{"id":1061,"date":"2010-08-11T20:33:24","date_gmt":"2010-08-11T20:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2010-08-11T20:33:24","modified_gmt":"2010-08-11T20:33:24","slug":"starry-eyed-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/starry-eyed-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Starry-eyed Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was listening to one of my favorite songs the other night with the boys. The song is “Starry-eyed Surprise” and it’s by Paul Oakenfold. Well, after a little dancing in their car seats, my boys wanted to lay out and look at some stars. So when we got home, we grabbed a blanket, my trusty Droid loaded with Google Sky Map and headed to the open field behind our house. Little did I know that I was about to get a Polish lesson of my own.<\/p>\n

My oldest exclaimed right away, “Mom, I see a lot of gwiazdas.” Seeing my opportunity, I replied, “Mama, widz\u0119 du\u017co gwiazd.<\/strong>” “Yeah, right, that’s what I said.” LOL. So far, so good. I did finally get him to repeat it, and it was a lot easier breaking out vocabulary words to get him going. For example, star is gwiazda<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we did not have much of a ksi\u0119\u017cyc<\/strong> (moon) to go off of, as it was in p\u00f3\u0142ksi\u0119\u017cyc<\/strong> (crescent) phase, and very thin at that. So I was left to find constellations. I have never been great at recognizing them, and to get the Polish name for them was really putting me to the challenge. It’s a good thing Mamusia<\/strong> is only a phone call away.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>While I loaded Google Sky Map, I did go over the planets of the Uk\u0142ad S\u0142oneczny<\/strong> (Solar System) with my boys. We started with the closest to the s\u0142o\u0144ce<\/strong> (sun), the planeta<\/strong> (planet) Merkury<\/strong> (Mercury). The sky map showed us where Merkury<\/strong> was, however, it was too far too see with the naked eye. Next we practiced Wenus<\/strong> (Venus) and my oldest did well recognizing the pronunciation difference from English to Polish (Veh-noos vs Vee-nuhs). Ziemia<\/strong> (Earth) was a little strange for him because it is the same as ground. Mars<\/strong> and Saturn<\/strong> are spelled the same for both with just a slight pronunciation difference. Of course we know Saturn is famous for its many pier\u015bcienie<\/strong> (rings), and for my little Polish linguists, they made the easy relation to the same thing that Mom wears on her fingers. Jupiter is Jowisz<\/strong>, and Uran<\/strong> (Uranus), Neptun<\/strong> (Neptune) and Pluton<\/strong> (Pluto) follow after Saturn. Interestingly enough, Pluton<\/strong> sparked a conversation as to why it was considered a planeta<\/strong> when I was young but is coming into question in recent years. We never reached a conclusion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Going over the planets seemed to get me off the hook for identifying konstelacje<\/strong> (constellations), or so I thought. So I went with what I knew and found Polaris or Tramontana<\/strong> (the North Star) and was able to identify and show them Ma\u0142a Nied\u017awiedzica<\/strong> (Little Dipper or Ursa Minor). Surprisingly, I was able to identify Wielki W\u00f3z<\/strong> (Big Dipper) as well. I tried to find Rak <\/strong>(Cancer), but would have faster found a needle in a haystack. That konstelacja<\/strong> does NOT look like a rak<\/strong> (crab)!<\/p>\n

So, in light of our outdoor adventures, I decided to find something the boys and I could share that would continue to help them learn their Polish words. I came across a very cute animated movie, Gwiazda Kopernika<\/strong> (Copernicus’ Star). I ordered it from a Polish DVD site and hope to have it soon! I promise to follow-up with a nice review! Here’s the trailer to spark your interest:<\/p>\n