SUMMER POLISH COURSES – HOLIDAY ADVENTURE :)

SUMMER COURSE OF POLISH OR LYING ON THE BEACH?
Holiday time. Wherever we look, we see advertisements of travel agencies, golden sand on the seashore and exotic places, so it’s no surprise that many people are tempted to spend their holiday in those places. Foreigners are faced with a dilemma, too: sunny beach holiday or a course of Polish? If you decide to attend a summer intensive course of Polish (for more information on courses at Po Polsku check here), you definitely won’t regret it.

Summer Polish courses (at Po Polsku) are a real language adventure for foreigners:)

LEARN AND PRACTICE
Why is it a good idea to spend part of your holiday learning Polish in Poland?
First of all, you’re learning the language, its conjugations and declension, and at the same time you can use the learnt expressions and phrases on the spot. After a class on ordering a meal at a restaurant you can take a sit in one of the numerous restaurant or cafe gardens, in Nowy Świat in Warsaw, for instance, and test your knowledge of Polish. It’s much better than any homework, however interesting it would be :)
Secondly, the courses are usually run in the morning. After that you have time to go to a museum, cinema, concert or see the city, e.g. Warsaw, together with your teacher, classmates or on your own, as you wish.

WEEKEND TRIPS IN POLAND
Thirdly, you can spend a weekend in one of the Polish regions famous for their tourist attractions. Your teacher will definitely recommend some interesting places to you if you ask for advice. Should you want to learn more about the Baltic seaside or Warmia and Masuria, here is where you can find more information on those.
Fourthly, nowhere else will you be able to try such delicious Polish cuisine, rich in original dishes, both simple and more sophisticated ones.
Fifthly, Poland and Polish people are known for their hospitality and cordiality. You will be able to find out for yourself whether it is true, or just a nice stereotype. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed.

We hope we have managed to encourage you to enrol on a summer Polish course.

CLASSROOM, COURSE AND LESSON, OR LEARNING THE POLISH LANGUAGE

POLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS IN SPRING
Spring is an awakening after winter, it means new energy and new plans. Among resolutions there start to appear things like going on a diet, doing sports or starting a Polish course at a good language school. After such a beginning we can proudly say later that we are attending a polish language course or we can excuse ourselves saying: nie mogę się spotkać, bo mam klasę polskiego. Wait a minute!!! Klasę języka polskiego? Yes, this mistake is made quite often. Let us make it clear, step by step, what the difference between klasa - kurs – lekcja is.

INTERESTING LESSONS AND COURSES IN BUSINESS POLISH
Klasa, simply means a room where a lesson (e.g. of the Polish language) takes place or a group of people of (more or less) the same age learning together for several years in the same primary school, gymnasium or high school. That is actually why we say mam zjazd mojej klasy maturalnej. As for the first context, it appears most frequently in sentences like: jestem już w klasie; czekam na ciebie w klasie; wejdź do klasy, w klasie było 10 uczniów. Lekcja is just a single unit (that usually lasts 45 or 60 minutes) which is part of a course. Kurs can be an individual or a group one. We have  intensive courses or regular ones, standard or concentrated on a specialist vocabulary (e.g., business Polish). Every time, however, it refers to a total of lessons which have a concrete goal, duration and frequency.

We say therefore: chodzę na kurs (języka) polskiego; mam kurs (języka) polskiego; mam lekcje (języka) polskiego; uczęszczam na kurs (języka) polskiego; miałam interesującą lekcję o narzędniku; zrobiłem kurs "Polski w biznesie" w Po Polsku. 

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PARTIES AND BALLS, OR ON TERMINOLOGY FOR SOCIAL GATHERINGS IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE

NEW YEAR`S RESOLUTION – POLISH LANGUAGE LESSONS
The beginning of the year is a time not only to think of New Year’s resolutions (perhaps one of them will be a Polish language course), but also to take full advantage of carnival. It is also a good opportunity to discuss, in the framework of learning Polish, what all kinds of social gatherings are called in Polish. Let’s start with carnival.

BALLS, PARTIES, RECEPTIONS – HOW DO THEY DIFFER?
Bal is of course an elegant, very formal, social gathering with gourmet food and dancing and where you are obliged to follow a formal dress code. In contrast to the French language, the Polish bal refers only to formal social gatherings. If a gathering has an informal character: with casual clothes and quite spontaneous rules of functioning, it is just called impreza. Impreza – depending on what we are celebrating, has still other names, but more on that in a moment. However, not every formal gathering with music and elegant clothes is bal. If an event takes place at an embassy and the participating guests are officially invited and are required to wear formal gowns, there is music (but then again without dancing) and a glass of champagne (or good wine), it is called przyjęcie. Obviously, such a reception can take place at any other institution or a private house.

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NAMES FOR INFORMAL PARTIES (IMPREZY) - PARAPETÓWKI AND PĘPKOWE
Let’s return, however, to somewhat less formal gatherings. If a party (impreza) is organised on the night of the 31st of December and 1st of January, we call it sylwester (from saint Sylwester, whose name day falls on that night); we also have urodziny (when we celebrate the event of someone’s birth a given number of years ago) and imieniny. The latter type of a party is a Polish speciality. The older we get, the more we prefer to celebrate our imieniny instead of urodziny that expose our age:). We celebrate our imieniny on a day that in catholic calendar falls on the saint’s day whose name we bear. The celebration itself has no religious character whatsoever. Impreza on the occasion of moving to another house is called parapetówka (from the word parapet, presumably, to stress the fact that at the new place there are still many things missing and therefore the windowsill has a more important function than usual); impreza during which a fledgling father celebrates with his pals the birth of his child is called pępkowe (from the word pępek - a navel); pre-wedding parties for women and men are called  wieczór panieński (a hen night) and kawalerski (a stag night), respectively; a Christmas gathering is called opłatek  - a communion wafer (from the act of sharing a communion wafer with each other), and a get-together just before Easter is often called caressingly jajeczko - small egg (from the custom of sharing an with each other a boiled egg). Impreza taking place on the day of sint Andrew is a popular party called andrzejki (it’s an occasion for telling fortune, and for those who are more religious, it’s the last opportunity to dance before the approaching Advent), and the ostatki - literally it means remains or leftovers -  (or zapusty) is the last chance for some carnival fun before Lent (fasting period in preparation for Easter) comes.

As you can see, with or without religion in the background, there are a whole lot of opportunities for a pleasant celebration. Find the time for it between your Polish language lessons. All the best in the New Year!!!

MIGRATING "SIĘ", OR A VERY FLEXIBLE POLISH PHRASE :)

WHERE SHOULD SELF (SIĘ) FIND ITSELF? ;) 
A simple question with an equally simple answer it would seem, but then again very often asked during the Polish language courses. Students are quite concerned with the fact that they hear the reflexive pronoun się in different parts of a sentence. Is it possible that the position of this pronoun is … random? Well,… very often… it is. It mainly applies to questions. We can say jak się pani nazywa? and jak pani się nazywa? (literally how do you call yourself, lady/miss?) and still, both questions are correct! There is no difference between: jak się pan czuje? and  jak pan się czuje? (literally how do you feel yourself, sir/mister?); gdzie znajduje się centrum? and gdzie się znajduje centrum? (literally where does the centre find itself meaning where is the centre located); dlaczego się jeszcze nie umyłeś? and dlaczego nie umyłeś się jeszcze? (literally why haven’t you washed yourself yet); gdzie się tak przeziębiłeś? and gdzie tak się przeziębiłeś? (literally where have you caught yourself a cold).

POSITION OF SIĘ IN A POLISH SENTENCE. ARE THERE ANY RULES?
Yes, there are rules. In principle, we should use się neither at the beginning of a sentence nor after a preposition. Accordingly, the question z się czego pan śmieje? doesn’t make sense. Instead, it should sound z czego się pan śmieje? or z czego pan się śmieje? (meaning what are you laughing at, sir/mister?). In affirmative sentences it’s best to position się just behind the verb (Obejrzałam się za siebie – I looked behind; Rozgadał się strasznie – He rambled on and on; Nasłuchał się głupot – He heard a lot of nonsense; Umówiła się ze mną na dworcu – She arranged to meet me at the station etc.). The pronoun się can be found at the end of a sentence if this sentence consists of a predicate only, for instance: Napijesz się? (Do you care for a drink?); Rozpadało się (It started to rain); Wypogodziło się (It [the sky] cleared up); Odsuń się (literally Back yourself off); Pogodziliśmy się (We made it up); Pokłóciliśmy się (We had a row).

SIĘ AND COLLOQUIAL POLISH PHRASES
It might happen that you hear się at…the beginning of a sentence. If you want to emphasise that a situation is very complicated and that it’s going to be hard to deal with it, you can say Się porobiło (literally It has done itself); someone’s ridiculous comment we disapprove of we can sum up (with a dose of sarcasm) Się wypowiedział (literally He expressed himself); to vigorously express your engagement and pride in something, we can use a phrase Się pomaga! (literally It helps itself! meaning I’m helping here). However, from point of view of grammar, these phrases are incorrect and they are chiefly used in informal, spoken language. Time will tell if such expressions will be incorporated into the Polish language for good, or if they are just a passing fad.

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NAMES OF VEGETABLES AND FRUIT IN POLISH

WHERE DOES THE WORD ZIEMNIAK (POTATO) COME FROM?

With spring in bloom it’s time to talk about fruit and vegetables, which effectively diversity our diet. Participants of Polish courses are pleased to hear that many of the names of fruit have been incorporated into the Polish language with virtually no changes: awokado, ananas, banan, figa, kaki, kiwi, just to name a few. However, as you can see, those are exotic fruit (from the Polish point of view), which are not grown in Poland. The well known and generally liked ziemniaki are a different case, though. Their Polish name is nothing other than the translated German "der erdapfel" (apple of the earth), or the French "pomme de terre". In both versions the noun ziemia (earth) appears. We’d like to remind you that depending on the part of Poland you are in, you eat ziemniaki  (nationwide), kartofle (the form often used in the south of Poland), or pyry (Wielkopolska or Silesia).

IMMIGRANTS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

Some of the vegetables are successfully grown in Poland now, and when using their names we don’t even realize how far they came here from. Who would have thought that melon is derived from the Greek "melopepon" (soft apple) and arbuz comes from the Turkish word "karpuz" (which was borrowed from the Persian language – "charpuz"). Bakłażan is a similar case, it is derived from the Turkish word "badenjan". It’s worth noting that in the past another word was used to name this tasty vegetable: oberżyna (from the Catalan "alberginia", which, in turn, was borrowed from the Arabic "al badinjan").

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ITALIAN FRIENDS, OR NAMES OF VEGETABLES OF ITALIAN ORIGIN

It is our Italian cousins , however, that make up the largest family. Students of Polish, especially those from Italy, are astonished to see how many Polish names of vegetables sound almost the same as their Italian equivalents. Kalafior – cavolfiore, fasola – fagioli, karczoch – carciofo, pomidor – pomodoro, szpinak – spinacio, cukinia – zucchina, brokuł – brocco, i.e. sprout, etc. We owe the existence of those words in Polish to an Italian aristocrat Bona Sforza, who became the queen of Poland in the 16th century, and introduced the custom of planting vegetables that had been unknown in Poland before. It soon turned out that they easily adapted to the cool climate we have here. And that is probably the reason why a bunch of vegetables (carrot, celery root, leek, parsley) used to make homemade broth is commonly known as ... włoszczyzna (from Włochy, Polish word for Italy).

PIJĘ KAKAO W CARACAS, OR ON UNINFLECTED NOUNS IN THE POLISH LANGUAGE

DOES THE NOUN KAKAO INFLECT?
We have good news for students of Polish struggling with declension! There are nouns in the Polish language that do not inflect! Those are loanwords that end in – ao, - oa, - i, -u, among which the most common ones are kakao, euro, awokado, alibi, salami, graffiti, kiwi. There are also some, such as boa, rodeo, makao, igloo, okapi, tabu, guru, emu, kakadu or karibu that do not appear that often in everyday conversations. As you can see, they are mostly names of exotic (from the Polish perspective) plants and animals, and their endings do not have analogical forms in Polish declensions. The word kakao is especially worth mentioning, since, unfortunately, the Poles quite often try to inflect it. Let us repeat: the noun kakao DOES NOT inflect (nie piję kakao, marzę o gorącym kakao, tiramisu z kakao etc.).

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UNINFLECTED WORDS BORROWED FROM FRENCH
The words borrowed from French stressed on the last syllable, such as jury, menu,tournée, attaché, atelier or etui make up a separate category of uninflected nouns. Consequently, we say: Rozmawiamy o menu na przyjęcie (We are discussing the menu for the reception); Przez wiele lat zasiadał w jury (He was a member of the jury for years); Napisaliśmy list do attaché wojskowego (We wrote a letter to the military attache); Pracuje w swoim małym atelier (He works in his small atelier); Wrócił z tournee dookoła świata (He has returned from the tour around the world); Okulary były w etui (The glasses were in the case).

UNINFLECTED NAMES OF CITIES AND COUNTRIES
Geography also pleasantly surprises us in terms of uninflected nouns, since there is a fairly large group of names of cities, countries and regions which are not subject to Polish declensions. Baku, Oslo, Caracas, Los Angeles, Ułan Bator, Kilimandżaro, Ohio, Bordeaux and Kongo are examples of those. So, the next time you eat awokado, perhaps somewhere in Baku, think warmly of the Polish declension :)