Polish Language Blog

Today I wanted to share with you some of to books and games I use to teach my daughter Polish.

I talk to her in Polish all the time. So it is not really specifically teaching as much as just living your everyday life and doing what you normally would do with your kids, except you do it in Polish.

My husband learns a lot while he listens to us or when he plays with us…so these books are really not only for kids, but also for adults.

Take a look at the video  with books and games I describe.

Simple “dictionary type” books are probably the easiest to buy and there is usually a big choice of them. I have two books that were given to me by someone from Poland. They have simple words in both Polish and English:

“Słownik obrazkowy angielski” Anna Wiśniewska, Joanna Myjak

“Dzieci uczą się angielskiego” Centrum Edukacji Dziecięcej

I found a really nice book here in the States as well:

“Open Sesame”. It has Sesame Street characters and it is like a dictionary as well. It gives you every day life words in both Polish and English.

I use a lot of board books to make them “my own bilingual books”. They usually have big pictures with simple words. I just write the name of the word in Polish as well. I usually use a different color pen, so it’s not confusing. I do it with books, puzzles and games. Really easy and fun:)

Two bilingual books that I mentioned in the video are:

“Bezpieczne miejsce małej małpki” (Little monkey’s one safe place) Richard Edwards, Susan Winter

“Wars i Sawa” Katarzyna Małkowska

I also mentioned 3 books that are in Polish only, but I thought they were great.

These 2 come with the music cd and rymes are great for teaching games and exercising with kids:

“Rymowane zabawianki, masażyki i kołysanki” by different authors

“Rymowana gimnastyka dla smyka” by different authors as well

And the last one is “Książeczka – wycieczka po miastach i miasteczkach” Eliza Piotrowska.

This one has short rhymes about different cities in Poland and next to each rhyme there is a picture with map of Poland and it shows where the  particular city is situated.

If you have different ideas and different books you like, please share it with us in comments below.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

It is so true! I live in New Hampshire and last week we had beautiful 80 degree weather for few days…today it  is snowing!

There are so many great Polish sayings about different months that I decided to post a blog just about months and things associated with it every month. So today’s blog is about March.

The word “March” (Marzec) comes from the Roman “Martius”. This was originally the first month of the Roman calendar and was named after Mars, the god of war (Bóg wojny Mars).

March was the beginning of the calendar year. We changed to the “new style” in 1752, and it is only since then when the year began on January 1st.

In Poland weather gets nicer, you can see signs of spring sometimes, although nights are still pretty cold and a lot of times you can experience snow one day and sunny 70 degree weather the next.

March 21st is the official first day of spring!

Here are some popular Polish sayings about March:

W marcu jak w garncu. (in March as in a pot – means a little bit of everything)

Suchy marzec, mokry maj, będzie żytko jako gaj. (dry March, wet May will make rye grow beautiful)

Marzec odmienia wiatry, deszcz miesza z pogodą, więc nie dziw, jeśli starzy czują go ze szkodą. (March is changing winds, mixes weather, so do not be surprised if older people don’t like it)

Czasem marzec tak się podsadzi, że dwa kożuchy oblec nie zawadzi. (weather in March sometimes can be so cold, that it will not hurt to put two coats on – kożuch means sheepskin coat)

Źle się w marcu urodzić, bo trudno takiemu dogodzić. (It is bad to be born in March, it is difficult to accommodate such)

Kiedy twa ma rodzić rola, to wóź w marcu gnój na pola. (when your fields are ready for the yields,  you need to get some manure on the fields in March)

Słońce marcowe, owocom niezdrowe. (Sun in March, fruits unhealthy)

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

Polish grandmother: babcia, babunia, baba, babka….Which one of these word is correct one to use? Well, each one of them. It just depends on your relation to “her” and the situation.

“Babcia” is the most popular and this form is used the most in Poland. I noticed that a lot people in USA say: “babciu” or “babci”. Both are correct, but “babciu” is used merely as an endearing way to say it to your Grandmother, if you are close to her and speaking to her directly.

Kocham cię babciu! – I love you grandmother

“Babci” on the other hand you use when you for example say:

Jadę do mojej babci - I’m driving to my grandmother

To jest sweter babci – This is babcia’s sweater

“Babunia” is another word for Grandmother.  “Babunia” is only used when speaking to children about their beloved Babcia in an endearing manner, however, that is not her title.  Grandmother’s title is still “Babcia“, it is only used in a sentence like “Your babunia is coming over today for dinner” – Twoja babunia przychodzi na kolację. Babunia is also used a lot in the children stories and books.

“Baba” is usually used by toddlers, who can not pronounce “babcia”. It also means “old lady” or “woman” (not a nice description of a woman though – for example “głupia baba” – stupid woman). It is usually an insult, unless spoken by a little baby.

“Babka” is similar – rude way, usually used if you do not like your grandmother, used sometimes by teenagers in the conversations with their friends. (It is also a name for a specific Polish cake).

I think it is better to just stay away from baba and babka, because if you use them incorrectly, you are being very rude.

Then there are also other words used by people: busha, babusza, busia, buba, bubi, bousha…which are not correct according to Polish grammar.

Some people are going to read this and adamantly argue that the words I stated above which were the correct way to say “Grandmother” are not true because in their Polish American families they use the other words which I explained were not the correct way.  However, there is another history and linguistics lesson in this.

I would encourage anyone to look in an English-Polish Dictionary to see what is written in the English section for “Grandmother”, then try to find the other words in the Polish section.

There is also an explanation to this in Polish history. Poland prior to WWII was not all completely Polish, actually it had a diverse ethnic populace, with Jews, Italians, Greeks, Russians, Germans, Ukrainians, etc. living within it’s borders.  So, just because a family member came from Poland, does not always mean they were ethnically Polish.  I would encourage everyone to look into their family geneology, we all have amazing surprises to discover.  Also, there was a time when some Germans, Jews, Ukrainians, and Russians were labeled as Polish when they came to America and the immigrant just went with that, for whatever reason.

Also, due to the Partitions in Polish history, there was for about 200 years a time when Poles spoke more than one language, usually Russian, Austrian (Austrian German), or Prussian (German).  In some areas and certain periods during that time, Polish was not allowed to be taught or used.  So, some Polish families who came to America, used Russian or German words for certain things or people.

Poles have lived in many places besides Poland for many centuries, just like all other nationalities, or ethnicities.  Poles have lived in France, England, Germany, Ukraine, etc. and would have adopted certain words and other cultural habits from their host country, and therefor would have brought that with them when coming to America.

That is it for the “babcia” subject:) I’m looking forward to your comments about it!

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)