Language / Ukrainian language similar to Polish? [236]

Again, Sascha, it's only a guess.

Language / Polish Prefixation [8]

If German is any help for comparison, many Polish prefixes which often 'perfectivize' a verb, i.e. make it a one-time vs. a repeated action, or 'imperfective', track with certain German forms, though of course, there is no relation.

Perhaps the above would only confuse you, so I'll stop here. Below, more to your query:

'NA' = fulfilling a completion, e.g. 'pisać'/'napisać',(to write) 'pić'/'napić' (to drink) etc..
'ROZ = take an action to its extreme e.g. 'kazac'/rozkazać, 'wiedźić'/'rozwiedźić' etc...
'S' = indicate one given time e.g. 'podobać się'/'spodobać się' (to find pleasing, to like)etc

Life / Mothers day in Poland [19]

Mother's Day in Poland?

As a long-time student of Polish language and culture, I'm well aware of the famous "Dzień Kobiet" celebrated throughout much of the Slavic-speaking world. Is there though any corresponding "Dzień Matki" (Dzień Matek??? gen. pl. as in "Women's" rather than "Woman's Day"!!) in Poland, or rather, is it a Polish-American invention?

I was struck by Mother's Day cards in Polish being sold in our local Polish superette and became curious, since it didn't seem terribly Polish to me:-)

Much appreciate the reply!

Language / Ukrainian language similar to Polish? [236]

Isn't it true that Polish 'o' often becomes 'i' in Ukrainian, e.g. 'Dobra noc!' in Polish vs. Ukrainian 'Dobra nich!'??

Language / Polish or any Slavic language key to any other Slavic languages? [126]

Just curious as to how you, or for that matter one, measures "difficulty"? Is it the number of irregular morphological/inflectional permutations (in which case, Polish would certainly be one of the most "difficult" LOL)? Or perhaps incongruence between orthography vs. pronounciation (whereby English is practically everyone's worst nightmare:-) )? Maybe variety of nuance in vocabulary, semantic fields based on, among other things, heterogenous word roots etc...? etc..

As a translator and interpreter myself (German to English and vice versa), though no longer at a government level, I look forward to your reply post.

Language / Listening to music and learning Polish [45]

Guess it's my generation, but I tried (with varying success) listening to some of Chopin's intoxicatingly delightful waltzes and ballades while studying Polish, finding it did actally help put me in the mood as well as allowing me to imagine his music as an extension of the 'dusza polska', if such a thing even exists:)

Also tried listening to the famous 'Warsaw Concerto', till I discovered it was written by an Englishman. LOL

Started a recording years ago of the 'Warzawianka' while reading Tuwim and it only made me weepy, so I stopped.

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

...yes, and one of them is English. LOL
Don't bother denying it! If such weren't the case, then everybody else's English pronounciation would be much better. I also think it's easier for a non-Pole, namely an American or Brit, to acquire a nearly perfect Polish accent with hours and hours of intensive training than vice versa!

Recently, I met a Polish diplomat who'd lived for years in Ottowa, working as legal counsel for their Embassy in Canada. Like the great Joseph Conrad, his written English was perfect, his pronounciation on the other hand was so thick, you could cut it with a machete. Someone whom he'd just met at the gathering we attended at the Consulate asked him within several seconds if he was from Poland. A trifle irritated, he inquired how the other person could tell he was Polish. "From your accent." was the reply. Rather annoyed at this point, the gentleman snapped, "Vall, sawrrii! Aii deedn't eeffen know ai het an ekssent!"

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

My pleasure, Joan! LOL Only too happy to help. Z przyjemnością --:)

Language / learning Polish using American phonics [24]

Merely seconding Darius' advice, I'd gently start off with a few sample basics, considering your visitors speak little to no English, with Poles, more common than with most other Europeans, except perhaps the Spaniards-:) LOL

DZIEŃ DOBRY! WITAM PAŃSTWA! - HELLO! WELCOME, EVERYBODY!
(GIN DAWWPRII. VEETOM PAIEENSTVAH)

DZIĘKUJĘ! - THANK YOU!
(GYENKOOYEH)

PROSZĘ BARDZO! - YOU'RE (MOST) WELCOME!
(PRAWSHUH BARRDZAW)

PROSZĘ WEJŚĆ! - PLEASE COME INSIDE!
(PRAWSHUH VEYSHCH)

NIECH PAŃSTWO USIĄĆ! - PLEASE, DO SIT DOWN WON'T YOU?
(NYEKH PAIEENSTWAW OOSHYAUNCH)

DOBREGO POBYTU W AMERYCY! - HAVE A GOOD STAY IN THE STATES!
(DAWBREGAW PAWBITTOO VUH OMERITSI)

DO ZOBACZENIA! - SO LONG! SEE YOU AGAIN!
(DAW ZAWBOCHENYAH)

SZCZĘŚLIWEJ DROGI! - HAVE A GOOD TRIP! BON VOYAGE!
(SHCHENSHLEEVAY DRAWGEE)

And then there's also:

DOBRY WIECZÓR! - GOOD EVENING!
(DAWBRII VYECHOORR) a slight trill always on final 'r's

DOBREJ ZABAWY! - ENJOY YOURSELVES! HAVE A GOOD TIME! HAVE FUN!
(DAWBRAYY ZOBOVII)

POLSKA JEST PRZYPIĘKNYM KRAJEM. - POLAND'S A GORGEOUS COUNTRY.
(PAWLSKAH YEST PCHIPYENKNIM KRAIIEM)

Joan,

Do let us know how things worked out. -:)))
Hope it helped a little. LOL

Language / Present tense, past tense, past participle in polish [34]

Basically powinien is a weird construction.....

....technically, therefore a "defective" verb because of its 'missing' infinitive form-))))

Language / Present tense, past tense, past participle in polish [34]

:) I saw that one too. Odd, I didn't think of it until just now, but sure, no brainer; the third person singular past tense of 'być + infinitive (bezokolicznik) of the perfective form of the principle or main action verb! "Był zrobić", "był dać" etc..

Language / Present tense, past tense, past participle in polish [34]

Does Polish even have a pluperfect or is it subsumed by the simple past/present perfect in one: byłem/-am = I was, have been, had been..

Language / Present tense, past tense, past participle in polish [34]

Right on as usual, Mafketis! Fortune is relative. If a non-Pole, i.e. non-Slavic speaker is learning Polish for the very first time in mature adulthood, one prays for simplified grammar as one does manna from heaven. Conversely of course, for the poor Pole struggling with English tenses when over the age of thirty, the whole thing look rather like a hopeless muddle. I mean, come one folks! Is the average Pan Lech (Polish for 'average Joe') any better at grasping the alleged simplicity of English grammar/tenses than the average German, Brit, Yank, what have you, at plumbing ther depths and coming comfortably to terms with the vagueries of Polish aspects??

Degrees of difficulty cut both ways-:)))))

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

Indeed, Bondi! That word was a Lewis Carroll invention, if I'm not mistaken.

Benszymański, unfortunately you're right. Perhaps the reason why any Tom, Dick and Harry worldwide thinks he or she can treat, resp/ mangle the poor English tongue as though it were their own personal property, while merrily insisting that Anglo speakers treat everyone else's mother language with kit gloves!!! LOL

Seems a bit silly, wouldn't you say?

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

You're right about that one; IT'S BLOODY HARDER-:):) LOL

Polish may well have the upper hand on complicated morphology, i.e. cases, gender and the like, but English's got 'em all beat, Polish as merely one example, on chaotic spelling, pronunciation and an ever-changing vocabulary from disparate roots as well as a level of slang usage in the most everyday uses which makes even Polish seem almost straightforward by comparison

Confusing sentence. I meant that you're right, Southern, that Polish is not English; English (NOT Polish!) is "bloody harder". LOL

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

Spelling rules and the like, you mean. We sure are. Lost at sea, at least I am, when asked to spell words rarely used. Often gotta use that spell checker key. Obviously, unlike Hungarian (the polar opposite here), English words are practically NEVER pronounced exactly as they are written, right? First, there's that darned schwa-sound (the backwards 'e' so represented phonetically), then there're all those extra silent letters (unknown in Hungarian, and rare as Moon rocks in Polish as well), after that the assimilation of letters to produce sounds other than written, plus the umpteen exceptions to the exceptions!!!

Compared to all this, Hungarian pronounciation for me was almost like drinking a cool lemonade in the summer heat-:) LOL

Language / I want to learn Polish. Where to start? [180]

I figure the Polish for Foreigners Program of the Jagiełłoń University in Cracow has already been mentioned--:): LOL

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

Every language is hard compared with another,....particularly if you don't understand it-:):)

Wonder where the myth evolved that English is so easy? LOL If it were, we'd all know it MUCH better than we already do!

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

etc.., ad infinitum

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

Much as with the gender of nouns-:):):) LOL

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

.....especially in Polish, what with case governing their use and those pesky two-way kinds such as 'na', 'pod' etc...

Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

It's both practical as well as fun to learn different languages. As Goethe himself said "Wer eine Fremdsprache nicht kennt, kennt nicht die eigene." = Whoever doesn't know a second language doesn't really know his own. -:):)

Life / POLES FIND CZECH FUNNY! [42]

Someone once remarked to me (a German speaker, by the way) that Dutch to them sounds like German damaged on delivery. LOL

Probably Czech sounds a lot less "silly" to Poles than Polish does to Russians.
The again, the latter is pure guesswork-:):)

Polonia / Ever been to Sweden? [185]

The Danes are considered throughout Scandinavia to be more easygoing than either the Swedes, the Norwegians and the Finns. Having spent some time in both Denmark and Sweden at least, I can agree. Probably in terms of pronounciation and even grammar, the Swedes speak better English on the whole than any of the other Scandinavians. This is not to say however, that it's terribly good. We in the States tend to form impressions of foreign countries according to the "face" their political leaders put on. Believe me, not all Swedes speak English as fluently and delightfully as former chief weapons' inspector for the United Nations Hans Blix, anymore than do most Israelis speak English like Abba Eban or Bibi Netanyahu.--:)

Language / Are the languages of Russian and Polish similar at all? [94]

I found Russian much easier to pick up having already learned Polish. The other way round? Not so sure-:)

Above all, the case system and aspectual issues of Polish verbs made acquiring a second Slavic language ever so much simpler. Only thing about Russian for me was, of course, the alphabet. That was though just a mechanical problem and I memorized it fairly quickly.

Life / Why do people think that I'm Polish ? [92]

Wahldo, noone ever even initmated Grass is "half-Polish", merely that he himself attributes his coarse brownish/black (now gray!!) hair and dark eyes to Kashubian forebearers-:) His facial features however, are clearly Germanic and not Slavic.

Now the Nazis, as we know, were oddly selective as to whom they deemed 'worthy' (diensttauglich) of joining the SS! So-called "Germanized Slavs", considered more Germanic than Slavic, WERE allowed in the SA. the SS, even the Einsatzgruppen, if they could evidence suitable 'pedigree' (eine artgleiche Ahnentafel).

Life / Why do people think that I'm Polish ? [92]

Many Poles can and often do look like North Germans: Tall, blond, light-eyed and fair-skinned. Some Polish women I observed have jet black hair with light-blue eyes and angular features, much like Germans and Swedes. I'm almost certain though that their hair is dyed, as I've yet to encounter a Pole with naturally occurring coarse black hair.

Kashubs in Germany do in fact have dark coarse hair. The famous German author Guenter Grass had such colored hair when he was a good deal younger. He takes pride in saying that at least one of his parents was not Aryan/Teutonic, but instead of Slavic origin, as with millions of his fellow countrymen-:)

Life / Why do people think that I'm Polish ? [92]

From the physical appearance alone, I frequently confuse Poles with Ukrainians.
Czechs tend to look slightly more 'Germanic', particularly the square jaw and deep set eyes. This Asiatic-type fold I mentioned I've never seen among Czechs, incidentally!

Life / Why do people think that I'm Polish ? [92]

My experience is that Poles, particularly the men, are usually tall, compared even with English or Irish, and are almost always fair-haired and blue-eyed with a normally rosy complexion. Moreso than Germans or Scandinavian, Poles tend to have charactaristically broad faces with high cheekbones and a slight Asiatic fold to even light eyes which can look strikingly handsome on both men and women!

This though is only the physical aspect. After a Pole has opened their mouth, the open, yet nasal, pronounciation of typically closed vowels in English, e.g. the 'o-sound' in "hello" or "no" is often a dead giveaway. The rhythm too is much different from Russian or German, closer in fact with Czech in the animated, chirpy quality to the speech.

Language / Old Polish Vs New Polish [29]

Slick, I'm far from either a Polish-American or a native speaker, but can only surmise that most US citizens of Polish descent, say from in and around the Chicago area, learned a slang or country Polish from their working-class parents or grandparents.

Certain regions of Poland have their own specific dialects. It's the same with German-Americans who speak German at Stammtisch clubs with other German-Americans, but who et lost in a German forum. For one thing, language changes and many second or third generation American speakers of Polish or German may well speak a language which hasn't kept up with changes over the past century and so on.