Posts tagged with "guest post"

The Untranslatables – episode 1: Politics

Posted by Anna 2 Comments
Mar 28 2010

Today Adam (what a brave guy) tackles some totally incomprehensible to me political language. Yes, Poles sure do love their politics, and I, for one, am very glad that we have Adam to write about this. Because, frankly, I’d rather chew my leg off and bleed to death than talk politics.

To understand Polish you have to decode the meaning and code it in your mind into your language (usually for readers of this blog it will be English). But language is not mathematics. Two plus two may or may not equal four. Language is a tool that allows people to move in a certain reality. However, place by place, and culture by culture our realities vary. What when a notion has no direct equivalent in another culture? How to translate, or understand, the untranslatable?

The category of words that first springs to my mind as the hardest to translate – are terms connected with socio-politics.

English speakers have gucci-socialists and attack poodles.

In Poland there are many, many terms, some of which emerged within the last decade, that might cause some problems. Here are some possible/used translations. Don’t take all of them seriously. I am counting on your – our readers – creativity. Please do submit your translations (and political vocabulary) in the comments section.

  • odnowa moralna – moral face-lift, political slogan, refers to malpractice
  • nadużycie semantyczne – semantic molestation
  • łże-elita – the so called elites, false-elites, backstabishment,
  • układ – the grey net of interconnections
  • udoskonalanie wolności mediów – media freedom improvement, sarcastically – about attempts to curb media freedom
  • odzyskiwanie państwa – reclaiming the country
  • areszt wydobywczy – an arrest that is aimed to break a person and make them talk about somebody else
  • mijać się z prawdą – lit. to pass the truth walking the other way, euphemistically: to lie
  • moherowe berety – lit. mohair berets, pejorative term referring to a group of followers of a popular nationalistic-Catholic televangelist Mr Rydzyk (or rather – Father Rydzyk, he is a priest, unfortunately) and his media outlets. Typically, consisting of elderly ladies, whose preferred headgear is a mohair beret. This term likens them to an army, as various sub-groups in the Polish army may be recognized by different beret colors.
  • Polska A i Polska B – Poland A (the better one) and Poland B (the worse one). A common used phrase, to divide the country for the better, progressive part, that is intensively modernizing, educating, more liberal, wealthier, more active, where people are more into taking control of their destiny, where surroundings are tidier and more organized. And B – the worse part, that is more backwards, stagnating, more conservative, poorer, passive, where people wait for someone to solve their problems, where surroundings are grey, dirty and disorganized. The boundaries between Poland A and B may be drawn in many ways. Poland A could be the north, south, and west, while Poland B could be the eastern part (see below). Or Poland A could be in the major cities, and Poland B in the countryside. Or in some other way.
  • Ściana Wschodnia – Eastern Wall, another term referring to the Eastern part of the country in a negative way.
  • falandyzacja prawa – an attempt to interpret law in such a way that is stretching it – for someone’s short-term interest
  • koryto – lit. feeding trough, a comfortable position in a state institution

And of course, feel free to add your own favorite phrases!

Politics? Oh no!

Posted by Anna 7 Comments
Mar 3 2010

Today we have another guest post from Adam. And brace yourselves, it’s about polityka – politics.

Before I started writing for Polish Blog, Anna instructed me to never ever mention politics in my posts. I understand how this topic might be problematic and even uncomfortable. People have different views, and we wouldn’t want to discourage or offend anyone. But this is so blerry difficult. First, politics is a very Polish topic. And second, in my opinion, everything is political, especially in Poland.

Politics is probably the most popular topic for any conversation in Poland, just slightly more popular than weather. The rule, that many countries have, that you should avoid talking politics and religion (which are almost the same thing anyway in Poland) does not apply in this country at all. Simply forget it. And you will be amazed at what kind of bold political statements you can hear during a 10-minute taxi drive.

In Poland everything is politics, and everything leads to politics. And it all leads to history.

When you come to Poland, you have to expect (and think how to prepare for) a certain… ritual. One of the first things everyone will ask you, is “So… how do you like Poland?”. And your reply will be anxiously awaited. If you decide to criticize any aspect of Poland, you will be enlightened by your interlocutor on the genesis of the problem. And you should know that everything in Poland has its roots either in communism or in the Second World War. Depending on your nationality, you will also be made aware of how your country contributed to that particular Polish problem.

How to avoid the ritual?

If you become tired of this, my advice is simple. Do observe the reality, and make a comment that a Polish person will not expect, amaze them. This should cut the ritual short and make way for another topic. However, I cannot guarantee that it works every time.

Superstacja (superstation), a TV channel that decides to be less serious

One thing to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as political correctness in everyday life in Poland. People will tell you their true opinions, whatever they might be. Either liberal, conservative or xenophobic.

You will probably have to find your own way to deal with it, I still haven’t.

PS. Anna’s commentary:
It’s true, whenever possible and whenever I could get away with it, I’ve always avoided talking about politics on this blog. And in a way, I am glad that a ballsier person came along to tackle this ungrateful topic.

One thing that I would like to add is that last year when I spent 2 months in Poland, I was treated just like a foreigner and this is how I dealt with the “So… how do you like Poland?” question. Not wanting to open a can of worms, I always answered: “It’s awesome! I love it here!” And this normally left whoever was asking speechless and cut the conversation really short.

I have to disagree, however, with this bit: “People will tell you their true opinions, whatever they might be. Either liberal, conservative or xenophobic.” My experience was (however limited) that people chose their words very carefully and went out of their way not to offend my sensibilities. Their comments were generally very thoughtful and free of prejudice.

Being Cool (episode 1): A Short History of “Lans”

Posted by Anna No Comments
Feb 11 2010

Today Adam Blomberg, our new permanent (I sure hope so! – hint, hint, nudge, nudge) guest blogger decided to show us just how far behind the times us old farts are. :-)

This is what the cool kids in Poland did in the 00s, apparently. Read on:

As in every country and every city there are things that for some reason are cool. Before cool starts to mean different things to different people, there is a time in our lives when we are simply set to blend in – the time known as the teenage years.

The language of youth is also the most potent in reinventing itself, in finding new phrases or new uses for old ones. But the word that has made probably the most spectacular career in the “cool” department, and a spectacular fall, in the last decade was: “lans”.

It’s sprung up in the early noughties in the circles of young urban artsy-fartsy elite. It was the time of a huge 80s come-back in Poland – its synthesizer sounds, fishnet stockings and a new music genre that took the clubs by storm: electroclash.

The days of sweaty po-go, or careless rave or house were (somewhat) over. It was now all about dignified standing, nodding, maybe a bit of locking in the foot department. Sipping drinks in our neon fish-net tank tops, old-school trackies, looking around with a dignified, and a bit bored expression, we all were singing in our minds along with Miss Kittin “Every night with my star friends / we eat caviar and drink champagne / sniffing in the VIP area / we talk about Frank Sinatra…”.

And so we posed. And the most important thing was the element of kitsch – it all shouldn’t just be taken too seriously.

In this environment lans simply had to be born. Lans begun as a one-word describing all of the above. It comes from lansować, which originally meant “to popularize”, to make something popular, cool and hip.

The new meaning was lans as a personal activity. You would go out and lans – popularize yourself. Just go out and wow the crowd. Lansować się (lans yourself). You would also use this word, if you wanted to be funny, when talking about going for a walk, for instance, in the main Old Town street.
Lansować się na Szerokiej – would be a humorous and slightly tongue-in-cheek way of describing the act of basically hanging around and talking, especially while wearing come cool items of clothing.

The word, which originated in some artsy-fartsy circles, spread through the blogs on blog.pl service, which at that time was the place where advertising executives and artisty types mixed with the progressive student crowd. The term was used and spread by prominent bloggers of the time, like Ebo – or Maciej Szumny.

As the awareness of the word increased, around 2005, when mainstream media begun recording its use, it went out of fashion in its circles of primary origin. Slowly becoming a universal negative word, describing the other side of the coin of posing. Being fake. Treating this a tad too seriously. For those who weren’t genuine. Trying too hard, not really having any taste. It all happened simultaneously with the slow death of the electroclash culture, and amalgamation of its bits and pieces into the mainstream.

Today lans has lost its previous power. It can be used in both meanings. I wonder if the 00s will ever have a big come back and if there will be a huge lans-revival :)

What can I say? I haven’t the foggiest about lans and had to look up “electroclash” and “Miss Kittin” on wikipedia. Ah, the fun of getting old…

Barb’s Trip to Poland and Chipmunk Diplomacy

Posted by Anna No Comments
Sep 30 2009

Today we have another report from our fabulous guest blogger – Barb from Canada.

Enjoy!

I recently returned from a short trip to Poland with my head (and heart) bursting with impressions and perceptions. Since my last trip occurred over 25 years ago, to say things have changed would be a little bit of an understatement.

It was a trip that mixed both business (confirmation of citizenship- stwierdzenie posiadania obywatelstwa polskiego) and pleasure, so the types of interactions with native Poles varied quite a bit. I would like to write a post about the citizenship aspect of my trip (with Anna’s permission of course – yes, please!!! Actually, no, not “please”, you MUST!!!) at a later date, so this post will be a little more general.

Język polski: With the sole exception of a teenage girl working the counter of a Subway sandwich establishment, I managed to interact in Polish with enough mastery of the language that no one felt compelled to switch over into English. I felt like this was a huge accomplishment. It still rankles that the Subway worker had the gall to ask me “big or small?” I naturally ignored her and asked that my sandwich include: pomidory, swieży ogórek, sałata, i musztarda. My proficiency with the language varied/depended with the time of day (feeling tired – zmęczona), emotional state (a heightened emotional state – podekscytowana) and of course the amount of alcohol consumed. My efforts were warmly received and my interactions were all very pleasant and sometimes brought smiles.

On one occasion, I was taking a commuter train to Sulejówek from Warszawa and was on the phone with my uncle. I was trying to convince him to meet me in the courtyard of a nearby church. It was the end of the day and I was struggling with the proper declension (przy kościele, koło kościoła, itd). As I was the only one speaking accented Polish in a rather crowed compartment, many people tuned into my conversation. As I valiantly tried to get the declension right, I noticed many folks starting to smile, and to hide it unsuccessfully.

People were kind/helpful (uprzejmi) everywhere I went, including dreaded institutions like the post office (poczta) and Urząd Stanu Cywilnego. I lead a rather charmed existence, it seems.

Polish pride: It really is challenging to interact with Poles in their native land and to successfully navigate through the minefield of making comparisons/comments about your own country without inadvertently triggering that prickly Polish pride. After a while, I learned it was best to confine my comments about Canada to two subjects: legal blood alcohol limit (0.08 grams versus 0.02 grams in Poland) which was met with resounding approval and the universal appeal of Canada’s small woodland creatures, namely chipmunks. For anyone not familiar with the charm/cuteness of this creature (urocze stworzenie), please view the attached link. Another neutral topic was the similarity of our coinage (monety). How can you offend anyone with more cuddly Canadian animals, namely engravings of loons or polar bears?

I must confess to developing an affinity for some strictly Polish “wildlife” i.e. wściekły pies, but that is an entirely different story. :)

Old town in Warsaw, photo by Barb

PS. Barb, so are you officially Polish now?

Adventures in Reading po polsku – a guest post

Posted by Anna No Comments
Aug 26 2009

Remember how a few posts back I said all kinds of fun things about Joanna Chmielewska and recommended her books as an easy and painless choice for a beginner Polish reader?

Hmmm… Not so, apparently. This is what our fabulous guest blogger, Barb from Canada had to say about her experiences of reading Chmielewska. But not only Chmielewska. Barb tackled a few other books and this is what she has to say:

My commitment to learning Polish naturally included reading Polish books. Up until last year, the only Polish book I had ever read was Sienkiewicz’s “W pustyni i w puszczy” (assigned reading in Polish school).  I wanted to read books written by Polish authors that had a distinctive Polish voice or soul (dusza polska), not books translated into Polish.  Scanning the shelves at our local library (biblioteka) wasn’t very helpful, so I approached a friend and asked to borrow (pożyczyć) a few books.

I started with “Jestem nudziarą” by M. Szwaja. A light, easy read that falls into the genre of “chick lit”.  The book was very contemporary (współczesna), exposed me to female dialogues and relationships with men… – tricky the world over, it seems.

Next, I tackled “Szajka bez końca” by J. Chmielewska.  Chmielewska is a very popular and humorous author of criminal mysteries/adventures (powieści sensacyjnych i kryminalnych).  Other than the novelty of having a few chapters set in Barry’s Bay, home to Polish-Canadian cottaging and scouting camps (obozy harcerskie) with unpleasant memories of scratchy grey wool uniforms (mundurki), the book fell flat for me.

These reading exercises sound painless right?  They were excruciating actually.  My need to slowly mouth each word, besides causing dry-mouth, quickly got tiresome.  My other challenge was deciding how often to consult my dictionary (słownik).  Mostly, I tried to ascertain the meaning of a word from the context of a given paragraph.  I did have a 4-word rule however: if an unknown word appeared four times within a single sitting I would look it up.

Much of my initial frustration centered around making the link between “known” words and “unknown” spelling (ortografia).  Inevitably, I would be struggling my way through a 5-syllable word (why do Polish words have so many syllables btw?), only to experience an “I know that word, so that’s how it’s spelled” moment.  Embedding those written letter patterns with the known word sounds in my head was painful.  I have much better French letter pattern recognition due to years of aimlessly reading bilingual cereal boxes over breakfast.

My word recognition and reading speed eventually improved which also resulted in less “dry-mouth”.  After a time, I decided that I should also read out loud every day.  Having a greatly inflated opinion of my abilities (did I mention that I have a confidence problem?) I wanted to give “voice” to the lovely prose I could “hear” in my head.  What a disaster!! (co za porażka).  More about my pronunciation and verbal abilities in another post.

Eventually, I hope to work up to some serious Polish literature (literatura polska).  One of my goals is to read “Pan Wołodyjowski” by H. Sienkiewicz, a book I’m rather sentimental about.

PS. Barb, you too? “Pan Wołodyjowski” is something that I want to read as well. I’m very sentimental about the TV series.

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