Sport is one of the most popular topics among the participants of our Polish language courses. Within its context, however, several verbs appear, which often causes confusion. The students are already familiar with the verb ćwiczyć (to exercise/work out) and they know that one can ćwiczyć at a gym or a fitness club, but this word may also be used with regard to the issues related to the work of the brain. Therefore, we can ćwiczyć mówienie po polsku (practise speaking Polish), ćwiczyć gramatykę
robiąc ćwiczenia gramatyczne (practise grammar through doing grammar exercises) lub ćwiczyć rozwiązywanie zadań matematycznych (practise solving mathematical problems, e.g. before an exam). However, when we talk about specific sport disciplines (sailing, basketball, volleyball, skating etc.) we need another verb.
JAKI SPORT UPRAWIASZ? WHAT CAN YOU UPRAWIAĆ IN POLISH?
First of all, in Polish we never do sports (nie robimy sportu), but we cultivate / practise it (uprawiamy go). We use the same form when referring to specific disciplines when we want to emphasise that they are present in our lives on a regular basis. Obviously, you can say that you play basketball (gramy w koszykówkę) but if you spend half of your spare time on a basketball court, saying uprawiam koszykówkę (I practise / cultivate basketball) is more adequate (gram w siatkówkę - uprawiam siatkówkę; pływam - uprawiam pływanie; jeżdżę na nartach - uprawiam narciarstwo, żegluję - uprawiam żeglarstwo etc.). In the Polish language you can also uprawiać jogę, pilates, body balance, lekkoatletykę, but also...seks. You can check here for the other contexts in which you can use this verb and for its inflection.
VERBS PRAKTYKOWAĆ AND TRENOWAĆ IN A POLISH LESSON
When talking about sport, foreigners learning Polish ask about the verbs trenować (to train) and praktykować (to practise). Both of these forms are very easy to memorise, they have similarly-sounding equivalents in other languages, and as a consequence, they are particularly commonly used by the foreigners. Well … here is where a problem comes in, since in the Polish language these verbs can be used only in strictly defined contexts. We can trenować do triathlonu, maratonu, trenować boks lub karate – that is intensively practise (ćwiczyć), because the specificity of the sport or the fact that we are (semi) professionals requires it.
In the Polish language we practise (praktykujemy) yoga, Zen, Buddhism or any other religion – this verb thus relates to activities staying rather within the spiritual sphere, it indicates exercise but at the mental level (by saying ćwiczę jogę we concentrate on the aspect of performing physical exercise and not on the spiritual sphere).
In summary, to have a good command of the Polish language it is necessary to dużo ćwiczyć (practise a lot) and here uprawianie sportu (doing / cultivating sports) in a group with Polish colleagues can turn out really helpful. Furthermore, sportowe treningi (sports trainings) should be supported by praktyka medytacji (meditation practice) so that our brains will be ready to absorb a greater amount of knowledge during the Polish language courses.
