December 28, 2014

Polish slang and colloquial speech: Lesson 1: Jebać

JĘZYK POLSKI: Slang i mowa potoczna.
POLISH LANGUAGE: Slang and colloquial speech.


CZĘŚĆ 1: JEBAĆ/PART 1: JEBAĆ


Pierwszym słowem, o którym będziemy mówić, jest wulgaryzm “jebać”  Słowo to, znaczy wiele rzeczy i może zmieniać swoje znaczenie zależnie od tego, czy zostaje do niego dodany jakiś prefiks. Słowo to może też należeć do różnych części mowy, tzn. może być czasownikiem, przymiotnikiem jak i rzeczownikiem. Podam kilka form tego słowa jak również parę zdań, żeby pokazać jego użycie w kontekście.


The first word that we’re gonna talk about is a vulgarism “jebać”. This word can mean many things and it can change its meaning depending on if there is any prefix attached to it. It can also belong to different parts of speech, that means that it can be a verb, a noun as well as an adjective. I will list a few variations of this word together with few sentences to show the usage of the word in context.


CZASOWNIK/VERB:


JEBAĆ COŚ/KOGOŚ:, to not care about something/somebody, to fuck/screw something/somebody (not literally).


“Krzysiek nie pojawił się na moich urodzinach. Jebać go! Mam też innych przyjaciół”
Chris didn’t show up on my birthday. Fuck/Screw him! I have other friends too!”


Jebać to! Nie będę czytał tej książki”
“Fuck/Screw this! I won’t be reading this book!”


PRZYJEBAĆ KOMUŚ: to hit somebody, punch somebody


“Mam ci przyjebać?!”
“Do you want get punched?!”


“Jeżeli on nie przestanie mnie obrażać, to mu po prostu przyjebię!”
“If he doesn’t stop offending me, I’m gonna punch him!


ZAJEBAĆ COŚ/KOGOŚ: to steal something, to kill somebody/fuck somebody up


“Ktoś zajebał mi telefon, jak go znajdę to go zajebię!”
“Somebody stole my phone, when I find him I’m gonna fuck him up!


PODJEBAĆ: steal (secretly)


Podjebałem mu trochę fajek, ponieważ zapomniałem wziąć swoich z domu”
I took a few of his cigs, because I forgot to take mine with me”


WYJEBAĆ KOGOŚ/KOMUŚ: to kick somebody out of somewhere, to punch somebody


“Jeżeli nie przestaniesz krzyczeć to cię stąd wyjebię!
“If you won’t stop screaming, I will kick you out of here!”


“Zaraz ci wyjebię, ty głupi chuju!”
“I’m gonna punch you soon, you stupid dickhead!


UJEBAĆ SIĘ: make yourself dirty


“Mama mnie zajebie jeżeli ujebię te spodnie”
“My mom will murder me, if I make those those pants dirty!”


NAJEBAĆ SIĘ: to get drunk


“Mój brat nigdy by się nie najebał
“My brother would never get really drunk”


PRZYMIOTNIK/ADJECTIVE:


JEBANY: fucking, dumb, stupid
“Gdzie jest ta jebana książka?! Szukam jej już cały dzień!”
“Where is this fucking book?! I’m looking for it whole day!”


POJEBANY: fucked up, dumb, stupid (more about living things)
“Jaki ten pies jest pojebany. Szczeka bez powodu”
This dog is so stupid. He barks without a reason”


PRZYJEBANY: a little less fucked up, dumb, stupid (very difficult to translate and differentiate from the prior expression)


“Ten nowy koleś jest trochę przyjebany, jakby by był na haju cały czas”
“This new guy is a little bit fucked up/weird, as if he was high all the time”


UJEBANY: dirty


“Coś ty taki ujebany?”
“Why are you so dirty?”


NAJEBANY: drunk


“Byłem tak najebany, że nie wiedziałem jak się nazywam”
“I was so drunk, that I didn’t know what my name was”


Na pewno istnieje więcej form i możliwości użycia tego słowa, z którymi mogę nie być zapoznany. Powyższe formy, to te których sam używam najczęściej. Myślę że są one najbardziej powszechne w mowie potocznej.

There are definitely more variations of this word, with which I might be not so well acquainted. The above expressions are ones that I use myself (yes, I curse a lot) and I think that they are most common in colloquial speech.


Proszę żebyście nie przesadzali z używaniem tych słów, gdyż są one naprawdę wulgarne i powinny być używany tylko w nieformalnych sytuacjach.


Please, do not overuse those words, since they are really vulgar and should be used only in informal situations.

May 9, 2014

Feeling fullfilled in language learning...what?

Hello people!

Today I am writing from a school library, because my life took unexpectable turn, and I completely forgot about the fact that my first lesson will star earlier plus that it will take place somewhere else.
It's cool though because I can reflect upon my life, finish some papers (if I have any) and in addition to that I can write a post that I have been planing on writing a very long time.

Sometimes I feel like a cheater when it comes to language learning. All of my languages are very similar to the languages I already know, so when I say to some people "I am learning Norwegian" they just look at me weirdly like "Learning Norwegian is easy when you know Swedish you loser" and then I am starting to think that I don't feel like I accomplished anything "nice".  I am not thinking about suprising other people, but I would like to surpise myself. Prove to myself that I can learn Xhosa, Arabic or Monolian and I think that I will have to learn some very "foreign" language to really satisfy my "linguistic needs"

But wait...

In this post I will try to prove to myself (and you too, if you need that encouragement) that no matter what language you are studying - it still takes time and hard work

Norwegian isn't easy. It isn't easy for me because my Swedish completely interferes with it. I still have to learn new words, listen and struggle to get to the point when I can really say that I speak Norwegian. Right now, I speak Swedish with many Norwegian words (Not other way around) and it will take time untill I will acquire a good pronunciation so people won't think that I speak Swedish (It has taken place when I spoke with one person on Skype. She thought that I was speaking Swedish, when it actually was my broken Norwegian drowned in overly melodic Swedish accent). Maybe I shouldn't be so self-conscious and just notice that I am definitely working hard and I don't need to study Latin to prove it. Easy language, hard language - bullshit! EVERY LANGUAGE takes time to learn and I finally understood it.

If you ever feel like a cheater or somebody who doesn't work as hard as others because you learn the "easy" languages, think about those who never learn a language...

I hope that this post will give you something to think about. I don't care that my languages are all similar. Even better...I will learn all of the Germanic languages and then Slavic too, so take that you dumb and incompetent brain of mines!



May 3, 2014

1 Week and 3 Days Into My Challenge – Results...

The sun is shining brightly, birds are singing and welcoming summer into the cold and windy Sweden. You could guess that I am enjoying myself outside with my friends and a cold Coca-Cola that is burning my stomach, but in reality I also studied languages, and I am pretty happy with the results.

Since Add1Challenge has ended, I realized that I am currently not studying any language in particular, so I decided to start a new challenge, that I wrote about in the previous post. After 1 week and 3 days of some work I am ready to give you some insight into the process.

What I have done so far with my target languages – German and Swedish – is quite satisfying, and even though I didn't do my best, I am pretty content with the development of my language skills.

Since my challenge has started, I have read two BIG books in Swedish, namely „Korpens Sang” by Per Nilsson and „Kattoga” by Margaret Atwood (English title is „Cat's Eye”) and I have done some pretty intensive listening by sitting through a two hour long audition broadcasted on Swedish radio and then doing it again, but only for ¼ of the time. When it comes to German, I have done significantly less, because I only watched some videos in the language and wrote a short text.

Results?

I noticed small changes in my vocabulary and maybe even pronunciation when I speak Swedish – success. Now it's time for German, in which I haven't noticed any significant change...

That's all there is to it. I am currently preparing myself for the inevitable, namely, recording of a video completely in Swedish and I am really not happy with the idea, but I know that I have to do it already, so I will have to plan it out or something. It will appear on my YT channel soon.

Thanks for reading and keep following my journey.  I will maybe post something less babbly and more informative soon. Stay tuned!

April 16, 2014

My 2014 language challenge - German and Swedish

Exams approaching quickly, Polyglot Gathering is only 2 months away, meanwhile my languages are on a very low levels. After wondering, thinking and cursing under my breath I decided NOT to learn any new language before the Polyglot Gathering, but to work on my current languages, so I can use them correctly and confidently when this big event arrives...

Yesterday I planned a new challenge that will start today and end in three months...yeah, after the Gathering, but it doesn't matter.

Languages I am going to study are my worst languages: Swedish and German.

SWEDISH

I live in Sweden, I go to a school here and I use this language a lot...but I still think that there is something missing in my Swedish...and that's why I set these particular goals for this language:

- Improve on my pronunciation and learn Gothenburg dialect (I live in Gothenburg).
- Increase my vocabulary, so I won't have many problems with reading more complicated texts about biology, history and other subjects that I am probably going to need to understand for school.
- Reach C1 or C2 level (Not very important, but it would be nice).

GERMAN

I am studying German on a quite high level for somebody who's been learning this language  for only 8 months. My teacher told me that I can write our final exam on a lower level and repeat the level I am at right now next year, but I want to finish this god damned level and get a good grade. That's why I would like to improve on my German. Also in June I am heading to Berlin for Gathering and I really want to be able to function in German as best as I can, so this is a good motivating factor...

My goals are:

- Improve on my listening comprehension so I can understand more than a half of what's said on the radio.
- Get more confident. Practice speaking so even if I lack vocab, I can still speak confidently.
- Increase my vocabulary so I can read newspapers with a good level of understanding. If I could read books by Anne Rice and understand them, then I would be even happier.
- Maybe reach B2 level...it would be nice...and it seems possible..

I am going to do a journal in which I will be writing everyday about what I did, what I learned and waht I would like to learn next. I am going to write in the respective languages.

Main tasks are going to be based on using languages rather than „learning” grammar rules. With Swedish I will listen, read novels, speak with my friends and do some writing, while with German I will do the same stuff but I will also study a little bit of grammar because I lack some skills there...

That's it! I will try to update you on YT, but I don't know how often. It would be nice to do a public challeng so people can watch and follow my journey. I'll figure something out soon.

Bye!

April 12, 2014

Am I losing my mother tongue?!

Hello people!
The first REAL post on this blog is going to be about a problem that I encountered quite recently. Simply, I realized that when I am speaking Polish (my mother tongue), I am making horrible mistakes when it comes to syntax and even declensions. Before I came to Sweden in 2011, I knew fluently only one language. Now, I am quite fluent in 3 and I can communicate in another 2. Also since then English became my first-second language and I am using it more than Swedish, even though I live in Sweden.

I can't say that my Polish is bad. I am quite educated with big enough vocabulary to not sound dumb, but since few months, I started to make mistakes that I would never make before. This is creepy and I need to consider improving on my Polish.

It was long ago I watched something in Polish or even listened to radio. My day is simply full of any other languages and my daily "language schedule" looks like this:

- School: Swedish, English, German, occasionally Serbian or Russian.
- Home: Some Polish with my mom, English, Swedish, German, Norwegian, Serbian and many others while using internet (listening, chatting, watching stuff and writing blogs)
- Outside: Some Polish with one of my friends, English and Swedish with everybody else (more English actually)

This little "schedule" shows that Polish is the language I am using least. Does that mean that I am slowly "losing" it and that in a few years I'll be speaking like Yoda? Maybe...

I think it is time to improve on my poor and abandoned Polish. How could I ever let it happen?!
My mission for this week, since I have holidays, is to read at least one challenging book in Polish. A book that will teach me something new and that is written in some harder language. I have few of those on my shelf, so only reading is left.

I hope you enjoyed reading this horrible, literal failure. I would like to get better at writing but I keep standing in one place and I don't see any improvements. This blog is slowly going to hell and I don't know if I can do anything about it.

Peace...






March 16, 2014

Hello...again!

I don't know why I keep changing my blog the whole time, but I am bad at these things and I became quite frustrated with Wordpress, so I decided to put my blog here on Blogger once again.

If you are not familiar with this blog then I will explain everything to you:

My name is Leszek and I am 17 years old. My main hobby is learning languages and on this blog I would like to write about languages in general. If you have some time, come by and feel free to comment!

My Wordpress version of this blog:  http://leszekslanguages.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!