Let’s talk about this “” today. Yes, quotation marks. Or cudzysłów, as we call it in Polish. Cudzysłów – literally meaning “somebody else’s words” which is pretty much right on the mark, if you ask me.
In Polish cudzysłów is used a lot less frequently than in English. Why? Because dialogs in Polish books are marked with an m-dash (a long hyphen of sorts), instead of quotation marks. It looks something like this:
– Couldn’t you find something more interesting to write about today?
– Oh, but “quotation marks” are interesting!
– To you maybe…
– Oh, shut up…
I think quotation marks (the Polish kind) are interesting. Why? They differ from the English ones in that they actually look like „that”. Not a huge difference at all, right? And yet you’d be surprised to see how it confuses Polish students of English and foreign students of Polish.
I was working with a Polish teacher once, who was an American, and she stubbornly kept correcting her students’ use of Polish-style quotation marks, apparently unaware of the difference in look and usage.
And just recently I came across an article translated from Polish into English where the Polish style and use of quotation marks was preserved.
Personally, I think I prefer the Polish style. M-dashes are a lot less hassle than quotation marks when typing dialogs. But what baffles me is where the Polish cudzysłów is hiding on my keyboard. I’m a mac user and, frankly, have no clue where to find it. So how did I get it to appear in this post? By copying and pasting it from wikipedia.
Help! Help! 🙂
Comments:
kuba:
-wow
Learn something new every day.
Alfonso Czaplinski:
Good Morning !
My namy is Alonso Czaplinski 57 years, 3 suns adults. I work like a teacher in first public school, i am also protestant missionary branch of presbyterian, calvinist. I would like to learn polish and to study, i speak a bit of polish, but do not read almost anything. I Wonder if it would have a chance in this direction ? Poland country at the moment, going through a good period of prosperity. God bless the Poland, Jesus Christ safe your lifes.
Receive our embrace of the motherland nostalgics memory of our parents and grandparents. God bless You so much.
Your friend,
Alfonso Czaplinski
Rick:
Hi Anna,
First off, thank you so much for such an informative blog – I’ve recently just discovered it.
I have a sort of related question:
What would be the word for the “@” sign? I ask, because, in all the course books I have, none of them deals with special characters like this. I see plenty of examples of how to ask for someone’s email address, for example, but none actually explain how to say a full email address.
Come to think of it, do you know of any resource that explains all the special characters on a keyboard (@, #, $, %, etc.)?
R.
==
src:
“resource that explains all the special characters on a keyboard” — Wiktionary seems good.
Alfonso Czaplinski:
MY GRANDMAHER POLISH prayed and screams in pain and longing!
Dear friends:
I like you the truth, I love the bottom of my blogs in the heart. Looking polish reminds me of the ancient garden in my hometown of Massaranduba – SC, Brazil. When I was a child. Oh we miss those days that are gone, but stayed in my memory. When it comes time for Christmas, my grandmother and my mother, do were so-called “Polish candy” and they kept them on top of a closet. They said: this is to be eaten only at Christmas. After a while her grandmother sat on a stool in the fields, on the balcony of our house, and took his Rozario and began to pray and weep with longing for his ancestors who had remained in Poland during the terrible war. God bless you my fellow friends and comrades of faith.
And all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Bronwyn Klimach:
Anna,
I’m wondering where you found this long dash – which I have cut and pasted? Sometimes Word converts – to a longer dash but I seem to have no control over it.
I am very familiar with „that” from German but presume it does not extend to something like ,that’?
Enjoy your Christmas preparations!!
Bronwyn.
Alfonso Czaplinski:
Hello Ana!
I ask you a help. I request a scholarship to the Government of Poland, but so far nothing yet. Scholarship of studies that are offered to the descendants of Poles living outside Poland. Provided by the Polish Cultural Foundation. I want a graduate degree in education, (PEDAGOGY OR OTHERWISE) LIKE MASTER IN EDUCATION. If you can help me, to whom I should talk, and go I thank you very much. Enjoy your christmas preparations ! God bles you !
Alfonso Czaplinski from Brazil
Steve:
I looked everywhere for the answer to this question, and finally worked it out on my own:
alt [ produces „
alt shift [ yields ”
🙂
Maciek:
@Steve Thanks Steve, those shortcuts work great!