I like this Polish girl, but she doesn't get my... English sense of humor

Example of czech humour:

look up some polish jokes maybe, get you hands on Polish humour books/videos and see for yourself what makes us laugh. i dont recommend any sleazy and suggestive jokes as that might be taken in a wrong way even if your intentions were absolutely innocent. plus the language barrier is a big issue, as some of the jokes i have heard here really dont make much sense when translated to polish even if someone is fluent in both english and polish. i suggest sticking to light humour untill you get to know each other better so then you can have a laugh at absolutely anything. plus if she truly fancies you, she will laugh at ALL the jokes you tell her haha.

U will find sth that will tickle her fan*y.

U just have to work at it, trial and error. Many Polish girls have a wicked sense of humour, u just need to tap into it. Don't bend too much and be fake tho. U r who u r and she is who she is. The world isn't one big compatible unit.

So, good luck with being able to tickle her fancy.

disgraceful! lol

Sorry, I got a little confused with the C and the * keys. As u can see, they are so close ;)

oh gosh yeah, i see that now haha

If anyone here doesn't get British humour, just read the right 75% of my posts on the forum and watch all of my youtube videos. Whose posts should I be reading to get as typical a Polish sense of humour? (Or more typical).

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I imagine he does quite frequently.

Is my humour:

a) typical,
b) stereotypical, or
c) quadrophonictypical?

Dariusz's and Matyjasz's.

If Poles don't get British sense of humour, why are Monty Python and 'Allo 'Allo so popular? Aren't they British?

Good point Switezianka, they are. It just goes to show that u can attach labels such as 'English humour' but, in reality, it goes a little deeper than that. Humour varies, there is some elasticity there.

The humour of guys and girls on the street differs from that of top comedians/comediennes.

Right. I think sense of humour is more a matter of individuals, not nationality, especially in case English-Polish encounters. Polish TV has played English comedy classics like Monty Python stuff, 'Allo 'Allo, Keeping Up Appearances or Fawlty Towers, so we cannot say that English humour is something not understood and strange for the Polish (I could even say Monty Python earned a kind of cult following in Poland). But some Poles don't get it and prefer other kinds humour. And some English people have completely different sense of humour from what Poles know from the TV.

I agree, we can talk in terms of classic English humour. Other shows may have different humour but they are still English.

Also, we don't always know at what level humour is received and appreciated. Some just watch comedy because it may be cool. Others try to follow but don't catch the subtle nuances contained within.

Humour can be affected by so many variables.

I find that in general Polish subtitling of comedy films doesn't really capture the essence of the original

I find that too, sausage. I really opened the eyes of my student yesterday by doing sth similar.

We were doing idioms and I let him read the definitions in the book. He's a good student but I knew that definitions alone were not enough. To test this out, I asked him to make sentences with idioms like:

To get on like a house on fire
Like a fish out of water
In hot water
To be thrown in at the deep end etc etc

He captured the sense of 3/8. The others were a little askew, not how we'd use them in different situations. Still, he followed the definitions.

Moreover, back to the thread, sb can introduce a humorous twist, known only to themself.

The point I was making, rather ineptly, was that sometimes things are lost in translation rather than not being funny due to cultural differences...

In general, Polish translations for film and TV are on a very poor level. In most cases they aren't made by professionals but by krewni i znajomi królika (the managers' relatives or acquaintances). They usually contain basic errors, so it's hard to expect that the 'translators' would be able to preserve the humour if they can't preserve the meaning. I study translation and I sometimes find it embarrassing to listen to the translations made for the TV.

Some exceptions are the 'Shreck' films (controversial but really funny) and 'MP Flying Circus' (also controversial, by Tomek Beksiński). And both Shreck and Flying Circus are very popular...

One reason is that (in the past) many translations were not made from the original script, but from watching the original film, writing down the text and then translating. The sound quality of the original film was often a factor, as was the skill of the listener and translator. If the film is repeated and the text/narration not updated, in most case mistakes will certainly show up.

At the time copyright was a little different to the present. That was at the beginning of the 90's.

Another problem is that what is said in one language can take longer in another. So in order to fit the words in they might be changed, or even left out.

Nowadays, I have no idea how they do it. But I imagine that it's a more professional service. Certainly modern computer programs help.

I'm not sure how BBC Pime operated, but some of their translations were often at odds with what I was hearing in the original. My favourite mistake was in the theme song to Dad's Army. It was only one word, but it jumped out off the screen.

Shreck was not a direct translation. It was a professional translation to suit the Polish cinema goer.

All in all, I think most mistakes are petty and never noticed by the majority audience. It's just people like us, teachers or whatever, who have an ear for these things.

especially in the older films when they had to censor stuff. i will never forget that one (can'r remember which film it was, maybe the beverley hills cop but not sure) where they translated f*ck you as 'kij ci w oko' lol

i founk shrek, ice age and other animated movies very funny with the polish dubbing, to me they are much funnier than the english versions.

I am watching The Incredibles, in Polish with Polish subtitles. If I understood more of it I might find it funnier.

I can hear a lot of idioms translated literally, misused word (where the translator uses the wrong meaning of the word which has more than 1 meaning) or 'false friends' wrongly translated. In consequence, you can often hear sentences that just don't make any sense. It is certainly NOT professional.

And using computer programs in literary translation (which includes film & TV ) is NOT professional either. It can be acceptable in translating documents (which are very standardised) but even the most sophisticated program will fail in a simple comedy dialogue. To choose the right word you must understand the text and this is something computers cannot do.

I only said Shreck was a pro job.


I meant computers in the film/sound studio.

I don't disagree with your main points.

At what point should I start to laugh here. Please all don't quit your day jobs.

Your jokes are so sad. Not even one hahaha in here.

Talking ABOUT comedy isn't funny, just like the way no-one sings along to an album review.

A couple of £omza mocne beers and u r off Osioł. Super statement. Just like no-one reads along b4 opening the book.

i said sorry and u still go on...you can **** of from now on...im not going to say anymore

Some more czech humour.

I did not know that the British had a sense of humor.

We don't. Nor do we have a sense of color.