In Search of the Right Ending…

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Feb
6
2010

Today I would like to introduce to you our brand new guest blogger - Adam Blomberg. He will be helping me out with the Polish Blog this month, because I think that after all this time of mostly Anna, you all must be hungry for something exciting and fun. And a new (and male at that!) point of view should make things fresh and interesting.

This is Adam’s first contribution to the Polish Blog, and after reading it I am sure will enjoy his posts as much as you do mine. If not more. (Yes, he’s that good!)

So, please put your hands together for Adam!!!

Adam, the floor is yours!

There are some things in the Polish language that you will never get right. You can learn your declensions by heart, you can get the spelling right, but sometimes it just won’t do. It’s when the language, the map that describes our world, actually meets the world… and doesn’t fit. The world is constantly changing while language patterns are deeply ingrained in people’s souls, in our brains, and in our dusty books.

The thing I am talking about here are female names for professions or positions of honor. This subject has been mentioned on this blog before, however in the light of the fact that this issue touches half of the human population (women), I thought it was a good idea to give the readers of this blog some more insight into the matter. In Polish, of course.

The style of addressing a woman-professor, woman-driver, or a woman-judge, woman-prime-minister or woman-MP (etc.) in Polish could be one of the trickiest things, even for native Poles. Sometimes it’s balancing on a thin line: someone might get offended.

It all began in the past, when as in most of the Western world, it was believed that men and women were created to perform different roles, and so they did. Men conquered the world, or pursued high-flying careers. Women rocked the cradle and provided domestic service. These prehistoric conditions have long since changed. But the language hasn’t changed that much – just yet – to fit them.

Therefore the Polish language is inconsistent with those profession names. Various occupations have only one generally accepted gender version:

  • for instance: prezes (company president), premier (prime minister), sędzia (judge), pełnomocnik (legal agent), kierowca (driver, note – not tram/train driver), referent (sub-species of office worker), górnik (miner), doktor (PhD holder) – have no apparent female version
  • and przedszkolanka (kindergarten teacher) – has no male version.


Joanna Senyszyn - europoseł - EU Parliament Member

There are of course several solutions, some more popular than others. The tricky bit is, that usually women strongly prefer one of these: either because of their strong feminist views or because of version sounds more respectable. And the style one chooses to use also might reveal their political stance on the issues of feminism. As it were the feminists who stress this matter and point to the need for female naming conventions.


Henryka Bochniarz - prezes - company president (Polska Konfederacja Pracodawców Prywatnych
Lewiatan - Polish Confederation of Private Employers)

Solutions:

1. The most popular thing people do, is to add the word pani (lady, or Mrs) before the positions of prestige or use the male form altogether: so we would have pani prezydent, pani sędzia, pani premier, pani pełnomocnik, pani doktor, pani poseł. As the male version sounds prestigious most people use the male version even if a female word does exist – so that it sounds better: for instance: pani psycholog (psychologist), pani stomatolog (dentist), pani nauczyciel (teacher);

2. Some women prefer, and some feminist periodicals promote, the use of – let’s call it the “-ka” type of endings, that are based on a pattern already used in the Polish language for some female positions (nauczycielka) and extend it: prezydentka, prezeska, premierka, doktorka, posłanka… and we have a problem with sędzia – they would probably use the word sędzina (usually means the wife of a judge).

Many women however would not use these words as they sound and look like diminutives. As if a woman president was not a proper president but “little president”. A prezzie. Some women argue that these words will no longer sound like diminutives if we do use them and get used to them. Others point that prezydentka is actually a direct equivalent of prezydentek (little president, dwarf-president) – rather than prezydent. And this conclusion was the basis for solution number three.

3. The third solution is the least popular one (as it introduces a completely new thing), but is the most complex, and is argued to be the most logical, without any prestige loss. It proposes adding letter “-a”: prezydenta, prezesa, doktora, sędzia, rzecznika, referenta, psychologa, górnika, posła, nauczyciela.

I will leave with you with this question: Who is Anna Ikeda?
- bloger?
- pani bloger?
- blogerka?
- blogera?

Which version do you prefer? And why?

PS. Anna’s comment - the third solution reminds me of how it works in Spanish: señor-señora, profesor -profesora.

PS2. Wasn’t it an awesome first post?

 
Posted under Culture, Polish Language
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Verb “to like” and its Polish Equivalents

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Feb
2
2010

In our last post we talked quite a bit about liking (or not) something (or someone). And I have finally realized (hey, better late than never!) that maybe this verb - “to like” - is not as clear and straightforward in Polish, as it is in English.

In English it’s used for just about anything. You can use it when talking about food, as in “Do you like this potato salad?”
Or when talking about clothes – “I like this dress.”
Or when talking about people – “I like Anna, she’s so helpful.”

In English you just say “like” and that’s it. “To like” is a very handy verb.
But not so in Polish. Oh no! When translating from English to Polish “to like” can morph into a couple of different things.

Let’s go back to the potato salad for a second (what can I say, I’m hungry):

  • Do you like this potato salad? – Smakuje ci ta sałatka ziemniaczana? (asking someone who just shoved a big forkful into his/her mouth).

See what happened?
Suddenly, “to like” became “smakować”, as in “it tastes good and I like it”.

Of course, you can also say:
Lubię sałatkę ziemniaczaną but this is a very general statement that you like potato salad in general. Whether the verb “to like” morphs into “smakować” or “lubić” when talking about food, you have to figure out based on the context.

Now, let’s go clothes shopping (which reminds me I still need to buy a new pair of gloves, my hands are purple from the cold):

  • I like this hat. – Podoba mi się ta czapka. You’ve just tried it on and you’re going to buy it.

See what happened?
Suddenly, “to like” became “podobać się”, as in: you like something enough to buy it.
Or when commenting on someone else’s stuff:

  • Podobają mi się twoje buty. – I like your shoes.

This “like” can also be used when talking about people. As in:

  • Ona mi się podoba – I like her (the way she looks).

Again, whether “to like” can be translated into Polish as “lubić” or “podobać się”, you need to figure out from the context.

And then there’s this old-fashioned, garden-variety “lubić”:

  • Lubię Anię, bo jest fajną dziewczyną. – I like Ania, because she’s a cool girl.
  • Lubię muzykę i jazdę na nartach. – I like music and skiing.
  • Lubię zapach świeżego chleba. - I like the smell of fresh bread.

And so on…

And that’s pretty much the deal with “to like” in Polish. Fun, isn’t it?

 
Posted under Polish Language, Vocabulary
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Verbs Expressing Feelings and the Nouns that Follow Them

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
31
2010

So, what were we talking about last time? Ah yes, verbs that express emotions. You know, stuff like love (kochać), hate (nienawidzieć), like (lubić), dislike (nie lubić), etc.

In English, it’s simple, whether you like or don’t like someone (or something), the noun that follows the verb expressing your feeling doesn’t change.
I like winter. I hate winter.
“Winter” stays “winter” no matter what.

As you’ve probably figured out by now, this is not how it works in Polish. Well, nothing is ever simple and straightforward in Polish. It wouldn’t be Polish otherwise.

Remember when we talked about these two cases: dopełniacz (genitive) and biernik (accusative)? No? Then now it’s the time to look up those blog posts (I wrote about those cases in the past) and refresh your memory. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

OK, I see you’re back. Good! We can move on to the fun bits now.

So, this is how those winter (zima) sentences would look like in Polish.

  • Lubię zimę. – I like winter
  • Nienawidzę zimy. – I hate winter.

See what happened to “zima”? Yes… Your worst fears have been confirmed. We have two different cases here.

In “Lubię zimę” we have the accusative case - biernik, which answers to these questions: “kogo?” and “co?”.
“Lubię kogo” - when talking about people. Or “Lubię co” - when talking about everything else.

In “Nienawidzę zimy” we have the genitive case – dopełniacz, which answers to these questions: “kogo?” and “czego?”.
“Nienawidzę kogo” – when talking about people. Or “Nienawidzę czego” – when talking about everything else.

Yes, you are right – in both of these examples, the “kogo?” question when talking about humans is the same. But that doesn’t actually mean that the noun will stay the same. Not so! (And what did you think, huh?)

For example:

  • Lubię Kasię (or Anię, if you want to talk about me behind my back) – I like Kasia (Ania).

and

  • Nienawidzę Kasi (Ani) – I hate Kasia (Ania).

Luckily, this is only the issue with feminine humans. Masculine humans stay the same.

  • Lubię Pawła – I like Paweł.
  • Nienawidzę Pawła – I hate Paweł (Paweł, it’s nothing personal, it’s just an example, OK?)

Incidentally, when talking about space aliens in Polish, treat them as humans (at least grammatically), even though they are very clearly not.

So, basically, this is the drill:
If you have positive feelings towards someone or something, use biernik (accusative).
If you have negative feelings towards someone or something, it’s time to use dopełniacz (genitive).

Hey! What happened to you? Wake up! Wake up!!!

 
Posted under Grammar, Polish Language
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On Disliking Winter - Verbs Expressing Emotions

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
28
2010

So, in the last post, our guest blogger - Ms. Anglopole was telling us just how lovely and picturesque polskie zimy (Polish winters) can be.

Now, I don’t know about lovely, but they sure are picturesque. Even if you’re not a fan of cold weather (like me), you have to admit that śnieg (snow) looks very pretty. It covers all those ugly, unsightly things and makes even the dirtiest city appear fresh and clean. Of course, that lasts for only about five minutes until the snow turns grey and yellow. And slushy. Yeah, nie znoszę zimy! – I can’t stand winter.

But what was it we were talking about? Ah yes, pretty and picturesque.

There are people out there who don’t mind bundling up and going out with a camera to take photos, even in the dead of winter. One such person is the lovely young lady who runs the City Toruń Daily Photo blog.

Kasia kocha (loves) Toruń, it’s her home town, and being the tough Polish woman that she is, she odważnie (bravely) went out in the cold and took some wintry shots.

So, go take a look at them while the snow is still biały i puszysty (white and fluffy)!

And since we are talking a lot about disliking and hating winter, I thought I might as well include those verbs for your learning pleasure:

  • lubić – to like
  • nie lubić – to dislike
  • kochać – to love
  • nienawidzieć – to hate
  • nie znosić, nie cierpieć – can’t stand (something), to resent, to dislike, but more powerful than “nie lubić”.

We’ll talk about nouns (yes, it’s declension time again - how fun!) that follow these verbs in the next post.

 
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Guest Post - Evil Winter! (”Zima Zła”)

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jan
25
2010

Today we have a new guest post by a new guest blogger - Ms. Anglopole.
Ms. Anglopole is Polish but lives with her husband and kids in the UK. She blogs about her Anglopolish life at Anglopole’s Ponglish World.

OK, Ms. Anglopole, the floor (or rather - the blog) is yours today! Take it away.

A few weeks before Christmas the British media treated us with scary news: there would be heavy snowfalls (opady śniegu) practically everywhere in the British Isles! Yeah, yeah, you’ve guessed right – for most immigrants (emigranci) from the Central and Eastern Europe this news was far from frightening, and actually, the omnipresent British ‘snow panic’ was getting to be really annoying.

Surprisingly the weather forecast (prognoza pogody) was correct on that occasion and we actually had a month of real winter, which reminded me of Polish winters (polskie zimy) and how harsh they can be. I am sure many of my countrymen living in the UK welcomed the freezing temperatures (mrozy), blizzards (zamiecie), snowdrifts (zaspy śnieżne) and picture postcard landscapes (krajobrazy jak z obrazka) as a reminder of Poland in winter. Those homesick for our homeland have felt more at home in the UK this winter, that’s for sure.


I am not a great fan of cold winters and so the ‘big freeze’ we experienced last year and at the beginning of 2010, for me personally, was more of a survival camp (obóz przetrwania) than anything else.

First of all, the fact that nothing whatsoever was done to clear the local roads and pavements (sidewalks) from snow was a major hazard (zagrożenie) for anyone venturing out of their house. On those snowy days I couldn’t stop thinking about winter tyres (opony zimowe) which are a necessity (konieczność) in Poland and here are rather uncommon.

Also I so wished I had a shovel (szufla) to clear the snow at least around our house. To transport the kids around people needed sleds (sanie) and we got one as well. Ironically, on the day a friend of ours gave us a sled for our children, the snow began to thaw (topnieć) and it hasn’t snowed again since. The white blankets covering the fields have disappeared and all the snowmen (bałwany) built by excited kids have melted away (roztopiły się).

At the moment, the winter here is more or less as it usually is in the UK – rainy (deszczowa, yes, “deszczowa”, because in Polish “winter” – “zima” is a feminine noun), windy (wietrzna) and chilly (chłodna). I am relieved, frankly speaking. I also feel for all my friends back in Poland as winter there seems to be truly Siberian and can be described nicely by this paragraph from Maria Konopnicka’s poem ‘Zła Zima’ (Evil Winter):

“Hu! Hu! Ha! Nasza zima zła!
Szczypie w nosy, szczypie w uszy
Mroźnym śniegiem w oczy prószy,
Wichrem w polu gna!
Nasza zima zła!”

It looks like the global warming (globalne ocieplenie) in Europe has been more like a global freezing! ;-)

Oh, spring, where art thou?! Wiosno, gdzie jesteś?!

Thank you so much Ms. Anglopole! You have no idea how happy I am that you decided to write about winter. Personally, I hate winters. I’d rather pretend they didn’t exist at all. So, needless to say, I am very glad you picked this “frosty” topic for your guest post.

 
Posted under Culture, Geography, Vocabulary
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