(part 2) Polish Language Pronunciation - Sample Words and Phrases

I also remember the stress to be on "en" but Slownik Jezyka Polskiego PWN says the stress is on the last syllable

Vrotswaf


Bżozofski, where ż is like "su" in "pleasure".

Merged: Infinitive Form/Indicative Mood

Hello again, I'm trying to organize all my notes about Polish grammar (but theres so many!), and I have a question:

Are the verb endings in the infinitive form any different from those of the imperative mood?

Dziękuję za pomoc:)

yes they are:

przynieść - przynieś, przynieście

Merged: Pronunciation of Lamborghini

You may be thinking "A bizarre title, a bizarre subject."

Why, when in Italian, the -gh- is pronounced as a hard g, like the Polish g or the English g in words such as "go", "gumboots" and "gantry", do at least some Polish people insist on pronouncing the name of the Italian car and tractor manufacturer thusly:

Lambordżini or Lamborżini?

Maybe there is no answer, and I will finally manage to start an unanswered thread!

sorry man. lamorgini. no dż

Better be safe than sorry I thought before posting this thread. Not only did I hear the mispronunciation, I checked what the fount of all knowledge in the world has to say. Wikipedia even has this:

cool. 've never heard anyone pronounce it with a dż although i am sure yoostycia will probably say that is the only and correct way. lol

I'm reminded how when the Segway was introduced it was consistently pronounced sedżłej by Polish tv announcers even though g before w is never dż in English and even though the name is transparently a pun on the word segue (segłej).

Ah! Segue.

At least the Polish g is nice and simple.
Both English and Italian follow the Late Latin g usage:
soft before -e, -y or -i
hard before anything else
To make a hard g before -i or -e, Italian (and occasionally English) uses the letter h.
English has the exception for -dg- which is always soft, and a few words mainly of Germanic origin.
Italian complicates things further with -gl- and -gn- which I won't describe here, and -gg- which I quite simply don't understand.

Lamborghini should be quite simple really.

Exactly the same as the French -gn.
Mountain : montagne [mątań] in French and i think it's montagna [montanja] in Italian ;)

Merged: Are form and mood interchangeable words? ie: imperative form, imperative mood

are form and mood interchangeable words? ie: imperative form, imperative mood (or am i making up phrases?!?!)

Dziękuję za pomoc

ekhm,. what do you mean under 'imperative form' :? in polish there is, afaik, only imperative mood (tryb rozkazujący),
its like : do it! (= 'zrób to' or 'zróbże to')

Thats what I meant, yes, but because there are different ways of writing the verbs in imperative compared to other moods I always associated that with being a "form." Thanks for clearing it up:)

$10

;p

Lamborghini should (according to serious dictionaries, not Wiki) be pronounced in Polish as in Italian, with "-gi-", but osiol is completely correct. Far too many Poles pronounce it with a "-dżi-" (I never heard anyone saying "-żi-"), for someone who speaks Italian it's really annoying.

Anyway, I'm sure most Italians pronounce Polish words in a wrong way too.


And the French and Spanish use "u" (gui, gue), don't they?


What's so complicated about -gg-? It's simply a double consonant (-gg- or -dżdż-), the rules follow the same pattern as for a single g:

valiggia = walidżdżia
valigge = walidżdż(i)e
reggo = reggo
Similar rules for -ci-, -ce-, -chi-, -che-, -cci-, -cce-, -cchi-, -cche-:
vacca = vakka
vacche = vakke
logico = lodżiko
logici = lodżiczi

maybe -ddż- would be more accurate?
Theoretically in Polish dżdż would be released twice and be two separate dż sounds, while the Italian is simply held in place for a moment at the beginning.

valigge = waliddże (okay, theoretically in Polish the first d could be released too but I still think that -ddż is a little more accurate).

dżdżownica!


Guilty!

EX-PEN-SIVE

John P.

I thought it was

"Kurrrrrwa, Co to jest?"

and women's pronunciation : AlezajebistabrykaGdziekierowca

Italians always seem to have the best vehicles - Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lambretta, Vespa, Fiat 126, spacehopper...

i need your ideas people :)
what kinds of techniques would you recommend to a foreigner if you want him to finally correctly pronounce the "TH" in a word...

beside sticking the top of my tongue to the back (or between) of my teeth...

??

lol.. :rolleyes:


and really, that's the only part that would even be audible. :D


i could tell you but i really shouldn't out in public. ;) :D :D

It depends on the foreigner in question. If they're Icelandic, then it's no problem because they already have that sound. Spanish, probably not a problem either. Otherwise...

1. Get them to speak with a lisp.
2. Get them to stick their tongue right out as far as it can go, with their top front teeth resting on it. Tell them that that's 10. Then get them to just make the sound of the letter S. Tell them that's a zero. Then suggest they aim for about 4.

3. Get them to invent as many new sounds as they possibly can. If it's a real simpleton you're teaching, you can get them to invent new alphabetical-style symbols for these sounds that they can colour in with crayons. Eventually, they will invent the TH sound for themselves.

4. You may have problems with TH being mistaken for F. In this case, try saying it whilst holding your bottom lip with your finger and thumb to show how it plays no role in producing this particular sound. If they still don't get it, but they don't mind you doing this, you can hold their bottom lip whilst they attempt the TH.

5. Further from the last point, you could actually take their tongue and manually place it where it is supposed to be.
6. Move to a country where English, Spanish, Welsh, Icelandic, Faeroese, Albanian... are not spoken.

Merged:Pronounce "Mścigniew"

Hello Native Polish Speakers,

If anyone can be so kind to help me pronounce this name "Mścigniew"- it would be greatly appreciated!
After looking around on the internet for a polish alphabet... from my abstraction (all a rough estimate) I've composed a pronunciation that is "Mschteeg-nyee-ehf"...

I think it is WAY off but would love it someone corrected me =)
Thank you!!

Not native, but here: Mścigniew you're close :) Msch-tsig-niev

listen and repeat :D
sloth.cba.pl/mp3/player3.html
sloth.cba.pl/mp3/player4.html

Merged: Pronunciation of group ni

Hello,
I am a total beginner in Polish and I'd have a simple question about the pronunciation of the group ni. If I understand correctly this is always pronounced the sound of (e.g.) Spanish ñ or Italian/French "gn".

If what I say is correct then in Polish orthography it is impossible to transcribe the sound n-i (expect when it's found across word boundaries). Am I right?

Lorenzo

Well, roughly (just because two languages are never completely identical)

nia = Italian gna
nie = gne
nio = gno
niu = gnu
ni = gni (do ni and gni contrast in Italian? do ñi and ni contrast in Spanish?)

I think theoreticall you could represent non-palatalized ni with nji (just as -sji- is like Italian or Spanish si) but I can't think of examples.

I'm not entirely sure if nii as in "do Hiszpanii" 'to Spain' is ni or nji.