Polish naming & addressing

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Lyc said:
Though out of curiosity - are Polish taught English in schools? Or is it optional? I was wondering as it appears a lot of the Polish here speak very good english, while the average English speakers apility to speak polish has a lot to be desired.
Unfortunately, it's not usually an option offered in most English schools. Here in the Cleveland, Ohio area there's a large population of Eastern European ancestry (my dad's side of the family is Polish and Lemko-Rusyn. Krakow-region and the Carpathians in the Malpolska region, respectively, as to origin back around 1900 or so from what I've been told in researching the family tree. Annoyingly the French branch, which is the smallest part of my mother's ancestry, has proven easiest to trace) but still the typical high school curriculum only offers students the opportunity to learn German, Spanish, or French (occasionally Latin) and pretty much always as an elective rather than requiring a second language be taken.At the college level around here, the options are a little more varied...but still not fantastic. The most common are: German, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Chinese (Mandarin), and Russian. Personally, I'm surprised they haven't added Arabic to the list given geopolitical events....but that's another subject entirely.So, unfortunately opportunities to learn the language, outside of self-study or language schools, tends to be pretty limited except for recent immigrants who teach their children or grandchildren. Still, at least we kept the food around: pierogi, kielbasa, paczki, stuffed cabbage, potato pancakes, poppyseed cake/roll (afraid I don't know the non-English name for those last few)...(Btw, this is my first post here. Just picked up the game a few days ago, and figured I'd check out the forums and found the subject line on this thread interesting. :) )
If they did open a "lean polish" section, I wonder how long it would be before the native spakers go on a rampage after hearing/seeing the English spears mangle their language for the 10000 time.
*snickers* Eh, I think that varies with individual in any language, honestly. You've always got some folks who get annoyed at the mangling of the language, no matter how minor it may be....and on the other hand, you've got folks who are just happy to see an effort being made and will happily help the non-native speaker improve if asked. Elsewhere on line in the past, I and some friends have had to repeatedly tell German and Mexican posters that their English is better than some native speakers and to stop apologizing for it. ...course, we've also gotten into arguments with the Brits as to what qualifies as "proper English" in the first place. ;) ....and then you have folks like my great-grandmother (Lemko-Rusyn immigrant to the US) who know the language but simply like being stubborn and using their own language no matter what the setting just to annoy folks :) (Though my father informs me that 'every so often some English would creep in'. Like 'television' and refering to dad and his cousins as 'idiot-sku' when they were misbehaving)
 
potato pancakes, poppyseed cake/roll
placki ziemniaczane, makowiec ;)stuffed cabbage -> kapusta faszerowana (with mushrooms and meat? then its "bigos") but i guess its lost in translation and you meant kapusta kiszona - pickled cabbage
 
flashintheflesh said:
potato pancakes, poppyseed cake/roll
placki ziemniaczane, makowiec ;)stuffed cabbage -> kapusta faszerowana (with mushrooms and meat? then its "bigos") but i guess its lost in translation and you meant kapusta kiszona - pickled cabbage
Thanks :) ....no, not pickled cabbage. This is boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around a mix of meat and rice or bread crumbs, and then cooked together in a (usually, though not always) tomato-based sauce. ...poking around online, came up with: http://habeasbrulee.com/2006/11/10/toltott-kaposzta-stuffed-cabbage/ which _looks_ to be approximately the same thing, though claims it as Hungarian. ...of course, given how close Poland and Hungary are geograpically, there's probably some culinary overlap between the two. (my great-grandmother from the Carpathians in southern Poland still had "Austrian-Hungarian Empire" listed on her death certificate as to 'Place of Birth')....and I did know 'kapusta' is 'cabbage' actually.....apparently another great-grandmother of mine gave the name 'Mary Kapusta' to police as a fake name when they caught her at an illegal casino back in the 1930s. Her kids found it hilarious the cops didn't seem to realize it wasn't her real name when they published it in the paper along with all the other gamblers they'd picked up there. ;)EDIT: Just looked up kapusta faszerowana recipies via Google, that looks to be it, yes :)
 
hahahaaa, you know what i just ate for lunch :D ...
boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around a mix of meat and rice or bread crumbs, and then cooked together in a (usually, though not always) tomato-based sauce.
we call it "gołąbki". now i know exactly what you mean :). its Polish dish but maybe its also served in Hungary
 
*chuckles* Good timing with the post, I'd just finished editting my last one :)....yup, just looked up gołąbki on wikipedia :) That'd be it exactly :)Good food :) Last time I had it at a farmer's market here, it was served in some kind of non-tomato brown sauce... The "polska delikatesy" I was at last weekend though made it perfectly at the local Oktoberfest back in the start of September here :)
 
I know it simply as 'Cabbage Rolls'. Very good, too. The only problem with Cabbage Rolls is being careful about who you are with later when the after effects 'come out'. :dead:Still, it's one of my favourite foods.~ Roxy
 
I 'd like to ask some questions about Polish names. I have a problem with the letter Ł ł. I know it sounds like oo in "book", but in some names i don't know how this works. For example, in Łukas? It pronounced "Ooukas" or "Vukas"? :-\ Or the name remains Lukas? And in Micał? Is it "Micau"?And another question: i see many times Poles writing the word "you" in the middle of a sentence with "y" capital. For example "What do You want?" Why is that? (I didn't see this in my book for Polish). :wave:
 
1- ł pronunciation is like "wow", "Wookie" ------- Łukasz -'Wookash", 2- We sometimes write "You" with the capital to show our respect and courtesy to the person.
 
Cassandra31EEE said:
And in Micał? Is it "Micau"?
I think You meant Michał - it is a name (Michael). and our "ch" is read as ['h] from "honey". a is read as o in "money". So it would be like [mi'ho:w] :)
 
Mike said:
1- ł pronunciation is like "wow", "Wookie" ------- Łukasz -'Wookash", 2- We sometimes write "You" with the capital to show our respect and courtesy to the person.
Thank you very much! (Wookash sounds strange... ;D )
I think You meant Michał
Yes, and i wasn't sure if you write it with a "h". My real problem was the last letter, Ł. Again, thank you both!
 
One of the nice things about this forum, there's always someone willing to lend a hand, no matter what the subject. :) (One of the Hungarian-speaking members of the Native Zone subforum, Zoe01, assisted me with a language question the other day. :) )
 
Something on the matter of names starting the thread (maybe late, but I did not found it posted here before, so it might still be of interesrt to some):For "Karol" - Yes, it is a given name, a slavic (?) variant of a name that exists in many european based cultures, like Karl in german, Charles in english and french, Carlos in spanish and Carlo in italian."Pan" (an idea, that came to my mind) could also have been derived from a a series of children movies from the siexties or seventies (czech?), "Pan Tau", which, as far as I remember, was very popular at least in central europe. So, a child born between 1965 and 1975 would most likley have grown up with this character. the longer I think about it, i come to the decission, that taking that nick for someone from the company that made this game and active participating in the forum, compared to this character would really make sense.As for "Geralt": This is also a real name, but an older name (although I have come across one or two real persons with this name). As far as I know, it should be of germanic origin (the ethnic tribes living in northern an central europe 2000 years ago, like Franks, Saxons, Lombards and the like). Main hint is the syllable "ger" which means a certain type of throwing spear use by germans, which appears in many german names like my own, Ruediger, or Holger, Gerhard, Gernot, Lutger and others. Most close and still regulary used versions of "Geralt" should be the engilsh "Gerald" and the french "Gerard".
 
S3ntin3l93 said:
Quixote, send me you E-mail or MSN and I help you because, my computer don't send PMs.(I don't know why)
Just sent the e-mail, thanks.See what I mean about folks on this forum being helpful? :)
 
Damn, I find this topic most interesting. Its not a common thing to be eager to learn foreign language because of a video game :] Especially polish (and by the way, it is a very hard language to learn). It is EXEMPLARY I would say.Well, one thing for sure, great polish characters helped build America and its independance, thus most of you should hear polish names in history classes. Kościuszko and Puławski coms to my mind instantly. West Point has a big monument of Kościuszko who fortified the place. In almost all major cities of USA you will find his squares, streets, parks etc.Before partition of Poland (after which we lost independance and was erased from the map of europe for over a century) we were largest country in europe, only Russia was bigger in territory. There were 20 km from our borders to Moscow, borders stretched from Baltic sea to the Black sea. At one time we even reign in Kremlin. But that didnt end well.Most of our culture was "killed" by russification, germanization, WW2 and then communisim. If you'll check wars Poland took part in you'll see that at some point there were 40 years of peace in 400 years span :eek: But I digress, sorry :sleep:Going back on track - so prabably you know some polish names already, but how do you pronaunce them? Do they exist as english simplifications?I'll check this topic from time to time,see if I may be of some help on the language ;)
 
Polish names in North America are pretty much universally "simplified" -- most people over here cannot deal with all the diacritics ... and also many feel that polish lacks vowels so they add some in ;DAt West Point, for example, they spell Kościuszko as simply "Kosciuszko" (no accent on the S ... and goodness knows what they do to the pronunciation -- that change is minor compared to what is done to some names!)A friend of mine has the last name Kruszewski, but his parents spell it Kroushefsky ;)they probably pronounce Puławski as "Puh-LAW-ski" (north american W!) -- but i'm only guessing there, they *might* pronouce it correctly ;)
 
;D I spend Saturday in Prague with my husband and two polish priests ;D and I learned a few words in polish ;D My hubby learned polish only via playing Silkroad online with polish people ;D Now I can say: Kurtka, Pudelko and Vogule ;D ;D I don't know how to spell it or what Vogule means, but I am happy I understand the spoken polish a bit more that a week ago ;DMy language (czech) and polish are very similar, but I just don't hear it in there ;D
 
Vogule - W ogóle :) in general; generally; at all."W" is "in", "ogół" means "totality, entirety, whole".
 
Ahaaa, so if you are saying something like "W ogóle nic (or nicz)" (like nothing..) you mean NOTHING AT ALL? ;D
 
gamewidow said:
Polish names in North America are pretty much universally "simplified" -- most people over here cannot deal with all the diacritics ... and also many feel that polish lacks vowels so they add some in ;D
Well, it's not just 'simplified' in some cases. There's also Anglicization whether intentional or not, by either the individuals themselves or (in the old days) Ellis Island officials trying to figure out how to spell things based on how they sound. For example, my family's surname is Sandusky ....original spelling, I've had people suggest to me, was probably something closer to Sadowski. And the -sky/ski endings tend to be used pretty interchangably in some cases. Old official records (birth certificates, death certificates, etc) from another branch of the family sometimes spell their name Polanski and sometimes Polansky. With the Lemko branch, the government spellings got even more bizarre, ranging from Sasnek to Sasniak to Sornak depending on what government official was filling out the forms.For another example of spelling based on how it's said: My mom's side of the family (mostly German), the name is Rader. My great-grandfather apparently changed it from Raeder on the basis that "No one can misspell a five letter name" (then someone had to go and invent 'Radar'....). According to the US Census' Soundex indexing system, valid spellings for Rader when looking up records include: Rader, Raeder,Rider, Ryder, Roeter, Roetter, Rotter, Reader, Redder, Reeder....and about a dozen others.For another amusing one: If you ever hear someone talking about the Pennsylvania Dutch, they're not refering to people of Dutch ancestry...they're refering to people of German ancestry, because of a misunderstanding a century or two back of the locals calling themselves "Deutsch" and the English-speakers thinking they were just pronouncing "Dutch" in a strange way. ;)Yes, I do trace my family tree as a hobby. ;D
 
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