Language / Meaning of "B.P." and "b." in a Polish death notice [5]

Two questions about the death notice linked at the end of this post:

1) Above the name "MAKS HURWICZ" it says "B.P." What does that mean?

2) Below the name, it says "b. długoletni prokurent b. firmy ENDELMAN I PAPIERNY"

Which means he was a longtime commercial representative (proxy) for the Endelman and Papierny company. But what is the "b." at the beginning and the one in the middle?

Thanks!

For those interested, the rest of the notice as I (attempt to) interpret it with the help of Google Translate:

przeżywszy lat 63
lived 63 years

po długich i cieżik cierpeniach zmarł i został pochowany w Moskwie
after long and severe suffering, he died and was buried in Moscow

O czem zawiadamiają
What they are reporting

pozostali w Moskwie
they stayed in Moscow (survivors in Moscow)

żona, córki i zieć
wife, daughters and son-in-law

oraz w warszawie
and in warsaw

synowie, synowe, wnuczka, wnuki i rodzina
sons, daughters-in-law, granddaughter, grandchildren and family

leonidhurwicz.org/max-hurwicz-death-notice/ - Max Hurwicz death notice

Also, I must be doing something wrong when I try to insert the image?

Language / Meaning of I-go , II-go , III-go ??? [2]

On my father's 1938 graduation certificate from the University of Warsaw ([url=leonidhurwicz.org/warsaw-university-graduation-certificate/]leonidhurwicz.org/warsaw-university-graduation-certificate/[/url]) words such as this occur:


I understand that this means


But what is


I take it that it's an abbreviation? Thanks!

Language / Pronunciation question: ę at the end of a sentence [5]

I think the ę at the end of sentence should not, or at least need not, be nasalized. But in this instructional video:

youtu.be/WPt8Fn8TLZc

At around 5 minutes in, he very distinctly nasalizes the final ę in these sentences:

Chciałbym zamówić kawę
Chciałbym zamówić herbatę

Just wanting to confirm that this is not preferred? Or at least not required? That what's grammatically acceptable is just a little bit of nasal sound. However, I as a foreigner trying to learn the language should probably just avoid the nasalization completely?

Language / The rule determining pronunciation of " sprawdź " in the Polish language [3]

I am a native English speaker trying to learn Polish. When I hear " sprawdź " pronounced, it sounds like the "w" is like an "f" and the "dź" is like a "ch". But pronunciation guides say "w" is pronounced like "v" except before voiceless consonants, where it may be pronounced as "f". But the guides say "dź" is somewhat similar to the "g" in "gene" which to me is a voiced consonant. What is the rule determining pronunciation of " sprawdź " ? Thank you!

Language / Meaning of zrewanżować in this context [4]

On this postcard: leonidhurwicz.org/postcard-from-kaunas/

There is this sentence:

Jak wiadomo - to tylko ja jestem specjalista od odczytywania nie czytanego pisma, jak np. Twoje - a Ty nawet nie chcesz się zrewanżować.

I think I get the general sense of it:

As known - it's just me I am a specialist in reading an unread letter, such as yours - and you do not even want to (do anything at all).

In other words, "I even decipher your meaning when you don't write to me, while you can't be bothered to do anything at all."

Is that basically correct? Or what is the meaning of zrewanżować in this context?

Language / Student register = indeks in Poland? [3]

Is the "register" (that professors sign in Poland to record the fact that a student has attended a class) called "indeks" in Polish?

https://polishforums.com/history/significance-signing-registers-students-84273/

History / Significance of signing registers of students (interwar) [2]

I wasn't sure whether to put this in history or education, but since it pertains to the interwar period, I decided on history.

I read in this article about "ghetto benches":


academia.edu/37579016/_Ghetto_Benches_at_Polish_Universities._Ideology_and_Practice

My question is, what is the significance of not signing the registers? I am in the US, and the terminology of "registers of the students" is not familiar to me. Is it something showing that they had attended class on a particular day, or for a particular semester?

Language / Opinions on Google Translate for Polish [28]

My experience using Google Translate to get a basic idea of what a written document says has been pretty good, and I've learned some Polish in the process.

washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/10/03/google-translate-is-getting-really-really-accurate/ - This Washington Post article says pretty much what I would expect: It's not as good as a human translator, but it comes amazingly close!


I'd be interested in what others have experienced, using Google Translate for Polish.

Language / Sense of "duchowego" [13]

I don't know much Polish and am using Google Translate to try to understand an article about economics, written by Tadeusz Brzeski in 1936 ("O METODZIE W EKONOMJI")

Google Translate gives "spiritual" as the meaning of "duchowego" In the paragraph below, and doesn't provide any other alternatives. I'm guessing there must be alternative meanings to this word. "Spiritual" has kind of a metaphysical ring to it that just doesn't feel right to me in this context. I'm thinking perhaps "mental" Is really what is meant? Or is there another meaning that fits better? Or maybe they used the word differently back then than people do now?

Założenie podobne w stosunku do zjawisk gospodarczych byłoby nie do pomyślenia, gdyż tutaj kierunek badania, zasadniczo odmienny przy zjawiskach życia duchowego, nie może abstrahować od związku z czasem i przestrzenią.

Natural sciences, formulating general laws, are based on the assumption of homogeneity of natural phenomena, each episode representing the whole; this is a necessary assumption, because no research can be complete in the sense that it covers all phenomena. A similar assumption in relation to economic phenomena would be unthinkable, because here the direction of the research, fundamentally different in the phenomena of mental life, can not be abstracted from the relation with time and space.

Language / Meaning of "w tern" in Polish [27]

I don't know much Polish and am using Google Translate to try to get a general sense of an article about economics, written by Tadeusz Brzeski in 1936 ("O METODZIE W EKONOMJI")

repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/16857/1/2-014%20DR.%20TADEUSZ%20BRZESKI%20RPEiS%2016%282%29%2C%201936.pdf

I have run across the phrase "w tern" twice and have become curious about what it means. In one case, Google Translate says "in tern" which isn't too helpful! In the other case, I'm not sure which part of the translation corresponds to "w tern"! I've Googled it and found numerous uses, but can't find any consistent meaning that fits all of them. Here are the two uses in the article I'm reading, along with the translation from Google Translate:

1)
w tern też dopatrywać się można uzasadnienia wypowiadanej niejednokrotnie zasady "zdro­wego rozsądku", jako kryterjum zgodności z rzeczywistością lub po­woływania się na "pospolite doświadczenie" (gemeine Erfahrung u Wiesera), jako na metodę badania.

in tern you can also see the justification of the rule of "common sense" repeatedly, as a criterion of compliance with reality or after invoking the "common experience" (gemeine Erfahrung at Wieser), as a method of research.

2)
Uważamy to za zasadnicze założenie me­todyczne, idąc w tern w głównych zarysach za wzorem ekonomii klasycznej;

We consider this to be a fundamental cultural assumption, going in the main outlines following the model of classical economics;