The BEST Guide to POLAND
Unanswered  |  Archives [3] 
  
User: Guest

Home / Language  % width   posts: 122

Cultural disparities shown through Polish and English languages


mafketis  38 | 10872
23 Jul 2024   #91
A few weeks ago while getting a shopping cart at Biedronka I noticed a dead bird lying next to the carts. Inside, I told an employee that there was a 'zdechły ptak' there at which point she sighed "who am I going to get to clean that up?" When I was leaving she had drafted a young male trainee with a metal dustpan to do the dirty work...

But weirdly when I check google 'martwy ptak' is about 5 times more common than 'zdechły ptak' but 'ptak zdechł' is about 5 times more common than 'ptak umarł'

Is there a reason for this weirdness?

I think that since dogs (and cats) often live in homes and are quasi family members 'zdychać' sounds a bit... impersonal? uncaring? while for other animals it doesn't sound so brutal....
Alien  22 | 5468
23 Jul 2024   #92
nobody wants to speak Polish.

so it doesn't matter to you whether you 'umrzesz' or 'zdechniesz'?
Lyzko  41 | 9548
23 Jul 2024   #93
Polish is a more grammatically precise language then English, even German!
It's aspectual system whereby one verb might be paired with several different forms
depending on duration of action is in fact more exact than tense use, since the Polish
verb allows for greater leeway in terms of repetition vs. one-time occurance.

English: I go/walk to school [every day] aka I attend school [and get there on foot].

Polish: Chodze do szkoly.

English: I happen to be walking/going [towards] school, but not to class.

Polish: Ide do szkoly.

English:I will be walking/going on foot, to school.....

Polish: Pojde do szkoly.

In English, walk or go is used in each of the above sentences, whereas Polish uses a different
verb in each instance. More challenging, yet far more specific and direct, therefore, more comprehensible
for Polish native speakers.

Other verbs in Polish are much more of a challenge to explain to foreigners, such as "umrzec" vs. "umierac"
As far as I know, we only die once since one's own death never occurs repeatedly LOL
Novichok  4 | 7662
23 Jul 2024   #94
Is there a reason for this weirdness?

Yes. Poles are addicted to injecting feelings into every word and sentence. Umarl is neutral. Zdechl is hateful.
Noga is neutral. Nozka is affectionate.

I hate Polish. Too emotional. This distinction is not trivial as it filters into politics and everything else.

Now the morons are spending billions getting ready for an attack by Russia that will never happen.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
23 Jul 2024   #95
Poles are addicted to injecting feelings

We are so romantic!
Lyzko  41 | 9548
23 Jul 2024   #96
Poles definitely ARE emotional, and proud of it, I must say!
Ran across a biography of silent film star Pola Negri (Apolonia Chalupiec)
who lived some fifty years longer in the US than in her native Poland, yet
apparently never got used to the W.A.S.P. model of sucking it up or stowing
one's emotions if one feels so moved.

Among the Poles I've known and taught, in Poland, there is no shame in tears
openly expressed, for either men or women.
Feniks  1 | 518
23 Jul 2024   #97
nobody wants to speak Polish.

Not true. Always advantageous to be bi/multilingual. I wish I could speak Polish better than I do.

You must go to a doctor, that`s standard in Polish.

Why is it so?

You must go to a doctor implies a sense of urgency, that something could be seriously wrong. I wouldn't say to someone that they must go to a doctor if they had, for example, a rash on their arm.

I hate Polish.

What a misery you are.
Lyzko  41 | 9548
23 Jul 2024   #98
I couldn't agree more, Feniks! He's simply a lost cause.
Novichok  4 | 7662
23 Jul 2024   #99
What a misery you are.

My primary language is English. I need Polish like I need Japanese.
If you want mine, it's on sale this week. 20 bucks and it's all yours.

there is no shame in tears openly expressed, for either men or women.

Men are supposed to protect or get even, not sob.

When the cops get a call from a sobbing man because he found his wife dead when he came home, they know instantly that he is guilty. From now on, it's just a matter of evidence.
Novichok  4 | 7662
23 Jul 2024   #100
Always advantageous to be bi/multilingual.

What are those advantages?
Lyzko  41 | 9548
23 Jul 2024   #101
@Rich, for the umpteenth time, you need Polish when dealing with
monolingual Poles, I don't care how handsome your are or how pretty she is;
sign language and approximating go only so far, unless you want to sound
like a caveman.
Novichok  4 | 7662
23 Jul 2024   #102
@Rich, for the umpteenth time, you need Polish when dealing with

Hey, Lyzko, for the umpteenth time, I don't speak Polish anywhere. Poland included. Unless I am desperate.
Like when I need to take a shlt...
Miloslaw  21 | 4933
23 Jul 2024   #103
monolingual Poles,

That is insulting.

Most,younger Poles, can speak English, German or French.

@Lyzko

You are a narrow minded bigot.
Novichok  4 | 7662
23 Jul 2024   #104
When I was in Poland in 2017, I stopped asking "Do you speak English" the day I arrived.

You are a narrow minded bigot.

If you want to insult him, at least use a hyphen. You just gave the professor a heart attack.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
24 Jul 2024   #105
I stopped asking "Do you speak English" the day I arrived.

Coz you prefered to speak to younger generation. The older one would make a different impression on you.
mafketis  38 | 10872
24 Jul 2024   #106
A symptom of narcissism is when a person feels compelled to intrude into conversations in which they have no contribution except to attempt to refocus the topic to themselves.

They cannot stand attention paid to anyone or anything else.
The topic is cultural disparities as reflected in different languages....
There are lots of interesting contrasts between Polish and English
-diminutives (highly expressive in Polish, kind of meh in English)
-impersonal constructions (varied and interesting in Polish, kind of meh in English)
-agency (expressive in English, not so much in Polish)

cultural attitudes toward elaborate and plain language respectively (and how this is tied to grammar)

Personal attitudes about the need or not to speak Polish are not the topic here and it would be nice if people ignored the intrustion.
Lyzko  41 | 9548
24 Jul 2024   #107
@Milo, I speak from present-day experience!
Just recently called a company in Kielce and
as it was on behalf of a colleague, requested that
someone who knows English come on the phone.
I asked all this of course in Polish and the woman who
answered explained that nobody was in the office who spoke
English.

Therefore, I had to interpret for the gentleman in our office and
he was not happy about using an intermediary!

Granted, in tourism, fashion, perhaps higher ed., English is more common.
Apparently though, not in the construction trade:-)
OP pawian  219 | 24635
28 Aug 2024   #108
In Polish, all plants that you keep at home are called flowers. Even flowerets - kwiatki. Water the flowerets, please!
It shows a more affectionate approach of Poles and Polesses to nature.
Przelotnyptak1  - | 375
29 Aug 2024   #109
We are so romantic

Pawel, not that kind of injecting.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
29 Aug 2024   #110
I guess you mean sth indecent now. Please, stop talking dirty coz you offend decent Poles and Polesses in the forum. We are cultural people, different from vulgar Am Polonia.
Przelotnyptak1  - | 375
29 Aug 2024   #111
Cultural individuals differ from the vulgar American Polonia, as some are and some are not, across both sides of the ocean. Yet, vulgarity emanates from within, akin to a cadaver flower: it's easy on the eyes and seemingly cultured, but upon closer inspection, it reeks like decaying flesh and lies in wait like a coiled cobra, poised to strike. By the way, it reminds me of someone; being semi-cultured, I refrain from pointing fingers.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
29 Aug 2024   #112
a cadaver flower:

What is it???

I refrain from pointing fingers.

As Ptak, you don`t possess fingers so you can`t point them. Ha!!!
Przelotnyptak1  - | 375
29 Aug 2024   #113
What is it???

Do your own homework. It is very attractive and beautiful to look at from a distance, but on close inspection, it can kill you with the smell of a ripe cadaver.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
29 Aug 2024   #114
it can kill you with the smell of

Aaaaaah, you mean the corpse flower??? Why didn`t you say it from the start??
Przelotnyptak1  - | 375
29 Aug 2024   #115
Because I thought I was dealing with a Renaissance man, not some limited dupek. So, Cadaver Flover, it is.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
29 Aug 2024   #116
Te, ciulu, use appropriate English names instead of your lousy inventions. Didn`t they teach you the language while in 40 years` emigration???
Przelotnyptak1  - | 375
29 Aug 2024   #117
Te, ciulu,

Te ciulu?. The refined language of cultured Pole, as opposed to crude PolAM.
Przelotnyptak1  - | 375
31 Aug 2024   #118
Te, ciulu, use appropriate English names instead of your lousy inventions

His civil language is exhausted, and Pawian returns to the familiar vulgar language of the Kielce region. Well, blame his DNA for the misfortune. and the drinking water
Novichok  4 | 7662
31 Aug 2024   #119
and Pawian returns to the familiar vulgar language

Vulgar is not a problem. Being a gender-confused male cvnt is.
OP pawian  219 | 24635
31 Aug 2024   #120
language of the Kielce region.

Not Kielce but Silesia, ciulu! I am using this language after realising my cultural utterances are lost on you coz you don`t understand them. Ha!!!!

Vulgar is not a problem

Of course not. The difference is that Ptak uses vulgar language with pleasure and satisfaction while I always feel reluctant as a cultural Pole. But sometimes it is the only way to pass the message to Ptak.


Home / Language / Cultural disparities shown through Polish and English languages

Please login to post here!