Short Polish<->English translations

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Translation Needed - Proposal

Hello all,

I'm planning to ask for my girlfriend's hand in marriage...but first I wish to ask for her father's blessing. Only hitch is that he doesn't speak a word of English and I'm at 'idiot-beginner' stage of learning Polish. So can anyone help translate the below for me? I'll attempt to pronounce it all and failing that hand him a written note :)

I wish to ask him "I love Kasia very much and tomorrow I would like to ask for her hand in marriage. Clearly you care for her greatly too and so I very much hope that you will approve. Please let me know that my proposal will be with your blessing" or words to that effect.

It sounds a little clumsy but I want to be short because a) I'll need to find a short window alone with him to ask b) I wish to give him the chance to respond but it kinda of needs to be in a 'tak or nie' format.

Thanks so much for any help you can give me. I'm horribly nervous but it would mean a lot to me for him to give me his blessing.

thanks
Tom

That'll just sound stupid in Polish. Ask a friend of Kasia's (or Kasia herself) to write something short and suitable that won't make you sound like a Harlequin romance novel come to life....

to be honest mafketis it sound stupid in English. I guess I'm trying to simplify what I'll say. I don't wish to ask Kasia for obvious reasons (I haven't proposed to her yet) and I don't really want to ask anyone we know as I want Kasia to be the first person to know my intention.

To be honest the speech you've written is quite complicated for a novice speaker of Polish. You'd really need to write it down and read it which would be a bit much really especially as you'd be stumbling over the pronunciation. So I would suggest:

Wie Pan, kocham Kasią bardzo. Chciałbym prosić o rękę Pana/Państwa córki. Czy mogę?

That basically translates as "You know I love Kasia very much. I would like to ask for your daughter's hand. May I?" Pana if it's just him you're talking to, Państwa if it's the mother and father.

Then after the hugs and kisses etc and the tears of joy and the vodka, you can say "Jutro, zapytam ją" I will ask her tomorrow.

Now I'm not a native Polish speaker so there may be errors there or it may not be the 'correct' way but it'll do the job! Hope that helps. Good luck - let us know how it goes.

Okay, I just looked up a couple of Polish (in Polish) forums where people discuss this very issue.

There is very broad agreement that this is not necessary or even advisable at present. Some random comments (all by Polish women) give you the general idea (nb my translations are free and idiomatic and not literal)

"a bym się czuła niczym sprzedawana za kozę" (I would feel like I'd been traded for a goat)

"Sama bym sie ze wstydu spaliła gdyby mój mąz odstawił szopke przed rodzicami, a oni by go śmiechem zabili. " (For myself, I'd die of shame of my husband put on a show like that before my parents and they would die laughing)

"Lepiej ich nie proś o rękę córki, bo co zrobisz jak się nie zgodzą?" (Better not ask for their daughter's hand, what are you gonna do if they say no?"

"ale jakby facet poprosił mnie o rękę przy rodzinie poczulabym się zażenowana i zawstydzona...to jednak dosyć intymna chwila." (But if some guy proposed to me in front of my family I'd feel embarrassed and ashamed - it's supposed to be an intimate moment"

"osobiście spaliłabym się ze wstydu gdyby chłopak chciał kląkać przed moim ojcem... masakra i porażka." (personally I'd die of shame if my boyfriend wanted to kneel in front of my father, what an epic fail)

etc etc etc

My advice: Ask Kasia and after she says yes, ask how you should inform her parents (or ask for their blessing) including something that you can say in Polish.

It sounds really nice to me (except it should be "Kasię" which is the accusative of "Kasia").


Asking parents for their blessing may these days seem in Poland some Anglo-saxon way of doing things known mostly from American films. But since he is foreigner, it makes sense and may be truly welcomed and accepted by all the parties involved

The critical thing is to _not_ spring this on Kasia in front of her parents.

He doesn't know them, she does. If she wants to marry him she'll know the best way to tell them (which might include having him "officially" ask them in Polish).

That's true. Maybe Kasia does not want to marry him at all, so she would feel very embarrased ...

I knew I'd make a mistake somewhere! Nigdy, nigdy will I ever understand Polish grammar but never mind. Thank you very much for your kind words and your help Ziem.


Well he said he wanted to get the Dad on his own so I don't think he was planning to.

I would agree that it's very old fashioned to ask the parents first. Some women would really be annoyed to think that you'd discussed a very personal thing like that with the family and as Ziem says what if she doesn't want to marry him. I think the normal way nowadays is for the couple to announce the good news together. However, for some reason men who are involved with a Polish woman, seem to come over all minor European Princeling, bowing and heel clicking and 'küss die hand bitte gnädiges Frau" vibe. But,if he wants to do it that way, let him.

But you did not make a mistake with "prosić o rękę". "Ręka" is as feminine a noun as "Kasia" and the former was also put in the accusative.

Prosić (kogo, co?) : Kasię (accusative)
Prosić o (kogo? co?) : rękę (accusative)

As an addendum (and some consolation) for you, I shall add that Polish grammar has been somewhat simplified over the ages. We do not have the dual number any more!

ręka - ręce - ręki : [singular - dual - plural]
noga - nodze - nogi : [singular - dual - plural]

Polish, like German and other inflected European languages, is ever so precise, albeit far from "logical"!
I stopped trying to find or translate the "logic" of other languages umpteen years back, as I saw I wouldn't
get anywhere, and so merely began to accept their vaguries and simply chalked it all up to cultural difference:-)

An unusually nuanced language, Polish, I find.

How would I say the following in Polish?...

- Did you have a good weekend?
- How was your weekend?
- Did you have a good day?
- How was your day?

Thanks!

Czy spedziles (-as) dobry weekend?/ Czy.....................przyjemny weekend?
Jak spedziles (-as) weekend?
Czy miales (-as) mily dzien?

You're asking here no doubt for "literal" rather than "sense" translations which reflect the Polish mindset.
As in many European languages, such Anglo-Saxon type questions can rarely be rendered as such , except perhaps figuratively,
as small talk is usually far less common in those countries than it is here in the US, maybe in the UK as well:-)

Tried my best!

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HELP NEED A LETTER TRANSLATED.

I was born in Poland but adopted out at 12 years old. I've since forgotten most of the language. I recently got in touch with my biological father who does not speak English. He sent me a letter that I would love to read. Can someone help me and translate it for me please?

How can I say ''She cheated me'' as Polish? and how can I say that with Polish name? For example ''Iza cheated me'' ... p.s: I love Iza Lach :)

Thank you

"Ona moze mnie wkrecac." comes to mind, but it might not be as idiomatically vernacular in the same way a native Pole would say it.

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Skargi nadzwyczajne

Can anyone explain what are 'skargi nadzwyczajne'?

There was something in the news today which I didn't understand at all.

Here's something from a few months back involving the same case:-

wyborcza.pl/7,75398,23919953,zbigniew-ziobro-zlozyl-pierwsza-skarge-nadzwyczajna-do-sadu.html

In this specific case, it refers to the new ability of the Prosecutor General (and some others, such as the Human Rights Ombusman) to make an extraordinary complaint to the Supreme Court about a previous legally binding decision. It means that a previous court decision (from the last 20 years, I think) can be overturned.

It's a dangerous concept, as it means no judgement can be considered final from the last 20 years.

The translation in English is probably something like "extraordinary complaint", but mafketis/Ziemowit will know better.

I was just gonna go with "PiS mumbo jumbo" or "another PiS attack on the rule of law"...

Maczuk

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Need help with a word

I am a writer and need a polish word for a person for is trusted within the business community because he understands the local culture and way of doing things. Kind of the opposite of an "outsider." Any help would be much appreciated. Maybe: lokalny OR miejscowy

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Old Polish Rhyme

Hello:

My grandmother used to say an old Polish rhyme that starts off Wilka oczy panskie gardlo. Does anyone know the complete rhyme and translation?

William

I never heard of it. But there is another saying which sounds similar: Pańskie oko konia tuczy.

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Old Polish Rhyme "Wilka oczy ..."

My grandmother used to say an old Polish rhyme that started off: Wilka oczy panskie gardlo...
Does anyone know the complete rhyme and its translation?

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Polish Translation Request

I recently uncovered a dozen or so original photos taken by my relative during his time in Italy during WW2. On the back of one of these photos, which I believe is a wedding? He has written something in cursive. I am very interested to see what this message reads, as he died some 10 years ago, and the only other Polish speakers we know of were his family, who we have lost contact with some time in the 1960s. Thanks in advance

The Writing itself:
i.imgur.com/JWkImfM.jpg

The front of the photo:
i.imgur.com/UE1Dvwf.jpg

Ania
I'm sending to you a photograph from my wedding. As a souvenir for (from?) your friend Piotr.

I'm not 100% sure the second sentence, although something like that.

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Can you translate this sentence for me please to English?

pisałem z tobą dla łachu, a ty wszystko ba serio

I was writing to you just as a bit of fun, and you took everything so seriously. I certainly did not mean everything that I wrote.

Does the Polish word kraj or kraina from which Ukraine is derived, have a meaning of "borderland", or was that just inferred somehow when it referred to the lands around Kiev?

I don't know about derived, but the two words are for sure related. Sometimes I've even seen "kraina nad Wisla" instead of "Polska", and of course "kraj" along with

"kraina" are obviously the identical root word:-)