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Posts by Marek  

Joined: 15 Feb 2007 / Male ♂
Last Post: 16 Jun 2009
Threads: Total: 4 / Live: 0 / Archived: 4
Posts: Total: 867 / Live: 250 / Archived: 617
From: Nowy Jork
Speaks Polish?: Tak
Interests: rozgrywki, podrozy

Displayed posts: 250 / page 1 of 9
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Marek   
18 May 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Probably, learning Polish for an English speaker is tougher than German from the perspective of inflectional changes. But German is possibly more difficult in terms of word order and sentence length, in addition to those pesky separable vs. inseparable prefixes))
Marek   
18 May 2009
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
Marek   
12 May 2009
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!
Marek   
11 May 2009
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!'??
Marek   
7 May 2009
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.
Marek   
25 Apr 2009
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.
Marek   
24 Apr 2009
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!"
Marek   
20 Apr 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Castanea,

We really oughtn't judge other countries by their politics, after all we Americans are basically honest by nature:)))))) LOL

"They sell their own kids and traffic women....."

Well nobody's perfect! Never met a single youngster you'd wouldn't like to sell, huh???? Now, don't take me the wrong way. Just, let's not be hypocrites here, ok?
Marek   
18 Apr 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

I guess I was only referring to the pronounciation, not to the grammar-:)))

Been looking into learning Albanian of late, as an abundance of our student body have been registering from Albania and many of our our present students hail from that country. Albanian seems even more morphologically complex than either Polish or Russian! Just for starters, it has no infinitives, multi word stems, irregular plural formations and a word stock taken largely from the ancient Illyrian family of long-extinct Balkan languages.

All this apropos of difficulties in order of language-:))))
Marek   
18 Apr 2009
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
Marek   
17 Apr 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

What about the Hottentot languages of South Africa with their almost unmimicable "click sounds"??-:)) LOL

Cantonese though probably comes in a close second, at least for me and other Westerners, even those who already spoke some Mandarin!!!!
Marek   
28 Mar 2009
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..
Marek   
28 Mar 2009
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-:)))))
Marek   
4 Mar 2009
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?
Marek   
2 Mar 2009
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
Marek   
1 Mar 2009
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
Marek   
26 Feb 2009
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
Marek   
21 Feb 2009
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!
Marek   
21 Feb 2009
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...
Marek   
21 Feb 2009
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. -:):)
Marek   
24 Jan 2009
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-:):)