{"id":5139,"date":"2014-05-31T23:23:32","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T23:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=5139"},"modified":"2014-06-06T17:38:20","modified_gmt":"2014-06-06T17:38:20","slug":"togue-twisters-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/togue-twisters-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Tongue twisters time!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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cnfjForget Peter Piper\u2019s peppers and the rain in Spain, or whatever consonant riddled concoctions (sp\u00f3\u0142g\u0142oskowe podziurawione mikstury<\/strong>) English can throw at us, because you can pretty much rest assured they will always pale in comparison to their Polish counterparts (polskie odpowiedniki<\/strong>), the language with perhaps the twistiest of the tongue twisters. Getting used to the various Polish sounds is a difficult task for most learners; it\u2019s a language full of sibilants (sp\u00f3\u0142g\u0142oski sycz\u0105ce\/sybilanty<\/strong> – hissing sounds) and frugal with its vowels to say the least.<\/p>\n

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Image by Valerie ucumari on flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

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It should come as no surprise then that these tongue twisters really can leave you in a pickle and even some Poles will end up looking like they\u2019ve had a night on the\u00a0Piwo\u00a0<\/i><\/strong>(Beer) after trying them.<\/p>\n

Here are some twisters. Beware though, like their English counterparts they don\u2019t really make any sense!<\/p>\n

Czy tata czyta cytaty Tacyta?<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(Does dad read quotations from Tacitus?)<\/p>\n

St\u00f3\u0142 z powy\u0142amywanymi nogami.<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(Table with a broken legs.)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no need to worry if you find yourself in a bar with a wobbly table though, you don\u2019t have to attempt this muddle of \u2018y\u2019 and \u2018i\u2019, just say\u00a0St\u00f3\u0142 bez n\u00f3g<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(Table without legs) instead, and with some luck the bar staff will understand the problem!<\/p>\n

Kr\u00f3l Karol kupi\u0142 kr\u00f3lowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego<\/strong>.<\/i>\u00a0(King Karol bought a coral coloured necklace for queen Karoline.)<\/p>\n

Sz\u0142y pch\u0142y ko\u0142o wody, pch\u0142a pch\u0142e pch\u0142a do wody i ta pch\u0142a p\u0142aka\u0142a, \u017ce j\u0105 tamta pch\u0142a popcha\u0142a.<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(Some fleas were walking next to the water and one flea pushed another in, who cried because she was pushed by the other flea in to the water.)<\/p>\n

Szed\u0142 Sasza such\u0105 szos\u0105 I suszy\u0142 sobie spodnie.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>(Sacha was walking along a dry road and he was drying his trousers). And this one\u2019s easier, younger brother:\u00a0W czasie suszy sucha szosa Sasza szedl.<\/i>\u00a0(Sacha was walking along a road in a drought).<\/p>\n

W Szczebrzeszynie chrz\u0105szcz brzmi w trzcinie a Szczebrzeszyn z tego s\u0142ynie \u017ce chrz\u0105szcz brzmi w trzcinie.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>(In [the town of] Szczebrzeszyn a beetle buzzes in the reed, for which Szczebrzeszyn is famous)<\/p>\n

(This one probably makes the most sense, and if you visit Szczebrzeszyn today, you can still see how proud the five thousand inhabitants are of their legendary, tongue twisting, buzzing beetle, from the statue standing proud in the town square.)<\/p>\n

We szwy p\u0142aszcza si\u0119 zaszywszy w szyku marsza trzy wszy wesz\u0142y.<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(Hiding in the seams of a coat, three lice entered marching in formation.)<\/p>\n

Le\u017cy Jerzy na wie\u017cy i nie wierzy, \u017ce na drugiej wie\u017cy le\u017cy drugi Jerzy.<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(George is lying in a tower and doesn\u2019t believe that there is another George lying in a second tower.)<\/p>\n

Nie pieprz Pietrze wieprza pieprzem, bo przepieprzysz wieprza pieprzem.<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0(Peter don\u2019t put pepper on the boar because you may put too much pepper on it.)<\/p>\n

Czarna krowa w kropki bordo gryzie traw\u0119 kr\u0119c\u0105c mord\u0105.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>(Black cow with maroon spots is eating grass while shaking her head.) \u2013 This one isn\u2019t that hard for the native Poles, but remember every\u00a0-r-<\/i>\u00a0is rolled in Polish!<\/p>\n

They may seem superfluous (zb\u0119dne<\/strong>) and just a bit of fun, but tongue twisters are actually a great way to push your pronunciation. Remember, these are hard even for native speakers, so if you can crack these, those sibilant sounds (cz, sz, prz, \u017c<\/i>\u00a0etc) that pop up so often in Polish will really start to roll off your tongue in no time!<\/p>\n

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