Too many English words in the Polish language!

albo blutuf. "Mam blutufa", "ten laptop nie ma bultufa" itp.

blutuf is funny, blutut would be even funnier.

Why not ząbek? (not being a native speaker it sounds fine to me)

"Mam ząbka."

or

"Ten laptop nie ma ząbka."

I like it (native speakers will probably vehemently disagree).

Arrbol

I don't think that there are enough English words used in the Polish language. And as for wanting to corrupt the English language with Polish words, that would be a sin. The rich English language has already been vandalized enough.

I often wonder what Dr. Samuel Johnsen would have thought about all this.

What do Poles say for "walkie talkie" ?

One of the silliest English language constructions it has to be said.

"łoki toki"


Well, we approximate English (foreign) words with the sounds we have in our language, injecting foreign sounds into daily conversations makes them a bit awkward. English native speakers do the same all the time.

Arrbol

Teffle. Something else that has always baffled me is the use of " pretty "

Pretty awful , Pretty painful, Pretty good, etc., The most confusing for a foreigner is, Pretty ugly. It's a very rich language, but sometimes it borders on the silly

Arrrbol wrote:


Is it any weirder than "strasznie dzięuję"? (or "potwornie dziękuję" which I've also heard a time or two) ?

What about 'Bo ja wiem' for "I have no idea" or "w życiu" for "never"

All languages have their points where the meaning can't be deduced from the ingredients.

"walkie-talkie"is really pidgin English-:))LOL

That's one of the worst. omg :)


Lol, the first time I saw this one I thought they meant something you use on a tin of beans lmao.

All this reminds me of a conversation I once had with my aunt in Warsaw. She was complaining about all the people around town who use all these English or English-style words like drinki/sorry/sandwicz/peelingi/casting etc all the time, and mentioned that she once tried to start a conversation in English with a particularly notable "offender", and of course they replied "sorry I don't understand" in Polish, lol.

anything that ends in "ing" is obviously English....yet so many Poles, especially the over 30 crowd, simply don't get it. i mean....how do you not see the pattern?! you didn't have the word in your language yesterday....today it's here.....and it, YET AGAIN, ends in "ing". i mean, come on.

I've had the "you know, anything that ends in "ing'' is an English word" conversation several times with Poles....and they always look surprised. it never ceases to amaze me.

airport ones are the best. i swear every other verb in Polish relating to an airport is an "ing" word.

mafketis:


Another very popular misuse of a Polish phrase is "dzięki + some-negative-cause", such as:
"Dzięki pomyłce lekarskiej stan zdrowia pacjenta się pogorszył" - "Thanks to doctor's mistake the patient's condition deteriorated".

There is nothing to be thankful for and the above sentence should start with "Na skutek pomyłki lekarskiej...", not with "Dzięki pomyłce..."

I heard this on the TV tonight :".Nie ma hapyendu (sp)"

ahhh, that's an old one. the latest and most ridiculous for me still has to be the aforementioned "downshifting". holy crap.

Really?
It's out of control! lol

Gwara Londyńska: "Luknij no najborka przez łindoł, nasze boje się na kornerze fajtają!"

Ale najborzy są ciapakis!

it sounds funny - mostly because fajtać in 'continental' Polish means something completely different

tonight the lady on tv says "niewiadoma czy to prawdziwy hapening"..........happening??
is the Polish definition the same as the English?

People just love to insert English words into their language. Polish isn't the only example. English borrows plenty from other languages as well. This exchange is a rule of language so why get all anal about it?

I'm aware of the exchange but my beef is with the speed of this exchange. So many English words being incorporated at a very rapid rate. What's the rush? Why are these words so attractive to the Poles? I guess I'm intrigued.

Foreign languages are just fashionable right now, I suppose. The awkardest word is still "lunch" though in Polish.

Poles just like to use English words now and then. It's not understandable why that is, or why people fancy words from a certain language other than their own. It becomes a trend and when that happens, lots of people say them, especially if they hear it on television or see it in print. That just encourages them. Might have something to do with it sounding exotic or there not being a word for it in Polish.

Gumishu is the expert on this, but I wonder if it's anything to do with the authorities on Polish not being quick to coin new words for new English words?

no it's not

it has a very narrow semantic field connected with art activities in the streets, also political performances (a political rally is not 'happening' in Polish)

btw happening has been discussed here before (if you care to dig through the thread)


I can tell you that in the late 80's and early 90's 'fck you' was very en vogue among the youth and so was the accompaning gesture - it is no longer the case since at least 10 years - simply your average teenager never talks like that anymore

there was time the word 'cool' was the word of choice for many young people - I don't think 'cool' is cool anymore here

but those words that don't have Polish counterparts stay

I would say that a lot of English words now used in diverse fields will fall from use if there are good Polish counterparts - but some will stay (there is no good Polish counterpart of 'catering' for example)

I can give you one example of an English word adopted and the reasons - 'jumper' (as a removable connector between to metal pegs in electronics (like computers)) - one can argue that Polish 'złączka' will be perfectly fine - the thing is złączka can have a very broad meaning - a lot of different things can be called złączka even in the field electricity/electronics - and 'jumper' is used in very specific meaning of this typical connector/jumper you find in computers


Polish authorities once coined a beautiful term 'zwis męski' for 'krawat' (' a tie') - I wouldn't rely on authorities ;)

ding ding ding!

Stupidest translation I've heard recently:

I've been watching the awesome Danish detective drama Forbrydelsen (with lektor) and when the Danish title comes on the screen mr lektor translates it as 'di killink' (trying to say 'the killing', the English translation of the title used in the UK).

uhhh what's wrong with 'zbrodnia' (an accurate translation) or zabijanie or something like that?

the thing is 'zabijanie' is not the same as killing in English - killing can have a couple of different translations - I would guess in this case 'zabójstwo' is the best one (but I don't know enough Danish to be sure about it) - there is also 'zabicie' - if you don't know what aspect (or meaning) of 'The killing' is meant in an English title you seek to go around it - and the result you have seen is an example of going around a difficult (non-ambiguous) translation by not translating the title ;) - (it might be that the translator actually translated from English and not Danish and was not aware of the Danish meaning of the title (I already stated that neither do I))

So you're saying the translator might think that an accurate translation of "The killing" into Polish is "di killink'?

The translations I've found for the title are: przestępstwo, zbrodnia, wykroczenie... I still zbrodnia would be a better title but it might already have been taken.

heheh :) not really - just not all English titles get translated - American Pie, Terminator and many many others (the Polish meaning of 'terminator' word is completely different from the English meaning) - btw don't expect a Polish lektor to say 'The killing' in beautiful English (it would even sound unnatural for Polish audiences I can tell you)*-

*(Polish people are unaccustomed to situations where some letters are not pronounced - from my personal experience: I don't feel comfortable with pronouncing English words in the British non-rhotic accent when trying to explain things (including pronounciations) for Polish learners of English - that's why I pronounce them rhotic (more or less Irish-style 'cause I am not comfortable with teaching them American pronounciations - a bit of personal schizophrenia ;) )

it is a good point that you made that 'Zbrodnia' could have been already taken by some other title before ('Zbrodnia' is a good sounding title and it can also be the most accurate one)