Comments:

1. 

    

   Pete:

   Isn’t ‘Ó’ effectively the same sound as ‘U’ (as in they both sound like ‘oo’ in ‘tool’)?

   • 

      

     Katarzyna:

     @Pete A very good question Pete! And this also effectively applies to letters and some of the digraphs I mentioned, i.e. ch and h. Pronunciation in words is never really the problem with these letters. Deciding which one to use properly, well, that’s another story. I have struggled with these, and I will definitely be blogging about this topic, as it definitely deserves its own spotlight.

     Dziękuję for reading — stay tuned 🙂

2. 

    

   AnnaI:

   “Abraham” – single “h” not “ch”:
   http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham

   And “alfabet polski” not “alfabet Polski” – sorry to be a stickler for ortografia, but this shows an important difference between how some adjectives are spelled in English vs Polish.

   Thanks for sharing this, I’ve never heard this song. Ever. I’m only familiar with Tuwim’s version “Abecadło z pieca spadło”:

   Abecadło z pieca spadło,
   O ziemię się hukło,
   Rozsypało się po kątach,
   Strasznie się potłukło:
   I – zgubiło kropeczkę,
   H – złamało kładeczkę,
   B – zbiło sobie brzuszki,
   A – zwichnęło nóżki,
   O – jak balon pękło,
   aż się P przelękło.
   T – daszek zgubiło,
   L – do U wskoczyło,
   S – się wyprostowało,
   R – prawą nogę złamało,
   W – stanęło do góry dnem
   i udaje, że jest M.

   Good luck with the blog! 🙂

3. 

    

   AnnaI:

   And please be consistent with “L” and “Ł” – as I’m sure you know, those are two different letters. I understand that most likely you don’t have a Polish keyboard, but unfortunately, when writing/typing in Polish, proper spelling is very important (one “L” instead of “Ł”can change the meaning of the word completely: laska and łaska come to mind) – especially when you’re teaching others about the language.
   OK, enough of my lectures.

4. 

    

   Katarzyna:

   Anna,

   Thanks for the tips. For the Abracham, however, those lyrics are copied exactly as they are on that website, so as I am quoting from source, I am not going to make any changes.

   Regarding the “L” and “Ł”, can you tell me where you caught that? I was looking through and I thought I had most of them? Please advise.

   Thanks for reading!

5. 

    

   Angel:

   Thank you so much for writing about Polish Grammar ans pronunciation. But I have just one question–what does Zsa Zsa (Gabor) sound like?

   • 

      

     Katarzyna:

     @Angel It’s a zh like sound. Like the word Asia. Zsa Zsa seems to be so popular (she’s always in teh crosswords 😉 I thought she would be a good example.

     Thanks for reading!

6. 

    

   warmi:

   “Isn’t ‘Ó’ effectively the same sound as ‘U’ (as in they both sound like ‘oo’ in ‘tool’)?”

   It is … same goes for ‘ch’ vs ‘h’.

   There is no audible difference … in fact, this is a major source of pain and anguish for young kids learning how to spell… hell, for some of them it becomes a lifelong habit 🙂

   Just hit google looking for “charcerz” and you will find “them” …
   http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=charcerz&aq=f&aqi=g-s1g1g-s1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

7. 

    

   Paul:

   Hello, my family is all Polish. I can read, speak, write, and translate the language. However, I have always wondered when the letter “V” is used…in every day conversation. Can you help me out?

   • 

      

     Katarzyna:

     @Paul The v doesn’t really exist in the Polish alphabet. The English sound is made by the letter w; i.e. vodka is wódka. The only time I have seen the v come through in Polish is in foreign surnames and foreign words. However, in many cases, the Polish will change the v to the w accordingly if not a formal word.

8. 

    

   Kevin G.:

   Hey, thanks for sharing that. But we’re just starting out in Polish, could you translate the words of the song?