The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in Polish

[Juan_Rico]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in Polish

Hello, first of all I would like to thank the people working at CD Projekt for making a(nother) great game, there is really only one thing that I find annoying in the (English version of the) game, namely the fact that in the English version many times in the dialog options for Geralt terms that belong in an American ghetto (whaddaya, gotcha, wanna, etc.) and not in Medieval Europe come up, so my question for the Polish people on this forum is:

Does Geralt in the Polish version use proper/literary Polish? Being a Slav (Croat) I can understand Polish to a significant degree (and I would like to learn more of it) and I plan on starting a new game with the Polish language turned on, but that only makes sense to me if Geralt (and the other major characters in the game of course) use proper/literary Polish, since I have no interest in listening to and learning slang terms.

 

[SpeeX97]

I played the game three times, and i can say that there is slang being used. But only when the situation is right. (in polish version)

 

[Juan_Rico]

I played the game three times, and i can say that there is slang being used. But only when the situation is right. (in polish version)

Dziekuje.

 

[Vojtas]

Does Geralt in the Polish version use proper/literary Polish?

It's a modern Polish, but there are quite a few archaisms. Geralt sounds more modern than other characters, but that's not mean he talks like a rapper. His language is more distinguished, but he can also swear like a true Pole. ;D This manner is very similar to Andrzej Sapkowski's style, who said that old words and phrases should be used only as a spice. If you have more questions about Polish language, I will gladly help.

 

[Juan_Rico]

It's a modern Polish, but there are quite a few archaisms. Geralt sounds more modern than other characters, but that's not mean he talks like a rapper. His language is more distinguished, but he can also swear like a true Pole. ;D This manner is very similar to Andrzej Sapkowski's style, who said that old words and phrases should be used only as a spice. If you have more questions about Polish language, I will gladly help.

Thank you, since I haven't started playing yet, I don't have anymore questions about the in-game Polish at the moment, but I do have a question about the Polish language in general, namely how are the Polish specific letters ( ą, ę, ł, ń, ó, etc.) properly pronounced?

 

[Sagitarii]

how are the Polish specific letters ( ą, ę, ł, ń, ó, etc.) properly pronounced?

ó is just "u"
ń is pronounced similarly to "ni", but with much shorter "i"
ł similar way to "wh" in the English word "what"
ą, ę those are tricky to explain in English, so just watch this video for all of the letters.

 

[Vojtas]

how are the Polish specific letters ( ą, ę, ł, ń, ó, etc.) properly pronounced?

I will try to compare them to Croatian in the first place and other language, if I won't find good example:

Polish | Croatian / other explanation

ą = nasal vowel. Very similar to onne in French word Carcassonne - Poles don't say ą precisely, because otherwise it would sound very artificial. Ą in normal life is slightly pronounced, but there's still noticable difference between ą and Polish on and om. However some Poles pronounce ą / ę differently - it depends on their origin or local society (it's really funny when peasants are speaking in The Witcher).

ch, h = h

ć = ć but Polish ć is slightly softer

ci = like Polish ć but little longer, because of the i vowel - rarely it can be pronounced like c+i. That's the case of Ciri / Cirilla (native English speakers say something like see-ree, which is not correct in Polish, because c≠s)

cz = č

ę = another nasal vowel - as in French Martin or tarte tatin. Again Poles don't say ę very precisely.

dż = dž

dź = đ

dzi = đ but little longer, because of i vowel.

ł = as in English word will or water.

ó, u = u

ń = nj

ni = nj but little longer because of i vowel.

sz = š

ś = softer version of sz

si = like ś, but little longer because of i vowel - rarely it can be proounced like s+i (case similar to ci).

w, v = v

ż, rz = ž

ź = softer version of ż.

zi = like ź but little longer, because of i vowel - rarely it can be proounced like z+i (case similar to ci)


Penultimate syllable is almost always stressed in Polish. E.g.

GE-ralt
JAS-kier (Dandelion)
WIEDŹ-min (witcher)
ci-RIL-la
sap-KOW-ski
to-masz-KIE-wicz
chę-do-ŻO-ny (adj. fucking or being ploughed)
li-te-ra-TU-ra (literature)
o-po-wia-DA-nie (short story)

Pozdrawiam ^_^