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Posts by Ziemowit  

Joined: 8 May 2009 / Male ♂
Warnings: 2 - OO		 Last Post: 8 Nov 2023
Threads: 14
Posts: Total: 4,258 / Live: 4,069 / Archived: 189 		From: Warsaw
Speaks Polish?: Yes

Displayed posts: 4081 / page 134 of 137
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Ziemowit   
1 Feb 2010
News / The Economist: time to rethink old notions about Poland [67]

it was Jaroslaw's decision to call an election - they had the largest amount of seats in the Sejm and could have attempted to go it alone

Jarosław acted on the mafia's advice who knew the PiS would loose the election to the Civic Platform; that is how Jarosław and company were ousted by the mafia (life according to Think Twice).
Ziemowit   
1 Feb 2010
Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]

Ha, ha, przegraniec is excellent, perfectly matching the English "loser", except that it is not used much, well, I've never heard it myself.

Gołodupiec is immediately associated with someone without money or goods, so he is certainly a loser, but the first meaning is a "person without resources".
Ziemowit   
1 Feb 2010
Language / weź/wej - Pronunciation questions [4]

I think you are right. I've never realised myself that Polish people speak like that, but it is true. The two words in "weź_sobie" flow into one word in which the ź tends almost to disappear, so it is a very weak sound which may remind a weakly pronounced j indeed.

The same with "coś_zrobić" in which the ś is strongly reduced (into a very weak s perhaps).
Ziemowit   
1 Feb 2010
News / The Economist: time to rethink old notions about Poland [67]

There are many contributing factors to why Poland did not go in to recession, the fall in the strength of the Zloty (increase exports and internal consumption), the banks lending policies, Billions of Zloty coming back from Polish people working abroad, the money being pumped in to Polish infrastructure (increase in jobs) etc

I fully agree with SeanBM: the fall of the zloty and the lack or very little of credit spree on the part of the banks here in Poland were major factors in my view. Lithuania, for example, had a fixed rate to the euro, so it renounced to herself the devaluation of her domestic currency.

It is sad that some Polish people comment the Polish economic situation badly just because the Civic Platform is in power. If it were the PiS, their comment on the same situation would have been totally different. But in fact, the present succes is the joint effort of all previous Polish govnts, so if they ridicule one party, they ridicule other parties, PiS included, as well.
Ziemowit   
31 Jan 2010
Language / Polish Language test using the European Language Frameworks [9]

The test is really difficult even for a native speaker of Polish. I got 14/15 in part one; 15/15 in part two; 11/15 in part three.

[I was wrong in this one of part one:]
2. Reżyser dzięki użyciu sugestywnych środków wyrazu ..................... na wyobraźnię widzów.
a. oddziaływuje
b. oddziałuje

[I was correct in the following of part two, but it is diffcult in my view:]
5. Nawet wytrawnym graczom trudno ....................., jaki ruch wykona teraz komputer.
a. domyślić się
b. domyśleć się

In part three, I was wrong in four questions: choosing between baby-sitter and baby-sitterka for a female baby-sitter; in two questions on declining numerals (trying to be "overcorrect"); and I didn't know the correct meaning of the plural noun "enuncjacje" in Polish.
Ziemowit   
29 Jan 2010
Language / Jestem za [11]

"Polak, Węgier, dwa bratanki
i do szabli i do szklanki"

When I was in Budapest in 1980s, a number of Hungarian people were able to say it in Polish to me. Unfortunately, I was not able to reciprocate the verse in Hungarian.
Ziemowit   
28 Jan 2010
Language / Jestem za [11]

Do you use it often in Poland or should I use an other expression?

Indeed, we often use it in Poland. Lech Wałęsa had even gone to the extremes with this expression telling people who wanted his support: Jestem za, a nawet przeciw! I hope you can figure out what he meant (many, me included, could not!).
Ziemowit   
27 Jan 2010
Travel / Poland trains in winter [7]

As of today, winter in Poland appears truly mild - I'm even inclined to call it "warm" - compared to what we had until yesterday.

On Monday when I unexpectedly found myself at the railway station in Żyrardów waiting for a train back to Warsaw, I didn't feel cold only for the first ten minutes of waiting; then the cold was becoming so piercing at minus 22 Centigrade that I suddenly remembered the good old Polish winters just as they were in the time of my childhood.

On Monday I got on a "podmiejski" train at Warszawa Zachodnia station as I commute to a town which is situated on the railway line to Żyrardów/Skierniewice. The train "podmiejski" stops at every stop on its way. But this one did not. The train was a trap for some of us. It took me as far as Jaktorów, the eighth stop from Warsaw West. The "Koleje Mazowieckie" railway company have recently introduced a new type of commuter train, a "faster" train, but not actually a fast train as it is. Fast trains have completely different looks than commuters trains both in the Mazowsze region and elswhere in Poland. "Faster" ones in Mazovia are exactly the same by their looks as commuter trains. Fast and faster trains to Żyrardów or Skierniewice stop by different platforms than do commuter trains at station Warsaw West. This one did otherwise. No information at loud-speaker that this one wouldn't stop before Jaktorów. There were about a dozen of us who unwillingly boarded their trap-train. After about twenty minutes of waiting, a return train to Warsaw arrived and we went all to the guard demanding to travel back free which was duly accorded to us.

Surprisingly enough, I was entrapped into such a train for the second time this harshy winter! The first time, due to harsh weather conditions, passangers travelling in the direction of Skierniewice were "shifted" from the commuter trains platform of Warsaw West to a fast trains platform. Then a train which looked exactly like a commuter train arrived (no proper announcement was made in spite of the fact that passangers were being re-directed to unusual platforms), I got on and then got off in ... Żyrardów as we were not given any chance to get off the train earlier on. There were about two dozen of furious us who were demanding a free ride back on a train to Warsaw, the wish which we were duly accorded. Since that incident I swore to myself to watch out every time I was about to board a train at Warsaw West, but the railway operator was even shrewder. This time they shifted the train rather than passangers just to play their dirty trick against which even an experienced commuter like me had no chances to act.
Ziemowit   
27 Jan 2010
Law / CAN SOME ONE GIVE ME FREE POLISH LEGAL ADVICE ON BANKRUPTCY? [22]

I strongly doubt if he may go to jail for not paying 3,000 zl of debt! A bill on consumer (individual) bankruptcy was passed not so long ago in Poland, but I am not able to give you any details on that (please search the internet in Polish).

His real problem may be alcohol depedency rather than the 3,000 zloties he owns someone. But you say he has stopped drinking, so let's assume you are well informed on that.
Ziemowit   
25 Jan 2010
Language / Usage: Freedom in Polish and in English [30]

I'm not sure I can give any concrete examples, but it's very common that I don't understand Polish sentences even when I know all the words in them. In part that's because Polish has different constructions that don't translate well for grammar reasons, but I also have a feeling that more things are omitted in Polish, and that you have to piece more things together from the context.

I think you have the point here (especially in "more things are omitted in Polish"). As to the example you've given, I'd say she ought to say "trafny wybór?" to spare you the trouble of guessing as the adjecive trafny is mostly used with wybór (or the nouns resembling it in meaning, like osąd or decyzja).

[Your original post to which I asked my question to which you have given the answer being here in my quote above have been erased by the moderator. I am very surprised because of that as both post and question were neither in German nor in Swedish (nor were they in Finnish for that matter!), but they were in the language of the forum (English) and concerned the Polish language. God only knows what are the principles of moderating posts on PF!]
Ziemowit   
25 Jan 2010
News / The Internet totally uncontrolled in Poland? [19]

The Polish govt was preparing lots of stuff in the past, was forgetting about them afterwards and moving on to new, more exciting issues on the agenda ...
Ziemowit   
23 Jan 2010
Language / Usage: Freedom in Polish and in English [30]

Wolnomyśliciel = free thinker
Wolno myślący = slow thinker
There are a number of colloqiual expressions for describing "slow thinkers" in every language, I believe. One in Polish that comes to my mind is "zakuta pała". Any other ideas?
Ziemowit   
22 Jan 2010
Language / Too many English words in the Polish language! [709]

Back to Polish, Polish, like German, still uses its own word for Stock Exchange (giełda), even though most financial vocabulary in many languages today is English. How come then? Is it not remotely possible that certain expressions in the mother tongue simply hit the nail on the head more accurately than second-rate imports???

I think that giełda is a polonised import from German (the English language has "guild" which is probably an associated word to some German one). Then, several important Polish words concerning capital markets are mostly of French origin: hossa (hausse), bessa (baisse), akcja (action). For many things we have our own words: udziałowiec/akcjonariusz (shareholder), rights issue (prawa poboru), makler (broker). For modern instruments they are often English: opcja typu call/put.
Ziemowit   
22 Jan 2010
Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]

That makes sense. Wrocław had a lot of different names over the years I've heard.

It did. But what I am trying to tell there is that the Polish name of the city in the 18th century was the same as today, only the final w in it was pronounced softly of which the traces remain in the declension of the name.

Dom we Włoszczowej

The PWN Dictionary of Polish (Słownik poprawnej polszczyzny PWN) of 1973 and 1981 by Witold Doroszewski as well as "Poradnik językowy. Podręcznik dla pracowników prasy, radia i telewizji" of 1969 recommended the forms: do Włoszczowej, we Włoszczowej (adjectival type, like in: w Istebnej, w Limanowej, w Kolbuszowej). It was later decided in the official "Wykaz urzędowych nazw miejscowości w Polsce (vol. 1-3)" of 1982 that the name should be declined according to the noun type of declention (like in: w Kudowie, w Jabłonnie, we Wschowie). The latter is in agreement with the pattern of declention being used locally, so it should indeed be:

do Włoszczowy, we Włoszczowie;

though quite a number of people in Poland (me included) are still used to the former, adjectival pattern of its declension.
Ziemowit   
21 Jan 2010
Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]

I am truly amazed at your ability to conceive the right answer without having prior knowledge of the history of the language. Indeed, the final -w in Wrocław was pronounced as a soft w until the end of the 18-th century (the soft w, for example, still exists in Russian to this day). Hence, the ending in "Wrocław' / we Wrocławiu", just the same as in "Toruń / w Toruniu".
Ziemowit   
21 Jan 2010
Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]

As a rule, nouns with stems ending in any of the following letters have "-ie" endings with no modifications:
B, F, M, N, P, S, W, Z:

I live in Wrocław, so the last one is easy for me

Though it is easy, you may have noticed that Wrocław does not fit the rule you indicate; the name of the city ends in -w, so it should decline: we Wrocławie, but it doesn't. Any thoughts on that?

[Very few of the native speakers of Polish will tell you the explanation for it, but they are, of course, welcome to do it.]
Ziemowit   
21 Jan 2010
Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]

Here are some tricky town names for Muciswriter to decline in the locative case:

A street in Limanowa (ulica w ....................).
A house in Włoszczowa (dom we ....................).
A church in Ostrów Wielkopolski (kościół w .......................).
A church in Ostrów Mazowiecka (kościół w .......................).
A palace in Wrocław (pałac we .........................).

For checking and comment by Derevon (who in my opinion is really good at the declension of name endings).
Ziemowit   
18 Jan 2010
Law / How will the Zloty be against the British Pound over the next 6-12 Months [45]

On the 29th of October, the bank Goldman Sachs calculated the fair value of the zloty against the euro at ... 3,54 [...] compared to today's [6 November 2009] market value of 4,2498 zloties for the euro

I suspect when people start speculating again, we'll see the Zloty fall to at least 3.7

Here again, the fair value of the zloty appears in the news again (TVN CNBC / Rzeczpospolita). According to Benoit Anne, an analysts with Meryll Lynch, the fundamentals of the Polish economy suggest that the Poish currency will be worth even less than 2,7 zloties per euro in 2 to 3 years' time. He predicts the course at 3,65 in the end of June 2010. In April or May we may expect 3,7 - says Mateusz Szczurek, chief economist at ING Polska - then we'll see the level of 4,0 at the end of year again.

On the 15th of January, the zloty strenghtened to 4,03 against the euro.
Ziemowit   
17 Jan 2010
Language / "Zaraz wracam" - Why not "zaraz wrócę" ? [32]

So, why do you write Zaraz wracam, using an imperfective verb "wracać" and not a Perfective one "wrócić"?

For one thing, you can't use a perfective form in the present tense, using the perfective form immediately turns the expression into one in the future tense.

But the interesting question is in the title of your post: "why not?", in other words: when do we use "zaraz wracam" as opposed to "zaraz wrócę".

There's is no difference in meaning, but there is one in usage. Your question has reminded me of the announcement often seen on the doors of small state-owned shops (most of them were such at that time) in Poland in the communist times: "Wyszłam na pocztę. Zaraz wracam." Frankly speaking, I would have been surprised if a shop assistant had written: "Wyszłam na pocztę. Zaraz wrócę." This announcement was a perfect example of the social code, and its true meaning to any prospective customers was: I am now busy with my own private matters, so I had to go. You may think what you like, but it is pretty unlikely (almost certain!) that I'll be back soon, so please be so kind and go somewhere else. And that brings us to the real difference in usage (although there is none in meaning): you will typically say "zaraz wrócę" when you refer to a rather immediate future, and the receiver of the information is able to check on the time between your statement and the actual fact expressed in it. The lady in the shop would have never say that as this would sound ridiculous to her customers who knew she might be back in her shop just fifteen minutes before the closing time at 6 o'clock p.m., even if she put her announcement up at the very noon.
Ziemowit   
14 Jan 2010
News / Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport to close in September [27]

Back to the thread, the PPL claims they should renovate the junction of runways, and as it is the junction, there's no other way to carry on than shutting the airport. I wonder why it is scheduled for September as this is the highest season with even more air traffic than in July or August. It might well be in November when the season is low.

What would be interesting to know is how the problem of renovating the junction of runways is solved in other one-airport towns where there's no possibility to re-direct flights to another airport in the same town.
Ziemowit   
11 Jan 2010
Language / że & iż [16]

Obywaciel would sound great (although a bit silly after all); we're so accustomed to it in Polish that I'd never have thought it might be a Czech word originally!

Anyway, I think Magdalena is right about the "iż". I have simply confounded it with the word "ponieważ", and it is of this word that my printed source of the history of the Polish language states that it was a borrowing from Czech and is seldom used in speech, belonging basically to the world of writing.
Ziemowit   
10 Jan 2010
Language / że & iż [16]

Not true. The Czechs use "že" as well. ;-P

I didn't say that the Czechs don't use "že". I said that the "iż" is a borrowing to Polish from Czech.
Ziemowit   
10 Jan 2010
Language / Difference between "i" and "oraz". [6]

Basically, there is no difference, but oraz tends to be put to join longer expressions/sentences. Under the heading oraz, one of the dictionaries gives the following example: Wystąpili soliści zagraniczni oraz aktorzy scen polskich.

Of course, you could have put "i" in place of "oraz" there, and the sentence would still be perfect. In simple sentences like "Ola i Mariola poszły do przedszkola", one immediately uses "i" as "oraz" would sound a bit artificial or official (and yes, trying to be official pushes you towards using "oraz" more often than you would typically do).
Ziemowit   
10 Jan 2010
Language / że & iż [16]

"Iż" is a borrowing from the Czech language and in fact has never been used in spoken language in Polish. Everyone who uses it this way sounds a bit silly (unless he is a politician, but they typically speak as if they were reading a newspaper, so instead of telling you: nie wiem, they will say: nie mam takiej wiedzy, which is unacceptable for a decent newspaper) ... but you can spot "iż" quite often in the press.
Ziemowit   
9 Jan 2010
Language / 'ucha' [23]

Please notice that the contemporary double forms: uszy-ucha or oczy-oka are traces of the old dual number forms in Polish:

jedno ucho - dwie uszy - trzy, cztery etc. ucha;
jedno oko - dwie oczy - trzy, cztery etc. oka.
Ziemowit   
8 Jan 2010
Language / "There will always be a Poland" in Polish [9]

PolishProverbs:
"There will always be a Poland"
The "a" part is curious here.

That's along the lines of the well-known English patriotic song "There'll always be an England". I remember it from the "Keeping Up Appearances" ["Co ludzie powiedzą!?" - the title in Polish] series. The setings for this song were not patriotic, though, as everything in this most un-patriotic British TV production ever.

Can't help but think that would translate to "Zawsze będzie JAKAŚ Polska".

No, no, no! JAKAŚ doesn't sound good in this context. And we don't want it look like a thing from the "Keeping Up Appearances" series, do we?
Ziemowit   
8 Jan 2010
Travel / Travel from Krakow to Sandomierz [7]

I'm sure there must a bus service from Kraków to Sandomierz. Apart from the castle (only one wing is left, the two other ones were blown up by the Swedes in the 17th century) the Old Town market place is a charming place. The church nearest to the castle (the cathedral, I should think) has a tremendous interior which was under renovation a year ago, definitely worth seeing.