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Polish Language Pronunciation - Example Words and Phrases


czeslaw 2 | 9  
20 Jun 2009 /  #121
Same holds true in German.

I'm an American who studied German in high school and college, and was shocked, after studying so much German vocabulary, that the Germans say "das Baby" and pronounce it as in English! :-)
scrappleton - | 829  
20 Jun 2009 /  #122
Same holds true in German. Sooo many expressions in daily speech, particularly in business, have been anglicized, it's sometimes hard to know whether or not the German word is still in use, or even whether there ever was a German equivalent

Yeah sad, too much Hollywood probably.
Davey 13 | 388  
23 Jun 2009 /  #123
mow-gleesh-mih
mow-gwish-mih
DaLearner - | 5  
23 Jun 2009 /  #124
so you may have heard for example Cezar or (mostly for children) Czarek [pronounced Chah-reck]

YES! That was the one! Thanks again.
Alex0519 - | 2  
23 Jun 2009 /  #125
Do not say "mow", say just "mo".
"mo-gleesh-mih" - when you talk to guys or group of people (and you're one of them)
"mo-gwish-mih" - when you talk to girls (and you're one of them)
Trevor 6 | 66  
24 Jun 2009 /  #126
Polish pronounce 'rz' in 'trzy' as 'sz'

So it should be pronounced with a sz not rz. so- it would technically be "tzy"??? i think i understand now
Wroclaw Boy  
24 Jun 2009 /  #127
I can get by with all the numbers from 1 to 100 but, if any number has trzy in it then, I'm stuck. Has anyone got a simple way of teaching me this word?

Ha ha, i avoided the petrol pump number trzy for years, always bought two of four packets of cigarettes etc as the prenounciation gave me real issues, now i think ive got it down pretty good, no weird looks when i say it. My advice is practice makes perfect well as near to perfect as possible for us. Dont try to hard relax and mimic a native speaker as well as possible. If you think about saying it too much or try to hard youre gonna cock it up.
axid - | 18  
28 Jun 2009 /  #128
after plosives rz becomes simply sh.
hence, there is no difference between przejście and pszenica.
does this site use IPA fonts? it would be a lot easier...
Ziemowit 14 | 4,278  
28 Jun 2009 /  #129
after plosives rz becomes simply sh

Following only the voiceless plosives, however. The voiced plosives leave rz unaffected: grzęda, drzewo or brzeg are pronounced: gżęda, dżewo, bżek.
axid - | 18  
29 Jun 2009 /  #130
yup.
i thought i put that there too.
sorry, it is important.
iluvmaciej - | 4  
8 Jul 2009 /  #131
i dunno but i know a pole at my school who is called maciej/maciek and people call him man-check i call him machay or people just call him magic like sum1 else said lol.
younghalfpole 2 | 5  
26 Jul 2009 /  #132
Merged: A bit of pronunciation help please.....Motylku/Daj Mi Buzi

Hello. My Polish is awful (let alone my English - thank you crappy American schools). However, growing up with Polish grandparents, I was used to the terms of "Misiu" and the like. I was wondering, could anyone make sure these translations are correct for me and tell me how to pronounce them phonetically (I want to make sure I get them right!)

Examples -
Misiu - Teddybear (Me-Shoe)
Jestes piekna - You're beautiful (Yes-tes Pee-ek-na)

What I would like -
Motylku - Butterfly
Daj Mi Buzi - Give me a kiss (Daj mi buji?)
Nigdy nie widzałem tackich pięknych oczy - I have never seen such beautiful eyes
chodź do łóżka - Come to bed
plk123 8 | 4,142  
26 Jul 2009 /  #133
search the forums. there are links to sites here, that you can listen to the correct pronunciations of polish words you type in.
younghalfpole 2 | 5  
26 Jul 2009 /  #134
Could you perhaps show me one of these sites? I've searched through the forum and can't find one that is up and running?
esek 2 | 228  
26 Jul 2009 /  #135
say.expressivo.com/?lang=en

edit:

Daj Mi Buzi - Give me a kiss (Daj mi buji?)

Daj mi całusa or pocałuj mnie (kiss me)

Nigdy nie widzałem tackich pięknych oczy

oczu not oczy

What I would like

to co (or czego) chciałbym
peter_olsztyn 6 | 1,098  
26 Jul 2009 /  #136
Nigdy nie widzałem tackich pięknych oczy

Nigdy nie widziałem takich pięknych oczu
Matowy - | 294  
12 Aug 2009 /  #138
You need to spell them properly. "Lodz" is completely incorrect, and sounds completely different to "£ódź".

Ę - Intensely difficult to describe via text. If you say it as "en" you will be understood, though it's apparently less correct. The correct form is like saying "en", but without letting your tongue touch the top of your mouth on the "n" sound. Note: if you say it "en" (which most do), you pronounce it as a normal "e" if it's at the end of a word. Like so: Będę = "Bende".

Ó - As in "U". "Dunno".

Ą - English O, like "Dunno".

£ - English "W".

Ż - Hard to say. Kind of like the "g" in "Beige", but MUCH lighter.

- - Impossible to say via text. It is similar to "Ż", but Polish people find the difference huge, so you need to learn from a Polish person how to say it.

Ń - Honestly, this letter is used so rarely that it doesn't even matter. It sounds the same as a normal "N" to me, so that's how I say it.
niejestemcapita 2 | 561  
12 Aug 2009 /  #139
Ń - Honestly, this letter is used so rarely that it doesn't even matter. It sounds the same as a normal "N" to me, so that's how I say it.

i thought this accent changed the vowel sound in front of it ? Gdańsk, Państwo, Amerykańska?
Pierogi - | 42  
12 Aug 2009 /  #140
It sounds the same as a normal "N" to me, so that's how I say it.

Then you are saying it wrong. We Poles know how to use it.

Honestly, this letter is used so rarely that it doesn't even matter

If it didn't matter, it wouldn't exist. Shame we can't say that about most of your posts on here.

i thought this accent changed the vowel sound in front of it ? Gdańsk, Państwo, Amerykańska?

It affects the sound of the "accented" letter more, really, but whereas you know there is an important difference, Mr. P.C. Leftie doesn't think this "matters" :D
zona - | 2  
15 Aug 2009 /  #141
Merged: Ciumek pronunciation

Is ,Ciumek' pronounced ,chew-mik'?

Would this be an appropriate term to call my fiance [male] as a pet name?
Pio - | 16  
15 Aug 2009 /  #142
"chew-mek" may be better, "mek" rhyming with "trek" or "deck".
SzwedwPolsce 11 | 1,594  
15 Aug 2009 /  #143
Is ,Ciumek' pronounced ,chew-mik'?

Difficult to describe. But something like "tchew-mek".

Would this be an appropriate term to call my fiance [male] as a pet name?

That's so personal and intime that we can't give him pet-name. But it's more common to give girls pet-names in Polish.
Matowy - | 294  
16 Aug 2009 /  #144
"Chew-Mek" is pretty much accurate.
zona - | 2  
16 Aug 2009 /  #145
Pio, SzwedzPolsce, and Matowy, thank you very much for your answers.

Difficult to describe. But something like "tchew-mek".

I thought ,Ci' dropped the ,tch' sound, thank you for the correction.

My fiance's name is Eliasz, so I was trying to think of a cute Polish pet-name for him. But if it's not common for men to have pet-names, I won't try one. =)
SzwedwPolsce 11 | 1,594  
16 Aug 2009 /  #146
I thought ,Ci' dropped the ,tch' sound, thank you for the correction.

"Ci" have t-sound. But Polish "ch" drops the t-sound, and this is a very common combination.

My fiance's name is Eliasz, so I was trying to think of a cute Polish pet-name for him. But if it's not common for men to have pet-names, I won't try one. =)

You can make a normal diminutive of it, that sounds a little "cuter". But I am not sure how to make diminutive of Eliasz.
sevan  
24 Sep 2009 /  #147
Hi
How do you pronunce this name in English: Iesa. Thank you!
SzwedwPolsce 11 | 1,594  
24 Sep 2009 /  #148
Iesa

I've never heard this name. But probably pronounced like "Ajesa".
Leopejo 4 | 120  
21 Oct 2009 /  #149
Merged: ć versus ci: pronunciation

Everywhere I read that ć and ci are just different ways to write the same sound according to orthographic rules, but they are pronounced absolutely the same (like ó - u; ż - rz).

But a couple of Polish people tell me that one of them is softer than the other.

So where is the truth?

P.s. No, I am *not* asking about ć/ci vs. cz; I also *do* know when to write ć and when ci instead.
OsiedleRuda  
21 Oct 2009 /  #150
ó and u are indeed very similar, but even then there is a slight difference between the sound, say, u mamy and Halinów, but it is very, very subtle.

I disagree with ż and rz sounding exactly the same, though - Żoliborz (a Warsaw district) combines both sounds, but the ż sounds more like it's made with the lips, whereas the rz sound is made more with the tongue. I'm not a linguist, so I can't tell you exactly why this is different, but I'm sure a Wikipedia search would explain why.

Likewise, with ć and ci - the sounds are different according to where they are placed in the word - e.g. pozdrawiać sounds more like "pozdrawiactz", but cipa (hehe) sounds just like it is spelled - ci. Whereas in cię it sounds more like "cije". If that makes any sense ;)

The sounds are exceedingly similar, but a native speaker (or lifetime bilingual speaker such as myself) will tell the difference. I'm sorry I can't explain it better.

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