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How to correctly pronounce "złoty" in Polish? "ł" letter


spiritus 69 | 651
2 Jun 2016 #1
I have always pronounced it "zwoty" but seen some people pronounce it "zLoty" ??

Even more confusing is that some of my Polish friends even pronounce it as "zLoty" although perhaps they are doing it for my benefit ??
Ziemowit 14 | 4,278
2 Jun 2016 #2
Pronounce it as 'zwoty' (złoty) as this is the right pronounciation.

I remember once in England an Englishman asked me "How do you pronounce 'ł' in Polish?". It was a joke as he could pronounce the Polish " ł " perfectly well. It is the same sound as the sound for 'w' in the English word 'well'.
kpc21 1 | 763
2 Jun 2016 #3
I have always pronounced it "zwoty" but seen some people pronounce it "zLoty" ??

zwoty - something like that.

seen some people pronounce it "zLoty"

Only talking to foreigners. Don't ask me why. Even the English teacher in my school, already quite a few years ago, was telling "zloty", not "złoty", and even creating plural as "zlotys" (for English native speakers: how would you create plural from that? złotys or złoties? or would you just leave the singular, telling e.g. "twenty złoty"?), explaining that "there is no letter ł in English". Well, I understand writing "l" if you don't have "ł" on your keyboard (actually we don't have it as well, we type it using Alt+L), or if your computer is not able to handle it; I understand pronouncing it as "l" when you don't know that it's actually "ł" and it should be pronounced like English "w" - but when you know it, just pronounce it correctly...

The same is with the city Łódź. I understand that many foreigners may know it as Lodz, pronounced "Lotz" or "Loch" (with "ch" like in cheer, not like Loch Ness), and it is so actually, they are often amazed when I tell them it's pronounced "Wooch". But if I know how it should be pronounced - I always tell "Łódź" correctly. Only adding, that is maybe known for the person I talk to as "Lodz", when the person tells he has never heard about this city.

In German there is an adjective from this city name: "lodzer", and this one I would definitely pronounce with L, not Ł, and with DZ, not DŹ. It comes from this incorrect pronounciation - but I have never seen nor heard "łódźer", this looks really awkward in German, while "lodzer" is something I have seen and even heard; there is even a noun from that, used also in Polish: Lodzermensch. Not Łódziermensch, but Lodzermensch.

By the way, is it possible to create an adjective from Łódź/Lodz in English, similarly as it is possible in German? Will it be also Lodzer (analogically to Londoner), or will it look differently?
pawian 222 | 24,060
19 Mar 2020 #4
seen some people pronounce it "zLoty" Only talking to foreigners.

Also, when talking to students in an English class.


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