According to Ethnologue, the most extensive catalogue of the languages of the world, there are currently 7,117 languages spoken around the world. Most people in the world speak more than one language. Some, however, speak many. In this episode you will meet Marajke Slomka, born in Poland, who lives in Brussels and speaks seven languages. What is it like to be a polyglot? We also mentioned a story of Gacek, a chubby stray black and white feline, has gone viral and become #1 tourist attraction of the city of Szczecin in the top north west corner of Poland. You can…
Author: Malgorzata P. Bonikowska
This is the last episode of POLcast before Christmas and the last one this year. So we wish you: WESOŁYCH ŚWIĄT I DOBREGO ROKU 2023 In this episode: • UCL Leaders – a great annual conference initiated by Polish students University College London (UCL) is ranked #8 in QS World University Rankings 2023 and has produced 30 Nobel Prize laureates amongst its alumni and current and former faculty to date. UCL was the first university in England to welcome students of any religion and women to university education. UCL students organize a highly prestigious conference – UCL Leaders, an annual…
This episode is launched on November 11, a day of great importance to both my countries – Canada and Poland. What is its significance? You will hear in Episode 91. • Creating young leaders from Poland – Canada Study Tours Alina Deja, who is Polish and lives in Berlin, just loves Canada. Her university education, her PhD and everything she has accomplished since then is motivated by this passion for Canada and things Canadian. Her breainchild is an ambitious youth program Canada Study Tour, where high school students from Poland come to Canada to learn, study and get to know the…
Today you will hear my conversation with Michael Rubenfeld, whom our POLcast listeners remember from Episode 20 – A life-changing trip to Poland (Episode 20). Since then Michael has moved to Poland and now lives in Kraków. Michael Rubenfeld is a Canadian performance maker, cultural producer, playwright and actor originally from Winnipeg, a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. His powerful play “We Keep Coming Back”, co-Created by Michael Rubenfeld and Sarah Garton Stanley with Mary Berchard and Katka Reszke, was shown in Canada, Poland and other countries. Episode 20 talks about this play. Michael now lives in Krakow…
From 1940 Kazachstan to 2022 Canada Today’s episode is a “long time no hear” episode. POLcast has many friends – apart from our listeners, POLcast keeps in touch with many of well over 100 people I have interviewed so far. I value these friendships. Today I am speaking to two women whom I have interviewed before to give you an update on what they have been up to. ALICJA EDWARDS (born in 1924) Alicja Edwards is a writer, a painter, a pianist and an antique expert and dealer. She will turn 98 in August. She lives in Eureka, Montana. She…
May was a special month in the Canadian province in Ontario, the most populous Canadian province located in east-central Canada, where I live. It’s home to Ottawa, Canada’s capital, to Toronto, Ontario’s capital, the famous Niagara Falls as well as Missisauga, a big city neighbouring Toronto, with population of around 750,000 people and with the largest Polish diaspora in Canada. It’s said that there are over 1 million Canadians who have Polish roots. In 2021 the legislature od Ontario passed the Polish Heritage Month Act, 2021 proclaiming the month of May as Polish Heritage Month, to recognize the impact that…
This is my second special POLcast Episode – a tribute to Ukraine, to our Ukrainian sisters and brothers who are fighting heroically to defend their country against Putin’s army. Previous Special Episode 86 – Tribute to Ukraine #1 When I was working on my last episode of POLcast, special Episode 86, Tribute to Ukraine, I was hoping that maybe in the next one, number 87, I would talk about rebuilding the destroyed Ukrainian cities and towns, about the new hope after the END of the war. I had no idea how much more horrific each day of this neverending war would…
This is a special POLcast Episode – a tribute to Ukraine, to our Ukrainian sisters and brothers who are fighting heroically to defend their country against Putin’s army. We stand with Ukraine and will do all we can to help and support you. This episodes shows many faces of this support – in Poland, Canada, and England. We know the world is unified in its response to the war and the warm crimes committed every day in Ukraine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu8m5FA2nL8 Katy Carr •Katy Carr – a British singer who sings about Polish history – (Episode 4) • Singing for Soviet gulag survivors – (Episode 25)…
We wish you: Bezpiecznych Świąt i Zdrowego Nowego Roku! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! In this episode: • Interview with Ewa Stachniak, a Polish Canadian writer who has made it big in Canada (and not only). Born in Wroclaw, she came to Canada (McGill University) on an academic scholarship just before martial law and stayed. She has become a bestselling authour, having written 6 novels (5 published to rave reviews and the 6th one to be published in February 2022 in Canada and the US). Her meticuluosly researched and beautifully written historical fiction has earned her several honours,…
In this episode I’d like you to meet my two guests: Anna Paluch In the previous episode 83, you met Zig Misiak, a Canadian historian and educator with Polish roots, who has been involved in work with indigenous people for over half a century, an award-winning author of many books and the only curriculum guide on First Nations history and culture used in hundreds of schools. We talked about the history of and reasons for establishing residential schools. Today I’m talking Anna Paluch, a Polish-Canadian PhD student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, who does research on Indigenous culture and who works with…