Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6048 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish
| Message 25 of 108 07 March 2012 at 9:06am | IP Logged |
Stokrotne dzięki Gosiak! Yes very helpful.
It took me over an hour to write the Polish piece.....byłem tak powolny jak ślimak! [I was as slow as a snail!]
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Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6048 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish
| Message 26 of 108 07 March 2012 at 7:44pm | IP Logged |
Follow
Your
Nose
It's amazing what new words you can stumble across. It's also fascinating to discover how words in your TL have connections unlike your native language. For example - the other day I came across the verb pachnieć meaning 'to smell (of)' for instance 'she smells of roses'.
Now I usually glance at the adjacent words in my dictionary because they might be worth memorising, or they might confirm the meaning of the word I'm looking at.
One of the adjacent words was pachnący meaning 'odorous' 'scented' - usually sweet scented for things like beauty products, bread and flowers (Groszek pachnący means 'Sweet Pea').
So with roses and violets in mind, I spotted the next word pacha which means 'armpit'! To check on this I googled the word and came across tons of photos of a nightclub chain called 'PACHA' ....no doubt with good reason given the hot and steamy conditions, although I'm sure the name is pure coincidence.
It's word trails like this I enjoy - you never know where you'll end up!
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Gosiak Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5069 days ago 241 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Norwegian, Welsh
| Message 27 of 108 07 March 2012 at 10:00pm | IP Logged |
I will add two more to words to your PACH- collection ;)
Pachnidło - a perfume, archaic term for "perfuma", it's also the Polish title of
Patrick Süskind's novel
Zapach - the scent/smell, neutral word
"Pachnący"/"pachnieć" has got pleasant connotations whereas "śmierdzący (smelly)/
śmierdzieć (to stink) has got only negative ones.
I also think that there is no connection between the words "pachnieć" and "pacha" but
it is fun to come across unexpected terms. It's a bit like spying on words.
Nightclub called "Pacha" is even better than lightbulbs Osram. "Osram" means "I will
poop all over sth" (they should have changed the brand name for Poland).
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Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6048 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish
| Message 28 of 108 14 March 2012 at 1:28pm | IP Logged |
Anki = 2254
Hours Studied = 25 (Total: 136)
I finished 'Oskar i Pani Róża' and added another 100 words to Anki. I like to take my time when building vocabulary and some words (usually verbs) can take me half an hour each to thoroughly check in context. I plan to concentrate on grammar this week, and make a start on the Dative Case.
Words of the Week
Poniekąd -'in a way' / 'in a sense'.
Skąpy - 'mean', 'stingy', 'miserly'.
Tyle - 'so many / as many', 'so much / as much'. E.g 'I've got so much work'. 'As many men as women'. 'I need twice as much sugar'. This is such a frequent word, yet for a long time I confused it with tylko (='only', 'just').
Zwalać - Zwalić - 'to knock down', 'knock off', 'bowl over'. The cat knocked the vase off the shelf.
Natomiast adv. - 'on the other hand', 'whereas'.
Pokusa - 'temptation'.
Fat Thursday
Last month Poles celebrated Tłusty Czwartek or 'Fat Thursday', the last Thursday before Lent and the last chance to enjoy things like Faworki and Pączki (doughnuts). Over the years my Polish friends have fed me both of these, and they're absolutely delicious. Let's keep quiet about the amount of calories though. Even winter-starved bisons need to behave!
Na razie!
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meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5910 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map
| Message 29 of 108 15 March 2012 at 4:36pm | IP Logged |
I also had some Pączki last week! I found them in the local grocery store and bought some because of the Polish words on the box. Pastry-eating is a very, very important aspect of learning any language.
I did not know what Pączki were, despite coming from a Polish family. My "Nana" was not very observant of religious traditions or of edible cooking. She did adore Pope John Paul II though and in fact he joined us at the table in the form of a portrait overseeing every meal. Unfortunately, I believe that he withheld his blessing from the food.
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Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4767 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin
| Message 30 of 108 18 March 2012 at 12:05am | IP Logged |
Moja mama zrobiła mi pączki w zeszłym tygodniu i są pyszne, oczywiście ;)
But I keep them in the freezer for I cannot eat too much or I'll balloon up... I think I'll unfreeze one tonight though...
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Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6048 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish
| Message 31 of 108 20 March 2012 at 7:10pm | IP Logged |
Anki = 2318
Hours Studied = 12 (Total: 148)
A quiet week due to family committments, just 12 hours. I'm enjoying this 61-page story about a couple and thier dog 'Reks'. It's not so much a story as 23 short chapters recording separate events; I'm up to chapter 17.
I'm not sure I'll get any serious grammar studying done for the next 3 weeks, so all I can do is slowly build vocabulary, read, review and listen to a few episodes of Samo Życie.
ATTENTION TO DETAILS: EVERY TINY LETTER
Stirring round my gut is a growing apprehension. I have to confess to a peculiar and particular ailment my friends. All the indications of this distress point to the dreaded 'All-Polish-Words-Sound-The-Same-Syndrome'.
Not only sound the same, but look the same, smell the same, taste the same....
I exaggerate of course, and I know the fever will pass, but here's a couple of examples:
Ścieżka - 'path' or 'track'. Not to be confused with:
Ścierka - 'dishcloth'.
Plecak - 'backpack'. Don't muddle with:
Placek - 'tart' (usually a sweet flan with fruit).
Then there's the good old 'W' / 'Wy' pairing that frequents Polish. Mistaking Wejście with Wyście could lead to severe embarrassament.
Finally, all good responsible bisons ought to know their Name Day or 'Imieniny'. Poles celebrate their name-day seriously, probably more than their birthday. The Polish equivalent of my name is 'Jan' and I have a few days in June that I could choose as my name-day. I think I'll go for June 24th. I have no idea what I'll do on the day when it arrives. Maybe eat a little 'placek'.
No pa...
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Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4767 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin
| Message 32 of 108 21 March 2012 at 7:03pm | IP Logged |
I agree many words can become confusing but I guess it's the same thing in most languages. Whenever I make a
mistake I immediately try to do a little exercise with both words (write a couple of sentences with each), which I
think helps me differentiate them in the future.
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