NAMES OF MEALS IN POLISH

Nothing reflects the changes that have occurred in the Polish reality in the past 25 years better than the names of meals and the way we use them these days.

O KTÓREJ JECIE OBIAD? TRADITIONAL RHYTHM OF HAVING MEALS IN POLAND
This question comes up surprisingly often in Polish classes. The answer is not that obvious since it largely depends on our lifestyle and where we live. Traditionally Poles start their day with śniadanie (breakfast), around 10.30am they have their drugie śniadanie (second breakfast), which is usually a sandwich. Then comes obiad (lunch/dinner) eaten between 2 and 3pm (main meal of the day, usually consisting of two courses), children sometimes have podwieczorek (equivalent of tea) around 5pm, and that is a sweet snack before the last meal of the day, i.e. kolacja (dinner/supper) which is eaten around 7pm. Kolacja usually consists of one course and is definitely lighter than obiad and, depending on the season of the year, may be served cold or hot. The most important śniadanie (breakfast) of the year is, of course, the Easter breakfast (more information here), and the most formal kolacja (dinner/supper) is Wigilia, i.e. Christmas Eve dinner/supper (more on that here).
The model śniadanie - drugie śniadanie - obiad - (podwieczorek) – kolacja is a traditional one and is still followed by children, young people, unemployed adults and those living in small towns.

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ANGLICISMS IN NAMES OF MEALS
People living in large cities, studying or working from 9am to 5pm have obiad after work, and in the middle of the day they have ... lunch. The rhythm of meals and their times are similar to those in other countries. Śniadanie in the morning, lunch at midday and obiad early in the evening. With such a daily routine the noun kolacja is reserved for special occasions (kolacja służbowa - business dinner, kolacja romantyczna - romantic dinner) or refers to a meal eaten around 9pm (which is much less common in Poland than in southern countries). On days off, weekends, Polish middle class in larger cities has brunch, which is a late śniadanie or early lunch, usually eaten in restaurants or bistros (more on eating places here).

                      jem śniadanie, obiad, kolację. Check here the conjugation of the verb JEŚĆ (to eat)

Interestingly, even the Poles living in large cities give up on the Western European tradition in order to meet relatives for dinner on Sunday at 2pm (during which rosół, i.e. traditional chicken soup, is served) or to eat out together. Do you know now why restaurants in Poland are crowded on Sunday afternoons?

COMMUNICATION CONFUSION WITH KOMUNIKACJA

KOMUNIKACJA IN POLISH MEANS...

Today we’ll be talking about komunikacja, since this little word may easily confuse foreigners learning Polish.
Everything is fine as long as we are talking about komunikacja meaning the process of communicating, exchanging information or ideas. In this case the meaning of the word is crystal clear and even a beginner student of Polish does not see any difficulty or a catch here.

KOMUNIKACJA MEANING COMMUNICATION

There is komunikacja telefoniczna (telephone communication), mailowa (email) or internetowa (Internet), and listowna (through letters), which used to be popular in the past. We use  the word komunikacja with an adjective describing the means that enable information sharing and exchanging ideas. We can also use the preposition przez (through, by, over) and then we say kominukacja przez telefon, komunikatory, media społecznościowe (social media) or Internet. Remember that przez is followed by a noun in the accusative form.

WHAT LINKS KOMUNIKACJA AND TRANSPORT

However, the second meaning of the word causes surprise. Komunikacja in Polish also means movement consisting in maintaining the connection between two spots located within some distance from each other by various means of transport. There is komunikacja miejska (city/public transport), i.e. buses, trams, underground etc., podmiejska (suburban), connecting a city with its suburbs, międzymiastowa (intercity, literally: between cities) or międzynarodowa (international; from one country to another).  Therefore, a person who says they enjoy using komunikacja miejska on the way to work or their language course does not want to inform us about the ways of communicating with co-workers or classmates but to tell us that they get around by bus, tram or underground (Polish: jeździć autobusem, tramwajem, metrem; check here for conjugation of the verb jeździć).
And stała komunikacja między Warszawą a Poznaniem (regular connection between Warsaw and Poznań) means regular trains, for exmple, between these cities.
As you can see, good kominikacja always makes life easier.

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