Polish Is A Beautiful Language--And Very Underappreciated.

Discussion in 'Other Languages' started by Jimbee68, Nov 8, 2016.

  1. Jimbee68

    Jimbee68 Member

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    Polish was my mother's first language. And she spoke it all the time with her sister, my aunt.

    I couldn't understand a word they were saying (and sometimes, I later found, that was the whole point ;) ). But I could tell, it is a very soft, poetic, and melodious language.

    It is in the same family as Russian. But it is not at all like Russian. Russia, like German, has harsh sounds, and strong stresses. (I have nothing against you who speak Russian or German :) . I'm just saying.)

    Sadly though, there are few operatic pieces in Polish. And there may be a reason for that. Like my mother used to tell me, Poland was always the first country they invaded. There were always the victims, and never the aggressors. Rather sad, when you think about it.

    The only operatic pieces in Polish, that I know of at least, is the Polish national anthem, and a Christmas carol that is based on the Polish national anthem. Again, as I said, rather sad, for such a beautiful language.

    What do the rest of you think? And while were at it, does anyone know any other classical songs, written in Polish?

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  2. susel

    susel Members

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    Hi! Native polish speaker here :)
    Glad to know there are people who appreciate polish which is in my opinion one of the nicest languages in the world.
    It can sound a little rustling with these all "sz", "cz", "ch" and "s" and accumulations of consonants but it can be very pleasing to hear too.

    But I think that the best thing about it is the infinite ways to make up new words with existing while being totally understable. With regard to swearing you can have a conversation using only curse words :p In my opinion there is no better language as to swearing than polish :D

    There are plenty of beautiful classical songs in polish if you want I can find some and share them with you. But first tell me about which christmas carol are you referring to in your post?
    Then I will be able to find songs you would like because now I only remember about some nice pre-war songs or just patriotic grandiose traditional anthems that there are plenty of it because of polish history and our tendency to glorify all the failed uprisings :p

    :daisy:
     
  3. Rots in hell

    Rots in hell Senior Member

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    I can order Beer in polish !
     
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  4. MorphGirl

    MorphGirl Banned

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    An artist friend of mine is polish. She invited me over to her place a few times for family dinners.. she handed out sheets with music lyrics in polish that we were all to sing. It didn't go well.. I tried but sang too loud and pronounced these. Words terribly. They stopped the singing quickly.. doesn't help that I am gone deaf either and had had a big to drink.. this was Easter ... and when sh started to talk about Jesus I said Jesus was a Jewish rabbi who had babies and married ... it didn't go well . Lol. But yes it is a beautiful language, just not when I try to sing in it.
     
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  5. Piaf

    Piaf Senior Member

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    Here's a crazy idea - maybe don't sing too loudly if you don't know the language.
    And if you accept an invitation maybe keep your opinions to yourself and don't disrespect the family...?
    Craaaazy, I know.
     
  6. MorphGirl

    MorphGirl Banned

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    Well her boyfriend is actually jewish... it was Easter and she was saying something about Jesus and I said that. I was not really singing that loudly, but being off key and trying to sing along, she insisted I sing too it ruined it and stood out. Lol
     
  7. morrow

    morrow Visitor

    My nextdoor neighbours are polish, hard working people, the little girl is so nice..
    They just seem to keep together with other polish families.

    They have get togethers, and all gather in the garden to smoke..But ever goes on after midnight, the guy is the only one who talks to the neighbours lol

    Nice language, erm, ok
     
  8. MorphGirl

    MorphGirl Banned

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    My grandmothers neighbours were polish... they were always nice to me as a kid.

    This polish friend of mine is very eccentric... the stories I could tell. I met her in a book store... she liked my dog, asked if she could walk him with me... we went walking and she told me we have to stretch... next thing I know she is jumping up, grabs th branch of a tree and dangles there... I joined her and that is how one stretches.
     
  9. MorphGirl

    MorphGirl Banned

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    Is the little girl and the guy the only one who speaks English? Or do they all?
     
  10. morrow

    morrow Visitor

    They all talk English, only the guy talks, the woman tries to get in before she has to, lol
     
  11. MorphGirl

    MorphGirl Banned

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    Lol. That is so strange, maybe her English is really poor? Too much of a struggle for her?

    My polish friend, she wanted to go to the rob ford picnic... so I said I would go along when she asked... really we just wanted some rob ford nation tshirts to send to some friends. So we go to it and we ar like... yeah free food... only to find we have a huge lineup for the food ... so we get in line... she wanders off alone leaving me in line... she comes back with pictures of her and rob ford. She just bypassed the line to meet him. Lol (He was the crack head mayor of Toronto). We get to the front of the line 2 hours later and find that they only had tickets to give us so we can stand in another line just as long. She would have nothing of it and sees an Asian family having a birthday picnic for their 16 year old son. Lol. Goes over to them and tries to trade her beer ticket and hot tog ticket for an uncut piece of birthday cake.,. She tried to negotiate with them for a good 5 minutes. Lol. She is older (her kids are more my age). She was homeless in Poland for a time with three young kids under communist rule. Lined up for hours to get food every day. So while I can not relate, I understand where she is coming from.
     
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  12. Cynnamon

    Cynnamon Members

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    Big proud to be half Polish, I really wish I knew the language.
    Sorry I cannot help with classic Polish songs though Im sure they would sound beautiful.
    Happy to find a relative who is doing our Polish genealogy.

    Have a question for you or any other Polish people reading.
    Not being aware of of Polish customs or the culture (Irish instead) WHAT Is the event called on Christmas with the wafers I
    were like taking the Eucharist. It was given to me by a couple Polish neighbors in Christmas cards.
    Had my daughter lead a pray in which we all took a piece.
    However, I'm not exactly sure how the ritual should go.
    Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
     
  13. Irminsul

    Irminsul Valkyrie

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    The Opwatek.

    :)
     
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  14. soulpoker

    soulpoker Senior Member

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    I don't kurwa understand! :p
     
  15. Lodog

    Lodog ¿

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    I was researching my name and found out it is all true. My name means ladder, or the next step
     
  16. Jimbee68

    Jimbee68 Member

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    Sorry about my late reply. It is the exact same melody as the Polish national anthem. That is all I know. Sorry.
     
  17. Dax

    Dax Members

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    "To wspaniały język."
     
  18. soulpoker

    soulpoker Senior Member

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    Polish is a complicated language but at least it's relatively consistent. The nouns and pronouns generally change endings depending on what their function is in the sentence. There's none of that in English with nouns but there's some of this with pronouns: he, his, him; she, hers, her; who, whose, whom; etc. except there are seven "cases" instead of three. Adjectives also have seven cases and agree in case, number and gender with the nouns they are modifying. There are separate declinations for adjectives.
    There is a singular and plural number as there are in English. There used to be a dual, pieces of which linger more in colloquial conversation. I hear the southern Slavic languages still have that in full force.
    The nice thing about an inflected language (where you have endings that indicate what the function of a word is) is you can move the words around in a sentence and the meaning of the sentence remains clear and consistent. Take for example this sentence:
    The dog bit the man.
    If you reverse the nouns
    The man bit the dog.
    it changes the meaning. But in Polish, you can change the order in every way and the only difference is the emphasis. So
    Pies ugryzł mężczyznę.
    Mężczyznę ugryzł pies.
    Pies mężczyznę ugryzł.
    Ugryzł mężczyznę pies.
    etc. are all equivalent and it is always apparent that the dog bit the man, though the first example is probably the default way to express the situation.
    Verbs operate a little differently. They agree in person and number in the present tense and the future tense that is based on present tense (which consists of adding a prefix, any prefix, though this normally changes the meaning of the verb). In past, past perfect (rarely used in contemporary Polish) and "future perfect" (really, future progressive) also agree in gender with the subject of the sentence. This is a bit of a simplification, and a whole book could probably be written about Polish verbs.
    Vocabulary is kind of unique. Rome was out of the way so Latin wasn't as big an influence as it was with other languages, though it has been with Polish, directly and with a little French and even Italian. There are the obvious Germanisms and more recently Anglicisms but the vocabulary is pretty solidly Slavic.
     

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