Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Vlad' ol' man, NO OTHER Slavic language sounds like Polish!! The others all lost the nasals, plus Slovene and Czech both retained their long vs,.short vowels:-)

History / Good enough for British - Joseph Conrad? Poland-born novelist. [30]

Reading "Lord Jim" and "Heart of Darkness" in highschool, never once did I even suspect that his first or only language was anything other than English!!!

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Vlad, as a professional linguist, I can linguistically vouch for both the syntactic as well as semantic closeness of Polish with Czech, not that there are not false friend traps galore, e.g. "Obchód na korze", the title of a popular 1966 Czech film! In English, it is translated as "The Shop on Main Street". In Polish, the meaning is, well, rather differentLOL There's of course Polish "szukać" vs. Czech "szukat", Polish "stały" vs. "Czech "staly", Polish "pożar" vs. Czech "pozar" etc... The months are also quite different, yet more Ur-Slavic vs. the latinized Russian equivalents!

On the other hand, certain basic words such as Polish "tydzień" cf. "tyden" in Czech, "Dzień dobry" and "Dobry den" point to a closer day-to-day proximity, not to mention the buzzing sounds of Polish and Czech, compared to the much more exaggerated palatalization of Russian and Ukrainian.

R.U.R. while it is true that the average English speaker faced with a German or Dutch text, having never studied either of those languages, will be as doubtless bewildered as were I too glance casually at "Beowulf" or "Caedmon's Hymn" having never studied Old English, many American -born German students of mine over the years have found German (though NOT Icelandic!!!) much easier to get a superficial handle on than even Spanish or Italian.

Slavic languages words similarities with Polish, is what this thread is about.

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1090]

I generally speak of "Middle Europe" when referring to countries such Austria, Czechoslovakia aka Czech Republik, Hungary or Switzerland. Central Europe also includes Slovenia, Albania and Macedonia. Poland? Well, it has the strong historical influences from the Catholic West, namely, Rome (located in South Central Italy), therefore, I tend to classify Poland as Central European, yet she is physically located much further East, while having a much more Continental influence than, say, Romania or Bulgaria, which are closer to countries such as Greece and/or the bridge nation, Turkey!

When Americans especially close their eyes and conjure up a Middle European person/accent etc.., the latter generally sounds like a courtly, Viennese Austrian, decidely Germanic, although not "German" per se, fully of bowing and hand kissing.

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

A more precient theory has been that in fact the Russians themselves are descendants of Rurik the Slav, curiously enough, the same progenitor of the present-day Swedes:-)

History / Good enough for British - Joseph Conrad? Poland-born novelist. [30]

While his written English might well have been indistinguishable from a native Brit, his spoken English was said to have retained a decidedly thick Polish accent:-)

LOL

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Admittedly, an exception to the list:-)

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

.....Sunday - Vozkresenyie!

And that's similar to Polish????!!

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

"nedela" = Russian "week" > "ne" + "dela" = not work vs. "niedziela" = Polish "Sunday"
....ad infinitum!

Ooops! "not" "do". Typo, sorry:-)

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Vlad, "łyżka" simply means "spoon", "łyżkO" would be the (non-existent) Vocative Case:-)
LOL

I mean, I guess "łyżko" would be conceivable in Polish, merely unusual, to downright odd! Imagine for example in English calling out "O' spoon!!" People would think that rather weird, I'd expect:-)

Then again, Polish also has the possible (yet unused) neuter forms of the first person in the past tense "Ja byłom..." . presumably if a child were speaking. A shame noone's ever been able to test out that theoryLOL

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

A Sorb?? Scarcely! Nor a Serb, nor any Slav, in fact. I'm a bilingual US-born and raised German bilingual:-)

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

I'm merely speaking in general, Vlad! The "list" to which I was referring is in the abstract:-) Odd that you didn't pick up on it. Other than that, your English is rather good.

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

You see, Vlad! Point proven:-)

Apologies for the faulty orthography. Unlike you, I don't always have a google translate at the ready twenty-four-sevenLOL

A common pattern difference between Polish and Russian, is precisely this "added" vowel such as "m[o]r." vs. "mr....", g[o]lodny" vs. "głodny" etc...

...Polish "sklep" (standard word for "shop"/"store") vs. Russian "sklep" (a sort of dirty cellar or room, scarcely a boutique and similar establishment :-))

The list is indeed a long one!
lol

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Polish "lody" = ice-cream vs. Russian marazhenie(??) = ice-cream cf. "mrózić" (Pol.) to freeze......
"Mrózenie" = freezing (as a noun, NOTHING to do with ice-creamLOL)

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Another example may be "gwara" = dialect in Polish/"gwar" = noisy, distracting speaking vs. "govorit", the standard Russian word for "speak":-)

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

As with certain modern languages, related word stock often retains a slightly different, i.e. perhaps more formal, caste in some cases, or even an old-fashioned ring, c.f. Polish "mówić" vs. Ukrainian "mowit" etc...

Language / Slavic languages words similarities with Polish [240]

Hardly necessary, Vlad. Only one or two examples would suffice nicely:-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Maybe so, Crow. And maybe not:-) Often, at least with English, this perceived ease of acquisition creates a "tortoise - and - the - hare" symdrome, whereby the foreign English learner thinks the language ever so simple, he/she early on begins to rest on their laurels, making little concerted effort to mastering the more complicated aspects of English which raise it from a sort of cross-cultural baby talk and more on the level of intelligent, articulate (not necessarily academic) conversation!

In order to master Polish, a lot more is required than merely manipulating street slang with a near-native accent! How about the stuff which conversely makes Polish a rich and textured tongue, e.g. Mickiewicz, Tuwim etc.. Necessary for everyday conversation??! Perhaps not for bare-bone basics. Yet, how boring would any communication be were it not peppered liberally with interesting phrases, saws and instances so as (horrors!!!) to make the speakers of that language sound half-way literate, rather than like a bunch of NeanderthalsLOL

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

Correct, TheOther! The Golden Rule has always been "He who has the gold makes the rule!" - Randi Rhodes

@
Prime

"Simple"?? What makes English any simpler for a Pole, say, than Polish for a native English speaker?? It's just a matter of perception in end:-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

True, Wulkan! A crying shame therefore that not more of them admit it:-)
LOL

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [309]

You bet! I simply advise most of them in Polish that they needn't butcher my language any more than I should or shouldn't be permitted to mutilate theirs!

They're frequently non-plused!
LOL

Po polsku / Krótkie tłumaczenia z polskiego na angielski i z angielskiego na polski [32]

Dzięki Wam! To musi być stare polskie przysłowia:-)

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

Not sure if YOU did, Veles:-)

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

True enough. If anybody begins audibly speaking another language in a smallish, ethnically tight community such as Poland, to be sure, folks'll stare! I would too, probably.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

NATIVE-American however is, and is even officially acknowledged by our US-Census Bureau: Caucasian, African-American, Native-American, Hispanic.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

Again, compliments notwithstanding, it's always ultra-hard to place someone's nationality from the States!! We're all so mixed anyhow:-)

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

@Veles,

"to look Polish" = wyglądać jak Polak/Polka
:-)

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

Poland is a remarkably homogeneous society, much more than most other European countries. I too stood out during my first (and sadly, only) visit to Poland many years ago, probably even before you were bornLOL

There's a specific type of facial bone structure which is distinctly Polish.

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]

Frankly, I'd have said (as an American, mind you!) Southern California Anglo! Polish? Aehh, probably not. More German, even French, possible British, once again:-)