While traveling you probably stop at the local book/magazine stores.

You either need a map, or travel book, dictionary or simply a book to read. One of the best places you can find things like that in Poland is Empik.

There you can get books, magazines, guides, bookmarks, newspapers (probably the best place to find newspapers in English), CDs DVDs an many more things. It does not mean that little book stores are not good. They are actually great and usually privately owned. I’m sure that owners will appreciate you stopping by. You may not be able to find everything there though. But they may have great suggestions for you.

Empik is almost like Borders or Barnes and Nobles in USA.

Today I wanted to give you a little overview of how to ask for help in a bookstore and how to explain what you are looking for.

At the beginning lets learn some vocabulary:

Księgarnia – book store (księgarnie – plural)

Książka – book (książki – pl)

Gazeta – newspaper (gazety – pl)

Magazyn – magazine (magazyny – pl)

Przewodnik – guide (przewodniki – pl)

Album – album (albumy – pl)

Muzyka – music

Fily DVD – DVD movies

Płyty CD – CDs

Książki biograficzne – biografies

Słowniki – dictionaries

Fantastyka – fantasy, science fiction

Historia – history

Książki dla dzieci – children’s books

Informatyka – IT

Biznes – buisness

Gazety w języku obcym – foreign newspapers

Horrory – horrors

And now let’s take a look at different questions you may want to ask while shopping at the book store:

Do you have computers I can use?  Czy macie komputery z których mogę skorzystać?

Where is the international guides section? Gdzie jest sekcja międzynarodowych przewodników?

In the second row on the right. W drugim rzędzie po prawej stronie.

Can you help me find a map of Warsaw? Czy możesz mi pomóc znaleźć mapę Warszawy?

Can I listen to this this CD before I buy it? Czy mogę posłuchać tej płyty zanim ją kupię?

Do you have any of Dan Brown’s books in English? Czy macie jakieś książki Dana Browna po angielsku?

Do you have express Polish courses available? Czy macie kursy ekspresowe języka polskiego? (you can take lessons in Empik)

If you think I missed something there are other questions you want me to translate for you, please let me know in comments below.

 

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)