just say 'hi', or hug them. Kissing in the hand - - When you are introduced to the older woman. But only in very specific circumstances. Never in business, rather in private relationship. And it is very easy - woman who wants to be kissed at hand will stretch her palm vertically. - When you are in big traditional party like wedding. - Sometimes you can try this trick on Polish girl you like instantly from the first sight. Sometimes it works:)
podajesz reke najblizszemu a reszcie nie ? nie podajesz kobiecie reki? skad te zasady ? Podaje sie reke albo wszystkim albo nikomu. Kobieta zawsze pierwsza, jak nie wyciaga reki to sie klaniasz, ale wszystko co napisales wyzej to sa zasady jak byc niegrzecznym. Ja bym sie czuła bardzo urażona i uważałabym kogoś za chama bez kultury, z resztą większość z ludzi których znam tak myśli, jak ktoś wita się tylko z jedną osobą albo nie wita się z kobietami jako pierwzymi.
" Wiek ani płeć nie ma znaczenia w świecie biznesu. Liczy się tyko wtedy, gdy osoby zajmują równorzędne stanowiska. W takiej sytuacji pierwsza rękę podaje kobieta lub osoba starsza. Jeśli spotykasz się z większą grupą ludzi i nie znasz ich stanowisk, przywitaj się z każdym po kolei. Pierwszy rękę wyciąga gospodarz przyjęcia lub zebrania. Ta sama zasada dotyczy np. rozmów kwalifikacyjnych. Nigdy nie wyciągaj ręki jako pierwsza, jeśli to ty szukasz pracy. Pierwszy wita się i wyciąga rękę pracownik firmy, do której aplikujesz. W sytuacjach prywatnych podawanie ręki jest już mniej sformalizowane. Zgodnie z etykietą to kobieta podaje rękę mężczyźnie, a starsza osoba młodszej. Jeśli więc poznajesz babcię swojego partnera, nie wyskakuj z otwartą dłonią - przedstaw się i poczekaj, aż starsza pani wyciągnie do Ciebie rękę. W sytuacji, w której mężczyzna przedstawia się grupie kobiet w wyraźnie różnym wieku, powinien najpierw skierować się do najstarszej z pań i poczekać, aż ta poda mu dłoń. Nie czuj się więc zignorowana, gdy kolega witając się podał rękę tylko mężczyznom - zrobił to zgodnie z zasadami savoir-vivre. " savoir vivre dla początkujących.
Regarding the floors counting. In Czech or Poland we use a word "pietro" which means "a level". It something which is above ground. So therefore we say "parter" = ground level and then is the first level above ground hence "the first level / floor".
To confuse you even more, some people call the spring break the time during Easter. Ferie is the term used to describe those two weeks in January or February (depends on the voivodeship), but Christmas is sometimes called the winter break ;) so now you know :P
Dear viewers, it seems there has been some confusion concerning man to man cheek kissing. I have experienced this mostly at weddings. Men DO give kisses on the cheek when giving out wishes to the groom. I witnessed this at weddings from Warsaw to Zakopane. I was also a groom myself in Czestochowa, Poland and received many kisses here too. But outside of weddings, I must agree, there aren't too many instances to mention.
Kudos to you for these great videos and to good Polish people! I've stumbled on your videos as I'm soon to visit Poland and I wanted to find out more about this beautiful country and it's people... little did I know that we Croats have so much in common with Poland. 90% of what you said here and other videos could be said about my country and it's ways. :) Cheers from Croatia!
Until you're in more modern building and suddenly you see at least two "piętras" of underground garage on the elevator's floors list ;-) Yeah, I agree piętra has been piętrzyć up o the sky for years, but now the name left and is just describing a concept of storey.
In polish second floor means piętro and piętro word comes from word meaning ‘stacking’ so obviously ground floor can’t be stack it’s potentially first can be stack on. It’s the word meaning.
Dużo osób poleca sprawdzić "majówkę" jako odpowiednik "spring break", ale po drodze między feriami zimowymi (winter break) a majówką, mamy jeszcze Święta Wielkanocne. To jest kolejna przerwa w nauce. Data tych świąt się zmienia z roku na rok, ale troszkę można powiedzieć, że nasze spring break jest podzielone na dwa razy ;)
The floor thing is easy to understand when you get that we do not call it floor. it is piętro, which indicated elevation. first floor cannot be on the ground level because piętro means it is above ground, so it would make no sense to call ground level pierwsze piętro ;)
1. Feries always last for 2 weeks (Poles usually visit mountains [skiing, snowboarding, hiking, spending time together and relaxing] rather than visiting hotter countries). In different voivoideships, the time of Feries varies. College and University students do not have feries - we rather have a simple inter-semester break (during which you can take exam resits and extra classes, if you have to, or if you want to). We do actually have something similar to your spring break - it could be the Majówka (in May), but I don't really know, if that can count. Basically, Feries are out equivalent of your Spring break, but they're earlier, in January-February. 2. Yeah, it's in our old Polish tradition. No, you should only kiss a lady in a check, rarely between men (it's kinda weird). If you're greeting a man, a firm handshake and a little nod is always good enough. 3 kisses on both sides (you don't actually have to kiss the person in the cheek, you can just stroke their cheeks with your cheek and "kiss the air", it also counts X) ). Older generation usually does this, it's already non-existent in the younger generation. 3. Yeah, it's even problematic to us men in Poland, trust me. What I do, in normal situations, I always greet my male friends with a handshake, but I only say hello with a slight nod to my female friends, unless she extends her hand towards me, then we exchange a handshake. In business and official situations, always shake the hand, no matter if man of woman. Woman usually has to extend her hand first. Also, when you're being invited by someone, they have to extend their hand first, because they invite you, and not you them. Well, it also depends, who's the lower position in the situation. A guest is always of highest importance. But, if your boss asks you to visit their office, you're the one giving the hand, with a big smile, because Boss in their office, is a BOSS. I hope, it's cleared now more or less. 4. Where I live, it's not this unorganized. There is a line of people, but the doctor usually says, who's next (by their Surname). Well, it probably changed recently, due to the RODO, but I don't really have a need of visiting my doctor as frequently as some people do, so I'm probably not the best person to ask X). Once I do remember, doctor wasn't calling us by the surnames, but we've quickly organized ourselves, who comes in in what order. I guess, in some places, people aren't as respectful as in my region. 5. To me, I can't understand, why the ground floor is 1st floor. XDD But yeah. Cultural differences.
@Killkor GOOD post- I learned a lot. For starters, as a Polish-American guy, I often initiate the handshake with women I'm meeting for the first time in a professional setting, BUT after reading these posts, I THINK from now on I'll wait for her to initiate the👋handshake . Hopefully, I'll Be able to go to Poland one of these days and observe these social norms/practices in person.👍
Mogę przedstawić żeński punkt widzenia na sprawę powitania. Niestety wielu mężczyzn o tym nie wie, ale to nie oni mają podawać rękę na powitanie do kobiety. To powinna być jej inicjatywa, jeśli ma na to ochotę. Ja na przykład tego nie lubię, ale często nie mam wyjścia, bo jeśli ktoś już czeka z wyciągniętą dłonią, to ciężko tej ręki nie podać. Co do całowania w dłoń, to w dzisiejszych czasach już wydaje się dosyć sztuczne, a całowanie w policzek to raczej praktykowane jest rodzinnie lub wśród bliskich przyjaciół czy znajomych, nie na powitanie obcych. Scena z filmu "Borat" w Polsce nigdy nie miałaby miejsca.
@bartekj81 Savoir vivre mówi jasno - to mężczyzna ma zainicjować powitanie - na przykład uchylając kapelusza, skinięciem głowy, przez "cześć" lub coś w tym stylu, ale to kobieta może wtedy podać (lub nie) rękę. Następnie to mężczyzna może (lub nie) ją ucałować lub pozostać przy uścisku.
No to ja przedstawię mój męski punkt widzenia: Niestety, wiele kobiet jeszcze nie przyjmuje do wiadomości, że nie są świętymi krowami, i coraz więcej polskich mężczyzn już się obudziło i nie zamierzają akceptować "feudalnego" kultu Babola, i bardzo dobrze.
Z żeńskiego punktu widzenia - byłoby super, gdyby ludzie przestali zwracać tak wielką uwagę na płeć i powitanie inicjowała po prostu ta osoba, która przychodzi.
With regards to shaking hands the rules are really simple: 1. A woman has to initiate a handshake with a man. 2. An older person has to initiate a handshake with a younger person. 3. Some woman may choose not to shake hands; it's not common for just male members of two greeting groups to shake each other's hands. 4. Shaking hands between a man a and a woman or between two women would usually be accompanied by kissing each other's cheeks (either 1 or 3 TIMES, never 2 - that's really important! 😃).
but problem is that older people or that women also don't know how it works very often so it's really confusing, you are waiting, she is waiting....:-)
When you get back to America go to any tall building and into an elevator. Look at the buttons. One of them is sometimes marked with letter G for “ground level” or L for “lobby” (usually at ground). The first floor above ground is marked as 1 and so on until floor number 12. Then some magic happens and the next floor above 12 is marked as 14 and the normal numbering patter continues. I have been an a hotel elevator once that did have button marked “13” but it was just a fake button for guests on 13th floor to sleep better.
1. You can initiate handshake with people of an equal social status as yours 2. Elder people and women have higher social status than men, kids have lower social status than men 3. In business situation people with equal business level can initiate handshake (doesn`t matter if they are men, women, elder, younger), superior should initiate handshake 4. If you have lower social status you must wait for someone to initiate handshake, but they doesn`t have to do it, so you must react quickly 5. When someone want to shake hands with you it is very rude not to shake his hand after he extend it. This are basics. The general principal is that we would like to show our respect to people with higher business/social status, so we are trying to make them comfortable (maybe they don't want to shake hands with us, but it will be rude no to, so let them start this!). Right now a lot of young girls don`t know this rules and sometimes they are sad that boys don`t want to shake hands with them. It`s complicated ;)
Stefanator1312 sorry, but I disagree with most of the things that you have said. First of all, be careful with your English. For example, you have said: "Elder people and women", it translates into something like: Ludzie i kobiety - which is a very rude sentence. I know it was just language mistake, but keep it in mind in future. In my opinion almost nobody divides people by social status in everyday life. You probably understand the social status only by the difference in age, then words "social status" aren't accurate again. But if you have used "social status" as a sociological definition, then you've made a huge mistake. ? So if I am construction worker, I am not suppose to initiate a handshake with a doctor or university professor? What kind of world that would be? I have found a quite accurate article: porady.pracuj.pl/kariera-i-rozwoj/co-mowi-uscisk-dloni-tajniki-komunikacji-niewerbalnej/ and IMO only first rule is still commonly used (about old people). At work you are free to initiate a handshake with women even if it is against savoir vivre. Equal rights are more important. I've always worked in companies where employees could initiate a handshake with a boss or supervisor. The director was an exception, but only because of the difference in age. Perhaps there are some strange companies where the medieval code is still in use, but I bet that they are in minority.
Also, for the winter times, keep your hands out your pockets and take your handshaking hand glove of, unless someone already extends a gloved hand, and you're wearing gloves yourself (or just have/wish to show little respect for yourself).
I'm a Pole and I absolutely share your confusion about queues (it seems as though every doctor office I go to has different system on that, even if they are located in the same building!), floor numbers and cheek kissing. I always counted floors from 1 and up since my childhood and it took me YEARS to stop doing that and just ignore ground floor. And then kisses on the cheek seem to die out here in the south, in my family we do this only with grandparents and on special occassions like birthdays and christmas eve. Due to lack of practice, I seem to always put wrong cheek forward.
"For me is obvious, ground floor is the 1st floor..." :D in any elevator there is always ground floor marked as 0 and if you want to go up you go to 1st floor etc. Simple ;)
In Poland "parter" is treated like 0 floor because it's usually located on or slightly above the ground level. The other thing "piętro" is considered like a higher level of a building, something which is above "parter" so we use to say "pierwsze piętro, drugie piętro, trzecie" (first floor, second floor, third), but "parter" as the zero floor.
Change your thinking from "floor" to "storey". This is how Europeans think. There is a "main floor" ("parter" in Polish) and then there are "storeys", "Storeys" are always above the ground and the "main floor". Each building has a "main floor" but only some of them have "storeys". That's why only storeys are numbered. This is stupid to number a main floor. It exists always in any building. Of course it's up to you...
With regards to counting the floors, I remember that during my first visit to US I asked a concierge in a hotel about it. She smiled and said: you enter the lift and press a button with a proper number, no problem. Conclusion: make sure that there's a lift in every building you're visiting. ;-)
Reffering to handshakes, it's also interesting, when you're working with gloves on and your friend comes, you don't have to take the time to take off gloves to shake his hand. Instead you can just fistbump with the glove on.
I think in Poland there has been a tradition of enjoying the winter (which was in the past more snowy, cold and beautiful) and also we have the big fast starting at the end of february continuing till Easter and it's the time when Catholics should not partake in any festive activities.
The floor count thing is all over Europe and it (mostly) stems from two factors - the services (laundry, cooking, fuel and food storage and servants) occurred on the ground floor (which was often partially below ground, which is why it isn't simply the 'ground floor') and from living above the shop (tailors, bakers, butchers, printers, cobblers, etc.) so the 'first floor' of the home was actually the second floor of the building. You will see this in some older, northern American cities with buildings from the 19th century.
Ground floor is parter in Polish. Anything higher is called "piętra" 1 piętro, 2 piętro. Piętro means something on top of something. It doesn't mean floor. So 1 piętro is 2nd floor.
@@violabonkers5921 pewnie, że mieszkają w miastach nazwa suteryna. Kora mieszkała jako dziecko w suterynie. W Londynie popularne mieszkania in the basements.
Sir, I am moving to Poland in March of this year. I enjoy learning from you. I have never been to Poland. I am from California. I was taught, never reach out for a woman’s hand to greet her, unless she extends her hand first to greet you? Then it’s alright, after she does that, to extend your hand. How about just saying hello? And not kissing a stranger or shaking her hand? Is that acceptable? Or proper in Poland?
It is, since you're not local, it will be overlooked I think for the most part. But you generally have the gist of it. You want to hit the sweet spot, by not offending the guy by giving too much attention to his girlfriend, but also not to offend the woman, by giving her no attention at all. Might as well just give her an attentive nod with a polite smile followed by an eventual vocal hello - and if she does extend her hand or the like, respond in accordance to her action. Of course, like I read mentioned here by somebody else, if she extends a flat out hand, it's kissing time (on the hand that is, at least in that particular moment), or at least that's what her intention is.
John, I think in your case as a new arrival, people will cut you a lot of slack. Just saying hello will do the trick. If you're more clever than I am, you'll figure it all out in no time. Thanks for watching :)
Yessss just say hello, I wish Polish people understood it's the best way to greet someone if you're not very very close like best friends or parents/grandparents/siblings/other family members you're close with
Its weird especially for women here to shake hands od kiss with total stranger but after second meeting shaking hands is totally normal,kissing is the close friend or familiy thing and mainly women do it
Formally, woman should first say "hello" or give her hand to shake, but most of them dont know that. So, when i wait for them to pick a way for a greeting, the just assume, that i'm mean to them, because i didn't said hello first :X
Wow, that was spot on. I'm from Poland and I'm as confused as you about all those things. Apart from the 1st one. I don't know what's your problem with ferie :o
+Mariusz Warchulski BUT it sounds so bizarre to me to say I'm 190.5 centimeters tall and weigh 95 kilograms!!😀 PS I'm a Polish-American who was born in the US , but I REALLY LOVE💜 learning about ALL things pertaining to Poland - people, culture,music, food, history, Etc. Because, you know, my MOM NEVER asked me if I wanted to be born👶 in Poland OR the USA!!😀
Okej, jestem Polką i bardzo podobał mi się ten filmik i bardzo przyjemnie się słucha jak mówisz po angielsku - bardzo wyraźnie i z fajnym tempem. Słuchanie to dla mnie forma nauki, więc z przyjemnością będę obserwować ten kanał. Miej tylko na uwadze, że jeśli robisz filmik, to fajnie żeby coś się w nim działo lub tło było ciekawsze, bo inaczej wychodzi z tego podcast do słuchania, a nie oglądania ;) Super się słucha o Polsce z perspektywy kogoś zza granicy :)
The rules are fairly simple, though they do get muddled with various customs and traditions. The original traditions are: 1) Kissing on the cheek is only for close family members. "Close" is ambiguous, but basically means that any female relation will do it. Men only keep within 1-2 degrees. So kissing your uncle or cousin is sort of okay, kissing the husband of your aunt is most often than not frowned upon. Also you always kiss 3 times. 2 is not okay... 1 is also not okay. Only 3. 2) Handshakes are easy. You always handshake when you can't kiss on the cheek. So anyone who is not a very close familial relation. Second cousins, regardless of gender, distant aunts and uncles. Handshake is very important. One of the worst offenses you could ever make is a limp handshake, it shows indecisiveness and generally being a wimp. Also, you can't offer a handshake to an older person, they have to offer first. The woman has to offer first and so on and so forth. Normal European rules. 3) Kissing the hand is tricky. Traditionally there were various rules. One, you only touch the hand. You don't actually kiss. Just a brush of the lips. Second, you never do it under the sky, only inside. Those two rules are often ignored, because the people no longer know how to do it, but they are sometimes observed in the more refined circles. Again, depends on the region and the type of people you are around. Among some, kissing the hand is actually considered rude, but it's mostly the "lower class" where that's the case. So you have to know when you can, and when you can't.
About shaking hands. When you approach a group of pals everyone just shakes hands or gives a high five, a hug... or whatever suits you. In other situations, there are some simple rules that it is nice to remember to know who should initiate the handshake (waiting for somebody to go first is showing him respect). - woman + man - woman reaches the hand first - old + young - older reaches the hand first - old man + woman - it depends, usually old man waits for a woman because older people tend to be more savoir-vivre savvy. when a host greets his guests at his home, host goes first (and he greets women first, then men) in business situations, someone with a higher rank should go first. There is sometimes a weird situation when a man approaches a group of ppl, and he shakes hands with the guys and ommits women. You shouldn't ommit women, in fact, you should greet the women first. Sometimes you greet women with a kiss in a cheek (usually when you are good friends) and sometimes with a handshake. Just approach a woman and look if she is extending her hand or if she approaches for a kiss; nowadays it's usually a handshake. This can sometimes be tricky but you can get used to this.
Parter (zero floor) vs first floor. It's confusing, because there is not equivalent word for "piętro" (2nd floor = 1 piętro) in English. Origin of this word means something above, in meaning it's closer to English "upheaval", "upthrust". "Parter" (zero floor) is "on the ground", but "piętro" is above it.
Usually when there are men and women mixed, you ALWAYS start shaking hands with women FIRST, preferably they should extend them first, if you want go a step deeper, you start with the older women FIRST again, it is a great (somewhat dying...) old-fashioned tradition to kiss the old ladies on the top of the hand. Then you go to the men and again, you start with the older gentlemen first and then progress to the younger ones, usually the older guy sticks out his hand first, but yet again, these are not 100% stone-solid rules, what is considered rude is a teenager sticking his hand out first to the man 40 and up, but guessing you are over 40... you should be in the clear sticking your hand out first to the man of any age. :) Confusing? maybe... But you are a damn good sport, and if everybody knows you are a foreigner , they WILL cut you a lot of slack!
Always think about floors as they're timeline: When you enter the building, you're always at 0 in timeline, the middle of all, which here is called parter. Then all floors below and above parter (0) are piętra. Floors above are marked as 1, 2, 3... Floors below are marked as -1, -2, -3.. OR A, B, C... It's like timeline.
Yeah shaking hands with women seems tricky but essentially if you just go out and shake everyone's hand you can't go wrong. Worst case scenario it may seem redundant but never rude.
If you visit a phisician you can also (very often) hear somebody (especialy elderly people) saying "Ja bez kolejki! (I'm out of the queue or I'm entering regardless the queue) which means that person wants to enter whenever the office is free to the next patient. And it's also very vague to judge when to respect it or not basing mostly on politeness.
One hint how to break the ice with standing in lines, if you have appointment for example 12 30 you can ask which hour is coming next. People should answer making question to you what hour do you have. Then bunch of people will say what hour they have, that way you might find position in line :) try it. Also about cheek kissing just keep distance around 1-3 cm and make sound "cmok" or just simply cheek to cheek touch
Shaking hands (as short as possible): - the woman initiates it (any age, any level of formality) - she may also initiate the kiss on the top of her hand, but that happens VERY rarely, - with men: when you meet them, but you don't wanna do that when the situation is a bit more formal, i.e. when you see a doctor, when a cop pulls you over, in a shop, in a government building of any sort, etc.
As a polish woman: Just shake a womans hand tbh. Its not that big of a deal. If you know the woman really well and you guys are close you can Kiss her on the cheek. But a handshake will do Just fine
No, cause it's weird. I only shake hands with women at work. In formal situations. You should kiss hand as gentelman, kiss her cheek or hug her (if you know each other) but shaking hands with women feels weird for me unless it's an introduction. It's not in our culture. But some women like you will feel the need to shake men's hands for some reason. It's a typical pal to pal gesture, not man with a woman.
6:37 there's a way out of this - you just need to be a blood donor and after an appropriate amount (5l women, 6l men) you get what it's called Zasłużony Dawca Krwi (Honorary Blood Donor) and you're first in both situations: doctors appointments and pharmacies. Lawfully ;)
@@LoveMyPoland I knooow but when you'll get just one ore two days off in your job it turns into (sometimes) 9-10 days brake so you can go for a trip or have a never ending barbecue with friends easily ;)
Queues it really depends on office, most of public offices have number dispenser you click what type of visit you want to do (register car, deregister car, add car owner...) and it will give you right number for right queue and when its your time there will be display showing your number over right office clerk. At doctors it really depends my has time stamps you ask what "time" is in office and try to find person has "slot" before yours - doctors appointments arent time reliable somepeople just need checkup and simple solution some take more time, my fathers has number system that shows you what time (very roughly) you can expect to be admitted.
I can totally understand why handshakes and kisses can be really confusing :D Something like 15 years ago my friend brought some American (obviously, lol) friends for tea, we had a nice chat and it was very casual and friendly and when the time came to say our goodbyes one of the guys just grabbed my hand and went for my cheek and before I knew what I was doing I was backing off and yelling 'what the hell!?' I felt like such an idiot afterwards but it was seriously the first time someone otherwise kind and well-behaved tried to do something like this. I just took it for granted that as a woman I'm the one who's always setting up boundaries and it's my right to decide whether physical contact takes place or not. I desperately tried to turn it into a joke, but I'm pretty sure it didn't work :P
About 07:00 - 07:40 The concept of "floors" or "piętro, piętra" in Polish language is easy. Word "piętro" has basic meaning of "something stacked upon any other thing" which is seen in the verb "piętrzyć trudności, kłopoty" = "to stack difficulties, problems upon other difficulties, problems". So, "piętro" can NOT mean American "1st floor", for "1-sze piętro" may only be stacked upon a base called "parter" 😆
I do, my friends do. And if someone doesn't then their parents made a terrible job, easy as that. Women need to initiate handshake first, if they don't, you don't shake hands with them.
This floor numbering is funny thing. You can often encounter negative floor numbers when it's placed under the ground. So combined with 0 floor (parter) it's more consistent, because you have for example: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4... etc :)
kissing on the cheek is actually very rarely encountered. at least for me. and its usually like kind of pretending to kiss someone rather than giving another person a sloppy one. and you just earned a sub
Thank you to share all of your videos. They are jus so honest and true. Its nice to see how a foreigner sees our country. Before your videos i dodn't realized that theres some behaviours that arent "normal" in other countries. thak you for realizing to me. Your a true bless. Best regards!
As a Polish woman, I absolutely HATE it when a man greets other men by shaking hands but he won't greet me the same way. Like what, am I worse or something? I have a couple of male colleagues who do that and it always annoys me. They are lovely people and I'm 100% sure they don't do it maliciously but I hate that they make that distinction in greeting women and men.
@@whitetrain3300 well, obviously, not all men do that but it's a significant enough portion of them that there is definitely a pattern there. Besides official business settings where shaking hands with everyone is expected (it doesn't extend to business casual though, like with your everyday coworkers), I know maybe 30 men who habitually greet other men with a handshake and only 1 man who thusly greets both men and women.
@@kasiamosiek7425 Where were you raised? They were raised properly. Women should offer their hand first =Savoir-vivre. Basic rules. Although in todays METOO era I wouldn't either. Maybe they don't wan't to risk a fals rape accusation in 30 years. Blame feminism for that.
It's pretty simple when it comes to the floor calling confusion, back in states the construction code is different than in Poland, hence in Poland, they number the floors differently and calling the "0" floor the first floor would be kinda awkward. Moreover, back in NYC, there are more and more architects who actually start naming the first floor - the ground floor.
You are bit confused about making the line. It is just like in US, you ask who is last and you watch that person, nobody goes in after him but you. Your job as a last one in the line is to respond to the next coming person that you are the last one.
Oo! Częstochowa! Good to see my home town! Have u got any Q&A? How did you get to Poland and Częstochowa? Take care and good luck with this channel! :)
I think kissing a woman's hand is an amazing way of showing her respect. A guy would gain 100 points in me if he kissed my hand while greeting me. I don't think anywhere else in the world women are treated in such a respectful way. I cannot imagine an Italian man, not to mention a Muslim man, kissing a woman's hand... you would have to kiss his hand...
A Muslim man will not kiss your hand, and he won't like his hand to be kissed either coz it's haram 🙄 But it's good to talk about something you have no idea about. By the way, I also wouldn't let any random man kiss my hand. I prefer shaking hands, which is much more professional, and neutral for both of the people - moreover I have perfectly nothing against the man initiating it, lol.
Nooo kissing hands should be illegal, it's horrible if you don't know if that person likes it. Why can't we just kiss our partners' hands? No matter what gender. Someone else's lips on any part of my body is too much. It's unprofessional if happens at work. And weird if a friend does it, but at least I can tell my friend I don't like it. I can't really say that to my boss. Edit: also weird with creepy uncles 😛
IN POLAND YOU DO NOT KISS WOMAN'S HAND IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HER VREY WELL , USUALY MEN KISS WOMEN'S HAND WHO ARE FAMILY MEMBERS, MOTHER, WIFE, AUNT, OR VERY CLOSE FRIENDS THEY DO NOT DO THIS TO WOMEN THEY SEE THE FIRST TIME OR SIMPLY THEY DO NOT KNOW THEM WELL. THE PURPOSE OF THIS IS SHOWING THE RESPECT TO WOMEN THEY ADMIRE, CHERISH, HONOR.
You have to experience the Podkarpacie....used to be a guy in the village would hold out the stump of his arm (alcoholic - lost it in a chain saw accident involving vodka) never fazed me,.....ex soldier seen newly blown off stumps.....I shook his stump every time I saw him.
Who still kisses on the cheeks??? I'm 27, never kissed anyone but my boyfriend and mother (and maybe close female relatives on rare occasions). Can't imagine kissing random people to say hello o.O
same 😛 except I'm 28, whatevs 😛 it was weird to be kissed by my boss when he came with a flower on Woman's Day, I don't like our culture but there's not that much kissing as some people here seem to suggest hmmm
I work in place where some elevators have 0 floor, some not. So when you push for example 1first floor button it's sometimes 2th floor, depends on which elevator you use. Welcome in Poland ;)
From the woman point of view, I hate I when man comes in and shakes hands with all other guys and not even say hi to the girls. I find it very unpleasant. Just shake hand with everyone or nobody.
Regarding the queue in public healthcare what you have described is a consequence of transformation that's been going on for decades now... About 20 years ago the "first come, first go" rule was common in healthcare. There were no registrations for specific visit hours back then. This new idea for hourly registrations has been introduced so many years ago, but there are still many medical centers where people are registered for a specific hour, but stay in line from the get-go regardless, to get in earlier. It is a common practice for elderly who have a lot of time on their hands and can afford to wait in line several hours. It is the most common in villages and smaller cities, but can happen anywhere. The problem is non-existent if the doctor will take the effort to call out the patient's name/number to invite them in though. Otherwise, instead of asking "who's the last in line" you can ask who has appointment prior to yours. TBH, you could always try to fight your way through in such situations. I usually don't bother, because I don't like to argue, but my husband once fought over it since he was in a hurry. He had an appointment for specific hour, asked who has prior appointment, and was told "there is queue" (you guessed it, elderly people waited in line with no regards to actual schedule). So my husband went back to the reception and asked if there is a line or a visit schedule. The receptionist had to take out the schedule and line out the patients accordingly herself (you guessed it again, elderly people from the front were moved to the end of the line, while "newcomers" moved up by a lot - my husband ended up SECOND in line having just arrived there!).
Zasada co do ściskania dłoni: Gdy kogoś poznajesz i się przedstawiasz podajesz dłoń każdemu bez względu na płeć. W późniejszych sytuacjach tylko mężczyźni mężczyznom. Chociaż u mnie w pracy gdy zaczyna się zmianę trzeba się przywitać i podać rękę każdemu. I kobiecie, i mężczyźnie, co dla mnie jest głupie, bo kobiety normalnie nie pojadą sobie ani facetom ręki na "dzień dobry"- gdy tego nie robiłam ludzie patrzyli na mnie spod byka, więc siłą rzeczy witam się z każdym podając im rękę dla świętego spokoju. A co do całowania w rękę to uważam to za bardzo miły gest, więc nie tylko starsze kobiety to lubią i doceniają (mam 29 lat)
E. K. W Niemczech czy Austrii dziewczyny nie mają takich fobii i niepodanie im ręki uznałyby za chamstwo. W Austrii jak idziesz do lekarza, który jest kobietą, ona zawsze na początek wyciąga rękę do powitania. Pierwsza.
E. K. no dobra, niech będzie że zwyczaj, tylko ten zwyczaj skądś się bierze, a bierze się z fobii "co dla mnie jest głupie", "ludzie patrzyli na mnie spod byka, więc siłą rzeczy robiłam to". To prawda że nie pisałaś o fobii. Ja o niej pisałem. Fobia bierze się z wychowania przesiąkniętego katolską mentalnością, w której najchętniej by zrobiono osobne klasy dla każdej płci. I dlatego kobiety w Polsce traktują mężczyzn jak Marsjan z innej planety, których lepiej omijać z daleka, bo jak się ich dotknie, to można się zarazić, albo zajść w ciążę i urodzić dziecko homo sapiens... ua-cam.com/video/j9ejj_fD-P0/v-deo.html
@@pawefalkowski9680 wow, jestem pod wrażeniem twojej dedukcji. Za równie głupie uważam podawanie rąk przez facetów facetom. I nie ma to nic wspólnego z katolską mentalnością. Tylko jest to moje zdanie. Jakbym napisała, że uważam za głupie np. noszenie brody lub farbowanie włosów też byś wymyślił jaką teorie o pochodzeniu kobiet z Wenus czy coś w tym stylu? I skąd u licha wymysł o traktowaniu facetów jak kosmitów? Bo nie lubię podawać ręki to znaczy, że pewnie omijam mężczyzn?
2 weeks winter brake "ferie" on January or February are between semesters at school- between first and second semester on each year. This is school brake in the middle of school year. Between winter semester as first semester (Sept->Jan or Feb) and summer semester as second semester (Jan or Feb ->June). But "ferie" are not used at Universities (usually). Universities usually have owns names. But I can be wrong. Spring brake I think we can use for May brake (at the beginning of May). But I'm not sure the spring brake is correct name, we call that time "majówka". Maybe "spring brake" is correct for Eater time...hmmm. What i remember, at school for Easter time we used "Easter brake". Similar to Christmas time: "Christmas brake"
Borat and polish people comparison has no sense, Borat was kissing everybody, even a freakin' driver instructor. We, Poles, don't do that, we kiss only relatives, like grandparents, aunts and uncles (ofc men shouldn't kiss their uncles etc ;) and friends: man and woman, woman and woman, but NOT man and man. For other people we have just hand shake and hello.
You should go to Germany, they index the floors including the cellars. So if there's a two-level underground garage, for example, they will call the ground floor the "3rd floor"
@@Mokoshhy ze znajomymi to ja kobita też się nie całuję, tylko z rodziną i ewentualnie jak ktoś składa życzenia, np. na 18tkę od wielu osób z klasy się dostawało buziaki, nawet od takich z którymi nie było się blisko, ale też nie jest to obowiązek, można przytulić zwłaszcza jak was nie łączy mocna przyjaźń
I found your channel today and I just want to say that you are doing a great job. I'm from Poland, I was raised here and I didn't realize how many ascpects of our daily life can be so ridiculous. The one with lining up made me laugh really hard but I understood how unimaginable for the foreigners can it be (and even if I am from Poland it is still really awkward to me and during 20 years of my life I have never mastered it). You not only tell Americans about Poland but you also teach us a lot about our culture. Thanks!
Don't kiss women lol. I don't really see that much kissing in Poland unless it's family or two best friends, usually two women. Sometimes when you wish someone happy birthday you also kiss (or if they wish you happy bday). But hug is always nice and 'safe' if you're not sure. But not older people (or boss or formal situation) unless family.
The confusion with the floors is like using the Fahrenheit scale for temperature, only the Americans are confused :)
The co Fusion with the floors came just from the language difference. We are using the Word floor as a space under your feet. So it will sound fooly in our understood of that. Our language created a special Word for that situation: Piętro. This Word means always a room or space in the building above the ground Level. And the ground Level calls Parter.
So you Start from Parter(ground Level) and you go to 1,2,3... Piętro(space above the ground Level)
@@eolmint Dziękuję za wyjaśnienie, ale chyba nie do mnie powinno ono być skierowane :)
I'm Pole and I always had problem with our way of counting floors. I prefer the American way, but I have to admit, all other polish units and measure systems are superior for me :D
@@eolmint I believe it's because american houses often are built on an elevation, over the ground level. Therefore ground zero is the earth itself - not being mentioned a part of the building. In Europe this kind of building doesn't exist that often. But still, im living in Poland most of my life and i was confused by this when i was younger, intuitively i thought what most americans would think that ground zero is the first floor. So yeah, it is confusing.
Mateusz Cetnar
Tak! Prawda😂
Okay, rules about shaking hands:
1. When shaking hands, host or person of higher social status initiate shaking. If said person will not initiate, you skip shaking hands
2. When shaking hands it is absolutely required to do it with strength. Do not crush someones hand, but do not give them "fish" (weak, jeally, slippery hand). When you shake hand do it like a man.
2b. Only exception of rule no. 2 is with kids and womans. You dont want to hurt them. Be gentle. Still no-go for "fish".
3. When handshaking woman, you wait until she initiate it, as gesture of respect. Only exception to that is when you are clearly of higher status (you are boss and she came to job interview) or you are a host (she is a guest at your house and you greet her), then you should initiate shaking. Generally rule no. 1 still applies.
3c. Woman can initiate shaking be giving you her hand palm down, and back-of-her-hand towards you. It generally means you SHOULD kiss her hand. Its not obligatory and you can instead shake her hand instead, but not both. Either kissing or shaking hand, not both.
4. When shaking hands, you should look other person in the eyes for as long as shaking is in progress.
5. Good hand-shake should last about 1-2 seconds or 2-3 shakes.
6. Hand shake can transform into hug. Its a common thing for close friends and/or family.
7. During special occasions, hand shake can be accompanied by cheek kiss, especially when visiting family you haven't seen for quite a while.
It takes years to learn this :)
@@LoveMyPoland yes it does, and I consider myself lucky I was raised with this rules "embedded" into me, so I dont have to figure it out myself. Much respect to you,for taking this extra step and at least trying to understand our culture :)
At work, you should give your hand to a woman because at work we show that everyone is equal.
and always the Older one give hand first
+Love My Poland!
SO I'm guessing that the American🌍 method of greeting each other with an " exploding fist👊 bump " AND a "Wazzup, Bro?!" probably wouldn't fly in Poland?! "😀
I feel like the character ,Stuart, (a Brit in LA) in "Hello, Ladies," who's always saying, " WHAT are the rules,man?? I JUST DON'T know the rules?! "😀
As always, an informative and entertaining video that educated this Polish-American!!👍
'Floor' means any level but 'piętro' means 'something built on top of something else'.
Exactly. So if u compare it to american way it would be like: (pierwszy poziom, drugi poziom). I'd say that for most of my countryman it would just sound bad in polish :P Considering fact that we have "parter" and like bro above just said "piętro" is built on it :) that's why it's first :D of course its simple to me but i suspect it's awkward for you :D
And we also have a term called "kondygnacja" which works the same way as floors in America ☺️
It comes from the word "piętrzyć" meaning "to stack"
piętro zerowe - parter, ground floor, jest is built on top od a basement, or on top of asubstructure, fundation or so ;)
I think the best translation for "piętro" is "story", but remember how you count the stories because in Poland a building called "dwupiętrowy" in America would be called a three-story building, not 'two story'.
No.5 its because "pietro" doesnt mean floor which is "podloga" in literal translation. "pietro" implies something upper and it wouldnt make sense to call ground floor something above.
Exactly.Piętro,piętrzyć,unosić.
+
Exact same goes for Hungary
Dokładnie - "floor" odpowiada polskiemu "poziom", ale jest u nas bardzo mało używane - praktycznie tylko w opisach technicznych.
mmm interesting. However, consider that the "Polish-style" counting system is used the whole world over, independently of what they call a floor. In fact the in the UK the street-level floor is the ground floor, so I don't think the problem is in the word 'floor' itself.
BTW I prefer the US-style way of counting floors (or Russia-style, as it is also used there), I think it makes more sense: if a building has 10 floors, and I want to get to the top floor, it makes more sense to me to press the button '10' in the lift rather than 9 'because the ground floor doesn't count' :)
Easy way to remember European style of counting floors is "how many levels up i need to go". If you are on groun level it's 0. 1 level up is first etc.
Rez-de-chaussée kurwa!
or parter in polish
Impressive how good your Polish is.👌👍 I tak, poszukaj "majówki" jeśli chcesz znaleźć spring break. Sort of 🤔😂😁
Dziękuję bardzo!
Isnt majówka basically a week long drinking holiday? 🤔😂
@@nootcracker spring break it is all about The same
Hi, most of your complaints can be generalized for Europe as a whole. For example, kissing on the cheek is also popular in France, and is even more "elaborate". The same goes with floor numbering, etc.
Public healthcare in Poland is hell. You can never win when there is a babcia cutting in line "only to ask the doctor about something".
staywithme ... if public healthcare in Poland is hell, you are welcome to check American healthcare. Good luck ha ha ha! That would teach you what hell really is...
Lines to a doctor is a very small price to pay to have it free and quite good (contrary to what ever complaining Poles think).
I pay health insurance over $1000 a month for a very basic insurance. And still have to pay full price for doctors visits, lab tests etc until I spend $5000 each year for the insurance to kick in with about 70% cover and 30% from my pocket. My wife also has to spend $5000 first from her pocket before insurance starts covering 70% of the cost. And if you are seriously ill you’d better have a nice, expensive house so you can sell to pay off those monumental hospital bills. Even this may not be enough...
Do I need to mention that health insurance DOES NOT cover an optometrist or a dentist? For those you need a separate insurance.
So... lines to a doctor is a VERY small price to pay to have it FEE.
Same goes for free education...
yeah, you think polish health care is bad, have you been in the UK? It's a nightmare, I've need few times and every time the doctor gave me paracetamol! Joke, it's total joke in the UK, I'd be a doctor and just give paracetamol to everyone lol And I know what I'm talking about, I'm polish living in the UK
I was just saying about the quality, you mentioned also cost of the insurance, it's mad and I've never been in America to compare it
in USA you are just one hospital visit away from being in gigantic debt. No money? you are shit out of luck. NFZ ssie ale nie zdechniesz bo nie masz kasy.
@@WolfKenneth yeah, that's right. in Poland you just have to spend a lot of time and energy to finally see the doctor. and in the USA it's really unprofitable to be ill
Ssavoir vivre says it is up to woman how she wants to be greeted. She might shake your hand, kiss your cheek, just nod a head or do nothing. She might also want you to kiss her hand. You should observe her and react properly.
I live in Poland my whole life and I've never been greeted by anyone with a kiss on a cheek apart from my aunt
Haha thats funny :D I experienced that at school or dance classes!
In spring we have 10degree, lots of winds and rain. What u gonna do in that weather? xD Winter/Summer break is better
It's often more than 10 degrees. And I think there isn't raining that much tho. For me that's a nice not too cold not too warm weather perfect for a walk. And there's so many beautiful flowers!
I have no problem with 10°C and soft rain, people are pussies and think they will die outside or what, I don't understand that. As Mahikun is saying, such weather is good for walking. And it's perferct for sit somewhere with hot coffee or tea or whatever, you don't have to stay at hotel or home.
Shaking hands ONLY rule: Kiedy starsi są, lub baby, nie wyciągaj pierwszy graby!
What exactly does that mean? Cause google translate wasn't a big help. Google translation: When the elders are or baby, don't pull out the first fireplace! :D
@@vaiduliuke in the presence of women or people's older than you, there is on there side to initiate a handshake
@@tomekpawowski2692 Thanks!
@@vaiduliuke if its a woman or someone older then you then dont pull out ur hand until they do
@@vaiduliuke "graby" is genitive case of "graba", which is a strongly colloquial (and a bit old-fashioned) term for "hand" (also a feminine term in Polish). So "nie wyciągaj" (= do not extend/reach out) "pierwszy" (= as first) "graby" (= your hand) (i.e. when greeting a woman or an older person) would be an approximate translation. There is no connection whatsoever with "fireplace" here (sorry Google), probably it's a misnomer from "rake" for Polish "grabie" - a totally different word and nor really associated with fireplaces but rather hay collection :-). HTH.
The construction thing: In English we talk floors, so it only makes sense that the ground floor is floor one. In Polish the word is “piętro” and it doesn’t translate to the word “floor.” Piętro translates into the noun climb (spelled same as the verb) so obviously the ground floor could not be called the first climb. The floor above (the second floor) is the first climb - pierwsze piętro.
Cheers!
Great video! I think it's important to note that in Poland you don't just kiss strangers on the cheek like in the Borat video. You only do it with relatives like friends and family. For anyone else, it's just a handshake or a hello. So, dear foreigners, please don't kiss every person that greets you. It's weird :D.
That is very good to know. I know an American who has recently moved to France and is having to cope with la bise which means you have to let males kiss you on the cheek every time you meet, even colleagues or you are considered rude. It sounds like hell. She dreads meetings now. I could never tolerate that.
I have had strangers (people I have only just met wanting to cheek kiss! Mostly French students. This is so wrong!)
@@blackwater4707 Surely not strangers?
Oh come on kiss them all 😂
Polish word "parter" is a Polonised version of French "par terre/parterre" which means on the ground. Some people have difficulty adjusting to a different floor numbering system. I did not, perhaps because I learned about that at foreign language lessons when I was a child.
Hand shake -
- When you meet a friend.
- When you meet a couple of friends.
- But when you meet a bunch of friends you can shake hand with the closest to you, and just wave to the others to say 'hi'.
- We do not shake a hand with girls, but we do not ignore them either. Sometimes we just say 'hi', or hug them.
Kissing in the hand -
- When you are introduced to the older woman. But only in very specific circumstances. Never in business, rather in private relationship. And it is very easy - woman who wants to be kissed at hand will stretch her palm vertically.
- When you are in big traditional party like wedding.
- Sometimes you can try this trick on Polish girl you like instantly from the first sight. Sometimes it works:)
podajesz reke najblizszemu a reszcie nie ? nie podajesz kobiecie reki? skad te zasady ? Podaje sie reke albo wszystkim albo nikomu. Kobieta zawsze pierwsza, jak nie wyciaga reki to sie klaniasz, ale wszystko co napisales wyzej to sa zasady jak byc niegrzecznym. Ja bym sie czuła bardzo urażona i uważałabym kogoś za chama bez kultury, z resztą większość z ludzi których znam tak myśli, jak ktoś wita się tylko z jedną osobą albo nie wita się z kobietami jako pierwzymi.
" Wiek ani płeć nie ma znaczenia w świecie biznesu. Liczy się tyko wtedy, gdy osoby zajmują równorzędne stanowiska. W takiej sytuacji pierwsza rękę podaje kobieta lub osoba starsza. Jeśli spotykasz się z większą grupą ludzi i nie znasz ich stanowisk, przywitaj się z każdym po kolei. Pierwszy rękę wyciąga gospodarz przyjęcia lub zebrania. Ta sama zasada dotyczy np. rozmów kwalifikacyjnych. Nigdy nie wyciągaj ręki jako pierwsza, jeśli to ty szukasz pracy. Pierwszy wita się i wyciąga rękę pracownik firmy, do której aplikujesz.
W sytuacjach prywatnych podawanie ręki jest już mniej sformalizowane. Zgodnie z etykietą to kobieta podaje rękę mężczyźnie, a starsza osoba młodszej. Jeśli więc poznajesz babcię swojego partnera, nie wyskakuj z otwartą dłonią - przedstaw się i poczekaj, aż starsza pani wyciągnie do Ciebie rękę. W sytuacji, w której mężczyzna przedstawia się grupie kobiet w wyraźnie różnym wieku, powinien najpierw skierować się do najstarszej z pań i poczekać, aż ta poda mu dłoń. Nie czuj się więc zignorowana, gdy kolega witając się podał rękę tylko mężczyznom - zrobił to zgodnie z zasadami savoir-vivre. " savoir vivre dla początkujących.
Regarding the floors counting. In Czech or Poland we use a word "pietro" which means "a level". It something which is above ground. So therefore we say "parter" = ground level and then is the first level above ground hence "the first level / floor".
To confuse you even more, some people call the spring break the time during Easter. Ferie is the term used to describe those two weeks in January or February (depends on the voivodeship), but Christmas is sometimes called the winter break ;) so now you know :P
Dear viewers, it seems there has been some confusion concerning man to man cheek kissing. I have experienced this mostly at weddings. Men DO give kisses on the cheek when giving out wishes to the groom. I witnessed this at weddings from Warsaw to Zakopane. I was also a groom myself in Czestochowa, Poland and received many kisses here too. But outside of weddings, I must agree, there aren't too many instances to mention.
Love My Poland! Yuck! You’re turning my stomach.
Kudos to you for these great videos and to good Polish people! I've stumbled on your videos as I'm soon to visit Poland and I wanted to find out more about this beautiful country and it's people... little did I know that we Croats have so much in common with Poland. 90% of what you said here and other videos could be said about my country and it's ways. :)
Cheers from Croatia!
I truly love Croatia. I felt verrry well there. Going back in July. Istria!
God bless Croatia 🇭🇷!
In Polish there is no concept of counting floors but piętro or piętra which is level above ground level
Until you're in more modern building and suddenly you see at least two "piętras" of underground garage on the elevator's floors list ;-) Yeah, I agree piętra has been piętrzyć up o the sky for years, but now the name left and is just describing a concept of storey.
In polish second floor means piętro and piętro word comes from word meaning ‘stacking’ so obviously ground floor can’t be stack it’s potentially first can be stack on. It’s the word meaning.
Dużo osób poleca sprawdzić "majówkę" jako odpowiednik "spring break", ale po drodze między feriami zimowymi (winter break) a majówką, mamy jeszcze Święta Wielkanocne. To jest kolejna przerwa w nauce. Data tych świąt się zmienia z roku na rok, ale troszkę można powiedzieć, że nasze spring break jest podzielone na dwa razy ;)
The floor thing is easy to understand when you get that we do not call it floor. it is piętro, which indicated elevation. first floor cannot be on the ground level because piętro means it is above ground, so it would make no sense to call ground level pierwsze piętro ;)
1. Feries always last for 2 weeks (Poles usually visit mountains [skiing, snowboarding, hiking, spending time together and relaxing] rather than visiting hotter countries). In different voivoideships, the time of Feries varies. College and University students do not have feries - we rather have a simple inter-semester break (during which you can take exam resits and extra classes, if you have to, or if you want to). We do actually have something similar to your spring break - it could be the Majówka (in May), but I don't really know, if that can count. Basically, Feries are out equivalent of your Spring break, but they're earlier, in January-February.
2. Yeah, it's in our old Polish tradition. No, you should only kiss a lady in a check, rarely between men (it's kinda weird). If you're greeting a man, a firm handshake and a little nod is always good enough. 3 kisses on both sides (you don't actually have to kiss the person in the cheek, you can just stroke their cheeks with your cheek and "kiss the air", it also counts X) ). Older generation usually does this, it's already non-existent in the younger generation.
3. Yeah, it's even problematic to us men in Poland, trust me. What I do, in normal situations, I always greet my male friends with a handshake, but I only say hello with a slight nod to my female friends, unless she extends her hand towards me, then we exchange a handshake.
In business and official situations, always shake the hand, no matter if man of woman. Woman usually has to extend her hand first. Also, when you're being invited by someone, they have to extend their hand first, because they invite you, and not you them. Well, it also depends, who's the lower position in the situation. A guest is always of highest importance. But, if your boss asks you to visit their office, you're the one giving the hand, with a big smile, because Boss in their office, is a BOSS. I hope, it's cleared now more or less.
4. Where I live, it's not this unorganized. There is a line of people, but the doctor usually says, who's next (by their Surname). Well, it probably changed recently, due to the RODO, but I don't really have a need of visiting my doctor as frequently as some people do, so I'm probably not the best person to ask X). Once I do remember, doctor wasn't calling us by the surnames, but we've quickly organized ourselves, who comes in in what order. I guess, in some places, people aren't as respectful as in my region.
5. To me, I can't understand, why the ground floor is 1st floor. XDD But yeah. Cultural differences.
@Killkor
GOOD post- I learned a lot.
For starters, as a Polish-American guy, I often initiate the handshake with women I'm meeting for the first time in a professional setting, BUT after reading these posts, I THINK from now on I'll wait for her to initiate the👋handshake .
Hopefully, I'll Be able to go to Poland one of these days and observe these social norms/practices in person.👍
@@charlies.5777 good luck my friend :)
+Killkor
Thanks.
Likewise
Mogę przedstawić żeński punkt widzenia na sprawę powitania.
Niestety wielu mężczyzn o tym nie wie, ale to nie oni mają podawać rękę na powitanie do kobiety. To powinna być jej inicjatywa, jeśli ma na to ochotę. Ja na przykład tego nie lubię, ale często nie mam wyjścia, bo jeśli ktoś już czeka z wyciągniętą dłonią, to ciężko tej ręki nie podać.
Co do całowania w dłoń, to w dzisiejszych czasach już wydaje się dosyć sztuczne, a całowanie w policzek to raczej praktykowane jest rodzinnie lub wśród bliskich przyjaciół czy znajomych, nie na powitanie obcych. Scena z filmu "Borat" w Polsce nigdy nie miałaby miejsca.
co do ostatniego zdania.. No chyba że instruktor jest twoim przyjacielem, rodziną ;> :D
@bartekj81 Savoir vivre mówi jasno - to mężczyzna ma zainicjować powitanie - na przykład uchylając kapelusza, skinięciem głowy, przez "cześć" lub coś w tym stylu, ale to kobieta może wtedy podać (lub nie) rękę. Następnie to mężczyzna może (lub nie) ją ucałować lub pozostać przy uścisku.
No to ja przedstawię mój męski punkt widzenia: Niestety, wiele kobiet jeszcze nie przyjmuje do wiadomości, że nie są świętymi krowami, i coraz więcej polskich mężczyzn już się obudziło i nie zamierzają akceptować "feudalnego" kultu Babola, i bardzo dobrze.
@@drneko1191 Racja."Dość dyktatury kobiet." ;)
Z żeńskiego punktu widzenia - byłoby super, gdyby ludzie przestali zwracać tak wielką uwagę na płeć i powitanie inicjowała po prostu ta osoba, która przychodzi.
With regards to shaking hands the rules are really simple:
1. A woman has to initiate a handshake with a man.
2. An older person has to initiate a handshake with a younger person.
3. Some woman may choose not to shake hands; it's not common for just male members of two greeting groups to shake each other's hands.
4. Shaking hands between a man a and a woman or between two women would usually be accompanied by kissing each other's cheeks (either 1 or 3 TIMES, never 2 - that's really important! 😃).
but problem is that older people or that women also don't know how it works very often so it's really confusing, you are waiting, she is waiting....:-)
When you get back to America go to any tall building and into an elevator. Look at the buttons. One of them is sometimes marked with letter G for “ground level” or L for “lobby” (usually at ground). The first floor above ground is marked as 1 and so on until floor number 12.
Then some magic happens and the next floor above 12 is marked as 14 and the normal numbering patter continues.
I have been an a hotel elevator once that did have button marked “13” but it was just a fake button for guests on 13th floor to sleep better.
1. You can initiate handshake with people of an equal social status as yours
2. Elder people and women have higher social status than men, kids have lower social status than men
3. In business situation people with equal business level can initiate handshake (doesn`t matter if they are men, women, elder, younger), superior should initiate handshake
4. If you have lower social status you must wait for someone to initiate handshake, but they doesn`t have to do it, so you must react quickly
5. When someone want to shake hands with you it is very rude not to shake his hand after he extend it.
This are basics. The general principal is that we would like to show our respect to people with higher business/social status, so we are trying to make them comfortable (maybe they don't want to shake hands with us, but it will be rude no to, so let them start this!). Right now a lot of young girls don`t know this rules and sometimes they are sad that boys don`t want to shake hands with them. It`s complicated ;)
Stefanator1312 sorry, but I disagree with most of the things that you have said. First of all, be careful with your English. For example, you have said: "Elder people and women", it translates into something like: Ludzie i kobiety - which is a very rude sentence. I know it was just language mistake, but keep it in mind in future. In my opinion almost nobody divides people by social status in everyday life. You probably understand the social status only by the difference in age, then words "social status" aren't accurate again. But if you have used "social status" as a sociological definition, then you've made a huge mistake. ? So if I am construction worker, I am not suppose to initiate a handshake with a doctor or university professor? What kind of world that would be?
I have found a quite accurate article: porady.pracuj.pl/kariera-i-rozwoj/co-mowi-uscisk-dloni-tajniki-komunikacji-niewerbalnej/ and IMO only first rule is still commonly used (about old people). At work you are free to initiate a handshake with women even if it is against savoir vivre. Equal rights are more important. I've always worked in companies where employees could initiate a handshake with a boss or supervisor. The director was an exception, but only because of the difference in age. Perhaps there are some strange companies where the medieval code is still in use, but I bet that they are in minority.
And you have to stand up to shake hands
@@paulinabak-byk8881 you are right, I forgot to mention this, thank you :)
Also, for the winter times, keep your hands out your pockets and take your handshaking hand glove of, unless someone already extends a gloved hand, and you're wearing gloves yourself (or just have/wish to show little respect for yourself).
Exactly that are just basic of savoir vivre rules :) .
I'm a Pole and I absolutely share your confusion about queues (it seems as though every doctor office I go to has different system on that, even if they are located in the same building!), floor numbers and cheek kissing. I always counted floors from 1 and up since my childhood and it took me YEARS to stop doing that and just ignore ground floor. And then kisses on the cheek seem to die out here in the south, in my family we do this only with grandparents and on special occassions like birthdays and christmas eve. Due to lack of practice, I seem to always put wrong cheek forward.
"For me is obvious, ground floor is the 1st floor..." :D in any elevator there is always ground floor marked as 0 and if you want to go up you go to 1st floor etc. Simple ;)
In Poland "parter" is treated like 0 floor because it's usually located on or slightly above the ground level. The other thing "piętro" is considered like a higher level of a building, something which is above "parter" so we use to say "pierwsze piętro, drugie piętro, trzecie" (first floor, second floor, third), but "parter" as the zero floor.
Change your thinking from "floor" to "storey". This is how Europeans think. There is a "main floor" ("parter" in Polish) and then there are "storeys", "Storeys" are always above the ground and the "main floor". Each building has a "main floor" but only some of them have "storeys". That's why only storeys are numbered. This is stupid to number a main floor. It exists always in any building.
Of course it's up to you...
With regards to counting the floors, I remember that during my first visit to US I asked a concierge in a hotel about it. She smiled and said: you enter the lift and press a button with a proper number, no problem.
Conclusion: make sure that there's a lift in every building you're visiting. ;-)
Reffering to handshakes, it's also interesting, when you're working with gloves on and your friend comes, you don't have to take the time to take off gloves to shake his hand. Instead you can just fistbump with the glove on.
Or give an elbow.
I think in Poland there has been a tradition of enjoying the winter (which was in the past more snowy, cold and beautiful) and also we have the big fast starting at the end of february continuing till Easter and it's the time when Catholics should not partake in any festive activities.
Living my entire life in Poland, I still haven't figured out the whole cheek kissing business 😂
The floor count thing is all over Europe and it (mostly) stems from two factors - the services (laundry, cooking, fuel and food storage and servants) occurred on the ground floor (which was often partially below ground, which is why it isn't simply the 'ground floor') and from living above the shop (tailors, bakers, butchers, printers, cobblers, etc.) so the 'first floor' of the home was actually the second floor of the building. You will see this in some older, northern American cities with buildings from the 19th century.
Dude... It's ground floor, 1st, 2nd and so on.
Its a regular thing in UK and I don't understand why its so complicated
Wow, you're channel is growing fast❤ keep it up!😊
Thanks!
In England we do call „0 floor/lvl” a ground floor, because it’s on the ground ;) love your videos 👍🏻
Ground floor is parter in Polish. Anything higher is called "piętra" 1 piętro, 2 piętro. Piętro means something on top of something. It doesn't mean floor. So 1 piętro is 2nd floor.
I left Poland almost 30 years ago. All the things you bring up are so funny, I never thought of it. Thank you for what you do 😊
Imagine you have a garage underground. On which floor it is in the USA? On the 0 one or -1? I'm confused right now
We don't give it a numeral. It's simply underground. Basement garage possibly.....
It's a basement. We keep cars there. People in Poland don't live in basements.
@@LoveMyPoland that's what negative numbers were invented for :) What if you have 3 underground levels :)
@@violabonkers5921 pewnie, że mieszkają w miastach nazwa suteryna.
Kora mieszkała jako dziecko w suterynie. W Londynie popularne mieszkania in the basements.
myślę że w usa na przyciskach w windzie jest ...- 2, -1, 1, 2, 3...
Haha, loved this episode!
Sir, I am moving to Poland in March of this year. I enjoy learning from you. I have never been to Poland. I am from California.
I was taught, never reach out for a woman’s hand to greet her, unless she extends her hand first to greet you? Then it’s alright, after she does that, to extend your hand.
How about just saying hello? And not kissing a stranger or shaking her hand? Is that acceptable? Or proper in Poland?
It is, since you're not local, it will be overlooked I think for the most part. But you generally have the gist of it. You want to hit the sweet spot, by not offending the guy by giving too much attention to his girlfriend, but also not to offend the woman, by giving her no attention at all. Might as well just give her an attentive nod with a polite smile followed by an eventual vocal hello - and if she does extend her hand or the like, respond in accordance to her action. Of course, like I read mentioned here by somebody else, if she extends a flat out hand, it's kissing time (on the hand that is, at least in that particular moment), or at least that's what her intention is.
John, I think in your case as a new arrival, people will cut you a lot of slack. Just saying hello will do the trick. If you're more clever than I am, you'll figure it all out in no time. Thanks for watching :)
Yessss just say hello, I wish Polish people understood it's the best way to greet someone if you're not very very close like best friends or parents/grandparents/siblings/other family members you're close with
Its weird especially for women here to shake hands od kiss with total stranger but after second meeting shaking hands is totally normal,kissing is the close friend or familiy thing and mainly women do it
Formally, woman should first say "hello" or give her hand to shake, but most of them dont know that. So, when i wait for them to pick a way for a greeting, the just assume, that i'm mean to them, because i didn't said hello first :X
Wow, that was spot on. I'm from Poland and I'm as confused as you about all those things. Apart from the 1st one. I don't know what's your problem with ferie :o
If the counting of floors is so complicated so what people from outside the US can say about American system of measurements :)
That's actually British imperial system of measurements.
@@KarasekUS I know but I'm refering to author's homeland USA, where even temperature is measuring differently (totally illogical in my opinion ;) )
@@mariuszwarchulski5393 I know.
+Mariusz Warchulski
BUT it sounds so bizarre to me to say I'm 190.5
centimeters tall and weigh 95 kilograms!!😀
PS I'm a Polish-American who was born in the US , but I REALLY LOVE💜 learning about ALL things pertaining to Poland - people, culture,music, food, history, Etc. Because, you know, my MOM NEVER asked me if I wanted to be born👶 in Poland OR the USA!!😀
@@charlies.5777 Frankly my mother did but I let her to choose
Okej, jestem Polką i bardzo podobał mi się ten filmik i bardzo przyjemnie się słucha jak mówisz po angielsku - bardzo wyraźnie i z fajnym tempem. Słuchanie to dla mnie forma nauki, więc z przyjemnością będę obserwować ten kanał. Miej tylko na uwadze, że jeśli robisz filmik, to fajnie żeby coś się w nim działo lub tło było ciekawsze, bo inaczej wychodzi z tego podcast do słuchania, a nie oglądania ;)
Super się słucha o Polsce z perspektywy kogoś zza granicy :)
Miło to słyszeć ❤️
We have a spring break but it is very short lol
it is not a zero, but a 'parter' (ground floor) and therefore the next floor is the first, not the second.
Want to get confused even more with this thing with floors? Just look up what "kondygnacja" is . You'll have a headache in no time :D
im Polish, but i don't know what the kurwa kondygnacja is
@@yoshikagekira5747 time to look it up instead of watching anime then
I’m not polish but when a man kisses my hand my heart flutters.. A sadly dying gesture.
The rules are fairly simple, though they do get muddled with various customs and traditions. The original traditions are:
1) Kissing on the cheek is only for close family members. "Close" is ambiguous, but basically means that any female relation will do it. Men only keep within 1-2 degrees. So kissing your uncle or cousin is sort of okay, kissing the husband of your aunt is most often than not frowned upon. Also you always kiss 3 times. 2 is not okay... 1 is also not okay. Only 3.
2) Handshakes are easy. You always handshake when you can't kiss on the cheek. So anyone who is not a very close familial relation. Second cousins, regardless of gender, distant aunts and uncles. Handshake is very important. One of the worst offenses you could ever make is a limp handshake, it shows indecisiveness and generally being a wimp. Also, you can't offer a handshake to an older person, they have to offer first. The woman has to offer first and so on and so forth. Normal European rules.
3) Kissing the hand is tricky. Traditionally there were various rules. One, you only touch the hand. You don't actually kiss. Just a brush of the lips. Second, you never do it under the sky, only inside. Those two rules are often ignored, because the people no longer know how to do it, but they are sometimes observed in the more refined circles. Again, depends on the region and the type of people you are around. Among some, kissing the hand is actually considered rude, but it's mostly the "lower class" where that's the case. So you have to know when you can, and when you can't.
About shaking hands.
When you approach a group of pals everyone just shakes hands or gives a high five, a hug... or whatever suits you.
In other situations, there are some simple rules that it is nice to remember to know who should initiate the handshake
(waiting for somebody to go first is showing him respect).
- woman + man - woman reaches the hand first
- old + young - older reaches the hand first
- old man + woman - it depends, usually old man waits for a woman because older people tend to be more savoir-vivre savvy.
when a host greets his guests at his home, host goes first (and he greets women first, then men)
in business situations, someone with a higher rank should go first.
There is sometimes a weird situation when a man approaches a group of ppl, and he shakes hands with the guys and ommits women. You shouldn't ommit women, in fact, you should greet the women first. Sometimes you greet women with a kiss in a cheek (usually when you are good friends) and sometimes with a handshake. Just approach a woman and look if she is extending her hand or if she approaches for a kiss; nowadays it's usually a handshake. This can sometimes be tricky but you can get used to this.
Taking out the queue thing, all the other we have in Brazil, so for me was easy
Parter (zero floor) vs first floor. It's confusing, because there is not equivalent word for "piętro" (2nd floor = 1 piętro) in English. Origin of this word means something above, in meaning it's closer to English "upheaval", "upthrust". "Parter" (zero floor) is "on the ground", but "piętro" is above it.
Usually when there are men and women mixed, you ALWAYS start shaking hands with women FIRST, preferably they should extend them first, if you want go a step deeper, you start with the older women FIRST again, it is a great (somewhat dying...) old-fashioned tradition to kiss the old ladies on the top of the hand. Then you go to the men and again, you start with the older gentlemen first and then progress to the younger ones, usually the older guy sticks out his hand first, but yet again, these are not 100% stone-solid rules, what is considered rude is a teenager sticking his hand out first to the man 40 and up, but guessing you are over 40... you should be in the clear sticking your hand out first to the man of any age. :) Confusing? maybe... But you are a damn good sport, and if everybody knows you are a foreigner , they WILL cut you a lot of slack!
Always think about floors as they're timeline:
When you enter the building, you're always at 0 in timeline, the middle of all, which here is called parter.
Then all floors below and above parter (0) are piętra.
Floors above are marked as 1, 2, 3...
Floors below are marked as -1, -2, -3.. OR A, B, C...
It's like timeline.
Yeah shaking hands with women seems tricky but essentially if you just go out and shake everyone's hand you can't go wrong. Worst case scenario it may seem redundant but never rude.
That's the simplest solution if you can't be bothered with understanding all the rules. That's like bowing down in Japan.
If you visit a phisician you can also (very often) hear somebody (especialy elderly people) saying "Ja bez kolejki! (I'm out of the queue or I'm entering regardless the queue) which means that person wants to enter whenever the office is free to the next patient. And it's also very vague to judge when to respect it or not basing mostly on politeness.
Oh sooo true!
One hint how to break the ice with standing in lines, if you have appointment for example 12 30 you can ask which hour is coming next. People should answer making question to you what hour do you have. Then bunch of people will say what hour they have, that way you might find position in line :) try it.
Also about cheek kissing just keep distance around 1-3 cm and make sound "cmok" or just simply cheek to cheek touch
Shaking hands (as short as possible):
- the woman initiates it (any age, any level of formality) - she may also initiate the kiss on the top of her hand, but that happens VERY rarely,
- with men: when you meet them, but you don't wanna do that when the situation is a bit more formal, i.e. when you see a doctor, when a cop pulls you over, in a shop, in a government building of any sort, etc.
As a polish woman: Just shake a womans hand tbh. Its not that big of a deal. If you know the woman really well and you guys are close you can Kiss her on the cheek. But a handshake will do Just fine
No, cause it's weird. I only shake hands with women at work. In formal situations. You should kiss hand as gentelman, kiss her cheek or hug her (if you know each other) but shaking hands with women feels weird for me unless it's an introduction. It's not in our culture. But some women like you will feel the need to shake men's hands for some reason. It's a typical pal to pal gesture, not man with a woman.
If u have problem with floors then you can understand word “piętro” as level, so that ground level is “parter” and then numerical floors begin
Being 19 now have never had a cheek kiss outside very rare family gatherings so yeah... that is weird to hear myself
6:37 there's a way out of this - you just need to be a blood donor and after an appropriate amount (5l women, 6l men) you get what it's called Zasłużony Dawca Krwi (Honorary Blood Donor) and you're first in both situations: doctors appointments and pharmacies. Lawfully ;)
No spring break? How about a majówka? ;)
Spring break, in my opinion, has to be at least a week to call it a break. 3-4 days is only a long weekend :)
@@LoveMyPoland I knooow but when you'll get just one ore two days off in your job it turns into (sometimes) 9-10 days brake so you can go for a trip or have a never ending barbecue with friends easily ;)
Queues it really depends on office, most of public offices have number dispenser you click what type of visit you want to do (register car, deregister car, add car owner...) and it will give you right number for right queue and when its your time there will be display showing your number over right office clerk. At doctors it really depends my has time stamps you ask what "time" is in office and try to find person has "slot" before yours - doctors appointments arent time reliable somepeople just need checkup and simple solution some take more time, my fathers has number system that shows you what time (very roughly) you can expect to be admitted.
man, Im polish guy 24 yo, living here all of my life, i dont understand many of this things neither xd
Nice one. Amazing how you can explain that stuff and its so true.
Thanks
Polskoholik. Uwielbiam Cię (platonicznie)!
Excellent naprawdę nigdy nie zwróciłem uwagi na te rzeczy , dopiero oglądając Twój kanał zwróciłem na nie uwagę 😂😂😂
I can totally understand why handshakes and kisses can be really confusing :D Something like 15 years ago my friend brought some American (obviously, lol) friends for tea, we had a nice chat and it was very casual and friendly and when the time came to say our goodbyes one of the guys just grabbed my hand and went for my cheek and before I knew what I was doing I was backing off and yelling 'what the hell!?' I felt like such an idiot afterwards but it was seriously the first time someone otherwise kind and well-behaved tried to do something like this. I just took it for granted that as a woman I'm the one who's always setting up boundaries and it's my right to decide whether physical contact takes place or not. I desperately tried to turn it into a joke, but I'm pretty sure it didn't work :P
why all this sexism, you know a man may not want to kiss you, but if you go for it first, he kinda has no choice, what about his boundaries?
You're just rude. It's only a cheek kiss, it doesn't mean anything.
About 07:00 - 07:40
The concept of "floors" or "piętro, piętra" in Polish language is easy.
Word "piętro" has basic meaning of
"something stacked upon any other thing"
which is seen in the verb "piętrzyć trudności, kłopoty" = "to stack difficulties, problems upon other difficulties, problems".
So, "piętro" can NOT mean American "1st floor",
for "1-sze piętro" may only be stacked upon a base called "parter" 😆
I can tell you, even we Polish people don't understand shaking hands.. 😂
I do, my friends do. And if someone doesn't then their parents made a terrible job, easy as that. Women need to initiate handshake first, if they don't, you don't shake hands with them.
@@vubevube There are more rules and some have priority over others. For example, when a woman is a subordinate or is a man's client.
Xym
jak nie rozumiesz to nie podawaj ręki,aleeee nie pierdziel,bo tylko pewnie Ty nie rozumiesz!!!
@@admard3035 chill
@@now.patryk ?
This floor numbering is funny thing. You can often encounter negative floor numbers when it's placed under the ground. So combined with 0 floor (parter) it's more consistent, because you have for example: -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4... etc :)
kissing on the cheek is actually very rarely encountered. at least for me. and its usually like kind of pretending to kiss someone rather than giving another person a sloppy one.
and you just earned a sub
Thank you to share all of your videos. They are jus so honest and true. Its nice to see how a foreigner sees our country. Before your videos i dodn't realized that theres some behaviours that arent "normal" in other countries. thak you for realizing to me. Your a true bless. Best regards!
As a Polish woman, I absolutely HATE it when a man greets other men by shaking hands but he won't greet me the same way. Like what, am I worse or something? I have a couple of male colleagues who do that and it always annoys me. They are lovely people and I'm 100% sure they don't do it maliciously but I hate that they make that distinction in greeting women and men.
Really? Im polish too and i've never noticed that
@@whitetrain3300 well, obviously, not all men do that but it's a significant enough portion of them that there is definitely a pattern there. Besides official business settings where shaking hands with everyone is expected (it doesn't extend to business casual though, like with your everyday coworkers), I know maybe 30 men who habitually greet other men with a handshake and only 1 man who thusly greets both men and women.
It happened to me a few times as well and I absolutely hated it. I felt so ignored.
@@kasiamosiek7425 Where were you raised? They were raised properly. Women should offer their hand first =Savoir-vivre. Basic rules.
Although in todays METOO era I wouldn't either. Maybe they don't wan't to risk a fals rape accusation in 30 years. Blame feminism for that.
Michal Piotr2 lmao some of y'all don't understand what metoo movement is and it shows
It's pretty simple when it comes to the floor calling confusion, back in states the construction code is different than in Poland, hence in Poland, they number the floors differently and calling the "0" floor the first floor would be kinda awkward. Moreover, back in NYC, there are more and more architects who actually start naming the first floor - the ground floor.
You are bit confused about making the line. It is just like in US, you ask who is last and you watch that person, nobody goes in after him but you. Your job as a last one in the line is to respond to the next coming person that you are the last one.
But if he has appointment on certain time as he said he has to ask who is appointed earlier to avoid granmas waiting in line without any appointments.
Oo! Częstochowa! Good to see my home town! Have u got any Q&A? How did you get to Poland and Częstochowa? Take care and good luck with this channel! :)
I think kissing a woman's hand is an amazing way of showing her respect. A guy would gain 100 points in me if he kissed my hand while greeting me. I don't think anywhere else in the world women are treated in such a respectful way. I cannot imagine an Italian man, not to mention a Muslim man, kissing a woman's hand... you would have to kiss his hand...
lilly Yes, I would be flattered by such a gentlemanly gesture. They still do it in Hungary, at least some men do. Viktor Orbán does.
A Muslim man will not kiss your hand, and he won't like his hand to be kissed either coz it's haram 🙄 But it's good to talk about something you have no idea about. By the way, I also wouldn't let any random man kiss my hand. I prefer shaking hands, which is much more professional, and neutral for both of the people - moreover I have perfectly nothing against the man initiating it, lol.
Speak for your self I would take my hand away if yiu tryed to kiss it
Nooo kissing hands should be illegal, it's horrible if you don't know if that person likes it. Why can't we just kiss our partners' hands? No matter what gender. Someone else's lips on any part of my body is too much. It's unprofessional if happens at work. And weird if a friend does it, but at least I can tell my friend I don't like it. I can't really say that to my boss.
Edit: also weird with creepy uncles 😛
IN POLAND YOU DO NOT KISS WOMAN'S HAND IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HER VREY WELL , USUALY MEN KISS WOMEN'S HAND WHO ARE FAMILY MEMBERS, MOTHER, WIFE, AUNT, OR VERY CLOSE FRIENDS THEY DO NOT DO THIS TO WOMEN THEY SEE THE FIRST TIME OR SIMPLY THEY DO NOT KNOW THEM WELL. THE PURPOSE OF THIS IS SHOWING THE RESPECT TO WOMEN THEY ADMIRE, CHERISH, HONOR.
You have to experience the Podkarpacie....used to be a guy in the village would hold out the stump of his arm (alcoholic - lost it in a chain saw accident involving vodka) never fazed me,.....ex soldier seen newly blown off stumps.....I shook his stump every time I saw him.
Who still kisses on the cheeks??? I'm 27, never kissed anyone but my boyfriend and mother (and maybe close female relatives on rare occasions). Can't imagine kissing random people to say hello o.O
same 😛 except I'm 28, whatevs 😛 it was weird to be kissed by my boss when he came with a flower on Woman's Day, I don't like our culture but there's not that much kissing as some people here seem to suggest hmmm
Your family must be weird cause on Christmas in my family you always kiss cheeks, especially with women.
I found it relaxing to listen to this and yes Im Pole . Take care man !
I work in place where some elevators have 0 floor, some not. So when you push for example 1first floor button it's sometimes 2th floor, depends on which elevator you use. Welcome in Poland ;)
From the woman point of view, I hate I when man comes in and shakes hands with all other guys and not even say hi to the girls. I find it very unpleasant. Just shake hand with everyone or nobody.
As a guy, I completely agree with you. You should acknowledge Everybody in the room in my opinion. Otherwise, it's very awkward.
if there is too many people in the room (5+) its not advised to shake hands with anybody, it simply takes too much time
Regarding the queue in public healthcare what you have described is a consequence of transformation that's been going on for decades now... About 20 years ago the "first come, first go" rule was common in healthcare. There were no registrations for specific visit hours back then. This new idea for hourly registrations has been introduced so many years ago, but there are still many medical centers where people are registered for a specific hour, but stay in line from the get-go regardless, to get in earlier. It is a common practice for elderly who have a lot of time on their hands and can afford to wait in line several hours. It is the most common in villages and smaller cities, but can happen anywhere. The problem is non-existent if the doctor will take the effort to call out the patient's name/number to invite them in though. Otherwise, instead of asking "who's the last in line" you can ask who has appointment prior to yours.
TBH, you could always try to fight your way through in such situations. I usually don't bother, because I don't like to argue, but my husband once fought over it since he was in a hurry. He had an appointment for specific hour, asked who has prior appointment, and was told "there is queue" (you guessed it, elderly people waited in line with no regards to actual schedule). So my husband went back to the reception and asked if there is a line or a visit schedule. The receptionist had to take out the schedule and line out the patients accordingly herself (you guessed it again, elderly people from the front were moved to the end of the line, while "newcomers" moved up by a lot - my husband ended up SECOND in line having just arrived there!).
Zasada co do ściskania dłoni:
Gdy kogoś poznajesz i się przedstawiasz podajesz dłoń każdemu bez względu na płeć. W późniejszych sytuacjach tylko mężczyźni mężczyznom. Chociaż u mnie w pracy gdy zaczyna się zmianę trzeba się przywitać i podać rękę każdemu. I kobiecie, i mężczyźnie, co dla mnie jest głupie, bo kobiety normalnie nie pojadą sobie ani facetom ręki na "dzień dobry"- gdy tego nie robiłam ludzie patrzyli na mnie spod byka, więc siłą rzeczy witam się z każdym podając im rękę dla świętego spokoju.
A co do całowania w rękę to uważam to za bardzo miły gest, więc nie tylko starsze kobiety to lubią i doceniają (mam 29 lat)
Jeszcze nie spotkałem kobiety, która lubiła by gdy obcy facet całuję ja w rękę.
E. K. W Niemczech czy Austrii dziewczyny nie mają takich fobii i niepodanie im ręki uznałyby za chamstwo. W Austrii jak idziesz do lekarza, który jest kobietą, ona zawsze na początek wyciąga rękę do powitania. Pierwsza.
@@pawefalkowski9680 Jak widać co kraj to obyczaj. A ja nigdzie nie pisałam o fobii dot. podawania rąk.
E. K. no dobra, niech będzie że zwyczaj, tylko ten zwyczaj skądś się bierze, a bierze się z fobii "co dla mnie jest głupie", "ludzie patrzyli na mnie spod byka, więc siłą rzeczy robiłam to". To prawda że nie pisałaś o fobii.
Ja o niej pisałem.
Fobia bierze się z wychowania przesiąkniętego katolską mentalnością, w której najchętniej by zrobiono osobne klasy dla każdej płci. I dlatego kobiety w Polsce traktują mężczyzn jak Marsjan z innej planety, których lepiej omijać z daleka, bo jak się ich dotknie, to można się zarazić, albo zajść w ciążę i urodzić dziecko homo sapiens...
ua-cam.com/video/j9ejj_fD-P0/v-deo.html
@@pawefalkowski9680 wow, jestem pod wrażeniem twojej dedukcji. Za równie głupie uważam podawanie rąk przez facetów facetom. I nie ma to nic wspólnego z katolską mentalnością. Tylko jest to moje zdanie. Jakbym napisała, że uważam za głupie np. noszenie brody lub farbowanie włosów też byś wymyślił jaką teorie o pochodzeniu kobiet z Wenus czy coś w tym stylu? I skąd u licha wymysł o traktowaniu facetów jak kosmitów? Bo nie lubię podawać ręki to znaczy, że pewnie omijam mężczyzn?
2 weeks winter brake "ferie" on January or February are between semesters at school- between first and second semester on each year. This is school brake in the middle of school year. Between winter semester as first semester (Sept->Jan or Feb) and summer semester as second semester (Jan or Feb ->June). But "ferie" are not used at Universities (usually). Universities usually have owns names. But I can be wrong.
Spring brake I think we can use for May brake (at the beginning of May). But I'm not sure the spring brake is correct name, we call that time "majówka". Maybe "spring brake" is correct for Eater time...hmmm. What i remember, at school for Easter time we used "Easter brake". Similar to Christmas time: "Christmas brake"
Borat and polish people comparison has no sense, Borat was kissing everybody, even a freakin' driver instructor. We, Poles, don't do that, we kiss only relatives, like grandparents, aunts and uncles (ofc men shouldn't kiss their uncles etc ;) and friends: man and woman, woman and woman, but NOT man and man. For other people we have just hand shake and hello.
Nope. Man to man cheek kiss is allowed also, up to 3 times (idk if you should beginn with right or left one) as you can see in some literary works.
Pozdrawiam Pana serdecznie Swietny wykład Brawo
Yes I'm polish, kissing on the cheek is gross
Very good examples. Well done
Jeśli wejdziesz między wrony, kracz jak one! Co kraj, to obyczaj!
ja jestem z tego kraju i nie uznaję pewnych tradycji, więc jako Polka tworzę własną polską tradycję, czasy się zmieniają, młodzi są inni niż starzy
You should go to Germany, they index the floors including the cellars. So if there's a two-level underground garage, for example, they will call the ground floor the "3rd floor"
Mężczyźni nigdy nie całują się na powitanie, przynajmniej nie w Europie
U mnie w rodzinie zawsze tak się witaliśmy. Ale tylko w relacji syn - ojciec|dziadek
@@SzymonNowicki ale to rodzina :D a on mówi o znajomy etc
We Włoszech i Hiszpanii całują się.
w Francji tez sie caluja
@@Mokoshhy ze znajomymi to ja kobita też się nie całuję, tylko z rodziną i ewentualnie jak ktoś składa życzenia, np. na 18tkę od wielu osób z klasy się dostawało buziaki, nawet od takich z którymi nie było się blisko, ale też nie jest to obowiązek, można przytulić zwłaszcza jak was nie łączy mocna przyjaźń
I found your channel today and I just want to say that you are doing a great job. I'm from Poland, I was raised here and I didn't realize how many ascpects of our daily life can be so ridiculous. The one with lining up made me laugh really hard but I understood how unimaginable for the foreigners can it be (and even if I am from Poland it is still really awkward to me and during 20 years of my life I have never mastered it). You not only tell Americans about Poland but you also teach us a lot about our culture. Thanks!
Thanks, Marta. Good to read this and great to hear a woman's perspective once in a while!
No brainer. Kiss women, shake hands with men.
Don't kiss women lol. I don't really see that much kissing in Poland unless it's family or two best friends, usually two women. Sometimes when you wish someone happy birthday you also kiss (or if they wish you happy bday). But hug is always nice and 'safe' if you're not sure. But not older people (or boss or formal situation) unless family.