A Few Words of Polish

[Corylea.723]

A Few Words of Polish

I know that no one can teach us to speak Polish in a post or two on the forum , but I thought it would be nice if non-Polish Witcher players had the opportunity to learn a few words, at least. Not only are languages fun to learn, but I figure the international community owes it to Poland to learn a few words from a culture that has given us so much. Would one of our kind Polish posters tell us how to say (or at least, how to write) the following? Vatt`ghern? wisielec? Kamil (bonssaaay)?Hello.Good-bye.Please.Thank you.Yes.No.Happy Birthday!Merry Christmas!I love The Witcher !!Thanks in advance, to our Polish friends. Hmm. It might be fun to get "I love The Witcher" in Polish on a tee shirt. :hmmm: (If I get one made, does anybody else want one?)

 

[piotrek_87]

I'm not Vatt`ghern, wisielec, or even Kamil (bonssaaay), but I think I can help to translate these words for you But I have to warn you, that I can only show you how to write the words not to say them (I'm not SO good in english - mayby someone else will try that later) :teeth:So:Hello - WitajGood-bye - Żegnaj or Do widzeniaPlease - ProszęThank you - DziękujęYes - TakNo - NieHappy Birthday! - Wszystkiego najlepszego! Merry Christmas! - Wesołych ŚwiątI love The Witcher !! - Kocham Wiedźmina! I hope I helped a little bit

 

[Corylea.723]

Dziękuję, Piotrek_87! That's very sweet of you.Kocham Wiedźmina!

 

[Vattier]

Good-bye - Żegnaj or Do widzenia

Or bywaj, as Geralt says

 

[Corylea.723]

I have to warn you, that I can only show you how to write the words not to say them (I'm not SO good in english - mayby someone else will try that later) :teeth:

Is there someone who can give us an idea of how to pronounce these words?Y'know, like I'd say my name is pronounced KOR-ee-lee (not KOR-ee-lee-uh, as some people think), or "Game Widow" is pronounced gaym-WID-oh. And it's GAIR-ult, not JAIR-ult, the way so many of us think when first reading the name.How do we pronounce the Polish? Pretty please with sugar on top?how doo wee proh-NOWNS thuh POLE-ish? ;D

 

[cassandra31eee]

How do we pronounce the Polish? Pretty please with sugar on top?how doo wee proh-NOWNS thuh POLE-ish? ;D

Maybe this will help you, KOR-ee-lee. http://www.internetpolyglot.com/play_slide_show_lesson_-2104001130

 

[petra_silie]

That's a great thread Corylea and that's a great link Cassandra You are welcome should belong into the non Polish speaker's vocabulary as well... Nie ma za co :wave: I can't hear the last word/syllable of the Polish speaker. You don't pronounce it or the speaker mumbles too much?

 

[Vattier]

Witaj: V - it - I http://www.ivona.com/?tk=s6uzsJIpŻegnaj: - egg - nay http://www.ivona.com/?tk=ldzeDummDo widzenia: http://www.ivona.com/?tk=FCBI0laWProszę: p - row - sh - http://www.ivona.com/?tk=uUW4RtoeDziękuję: http://www.ivona.com/?tk=vXcQJnwQTak: Tuck http://www.ivona.com/?tk=ytKgeX2QNie: http://www.ivona.com/?tk=ukaAtwyOWszystkiego najlepszego: http://www.ivona.com/?tk=2BlCgD9vWesołych Świąt: http://www.ivona.com/?tk=DGx9yjd3Kocham Wiedźmina: co - his - madam

 

[Corylea.723]

I tried to write what I could and I chose the best versions of IVONA translations. Hope it works just fine ;D

Thank you!I'd never heard of the IVONA site before. It's. So. Cool!(My husband is laughing at me, because I keep repeating Kocham Wiedźmina after the speakers. (Well, what phrase did you think I'd choose first? )Cassandra, that's a cool site you found, too! Things have come a LONG way since I was taking French in 1976 and looking things up in paper dictionaries and trying to figure out what the phonetic symbols meant. [cranky old-lady voice] You kids today have it so easy! Why, in my day, we looked up foreign words in paper dictionaries, and we were glad to have 'em! [/cranky old-lady voice] ;D

 

[piotrek_87]

I see that some people were faster than me with the answers But anyway I want to present you my view, how to say some words. First of all I want to apologize all of the english philologists reading this topic I know it's a very stupid and unprofessional way but what the hell :dead: The main idea is to connect different parts of the single, english words which together souds like the polish ones. So:Wszystkiego najlepszego - VSHEE + ST (taken from the word STREET) + KEE + AGO (long, long time AGO); NI (just like the word NICE but without CE=S) + LEP (oryginal word: LEPER) + SH + AGOFinal version: VSHEE-ST-KEE-AGO NI-LEP-SH-AGOWitaj - VEE-TIE (in the mean of necktie)Proszę - PRO (like the first part od the word PRO-FESSIONAL) + SH + E (like in the word EGG)Final version: PRO-SH-EI told you it's a stupid way but mayby someone will understand it

 

[Corylea.723]

I told you it's a stupid way but mayby someone will understand it

I don't think it's stupid at all!Thank you for being patient with those of us who don't speak Polish ... yet.

 

[Yumemi13]

Hi CoryleaPolish is really a very simple language (at least to read ). All in all (unlike in English) it's 'what you see is what you get (speak)'. The only problem is that there are some letters spoken in different way than in English and a few sounds that are not in English at all So I decided to make a short list that could help at least in pronunciation Polish letter Spoken sound a like in word bat c I can't make up any English word with this sound... Maybe someone else can give an example e just like egg g it's always like in graffiti and never like George ch like 'h' in home (single 'h' sounds the same, just shorter) j like 'y' in Yeti and never like John o like in hockey (short sound) w same as 'v', for example viper y line in MythAnd now something harder - letters non existing in English ą (A with a 'tail') similar to 'Ow, that hurt. ' but more like one sound. ę (E with a 'tail') can't make up anything... mix of Polish e + ł (see below) (Or French 'I love you' = 'je t'aime' would sound 'że ŧę') ł (L with extra line) sounds like 'w' in water cz like 'ch' in check sz like 'sh' in shower ó (O with dash) and u like book rz and ż (Z with dot) reminds me the sound of working chainsaw cutting a tree zi and ź (Z with dash) 'softer' version of above ż dz sound of electric shock 'dzt' dzi and dź mix of the two above dż like John or George ś (S with dash) it's whistling 's' very characteristic to Poland

 

[TC_Coyote]

First of all I want to apologize all of the english philologists reading this topic I know it's a very stupid and unprofessional way but what the hell :dead:

Old saying: If it's stupid but it works, it ain't (isn't) stupid.

 

[Corylea.723]

Thanks, Otaku, that's both interesting and helpful!

rz and ż (Z with dot) reminds me the sound of working chainsaw cutting a tree

Ah, if only all teachers of language had your sense of humor!

2. W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie.

Are you sure you didn't forget a vowel or two or seven?

cz like 'ch' in check sz like 'sh' in shower

Polish includes a number of words that have both of these sounds, one right after the other. English speakers don't know how to make two such complicated sounds without a vowel in between. Can you explain how this is done? Is there a phantom vowel inserted in the middle, or if you grow up speaking Polish, do you just learn how to spit out a bunch of consonants with no vowels to help them along?

 

[Yumemi13]

Thanks, Otaku, that's both interesting and helpful!

rz and ż (Z with dot) reminds me the sound of working chainsaw cutting a tree

Ah, if only all teachers of language had your sense of humor!

But it's true My name (Grzegorz) has this sound repeated twice and I always like watch foreigners' faces when they hear it 'It's like a Wookiee name!'

cz like 'ch' in check sz like 'sh' in shower

Polish includes a number of words that have both of these sounds, one right after the other. English speakers don't know how to make two such complicated sounds without a vowel in between. Can you explain how this is done? Is there a phantom vowel inserted in the middle, or if you grow up speaking Polish, do you just learn how to spit out a bunch of consonants with no vowels to help them along?

I think it's a matter of training. Polish has a lot of crackling sounds (haha: crackling = trzeszczące now this is a good example).Also I've found something you might like: CLICKPS. I also noticed that I missed two (or more ) sounds spelled even more often than 'sz' and 'cz'. I'll just edit my previous post. EDIT: I found another video that's just hilarious. The Germans asks about name and surname, and at the end 'Where are you from?'.

 

[Corylea.723]

But it's true My name (Grzegorz) has this sound repeated twice and I always like watch foreigners' faces when they hear it 'It's like a Wookiee name!'

*laugh* A wookie name sounds like great fun! "Cory" is a thoroughly boring name; I'll trade you!

Also I've found something you might like: CLICK

Wait a minute, that movie has the same sentence you gave us for homework. Is this a famous sentence in Polish, or did a friend of yours make the movie?

EDIT: I found another video that's just hilarious. The Germans asks about name and surname, and at the end 'Where are you from?'.

I can just imagine the end of this scene: "I'm sorry, we can't arrest you because we can neither say nor spell your name. You're free to go." ;D

You are welcome should belong into the non Polish speaker's vocabulary as well... Nie ma za co :wave: I can't hear the last word/syllable of the Polish speaker. You don't pronounce it or the speaker mumbles too much?

I just saw a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMDFcUvCa0&NR=1&feature=fvwp) that said "You are welcome" was "Proszę bardzo." I guess they could be polite enough to have more than one way to say it; maybe we could choose whichever one is easier to pronounce. ;DWell, listening to the people in the video, this is seeming like an interesting language. Tsk, tsk. Wave Sapkowski under our noses, then add some interesting linguistic features, and you'll hook us all. It's a plot, I tell you!

 

[Yumemi13]

Also I've found something you might like: CLICK

Wait a minute, that movie has the same sentence you gave us for homework. Is this a famous sentence in Polish, or did a friend of yours make the movie?

Yes, it's a famous Polish sentence. It's used to train pronunciation and to twist ones tongue Other sentence like this is:'Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami.' Which mean 'Table with broken off legs.'

You are welcome should belong into the non Polish speaker's vocabulary as well... Nie ma za co :wave: I can't hear the last word/syllable of the Polish speaker. You don't pronounce it or the speaker mumbles too much?

I just saw a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMDFcUvCa0&NR=1&feature=fvwp) that said "You are welcome" was "Proszę bardzo." I guess they could be polite enough to have more than one way to say it; maybe we could choose whichever one is easier to pronounce. ;D

You could also translate 'Nie ma za co.' into 'Don't mention it.'. But, yes, you can use whatever form is easier for you.

 

[Corylea.723]

Yes, it's a famous Polish sentence. It's used to train pronunciation and to twist ones tongue Other sentence like this is:'Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami.' Which mean 'Table with broken off legs.'

I should think that people in Poland would be very careful with their table legs, so that they don't have to try to say that! There are things in English that many native speakers have trouble saying, too. I have a friend who can't pronounce "statistics," though that's failry idiosyncratic. Something that's widespread, though, is that many native speakers have trouble with words like "asked," which is supposed to have the "k" sound of "ask" directly followed by the "t" sound of the past tense, but "kt" is not something that the average English speaker finds easy to say. Many people just leave out the "k" sound and make the word sound like "ased," and others substitute an "x" sound for the "k" and say "axed." Those back-to-back consonants are probably easy for Polish speakers, though, since Polish includes a lot of consonants in a row -- "asked" may be an English word that you guys can pronounce better than the average English native speaker can!

 

[Vattier]

EDIT: I found another video that's just hilarious. The Germans asks about name and surname, and at the end 'Where are you from?'.

Here's also interesting the way it's written, not only the way it's pronounced His name was: Grzegorz BrzęczyszczykiewiczAnd he was born in: Chrząszczyrzewoszyce, powiat Łękołody ;D

 

[Yumemi13]

@Corylea I didn't know that English speakers have problems with something that trivial like 'asked' Though Polish speakers have problems with 'undecided' sounds in English like 'th'. For example in word 'through' (It's a monster! Somebody call a witcher ). How should I pronounce that? Is it 'tru' or 'sru' or maybe 'fru'? And what is it with this 'gh' at the end? Who put it in there since you don't say it? Aghr... Then again you can always recognize a Pole when he speaks English. It's because the accent that's very characteristic So not every word is easier for us to say.@Vatt'ghern Thanks I could never repeat his birth place. Not mentioning to write it down. You rock!