Too many English words in the Polish language!

Thanks Ziemovit.
I heard them on the TV yesterday during an interview.

Kołczowanie stafu.

at first I thought it's from "kołczan" :D

That's an interesting point. In the same way as Holywood films do not reflect the avarage reality in the US, the language spoken on Polish TV doesn't reflect the avarage reality of the language spoken in the street or at home. The television here is full of pretentious people, particularly in the so-called "breakfast programmes" ("telewizja na śniadanie"). Undoubtedly, the term "gadka-szmatka" is not suitable for TV (too colloquial), but one of the genuinely Polish terms to use there should be "niezobowiązująca rozmowa" or "niezobowiązująca konwersacja" (notice that "konwersacja" in Polish is not of English, but of French origin). Obviously, this term is not "cool" enough for breakfast or such kind of TV, so they will turn to "small talk" instead, and then some stupid people will take it up and repeat the word to look "cool" themselves, while in fact they look even more idiotic than they really are.

A cultural and situational context of using foreign or borrowed words is important. Some of those words come into use for a limited period of time only and then disappear. I remember the term "debeściak" (of the English "the best") which was extremely popular in the 1990s (could be heard in virtually every Polish film of that time), but has now almost disappeared or is used only ironically. It's always been treated as a clever and funny cliché rather than a true borrowing into Polish.

TV is a bad source to learn something about Poland, Poles, Polish and other Ps. It seems that internet took an advantage over TV in the common knowledge area faster that anybody imagined.

I don't watch TV myself. I didn't even buy TV facility when I moved to my new flat. Sometimes when I am either in any hotel or with my family or my friends I watch it and my impresion is tremendous. TV language, people, problems, everything there has nothing to do with a real life in the country. 100% of fiction blended with irritable stupidity started to spoil my good life many years ago, so I happily dropped it.

And yet, there are good programmes on TV! You just don't have to switch your TV set on and watch, but you have to look at your TV guide first.

One of my favorites is "Swiat według Kiepskich" on the Polsat channel. The sitcom is so tremendously stupid, yet it can be so tremendously intelligent! No jak nie, jak tak!

unfortunately, i've got Telewizja Polonia for now.

"pracowałem dzisiaj jak machine"

People in English say pierogi for polish dumplings. That's the only Polish word in Eng that I know.

that doesn't even count. there's really no other way to say pierogi besides pierogi. dumplings aren't the same....so what choice does an English speaker, or Spanish speaker, or any speaker actually have?

Spruce is the other one you know.

There's also Britzka and Rendzina, as well as spruce (z prus).

Though it seems plausible, I've always doubted such an etymology. The most remarkable example of a Slavic borrowing into English is the word "robot" taken after the title of a Czech novel. Technically it is a borrowing from Czech, but I think all other Slavic languages also know the word "robota" meaning "work/job" (at least Polish and Russian do),

Yet many times they are. Just google "dumplings".

is there any reason we should stay with old Polish words instead of adopting new ones from foreign languages?

demotywatory.pl/4351512/A-mozna-by-pomyslec-ze-co-jak-co-ale-Polacy-jezyk-ojczysty-znaja

Words adopted from foreign languages on that list are in use in Polish for many decades or even centuries and they are Polish just like any other words that exist in Polish language longer.

You can pick like that on any language. Why there are so many foreign words in Italian, German, French etc. and it just doesn't make sense.

Merged: Are all Anglo-borrowings needed?

Admittedly there are areas (such as computerese) that have introduced terms not found in Polish and other languages. But what about cluttering Polish with unneeded Anglicisms regarded by some as "trendy". Some examples:

**Dwa, trzy w jednym: two, three in one can easily be translated as (produkt o) podwójnym, potrójnym działaniu;
**Some Polish news readers haev been introducing "dziesięć do ósmej" (10 to 8) when "za dziesięć ósma" already exists;
**destynacja has been appearing in the tourist trader when there is a pefectly good "cel podróży" exists in Polish;
**Od Wedel (translation of "from Wedel"); should be "od Wedla" (if Wedel were a person not a firm), but czekoladki Wedel or firmy Wedel is more than enough.

**Zwiększ objętość swoich włosów reflects the English language's obsession with the possessive whcih is alien to Polish; Anglos say I'm brushing MY teeth and washing MY feet, whereas in Polish one says myję zęby, nogi. Here too the swoich" is redundant.

**Odkryj (translation of discover) is greatly overused in adverts translated from English (also German entdeck); zapoznaj się could easily be used in many cases rather than the boringly repetitive odkryj.

NOTE: Please add any other unnecessary Anglicisms you have run across to this list. Many dzięks!

Your fingers need to go on a diet

Too many typos


Do the French pronounce it Big or Beeg? I get a kick out of the way Poles say Brad Peet (for the actor).

"is there any reason we should stay with old Polish words instead of adopting new ones from foreign languages?"

Languages change to fit the times .
English absorbs words and phrases from other languages .
If a foreign word works better ... Use it !!

The point is that many do not work better but some simpelton thinks it sounds more snobbish or "cool".

"The point is that many do not work better but some simpelton thinks it sounds more snobbish or "cool"."

Words that do not work well do not survive in daily usage .

Quite. Living languages change constantly. Polish isn't frozen in some particular point in the past (and which point would anyone want it to for that matter?) but is constantly evolving and absorbing new influences. Including from English, itself an eclectic language.

Ever heard of advertising, propaganda and high-powered brainwashing? Goebbels said a lie repeated 100 times gets accepted. It's the same with advertising slogans and "cool" buzzword -- repeated over and over they artifically but not necessarily beneficially enter and often contaminate the language. In this area might makes right -- the average language user is no match for the multi-billions driving the language-bending industry. No! No language is freeze-framed in the past -- but this is a quesiton of unnecessary and redundant borrowings which the language can do without.

Far from artificial. Very natural, even.


The word 'contaminate' implies that 'purity' exists in a language. In a living language, it does not.


Neither necessity nor redundancy (and Polish has redundant words and forms w dupie) are relevant to anything.

Given how many German words exist in Polish, it would seem insane to suggest that Polish is in any way "pure".

Even the other way round - that most German of German words - "grenze", comes from "granica".

The only 'pure' languages are spoken by uncontacted tribes, and even then...

Language is about mutual human communication. They change constantly.

Indeed, and there's a core point of linguistics that humans tend to choose the easiest form of communication.

You can't deny that English is heavily influencing Polish now, but so did German and so did Latin.

And so did Czech and Turkish, but none of them were backed by the potency and all-pervasievness of mega-technology and mega-billions. The absorption of foreign borrowings in the past was more evolutionary and dictated by actual need. For instance things dealing with Christianity largely came from Bohemia hence such words as kościół, biskup, ksiądz and spowiedź. Today's Anglo-onslaught is more of a bombardment dictated by commercial greed.

There are also thousands of French words in the Polish language ("brought" "by" Napoléon?) with different spelling, pronounciation and sometimes different meanings too from the original ("parasol", "kokot", "kotlet" "szampan" .........just to name very few).

And Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, even a few Lithuanian words, but owing to the lack of today's hyper-technology backed by mega-bankrolling it was a more gradual process. More likely than not, the current anglo-onslaught will prove to have a far more disintegrating impact on Polish than those earlier phases.

The German invention of the printing press was almost certainly mega-technology in the day, and the Germanic states in existence then were pretty wealthy. Hence why Polish is so heavily influenced by German.

What might be interesting is if Polish starts to influence English in the UK...

That's why -- Gutenberg was the Gates of his era. Also civilisation moved from west to east, Germany was more advanced in crafts and adminsitartion, hence such loan-words as burmistrz, rada, ratusz, radca, not to mention tools - stamajza, druszlak, waserwaga, pług and many more. Did you know obywatel was from Czech. In Polish it should have been obywaciel like przyjaciel.