Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]


It's an interesting question for translation (and since I do some translation of academic texts I'm always more interested in equivalence rather than literalness...).

English has no equivalent of the common Polish practice of omitting possessives when the context is clear enough... it's very hard to translate a simple phrases like

"A co na to mąż?"

"Z bratem rozmawialiśmy"

because in English you really have to have possessives (we'll leave aside occaional use of 'the' instead of a possessive "I spoke with the brother" which is highly... restricted).

So when a possessives do occur in Polish they seem more... salient....

how would you distinguish

pilnuj nosa

and pilnuj sw(oj)ego nosa ?

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]


shouldn't that be 'watch your own nose'?

mind your own beeswax! (informal version of 'mind your own business')

News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]


Probably less.... because it depends on reinforcing the message "join us! our society is better than your parents' society - that's why you're here in the first place"

It doesn't have to explicit and shouted out loud but it needs to be the agenda.... anything else will fail

News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]


That was a failure that was literally _years_ in the making as EU and various national leaders ignored what was happening in the Balkans despite being repeatedly warned...


See... there's your problem. "integration" doesn't work, assimilation of children does work (the policy in the US) it leads to family tensions but ultimately leads to better results than pretending that dysfunctional cultural practices like arranged marriage and obsessing about family "honor" have any place in western europe....

News / Poles say a big YES to our European Union [996]


A very large majority of "refugees" to Europe in the last 5-6 have not been Syrian... easily available information....


Why on earth would refugees want to be placed in Poland when Germany is just an unguarded border away?

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


You have one weird palate...

But then I enjoy dried roasted onions and parmesan cheese mixed together as a snack, so.... mine is not exactly canon either.....

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Pork chops and garbanzo beans are not a combination that I'd encourage. Garbanzos are best in cold salads or in soups (I do a Spanish chicken garbanzo soup that's really great) or even cooked together with rice... but on their own... nope.

History / What Poland expected from western Europe? [78]


It's not - except that lax moderation has made it a den of trolls and identity thieves and various mental cases.... not the Poland that I happily live in at all....

And you couldn't pay me to live in the US again.... (someone with a bottomless pit of money might, but.... no, I'm done with that failed state).

History / What Poland expected from western Europe? [78]


I'd raise that to 100% when you're involved.... and no, most young Poles can carry on light conversation in English but are nowhere near fluent enough to carry out all (or most) of their life business in that language.

History / What Poland expected from western Europe? [78]


No, it isn't.


Being able to conduct small talk with an annoying tourist =/= fluent enough for institutional and educational use...


the best place to find bottom feeders.... comme vous

History / What Poland expected from western Europe? [78]


What a stupid idea!


No, you didn't. Stop pretending to be someone that you're not, sad old fraud.

Life / Proper way to format a Polish mailing address when sending to Poland? [24]

Małopolska is the noun, małopolski is the adjective (neuter form after województwo - małopolskie)

Life / Help with Polish address - the correct way of putting that on an envelope? [29]


województwo (voivodeship* - roughly 'province') though the correct form would be woj. małopolskie.... and when is the address from? the political borders have changed several times so the place might be part of a different wojwództwo now....

*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voivodeship

UK, Ireland / Why Polish girls working in UK as escort more than other Eastern European girls [89]


it's called 'empathy' and normal human beings have it, someone who doesn't have it has been emotionally traumatized/damaged and needs therapy....

Language / Burak or redneck? [36]


I'm not Polish, but....

Beets are red (sort of) and most Polish people sunburn easily.... so person out in the sun a lot (as in taking care of crops) will get a ruddy complexion... like a beet/burak.

Where I'm from the local closest equivalent would be redneck (again getting burned working outside under a hot sun)...

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

... a valiant attempt to make leftover carp appetizing?

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

I only use it after prepositions at the beginning of a relative clause (and then only in formal circumstances)

He's the uncle from whom I received the book...

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Oops, actually that should "had given to me" in US English.... would "had given me" be okay in the UK or Ireland? I've heard colloquial usage like "give him it" which sounds all kinds of wrong to me, but maybe it's okay there....


No it doesn't.... though I don't think elegance was a goal of the exercise....

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Polish speakers usually avoid passives... (since it's a marginal category associated with stuffy bureaucratic language)

"(that) my uncle had given me" sounds the most natural to me...

and "there was a book there" doesn't sound bad to me... not very formal but okay casual usage...

the line between correction and editing can be very fine.... (and I tend to stomp all over it....)

Work / Black English Teacher going to Wroclaw [247]


They stare at me too.... which is very upsetting, I'm a quite, private person.....

why won't they just let me be, it's not like I want attention....

Life / What do Poles do when they need Cash urgently (small sums)? [15]


I think I've seen a person or two do that, but what Żabka has 300 or 500 in cash lying around?

Language / Terms of endearment in Polish [225]


I was going to write something like that, if the mom in question was from a part of Poland with heavy German influence (like Silesia or maybe Wielkopolska) then it could be a Polonized loan from German Bube (boy though IINM can be negative or positive depending on who's using to who and why etc)

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

I'm curious about how my answers would go... (in the example I wouldn't use 'some' I'd just have "smuggle valuable"...)

I once did a multiple choice test (with questions taken from matura of the time) and got 4 or so out of 20 "wrong"... A British friend said three of my answers were also okay in Britain (understood if not used) and that one of the questions simply made no sense....

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


They're not corrections, these are the study materials and the handwritten notes are mostly translations, presumably made by the student..

I do see a mistaken sentence about Britney Spears, it should be "She is best known for her tracks" (or "the tracks" or "for such tracks as") ..

Travel / Poland in photo riddles - part 2 [1680]

@pawian

airport exhibit of impounded contraband because it uses endangered species?

Love / Cheating from spouses. Is cheating very common in Poland ? [116]


If it were a perfectly happy marriage then the OP wouldn't be able to ruin it...

USA, Canada / Poles in America: How do you pronounce your Polish surname? [135]


to expand a bit, jagoda technically usually refers to bilberries (aka European blueberries) or even just 'berry'... but that's a minor quibble I thought I'd get in before anyone else can... (American blueberry is borówka)

Still I'm just assuming that's the origin...

USA, Canada / Poles in America: How do you pronounce your Polish surname? [135]


The sound there was close enough...

Jagodowski is most likely derived from jagoda (blueberry) though the cognate in most other slavic languages means strawberry

USA, Canada / Poles in America: How do you pronounce your Polish surname? [135]


roughly (vowels like Spanish)

yah-goh-DOHFF-skee

if you go to google translate and put the name, then there's a recording you can play

translate.google.pl/?hl=pl&sl=pl&tl=en&text=Jagodowski&op=translate

News / 11th November Independence Day in Poland [73]


Just because something terrible and wrong eventually led to nice results doesn't change the awful status of the original misdeed.

The Atlantic Slave Trade was awful and evil and the fact that I like the blues and cumbia (neither of which would exist without slavery) doesn't change that.