Language / Tips on learning the Polish language! [25]


repetitio est magistra studiorum or something like that - first of all you need to be really interested in what you try to learn (this is half of success) - when there is some pattern you need to consciously integrate it (so that you can recreate the pattern on your own) - if memorising is necessary you need to repeat stuff - but not forcing yourself to repeat it but just reviewing - reviewing often opens some hidden doors in mind - that's why it is good to have your own notes (things you write down personally - hand written notes are best) - the ultimate method of repetition in learning a language is real usage

News / About fifty injured after two trains collide in Poland [73]


actually CMK line that connects Warsaw and Silesia and Kraków was quite recently modernized (upgraded to higher speeds) - I don't know what actually happened but no head on collision took place as both engines would be severely damaged and I have seen one almost intact - what they said on Polsat news is that one of the trains derailed before the collision - I don't know how much truth is in that

History / Polish Underground in WWII ( interview with Dr. Wojciech Muszynski) [12]


but you are happily unaware of what AL's and previously GL's main activity was during the occupation - that they participated in the rising does not make good theri previous sins

Genealogy / Where is the orthodox cemetery in Podlasie? [12]

there must be numerous orthodox cemeteries in Białystok area (especially Hajnówka, Bielsk Podlaski and Siemiatycze vicinity)

History / Poland did reasonably well in land terms out of the postwar settlement [270]


I'm not sure they have anything particularly significant as the centre of Gdańsk was burnt out by the conquering Soviets (already after they have seized the city)

Language / Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]


jechać - be in the process of going (by vehicle) - so imperfective
pojechać - to get somewhere (by vehicle) - perfective (you see the po added to jechać so, any other preposition added would also yield a perfective (like zajechać, dojechać, najechać)

jeździć - this is the frequentative of jechać (meaning to go from time to time, to go regularly or repeatedly) - frequentatives of any verbs (be it perfective or imperfective) are imperfective (buuuuuuut a perfective form can be created of many frequentative forms by again simply adding a preposition (typically po- is a semantically neutrall preposition))

Jechał do Londynu. He was going to London. (was on his way)
Pojechał do Londynu. He went to London.

however when talking about future this is not so clearcut and you can say Jutro jadę do Dublina. I am going to Dublin tomorrow. Jutro pojadę do Dublina. is sort of over the top (although Jutro jadę is rather colloquial and Jutro pojadę is literary)

Language / Perfective vs Imperfective - grammar [150]


no iść is clearly imperfective - actually pójść is a perfective from iść (it's a intergrown form of po+iść) - dojść and zajść have been created in the same manner

Language / Usage of "boli" / bolą [4]

nah, it's just the way Polish people pronounce their own language typically - we often say bolom instead of bolą (or at least something half way from both forms - and this inbetween sound can well be perceived as bolon)

Language / One never knows, does one? (Polish equivalent) [7]


it's ok - I wasn't aware it has a proverbial sense in English too

Language / One never knows, does one? (Polish equivalent) [7]


Nigdy nie wiadomo is a very good translation, too


there is some ambiguity to your translation a.k. (it can mean that one's past can shape somebody else's future)

I think 'Przeszłość człowieka kształtuje jego przyszłość.' is a better one


I would translate it as: Nie da się przeżyć na samym chlebie. (as I don't think the phrase has a proverb value in English and is just a plain sentence)

Language / One never knows, does one? (Polish equivalent) [7]

you use various impersonal constructions in Polish

like using words trzeba, można, wiadomo

impersonal forms are also created adding się to some verbs and using them in the third person - Czuło się, że coś się wydarzy. One could sense that something was going to happen.

and yes sentences using 'człowiek' are also used like - One learns from mistakes. Człowiek się uczy na błędach.

Language / Usage of "boli" / bolą [4]

plecy is plural without singular in Polish that's why they bolą (there are a couple of nouns in Polish that only have plural form: drzwi (door), sanie(sleigh), nożyczki(scissors), spodnie(trousers), majtki(pants) etc- the concept is not alien to English language either - you have scissors and trousers too)

btw -ą ending is regular and pretty consistent throughout all verbs ( robię - I do, oni robią - they do; one skaczą - they jump; artyści malują obrazy - Artists paint pictures.)

Travel / Is Poland's Wroclaw zoo worth visiting? [17]


Ravens are not city birds - this is not rooks who nest in and around cities - ravens live in forested and mountainous areas (i live in a bigger forest complex and there are a lot of ravens here but no rooks or crows (crows also prefer urbanized areas and they have a liking for river valleys) - consequently you cannot keep ravens free in a zoo park in the middle of the city - they are way too shy (while ravens are very intelligent and learn quick especially when young they become very novelty-shy while growing older)

blackbirds are known for their adaptibility to urbanized conditions they fare very well in city parks (if only is there places they can build their nests - a pair of blackbirds made a nest in a high ornamental shrub in the middle of our quite busy common yard - they are not shy birds)


by the way it's possible that what you call blackbirds are actually rooks (gawrony) - European blackbird
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Blackbird

Travel / Is Poland's Wroclaw zoo worth visiting? [17]


you got better beer in Czech Republic too, even if it twists your liver through like Holba 10 ;)

Language / Need Advice On Polish-English language barrier (my Polish boyfriend and his family) [59]

you need to have some teacher on skype (though face to face learning is better)

but you can learn a lot from the internet - like Polish alphabet
youtube.com/watch?v=6s-vMd_pBks

youtube.com/watch?v=euM9l0wUnAU&feature=endscreen&NR=1

Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

no because spontaneous mob hangings were not so common anywhere else in the world

Language / Need Advice On Polish-English language barrier (my Polish boyfriend and his family) [59]

this is just simply short for 'Dziękuję. Reszty nie trzeba' - normally specific tone of voice and some kind of gesture would be used

News / Internet snoopers in Poland not giving up! (and PO scores another own goal) [5]


it was only what media wanted you to believe covering things up for the most part

UK, Ireland / WHAT IS IT ABOUT POLISH PEOPLE THAT MAKES THEM THINK THAT UK WANTS THEM? [309]

I bet at least 1 million Poles now live and work in the UK

News / Internet snoopers in Poland not giving up! (and PO scores another own goal) [5]


have you had any doubts that PO is (and almost always was) a self-serving entity

Travel / Drive from YORK to Southern Poland.......cost? [4]


no matter how far south in Poland you go the route past Hannover is the best one - all you then need to do is to turn south at Berlin to join Polish A18 which connects Wrocław to Berlin and then just follow A4 in Poland - the only other instance where another route makes sense is when you travel to Zgorzelec area I think

Travel / Money Exchange Offices with good prices in Poland? [13]

most exchange offices have very similar rates and they are good rates mostly - I don't know if they compare to the rates when you draw out your money from a bank card from an ATM (I guess so because there is often some additional fee for every instance of drawing money from ATM and that can hugely influence the actual rate when you draw out smaller amounts of cash) - as far as I know most exchange offices are open on Saturdays - you just need to find one and that's it (don't use bank branches to exchange your money - they don't have competitive rates and that on purpose (they don't want queues of people wanting to exchange money) )

Language / Polish on the computer? [5]


what it is actually like to write on a Polish keyboard without the need to use Alt combinations - the concept is pretty alien to me as I am thouroughly grown into Polish Programmer's - I have never actually seen a Polish PC keyboard that has Polish signs on keys and never known anyone who would use anything other than Polish Programmer's

Language / reinkarnacje + correction request +chomiki [16]


I will - I will get you into my wielkie łapska of Polish zgrubienie :) ;)

Language / reinkarnacje + correction request +chomiki [16]


animals are mostly innocent :)

Language / reinkarnacje + correction request +chomiki [16]


ukryjemy - ukrywamy is present tense - ukryjemy future (this is actually aspectual thing too)

while Polish offers the richness of diminutives in some instances when you don't use them you indirectly point that you mean something opposite to diminutive which is augmentative

that's why I would use 'łapkami' instead of 'łapami' (after all hamsters have tiny paws and Poles would call them 'łapki')

Language / reinkarnacje + correction request +chomiki [16]


yes, but then you need to change the form of the verb from infinitive to a personal form - in this case it would have to be '..i reinkarnujemy..'

but then it looks and sounds a bit clumsy - and ' .. i odrodzimy się jako chomiki..' would be much better sounding poetry

Language / reinkarnacje + correction request +chomiki [16]

there is a intransitive verb reinkarnować in Polish and it is the verb rather than passive construction that is typically used in Polish (just like in English I guess)

jeśli umrzemy
by zreinkarnować
jako chomiki...

(if we die to reincarnate as hamsters...)

USA, Canada / Texas Silesian Language [13]


it's from German - but as they migrated well before major inroads of German into the spoken language of Silesia they probably don't use 'o(u)ma's' 'opa's' 'fater's' ( Silesians from Opole region often say 'fater' instead of ojciec but they curiously never say 'muter' nor 'muti' for mother, always 'mama' (also brat and siostra are spared and not called bruder i szwester)


have you seen these wedding photos - te chopoki rychtyk wyglundajo jak ze Ślunska :) even after a generation or two in America :)

USA, Canada / Texas Silesian Language [13]


the word szczyrkowa is curious - but I am no dialects expert - there is a place Szczyrk near Ustroń and Wisła - there must be some connection but I don't know what szczyrk means - there are so many words from the past that have been forgotten or are retained only in some place names or old sources

I can figure out where all other words listed in the wiki article come from


I'm pretty sure they don't call their babcias 'Oma'