Posts under Vocabulary

Przeziębienie - a common cold strikes again

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Oct
18
2009

I’m so sorry this post is late, but I have a very good excuse – I’m sick. Totally and utterly sick. Not the new flu (thankfully), but the whole nine yards nevertheless: katar (runny nose), kaszel (cough), ból gardła (sore throat) and everything else that comes with it. In other words – przeziębienie (a common cold) at its finest.

I can’t eat much, can’t drink much (which is bad, I know, because the first treatment option for a cold is to hydrate the body as much as possible) and I am generally miserable.

But what can I do? This is the cold and flu season and we just need to get through it.
I’ve tried various remedies and nothing seems to work. And as my dad is fond of saying: katar leczony trwa siedem dni, nieleczony – tydzień (runny nose lasts 7 days if treated, and a week if not). And since I’m almost at the seven day mark, I hope I will get better soon.

And in the meantime, I can honestly say I did what I could. I tried czosnek (garlic), probably the most vile food I’ve ever met. I drank syrop z cebuli (onion juice), which along with garlic is something I don’t wish upon my worst enemies. I consumed copious amounts of sok pomarańczowy (orange juice), which did nothing but gave me acid reflux, and took more vitamins (witaminy) that has been clinically proven safe. And nothing.

I drank ziółka (herbal teas), ate rosół (chicken soup), snacked on grejpfrut (grapefruit), and felt like I was single handedly keeping the company that makes Fervex in business.

And I wasn’t a nice person to be around. But still, the doc said – nie ma gorączki, nie ma grypy (no fever, no flu) and I was felt to suffer all by myself.

I know it’s irrational to demand antybiotyki (antibiotics) for a common cold, but I just wanted to get something. Anything. Even if it technically shouldn’t work, because the placebo effect alone can do wonders for a tortured patient. But no such luck, unfortunately.

So now, if you excuse me, I have więcej ziółek (more herbal tea) to drink.

 
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What do you call a person who lives in Bielsko-Biała?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Oct
12
2009

In his comment to the Bielsko-Biała post Mchl posed an interesting question: what do you call a person who lives in Bielsko-Biała? Yeah, indeed…

An inhabitant of Gdańsk is called gdańszczanin (masculine; gdańszczanka – feminine). A person who lives in Warsaw? Warszawiak or warszawianin, if a male, and warszawianka, if a female.
In Kraków? Krakowiak, or krakowianin, if a guy, and krakowianka, if a woman.

There’s really no rhyme or reason to how those names are formed. And those are just the easy ones. It gets a lot more complicated when you’re talking about a person who lives in Pruszcz Gdański, for example. Or Bielsko-Biała.

And yes, if we’re back on the subject of people who live in Bielsko-Biała, what do you call them? Hmmm… Bielsko-bialski, if a guy, and bielsko-bialska, if a woman. Yeah, where did that come from I have no clue, but that’s what it says in my dictionary. Many people mistakenly assume, it’s bielszczanin and bielszczanka, but those are people who live in Bielsk Podlaski.

And since we’re gluttons for punishment (and because we love Polish), we might as well go all the way and figure out how to call an inhabitant of Białystok. Białostoczanin, if a male, and białostoczanka if a female.

And maybe you noticed one thing – all those nouns are not capitalized. If you see “Krakowianin” that means a person who lives in Krakowskiem, which is a general area where Kraków is located. But an inhabitant of a city is always written using a small letter.

So yeah, what do you call an inhabitant of Pruszcz Gdański? I think I’ll stick with “an inhabitant of Pruszcz Gdański” (mieszkaniec Pruszcza Gdańskiego).

And since we’ve been talking about Bielsko-Biała a lot lately, I thought I’d show you some photos from that city. All photographs were taken by Artur Guzy and you can see more of them on his blog – Bielsko-Biała i wszystko jasne.

Pretty, isn’t it?

And I don’t know about you, but I had no idea that Bielsko-Biała was such a lovely town.

And for those who complained about the rain, here’s złota polska jesień, also in Bielsko-Biała.

For more photos, go to Artur’s blog and practice your Polish!

 
Posted under Grammar, Polish Language, Vocabulary
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Polish Drivers License?

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Sep
5
2009

So… a friend of mine (yes, I know, I know… I seem to have an awful lot of friends, but when I say “friend” I mean it in the American way, OK?) is moving to Poland. Why? She married a Polish dude (what a refreshing change from all those foreign dudes marrying Polish girls!) and they decided that living in Poland, at least for a few years, would be a splendid idea.

And she asked me, “Ummm… OK… so how’s the driving over there?” And then “Do I have to get a Polish drivers license?”

And while I could help her with question #1 – terrible whichever way you look at it, I didn’t really know what to say about #2. “I think you do,” I mumbled.

“You think I do,” she mumbled in response.

Unfortunately, my friend is NOT from an EU country (and I assume that if you’re from within the EU, you can just drive on the license from your home country and all is fine and dandy) and I am not really familiar with the process of obtaining a Polish drivers license. That is, the process if you’re foreign, because I do know, more or less, how it works for Poles.

So here’s my plea to you, my dear readers. I vaguely remember reading on one of your blogs about the process of exchanging a foreign drivers license for a Polish one. And I’d be eternally grateful if you could be so kind and leave a comment under this post if you happen to be familiar with this process. I’d like to contact you for more info.

And here’s the hateful word for today:

  • prawo jazdy – drivers license
  • prawo (noun, neuter) – law, the right to (do) something
  • jazda (noun, feminine) – driving
  • nauka jazdy – drivers ed

Image: wikipedia, because I’m not about to show you my ugly mugshot!

 
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Anna Goes Back to School - in Łódź

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jul
24
2009

I am really glad that so many of you share my opinion about Łódź. That city is a fascinating place, and if I could, I would very probably move there myself. I even like that fact that it’s so hard to get to. But if you are determined to get there, whatever you do, don’t drive. Save yourself a lot of time, nerves and energy and take one of those cute, new, little “pośpieszny” trains from Warszawa. They almost make you feel like you’re indeed in a civilized European country.

Unfortunately, I won’t be moving to Łódź anytime soon. So, instead, I’m going to go to school there. No, not to Film School. Like I said before, they wouldn’t take such a beztalencie (talentless wonder) as me. And I’m only kinda, sorta going to school in Łódź, because all my coursework will be done as a distance learning program.

I think I mentioned on this blog before that I was considering going back to school in my old age. The problem was finding the right school. Because of my situation, what I needed was an individual course of study. But not only that - I wanted a fully virtual individual course of study. Not a “ studia zaoczne” (weekend) program, but the whole enchilada, toppings and all – done entirely on-line.

So sometime last year, I began the tedious process of contacting different schools. In Poland. I very quickly came to realize that public institutions are still in the dark ages when it comes to distance learning and shifted my focus towards private schools. Eventually, I found one that offered everything I wanted. But in Brisbane, Australia.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if my studies are going to cost a truckload of money, I’d rather pay that truckload to a school in Poland. Yes, I’m a patriot, in my own sort of way…

And so, one more time, I began to contact various institutions of higher education in various places in Poland. Most laughed at me. One even said flat out – “how are we going to know if you’re learning anything if you don’t come to school?” And another – “we can’t teach you English virtually – you need to sit through the lectures. And besides, who do you think you are to ask for this special treatment?” (Special treatment? Haven’t they heard about distance learning before? I’ve always assumed it was a rather basic study option.)

You see, this was my problem – I wanted to get a degree that has to do with English, communications, and intercultural relations.

And then I got in touch with a certain school in Łódź. I explained my situation and spelled out what I wanted, in really simple words, so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings later on. And voila. A week later I was enrolled in one of their licencjat (bachelor degree) programs. This school decided to take a chance on me and trusts me (oddly enough) to do my part. On my end, I trust them to provide me with the tools and materials (on-line, naturally) to make it all work.

How will it end? We will find out in three years, or possibly sooner. And of course, in the meantime, I will keep you updated on my “back to school” adventures on this blog.

So yeah, go Łódź!!!

PS - Thank you for all your emails and warnings! They are much appreciated! But the school I chose is not AHE. :)

 
Posted under Culture, Vocabulary
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Namedays

Posted by Anna Ikeda
Jun
18
2009

Imieniny. I’m sure that anyone who has spent more than five minutes (ok, five days) in Poland is familiar, even if only vaguely, with this glorious occasion. The custom of celebrating namedays (imieniny) is not unique to Poland (some other countries do it, too), but I think only in Poland imieniny are taken so seriously.

But first things first. Yes, imieniny “are”. It’s a plural noun. Only.

  • imieniny (noun, plural, non-personal) – nameday

So in Polish, whether you are talking about one particular nameday, or several, it’s always the same – imieniny. Same with “urodziny” (birthday) – another one of those plural only nouns.

But why am I talking about namedays all of a sudden? I was caught totally off guard by one this week. You see, my family doesn’t celebrate namedays. Never have. I don’t even know when my nameday is. And as far as I can remember, no one ever, not even my very traditional grandmas obchodziły imieniny (celebrated namedays). We only did birthdays (urodziny) and that was it. And once you reach a certain age, you don’t even want to do that, especially if you’re a woman.

But what was I talking about? Ah yes, caught off guard by imieniny.

My friend called me up bright and early on Monday and the conversation went more or less like this:

    F: What time can we expect you?
    A: Huh?
    F: I said, “What time are you coming over?” And you eat dairy products, right?
    A: Huh?
    F: OK, in that case, come at 6PM, and you’ll get some dinner too.
    A: Errrr… you know what? I am somewhere between Toruń and Łódź now stuck in traffic and I don’t…
    F: You FORGOT!!!
    A: Oh no… I didn’t…
    F: You forgot about my imieniny AGAIN!

Of course, she was right. I did forget. Most of my friends gave up a long time ago and don’t even bother to notify me about their nameday parties. This particular friend hopes that eventually I will learn, or buy a better wall calendar (the most popular names are listed under the appropriate days).

But this nameday tradition is not nearly as uniform as some would like to think. I read somewhere that younger people can’t be bothered with namedays and of course I wanted to see if this was indeed true. So today, while walking across the Technical University campus (Politechnika) I thought it would be fun to find out what college age kids think of namedays.

The result was an astounding “huh?” Out of the 18 people asked, 15 said “Imieniny? That’s for old folks.” Seven had no idea when their namedays were. And two turned out to be exchange students from Azerbaijan who thought I was after them because they overstayed their visas – they somehow managed to misunderstand me that badly.

So, what’s the deal with imieniny? Is it really only for old folks who are too afraid to admit how old they are (and hence gave up on celebrating birthdays a long time ago)?

The whole idea of imieniny started a long time ago in the Middle Ages. Of course back then, it was not called that. Rather, it was a celebratory feast for a particular saint on a particular day. The church promoted those feasts and actually preferred them over birthdays, because birthday celebrations were seen as pagan. But then, somewhere along the way, the feasts disappeared and what we have now are imieniny parties instead of religious occasions.

In Poland imieniny are big business (the young ones at Politechnika and their answers notwithstanding) and are celebrated just like birthdays – sans the candles, of course. There are big dinners, cakes, flowers and gifts (and don’t forget about greeting cards!).

So maybe by not celebrating my own nameday I am missing out? But then again, as a solenizant (the one whose nameday is celebrated) it would be me preparing that dinner and baking those cakes… Hmmm… Maybe I’ll pass.

Here’s something to remember:

  • imieniny – nameday –> solenizant – person whose nameday is celebrated
  • urodziny – birthday –> jubilat – person whose anniversary (including a birthday) is celebrated

And a general nameday greeting:

  • Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji imienin! – Best wishes on your nameday!
 
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