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Posts by catsoldier  

Joined: 27 Sep 2009 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 22 Jan 2013
Threads: Total: 54 / In This Archive: 48
Posts: Total: 574 / In This Archive: 478

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catsoldier   
12 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

old story, first time in warsaw, asked to see an old mans breasts........................I meant the Polish for "first", it came out,er,wrong..............

I used to think that the guys at work were talking about women's breasts until I found out they were only asking each other if it was the first or 2nd time the buzzer had gone off, was it time to start working. They talked about it every day but guys could talk about either topic everyday.

Both actions are indespensable if one wishes to pronounce the sounds of a foreign language correctly.

I agree
catsoldier   
9 Aug 2011
Life / What do you like about Poland? [100]

She likes the snow. She also has an accent like she smokes a lot.



She likes that it is easier to organise things


catsoldier   
8 Aug 2011
Travel / Whats your favourite Polish city and why? [132]

Krakow for me out of the few cities I have been to.

It is great for walking around(the planty), there is a nice park with many benches, very safe, a lot of Straż Miejska, nice shops with a good selection of things to buy, many places to drink coffee, many restaurants, obwarzanki, great history(although it is generally very violent history, Podgórze), very nice people.
catsoldier   
7 Aug 2011
Language / Polish past tense of chodzic/ jezdzic? [23]

chodzić and jeździć

Małysz: "chodziłem do pracy z satysfakcją" , I went to work with satisfaction. He is retired down from ski jumping so he doesn't do it professionally anymore.

Jeździłem pługopiaskarką. I used to drive a snow plough(or something like a snow plough)

szczecin.gazeta.pl/szczecin/1,34959,7443063,Jezdzilem_plugopias karka.html
catsoldier   
6 Aug 2011
Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

i sandwicze z szynką

sandwicz

I checked in my dictionary and it is there also. Maybe there is a subtle difference between a sandwicz and kanapka. The dicitonary says that a sandwicz has 2 slices of bread and that a kanapka can have 1 or 2 slices of bread.

I suppose if Polish people want to do this it is their business and their language, I accept that languages evolve etc. No argument from me but personally I would use kanapka.
catsoldier   
6 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

Thanks Szwede. You are correct but even listening to native speakers I pick up the pronunciation wrong at times, I need to be told. Before I was leaving out the p at the start of words until someone corrected me, rzeprazsam instead of przepraszam etc. A Polish guy once commented that I spoke Polish like a deaf person, he wasn't so far off the mark because my hearing isn't perfect. :-)
catsoldier   
6 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

@ Lyzko, :-) even if they had perfect English I would prefer to try and speak in Polish. I don't expect Poles in Poland to speak English and if they do so badly I don't think any less of them.
catsoldier   
6 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

well, if you can't follow a random conversation people hold around you

I can but I don't go around stalking people to listen to, if someone happens to be close by who is speaking Polish I make an effort to listen.

You tube conversations are random enough also as are you tube videos on a topic because often the person will start talking about something else for a little while(they go off topic).

My pronunciation and speaking of the language definitely needs a lot of work.

Thanks for the advise
catsoldier   
6 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

And eavesdropping, when done discreetly, certainly is a great and inexpensive way to improve on your listening comprehension :)

No eye contact by me but eavesdropping isn't necessary when you have you tube which is super. Although in a public place I think that people aren't foolish enough to think that no one understands or hears what they are saying, they aren't the only Poles in the village.

Did you miss "rz" as "sz" as in "egzemplarz"?

Thanks Patrick

It's called "assimilation".

Thanks Vincent

why bother going into the necessary depth with them

I can understand it but it makes it harder to learn the language. The only thing to do in this scernario is to be a really good student, what is the saying "when the student is ready the teacher will appear" Maybe you have to inspire the teacher rather the the teacher inspiring you?
catsoldier   
5 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

Thanks for this tip.

a little spanking for not telling you about it

wouldn't that lead to more embarrassement? :-) I think that she overlooked this so as not to make me think it was completely impossible to learn Polish, it could also be a little of the idea that what I was saying was good enough for a foreigner and would be understood. I did learn a lot from her though, when I hear Polish I can understand a lot of it. I don't know if it is rude but when I am out like today I listen for polish speakers and eavesdrop, I was in a queue for coffee and I was listening to the Polish couple next to me discussing what to get(in Polish), if they were speaking English I wouldn't care what they ordered. She was interested in hot chocolate although she ordered a moka, she also commented that it was cold :-)

yes :) but watch out for longer phrases, as the rule also works across words, eg.:bez czapki is bes czapkibut bez domu is bez domu, as voiced d follows, creating fully voiced environment.

I will have to learn more about this one, thanks.

Here, the "z-sound" becomes devoiced before the following letter.

I have heard this sound unbelieveably, "z kim a rozmawiam" and I was told to pronounce the z like s also but never told why.

Thanks for all the super information about polish pronunciation, some people say that Polish grammer is the hardest but Polish pronunciation can't be far behind, can it?

Anyway all your posts have given me a huge amount of information and help, it must be one of the best threads on pronunciation thanks to you all.
catsoldier   
5 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

bez as bes

So if I should say bez like bes from the first part of "best" in English and I will sound bettter(and all the times i said bez I was wrong! :-( . That was a super post Strzyga. Are there any books that you know of that list all these pronunciation things or are there so few that there is no book? Thanks.
catsoldier   
4 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

The 'k' in the first word is pronounced like a 'g' and the ultimate 'g' in the second word is pronounced like a 'k';

I honestly don't hear g in także or k in bóg.
catsoldier   
4 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

Most of them are uttered as voiceless, even if are written as voiced.

What does this mean?

for jeża does the a at the end change the pronunciation of the ż?

jeża is just a case of jeż I assume or plural or something
catsoldier   
4 Aug 2011
Language / Double meanings, Polish slang and embarrassment [49]

I had a polish woman helping me learn Polish which was great. One day I was pointing out that the ż sound at the ends of words isn't always pronounced the same, jeż and też. She must have thought I got some kind of a buzz out of talking to her like this(admittedly it wasn't the first time I was caught out by double meanings). Only that her husband is a saint he would have murdered me too(more than likely he understood that I meant no harm and thought it was funny) It is only later that I find out these things and burn with embarrassment.

Do you have any embarrassing stories like this?

The following video has over 1 million hits! It is number one when you search for jeża which means hedgehog, you can use your imagination for the second meaning.


catsoldier   
2 Aug 2011
Language / Co słychać? Why not Co słychasz [23]

I stupidly mixed up "słychać" (to hear) with "słuchać" (to listen)

I didn't notice, no worries, thanks
catsoldier   
2 Aug 2011
Language / Czego, Czemu, Co, Kto, Jak, Dlaczego? [64]

strzyga

słuchać takes genitive - słuchać kogo, czego - słuchać mówcy, muzyki (listen to)

So I could say:

Kogo słuchacie? Who are you listening to?
or
Czego słuchacie? What are you listening to?
catsoldier   
2 Aug 2011
Language / Czego, Czemu, Co, Kto, Jak, Dlaczego? [64]

Co słuchacie w tej chwili?

When I was checking the internet for how to say this I found many instances of:

Czego słuchacie w tej chwili?

Kogo Czego is a genitive question as far as I know, what is the story?