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Mooby’s TAC2013 - Team Żubr - Polish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5726 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes  Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 57 of 134 10 May 2013 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Zacisnąć pasa has also an idiomatic meaning = to scrimp.
Zacisnął pas sounds outdated, mainly because nobody wears pas anymore, you can wear "pasek". But in its figurative meaning it is commonly used, especially in this day and age. Trzeba zacisnąć pasa i oszczędzać. Edited by pesahson on 10 May 2013 at 3:12pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4367 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 58 of 134 10 May 2013 at 11:14pm | IP Logged | ||
I had to laugh when I read some of those terms, because when I do German work, depending on what field is involved, I could easily see those terms. I had to resort to Google images when the English equivalents didn't make sense! Vocabulary is a strange thing, because although we may not actively use that much, we tend to understand all of these seemingly obscure words (and words that don't show up frequently, but every native speaker understands). But I also agree with your other post about how even if we intellectually know a meaning of one word, it doesn't mean it has the same emotional meaning (does that make sense?) I guess ultimately that understanding just has to develop with time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5726 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 59 of 134 11 May 2013 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
I think it develops with experience rather then just time. It seems like some words link to memories, but if you say it in a foreign language they are just a bunch of sounds strung together. Maybe you need to have experiences (e.x. falling in love)in that foreign language for words to evoke feelings. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 60 of 134 18 May 2013 at 1:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Anki = 3879
Hours Studied = 36 (Total: 486) Just more reading and listening this week. No discernable breakthroughs, insights or revelations to report. I've read another 54 pages of Pinokio, semi-extensively, and watched my daily episode of Samo Życie. Plus a few radio podcasts. Caught up with my Anki reviews and had another look at the Polish numbering system from 1-4 in Colloquial Polish. I spoke with Aga on Tuesday and managed to relate a few childhood stories, like the time my brother and I were playing in the farmer's barn and fled like rats when he came to investigate. The next Sunday, my parents invited him to lunch, and my brother and I kept very quiet and well-behaved. The farmer only smiled at us, and we knew that he knew what we had been up to. The only lack in vocabulary I had in telling this story was the word "barn" (stodoła). Words of the Week Łatwowierny - "gullible" Zanurzyć perf. - "to immerse","to dip". She dipped a foot in the water ("zanurzyła stopę w wodzie") Dziób - "beak / bill" of a bird. "bow / prow" of a ship. Shut your mouth / shut your trap! = ZAMKNIJ DZIÓB! 
@ pesahson - thanks! 'Zacisnąć pasa' has the same idiomatic meaning in English too. @ FK. It strikes me that German must have some really great word amalgamations! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 61 of 134 22 May 2013 at 10:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Story of a Fool - PART 1
There was a young man... No. Let's start that again. There was a middle-aged man. He was called Jonny to his friends. One day a strange family from an exotic land moved into his village. They seemed very nice and soon they became friends with Jonny, inviting him in to taste their unusual food, and drink something that looked like water but tasted like burning diesel. They called this liquid wódka and mixed it with coke. They spoke in a soft accent like mist rising from a lake at dawn. Soon Jonny was entranced, and decided that he would imitate this language. He enjoyed the novel sensation of passing this sound through his teeth, and getting approving remarks from his new friends. Bouyed by this encouragement, he resolved to find the source of this language and master it's complexity. His friends noticed this growing obsession and anxiously tried to warn him. But Jonny continued to dabble in his new hobby and set out to find the source. He discovered that the purest essence of this knowledge was found at the top of a mountain far away. Jonny bought maps, guide books, crampons and all manner of climbing aids. Soon he was marching up the foot of the mountain, whistling with joy. Now and again he would pause to look upwards and see if he could spot the summit. But dense clouds obscured his view. "It can't be far", he said to himself. On sunny days the summit looked so close. The ground was getting steeper and the trees began to thin out. Soon the sound of birds faded and the temperature dropped. Jonny paused to make himself a cup of nice hot tea on his portable stove. As he was refreshing himself, a thin bearded man in tattered clothes stumbled past him, from the direction of the mountain. He didn't seem to notice Jonny or hear the invitation to stop and have a drink. Slowly and erratically, the man moved further down the mountain, faintly mumbling something that sounded like "Nigdy więcej. Nigdy więcej" [Never again. Never again]. Jonny felt sorry for this man, but he soon got to his feet and confidently started climbing. After many days and nights, Jonny continued to climb steadily. He had stopped whistling though. To be continued.... Edited by Mooby on 24 May 2013 at 9:07am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 62 of 134 22 May 2013 at 11:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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The Story of a Fool - PART 2
The air was crisp and cold on his face, and his tired limbs needed a rest. Jonny paused and took out his map. He realised that he was climbing in The Glossia Mountains, a range of many hundreds of mountains stretching in all directions. "I'll just have another cup of tea, and look at the map a bit longer", he thought, stretching back in the warmth of the afternoon sun. His scanned the horizon around him and identified various mountains from his map. "Oh look, isn't that one pretty" he said, searching for it's name on the sheet...."Mount Lithuania. I'd like to climb that one...Oooh, that looks interesting...what's it called....Albania....". Soon he was engrossed in reading. Night fell and Jonny still hadn't climbed an inch. He was suffering from a disease quite common at these altitudes, called 'Wanderlust', that rendered it's victims in a state of dreamy paralysis, that can last for weeks. In extreme cases it proves fatal. The cold ache in his sleepy legs told Jonny that he had to start moving to stay warm. Reluctantly, He put his binoculars and map in his backpack and stood up. He had lost his rhythm, and his body felt stiff. The mountain he was climbing was called Mount Polska, and judging by the lack of a distinct trail, not many people had climbed beyond the point where he stood. For a few moments, he didn't know what direction to take, but decided that the most direct route was the simplest - straight up. But going straight up was very slow work, and in places there was no option but to climb vertical cliffs. Jonny never had a head for heights, and he didn't enjoy traversing these rockfaces at all. His hands grew clammy and he felt dizzy, convinced he was going to fall to his doom. The map had called these features 'Grammar Exposures', and he was very relieved when he managed to get past one of them. But to his horror, there were more of these cliffs ahead. To be continued.... Edited by Mooby on 24 May 2013 at 9:10am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6103 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 63 of 134 23 May 2013 at 1:11am | IP Logged | ||
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The Story of a Fool - PART 3
"Litter!" Jonny murmered, "Even here, there's litter". He moved closer to the piece of paper flapping in the wind. But it wasn't litter. It was a handwritten note nailed to a piece of wood stuck in a crevice of rock. It read: "STOP NOW - WHILE YOU ARE STILL SANE !!" Jonny was taken aback, this message echoed what he had been thinking for a while now. Every time he thought he was in reach of the summit, it turned out to be a false summit, and the real summit was seemingly miles above and out of sight. What tortured him the most was not knowing just how far he had to go. This was the first time he had climbed a mountain, and he had no experience to draw on. During the morning, as he stubbornly inched upwards, he found other messages left by those who had gone before: "LEARN SOMETHING ELSE" "TAKE UP GOLF INSTEAD" "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO YOURSELF?" On one occasion he came across a loaded gun wrapped in a bag, the attached note said helpfully: "USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY". He started to feel his energy drain from every part of his being, like water down the plughole. He had lost all his initial enthusiasm, and had forgotten why he had started this in the first place. He found a narrow ledge, and lay down. "Look over there, at Pierre on Mount Francja" he groaned to himself. "Didn't he start at the same time as me? He must be at least 1000m above me. And Hans on Mount Germania seems to be enjoying himself. I seem to be going backwards, didn't my friends warn me this would be suicide?". With this, Jonny fell silent. He considered his options. He could just quietly give up. No-one would notice, it's not as if he had told everyone his intentions. His friends would understand, they'd even congratulate him on a magnificient effort. But Jonny knew he could not do this. He knew that if he did, he would regret it. Besides, after all the countless days of effort he hated the idea of going back down. If the lure from the summit had temporarily lost it's power to draw him upwards, the terror of going downwards was now a sufficient motivator to keep going. He got up, yet again, he got up. At that moment, his heart leapt. He wasn't alone! There was a figure above him, patiently climbing. It looked like a girl and she had caught sight of him now. She waved and Jonny was sure she was smiling. He heard her voice calling, telling him her name. 'Amery..' something. '..Kanka'. He wasn't sure, but the effect was galvanising. "I'm coming", he shouted. He scrambled up and found himself in a sheltered place with spectacular views. Jonny was breathtaken. He had been so accustomed to climbing with his nose an inch away from the rocks, that he hadn't appreciated the view before. New hope came flooding over him, he began to realise the great progress he had made and now he was reaping a few rewards. "There's still a long way to go", he thought "but I can do this. I know I can". He unhitched his backpack and took out a pen. He left a note of his own, a rewording of something he'd heard before: "FOOLS DARE WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD" He's gone. Jonny is out of sight above us, but on a still day when the wind is subdued you might just hear his whistling. THE END Edited by Mooby on 23 May 2013 at 1:19am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 64 of 134 23 May 2013 at 2:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Awesome story! I thought the bit about seeing other mountains in the distance was really funny. I'm glad
Jonny didn't give up, and I'm thrilled at my brief appearance. However, if Jonny is really doing that well, he's probably passed me by now. Well, now I'm off to update my log! I have some Polish studies to report for once. (Lately I've been so busy climbing other mountains that I haven't had much time for Mount Polska.) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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